PEORIA 4, MANITOBA 2
Peoria defenseman Jeff Woywitka broke a 2-2 tie late in the second period and the Rivermen went on to post a 4-2 road victory over Manitoba on Thursday at the MTS Centre.
Peoria captured its eighth consecutive win – the second-longest winning streak in the AHL this season – and improved to 5-0-0-0 on a season-high seven-game road swing.
The Rivermen took an early 1-0 lead when Nikolay Lemtyugov scored at 5:00 of the opening period, marking his 12th goal of the season and third in his last two games.
Manitoba defenseman Maxime Fortunus evened the score at 1:30 of the second stanza, and the Moose took a 2-1 lead on Jason Jaffray’s 12th of the campaign at 8:19.
But Peoria center Julian Talbot tallied the equalizer on the power play at 10:22 of the second, setting the stage for Woywitka’s eventual game-winner, which came at 18:00.
Yan Stastny added an empty-net goal in the game’s closing seconds, sealing the win for goaltender Hannu Toivonen, who made 24 saves and moved to 3-0-0 in three AHL games this season.
Manitoba’s five-game home winning streak came to an end, and the Moose dropped their fifth straight contest overall after going 0-4-0-0 on a trip to Texas this past week.
The Rivermen and Moose will tangle at the MTS Centre again on Friday evening.
