Texas Falls to Rivermen 5-3 in Peoria

Overall, Texas played a good game tonight. The Stars were down after 20 minutes and rallied back to tie it in the second and make a game of it. It was a good showing of how the team is coming together to work as a unit and not get frustrated by being down. In the end, however, Texas fell to Peoria 5-3 with the last goal coming on an empty net.

Brent Sonne opened the scoring for the Rivermen in the first period, catching Richard Bachman out of position on a rebound to make it 1-0. Brett Sterling then put the Rivs up 2-0 with a nice play from behind the net to snipe a goal from the right wing circle. The period ended with the score at 2-0 and a 16-8 shot advantage for the Rivs.

Texas gave up another goal just 47 seconds into the second period to set the score at 3-0. The goal was scored as Bachman was scrambling in front of the net and the net came off its moorings. The power play goal counted anyway for Derek Nesbitt.

For the rest of the second, however, it was the Stars' power play that came alive. Just past the halfway mark of the period, Tomas Vincour put home a fat rebound off Ben Bishop. All three Texas forwards were buzzing the net on the play; the goal was just inevitable.

Jordie Benn scored off a point shot just over two minutes later to make it 3-2 with a team-leading 11th assist for Travis Morin. And the Stars completed the comeback with a power play goal just before the final buzzer by Matt Fraser, his 7th of the year. Ray Sawada and Dan Spang assisted on the tally, that was officially marked at 19:59 of the second. Texas put the pressure on the Rivs in the period, outshooting them 19-8 in the period and 27-24 after two.

If the second period was the Stars', the third was owned by the Rivs. Brent Sterling scored the go-ahead goal just past the halfway point of the third. Coming out of the box, he received a drop pass from Stefan Della Rovere and snapped it to the top of the net to beat Bachman. Peoria sealed things up in the final minute of the game with an ENG.

Tonight's lines:
Fraser-Morin-Sawada
Tousignant-Garbutt-Vincour
Wathier-Arnason-Godard
Gazdic-Glennie-Sceviour

Larsen-Lukowich
Coyle-Dillon
Spang-Benn

Bachman

Injuries, scratches, and notes:
Fortunus (injured)
Hedden, Schultz (scratched)

Tonight's attendance was 3,074.

AHL Gamesheet - Texas at Peoria - October 27 2011

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