HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The Peoria Rivermen extended their status as the hottest team in professional hockey Friday with a comeback victory in a penalty shot tiebreaker that took seven rounds.
The Rivermen won the SPHL game, 2-1, in the second round of a sudden-death shootout to beat the Huntsville Havoc in a game between the league’s top two teams before 6,273 at Propst Arena.
The victory is the 11th in a row for the Rivermen, who are 17-0-1 in their last 18 games and have not lost in regulation since Dec. 12, a span of 49 days.
They have opened a nine-point lead over Huntsville in the SPHL race.
Peoria trailed, 1-0, when newly-signed right wing Zac Sirota tied it against goaltender Brian Wilson at 13:07 of the second period.
The Rivermen had six power plays in the game but could not convert. The game went through a five-minute sudden-death overtime, then a five-round penalty shot phase, before moving to a sudden-death penalty-shot phase.
Peoria got the game-winner from Griffen Fox – who just returned from an ECHL call-up at Bloomington – in that seventh round.
Rivermen goaltender Connor McAnamana stopped 6 of 7 penalty shots in the tiebreaker, and made 39 saves during regulation and overtime.
He is 3-0-0 with a 0.97 goals-against and a .968 saves rate since the Rivermen brought him up from Binghamton of the low-A Federal Professional Hockey League.
Peoria has a rematch Saturday at Huntsville.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: How the Peoria Rivermen win streak reached 11 in a shootout tiebreaker
Reporting by Dave Eminian, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
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