Peoria Rivermen blow out Pensacola in Game 2 for series sweep, advance to SPHL semifinals

PEORIA — The Peoria Rivermen skated out for the third period Saturday to a darkened arena and fans waving their cell phone lights in the grandstand while New York Mets closer Edwin Diaz's bullpen walk-on song, "Narco" blared overhead in Carver Arena.

The team that is 25-1-3 at Carver Arena this season then closed out the series, having reached a turning point in its best-of-3 SPHL quarterfinals series against the Pensacola Ice Flyers.

If the Flyers were paying attention, they knew they had reached the point of no return late in the second period and now, a couple minutes after that start of the third period …

"It was over," Rivermen head coach Jean-Guy Trudel said. "We started out with a slow 10 minutes in the second period, then our penalty-kill got us huge momentum and everything changed quickly after that. I look at it this way: Why play the season if you're not going to go for it all in the playoffs?

"It's not like the NHL, where you're building something long-range over years. Teams in our league basically start over every season.

"So you step on someone's neck when you can and try to win."

The Rivermen scored five unanswered goals in the final 27 minutes, 24 seconds to sweep Pensacola out of the playoffs, 6-1, in Game 2 of the best-of-3 series quarterfinals.

SPHL Playoff quarterfinals box score: Rivermen 6, Pensacola 1

Rookie winger Mathew Rehding notched the game-winner on his first pro playoff goal, while veterans JM Piotrowski scored a goal and added two assists, Mike Gelatt had a goal and an assist and was +3, Alec Baer had three assists and was +3 and six different Rivermen players netted goals.

It was the third straight postseason in which Peoria eliminated Pensacola in the opening round. And now the No. 2 seed Rivermen have reached at least the semifinals for the sixth time in seven years. This trip, they'll face No. 8 seed Evansville.

Game 1: Rivermen veteran's first pro playoff goal delivers overtime victory

On to Evansville

No. 8 seed Evansville upset league regular-season champion Birmingham with a 4-3 overtime win Saturday in Alabama in a decisive Game 3.

The No. 2 seed Rivermen will face Evansville in a best-of-3 semifinals series that opens Wednesday in Indiana and shifts to Carver Arena in Peoria for Game 2 on Friday and, if needed, Game 3 on Sunday.

Game 1 in Ford Center is 7 p.m. Game 2 in Carver Arena is 7:15 p.m., and Game 3, if there is one, will open at 3:15 p.m.

Tickets are $27 for glass seating; $22 for Premium lower bowl; $16 for Pilot House, and $15 Upper Bowl.

Individual playoff game tickets are on sale now by calling the Rivermen (676-1040) at their Carver Arena offices, or in person at the Civic Center box office (open only Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.) or 90 minutes prior to game time.

Hagaman got them started

The Rivermen now are 12-4 all-time in SPHL playoff games when Peoria-born captain Alec Hagaman scores a goal.

So it was a big moment when the captain, in his final postseason before retirement, gave the Rivermen a 1-0 lead at 5:31 of the first period.

Peoria defenseman Renat Dadazhanov sent a drive from the left point and Hagaman, parked above the crease, deflected it past 6-foot-8, 235-pound goaltender Stephen Mundinger and pumped his right arm in celebration.

"It wouldn't have mattered who scored that goal, it was big because it got us started and it was big because it was scored the right way, reminded everyone, 'This is how we want to score goals,' " Hagaman said. "It set a tone for us."

They played most of the period in Mundinger's face, piling up a 14-1 shooting edge but leaving a lot on the table in the form of unfinished chances.

Rehding walked in on Mundinger but couldn't get the puck around him. Piotrowski skated down the slot just as the puck took a fluke carom off the endboards while Mundinger was behind the net trying to play it.

Piotrowski was alone with an empty net but the puck jumped and he couldn't get a clean shot.

Baer was stopped on a two-on-one break four minutes into the second period, after the Rivermen built a 15-3 shooting lead through the game's first 24 minutes.

