Photo Credit: Noah Markuna
11 goal outburst Sunday highlights Mustangs weekend sweep
Affton, MO – The Peoria Mustangs hit the road for the final time in the regular season, loading up the bus and traveling to Affton, MO for a weekend set with the St. Louis Jr. Blues. Saturday afternoon the Mustangs got the game winner in the second period and added an insurance tally skating to a 2-0 victory. Sunday morning the Mustangs netted a trio in the first and added 8 insurance tallies as the coasted to an 11-1 victory at the Affton Ice Rink. With the pair of victories, the Mustangs improve to 24-18-3 on the season and remain 4th in the Central Division.
Saturday: PEO 2 – STL 0
Saturday afternoon it took the Mustangs over 20 minutes to score, but a stellar outing in goal from Cam Pendleton sealed the deal for the visiting team. Peoria got goals from Ethan Chesney and Joey Rancilio and got 33 saves from Pendleton en route to a 2-0 victory.
After a scoreless opening period, the Mustangs opened the scoring near the midway point of the middle frame. Ethan Chesney collected a loose puck in the neutral zone and raced into his attacking end. Chesney with time and space snapped the puck towards the net, the puck sailed through the air and over the shoulder of Jr. Blues netminder Jordan Behnen and into the back of the net for the 1-0 Mustangs edge at 8:06 of the second period.
The Mustangs doubled their lead with the eventual game winner early in the third period when Joey Rancilio poked the puck past Behnen and into the back of the net for the 2-0 Mustangs lead at 6:06 of the Middle frame.
Cam Pendleton sealed the deal between the pipes stopping all 33 shots faced for his first shutout of the season. With the win, Pendleton improves to 7-14-3.
Sunday: PEO 11 – STL
Sunday afternoon the Mustangs got an early lead and never looked back as they poured it on their rivals from Missouri. Peoria got goals from 9 different skaters and a rock solid effort from Joe Ambroffi between the pipes as they cruised to an 11-1 victory at the Affton Ice Rink.
Peoria opened the scoring with a trio of goals in the opening period, Caleb Bross collected his 5th of the season at the 3:04 for the quick 1-0 edge. Ethan Chesney and Addy Powell added goals throughout the opening period, Chesney at 6:01 and Powell rounding out the period at 16:35 of the frame. Through 20 minutes of action, the Mustangs held a 3-0 advantage.
Peoria picked up in the second frame where they left off in the first, with another trio of goals, and starting early. Robin Kuusik collected his 4th goal of the campaign just 2:41 into the middle stanza. E. Chesney added a duo of goals to close out the period the first at 4:09 and the hat trick goal at 16:33, and a 6-0 Mustangs lead.
The Jr. Blues broke their scoreless drought in the closing minutes of the second period when Carter Eifert tallied his 4th goal of the season, putting a rebound past Ambroffi and into the back of the net at 18:47 and a 6-1 Mustangs advantage.
The Mustangs dominated the final 20 minutes of action scoring an even strength goal and then a quartet of power play tallies. JD Duenwald collected his 4th goal of the campaign at 10:49 of the final period. Justin Hubble, Tristan Trudel, Joey Rancilio, and Edvards Bergmanis all collected power play tallies while the Mustangs were on a 5-minute power play opportunity. With the 4 special teams goals, the Mustangs cruised to an 11-1 victory at the Affton Ice rink.
Joe Ambroffi picked up the win between the pipes stopping 13 of 14 shots faced in the contest. With the win Ambroffi improves to 11-3-0 on the season.
Stable Notes:
– With their 11 goal outburst on Sunday, the Mustangs collected a new season high in goals. The previous high was 7.
-The Mustangs cashed in in a big way on a 5-minnute major power play with 4 goals all within 3:13 minutes of one another.
-Edvards Bergmanis collected his first goal as a Mustangs.
-With the weekend sweep the Mustangs collected back-to-back wins for the first time since February 3rd and 4th at Wausau, and only the second weekend sweep since Christmas break.
-The Mustangs conclude the regular season a perfect 8-0-0 head-to-head vs. St. Louis.
What’s Ahead:
The Mustangs return home for the regular season finale weekend next Saturday and Sunday when the Wausau Cyclones come to town. Saturday night March 4th is scheduled for a 6:00 pm face off and Sunday March 5th has a scheduled start of 1:15 pm. Both games can be viewed on HockeyTV of by following along on Mustangs social media platforms.
