Photo Credit: Noah Markuna
Mustangs look to close out remaining schedule on high not
Peoria, IL – The Peoria Musangs and Milwaukee Power met for the 7th and 8th times this season at the Owens Center this weekend. Friday night the Mustangs feel behind and tried to play catch up but couldn’t gain enough momentum to pull even and feel by a 3-1 final score. Saturday night The Mustangs scored first, and the contest became a see saw battle that in the end saw the Mustangs fall by a 4-3 final score. With the pair of weekend losses, the Mustangs fall to 22-17-2 and remain in 4th place in the central division.
Friday: PEO 1 – MKE 3
Friday night the Mustangs fell behind by a trio of goals before lighting the lamp on the power play, but it wasn’t enough as the Milwaukee Power skated out of the Owens Center with a 3-1 Central division victory.
Milwaukee opened the scoring late in the opening period when Andrew Butler put the puck in the back of the net while the Power were skating on the penalty kill. The shorthanded tally gave the visiting Power a 1-0 lead at 13:54 of the opening frame.
After a scoreless second period Milwaukee netted a duo of goals in the opening ten minutes of the final frame, the first coming 1:41 into the stanza when Matthew Ebersole collected his 7th goal of the season. Blake Keller made it 3-0 just prior to the midway point of the period when he netted his 16th of the campaign at 8:41 on the power play and a 3-0 Milwaukee advantage.
Peoria got on the board just past the midway point with a power play tally of their own. SP Merck fired the puck towards the net through traffic, the puck bounce off bodies on its way to the net and found Massimo Polistina, Polistina poked the puck from the left side of the crease to a streaking Ethan Peterson. Peterson whacked the puck past Milwaukee goaltender Adam Prokop and into the back of the net at 11:30 of the third period for the eventual 3-1 final score.
Cam Pendleton suffered the loss between the pipes stopping 20 of 23 shots face. With the loss, Pendleton falls to 6-13-2 on the season.
Saturday: PEO 3 – MKE 4
Saturday night the Mustangs gained an early lead, then fell behind, before battling back and tying the game twice but eventually suffered defeat in front of a home crowd. The Mustangs had three different goal scorers and netted a pair of power play goals in the contest, but it wasn’t enough as they fell by a 4-3 final score.
Peoria opened the scoring in the opening 60 seconds of action when Joey Rancilio grabbed the puck on a failed clearing attempt and skipped towards the goal and snapped the puck over Milwaukee goaltender Adam Prokop and into the back of the net just 54 seconds into the contest for the 1-0 Mustangs edge.
Milwaukee tied the game less that 6 minutes later when Max Erstad scored his 14th goal of the season while the visitors were skating on the man advantage. The Power gained the lead just past the midway point of the middle period when Michael Dalaly tallied his 11th goal of the season at 10:26 and a 2-1 Milwaukee lead.
Peoria evened the score a little over 60 seconds later when Ethan Chesney lit the lamp with a power play tally from Massimo Polistina and Edvards Bergmanis at 11:35 of the second period and a 2-2 tie game.
Milwaukee once again grabbed the lead with a power play tally of their own just over 60 seconds after Peoria tied the game. Bryce Garber tallied his first goal of the game and 16th of the season at 12:38 and a 3-2 Power lead.
Once again, the Mustangs tied the game in the early stages of the third frame when SP Merck tallied his 5thgoal of the season on the power play. Merck received a pass from Ethan Chesney and blasted a shot from the high slot that sailed through traffic and whizzed past Milwaukee netminder Adam Prokop and into the back of the net at 4:58 of the third period and a 3 all tie game.
Milwaukee regained the lead with the eventual game winning goal just prior to the midway point of the final period when Bryce Garber collected his second goal of the game and 17th of the season at 8:56 and the eventual 4-3 final score.
Joe Ambroffi suffered the tuff luck loss between the pipes stopping 28 of 32 shots faced in the contest. With the loss Ambroffi falls to 10-3-0 on the season.
Stable Notes:
– The Mustangs wore specialty Alzheimer’s Awareness jersey Friday and Saturday night; the jersey are up for auction, and you can bid by sending an e-mail to mustangsjersey@gmail.com with the name and number of the player you want to bid on.
– Mustangs forward Ethan Chesney has collected 7 points in his last 5 games.
-Mustangs defenseman SP Merk has collected a point in 4-straight outings, Merck has collected 2 goals and 2 assists along the way.
-Mustangs forward Massimo Polistina has collected a point in 4-straigh games, Polistina has a goal and three assists in that span.
-Saturday the Mustangs had a new addition to the lineup, Latvian forward Edvards Bergmanis. Bergmanins collected an assist in his Mustangs debut.
What’s Ahead:
The Mustangs hit the road for a pair of games in Oregon, WI at the Oregon Ice Arena next weekend the 17th and 18th of February. Both games are scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. puck drop and can be viewed on HockeyTV or by following along on Mustangs social media.