"We came out and lost the first 10 minutes of the second period, though," Hagaman said. "We can't be doing that in a playoff series. But our penalty-kill turned it all around for us in the second period, and then we got a goal to get back on top, then that crazy one in the final minute.

"There was so much momentum going on there."

Pensacola had tied it on just its fourth shot of the game when Malik Johnson beat Peoria goaltender Nick Latinovich at 5:15.

The Flyers next went on a power play at 10:25 with a chance to take their first lead of the series.

But Peoria's SPHL No. 1-ranked kill unit generated more scoring chances than Pensacola's power play did. Twice Peoria's penalty-killers forced doorstep scrambles and had Mundinger in trouble.

The penalty was erased, and 11 seconds later the Rivermen were back on top when Rehding sneaked in from the right circle and buried a back door shot off a slick backhanded feed across the slot from Baer at 12:36.

Here comes the dagger

The Rivermen weren't done in the second period yet, as defenseman Meirs Moore -- acquired by the Rivermen from Pensacola as part of a six-player trade on New Year's Day -- cranked up a one-timer from inside the blueline.

The shot zipped down the slot, deflected off Mundinger, and the big goaltender dropped to his knees and reached down to cover the puck with his glove, trying to get a whistle.

Problem was, the puck wasn't there. It had deflected 15 feet in the air over Mundinger's head, and it dropped straight down on the goaltender's back, rolled down his body and flopped onto the ice behind him and into the net.

With 29 seconds left, it was 3-1.

"I was just hoping it was going to get down," Moore said. "I could see it was in line above him and behind him as it started to drop.

"Playing this series against Pensacola, I have relationships over there. It feels special to win, though. This series felt personal for me.

"I'm just glad I'm a Rivermen. I'm wishing I'd been here earlier in my career."

Piotrowski showed who he was in the third period. He produced a goal and two assists in the game. But in the third period, with Peoria well in control, the veteran was still doing the little things, saving a goal by blocking a shot with the net empty behind him.

"That goal (Moore's goal) was a big goal," he said. "It was a sequence where we had been stacking good shifts."

"I'm tryna get it poppin"

The walk-on to Narco followed ahead of the third period, and 2:21 later the Rivermen led 4-1 on a goal from Mike Gelatt.

Then a major boarding penalty by Jordan Henderson -- who crushed Rivermen winger Cayden Cahill into the end boards -- put Peoria on an extended power play and two more goals followed, one from Jordan Ernst, the other from Piotrowski.

"Gelatt's goal (at 2:21 of the third for a 4-1 lead), felt like the nail in the coffin to me," Piotrowski said. "Then he made a great play to get it to me on my goal. Some of the chances we got, you dream about those kinds of chances."

There was still nearly 10 minutes left. But it was game over.

"Our penalty-kill got us the momentum," Trudel said. "(Mundinger) had made some grade-A saves on us early on, we could have had a 4-0 lead in that first period.

"But our leadership guys would not let us get down. They were just phenomenal on our bench. And then those first 10 minutes of the third period, I don't think we let Pensacola touch the puck."

River Readings

The Rivermen are now 25-1-3 on home ice this season, with 14 straight wins and 20 of their last 21. With the upset ouster of No. 1 seed Birmingham, Peoria has home-ice advantage for the rest of the playoffs. … The Rivermen are 12-4 in playoff games where captain Alec Hagaman scores a goal. Peoria is 14-14 in playoff games where Hagaman does not score. … Evansville got the overtime game-winner from Matthew Hobbs to knock out Birmingham on Saturday. … The Thunderbolts are the first Evansville pro hockey team to reach the second round of a postseason in 14 years. To build a crowd presence against the Rivermen, the Evansville operation announced all tickets are free for Game 1 at Ford Center on Wednesday.

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Peoria Rivermen sweep Pensacola for playoff series win, move on to SPHL semifinals