RiverKings sweep weekend with 6-4 win over FireAntz

RiverKings sweep weekend with 6-4 win over FireAntz

Pair of wins take team above .500 in early going

media@riverkings.com SOUTHAVEN, Miss. — The RiverKings (5-3-0) won their second game in a row with a 6-4 victory and completed the weekend sweep against the Fayetteville FireAntz (3-50) at the Landers Center Saturday night.

A deflected puck off a shot from Tayler Thompson bounced right to the stick of Graeme Strukoff for the first goal of the game for Fayetteville. With under a minute in the first, Sean Roberston sprung Josh Elmes on a two on one that Elmes would bury on the short side to give the FireAntz a two-goal lead.

The second period belonged to the RiverKings as Joe Sova tallied his first goal as a RiverKing with a fake shot to get James Krueger to come out and lose positioning and allow for Sova to slide it in and bring the game back to within one. Robert Lindores brought it back even with his first professional goal after Dillan Fox forced one on to Krueger that rebounded right to Lindores to finish off.

The third period saw six goals as the teams traded goals in the first four minutes. The FireAntz took the lead 50 seconds in to the period when Chase Nieuwendyk's shot slipped past a screened Di Salvo.

Ryan Marcuz answered for the RiverKings when his shot slipped past Krueger to tie the game at one.

The RiverKings jumped back in front after Dillan Fox's shot from the point made it around a Jiri Pestuka screen to go ahead 4-3. With under two minutes left and Krueger on the bench for the extra attacker, the FireAntz converted on a power play opportunity as Joe Harcharick put a shot past Di Salvo from the right circle on a pass from Justin Hussar.

Nineteen seconds later the RiverKings took the lead for good on a slap shot from Chris Leone from the point off a left wing circle faceoff inside the FireAntz zone. The FireAntz tried one last time to pull Kruger, but Marcuz notched his second of the night on a empty-net goal to give the RiverKings a 64 victory.

Peter Di Salvo (2-0-0) picked up his second win in a row after stopping 23 of 27 shots. James Krueger (0-1-0) took his first loss in his first game this season for the FireAntz, saving 26 of the 31 shots he saw.

The RiverKings now look ahead to next weekend where they head to Columbus to take on the Cottonmouths at the Columbus Civic Center Saturday Nov. 19 with puck drop scheduled at 7:30 p.m.

Photo by Kori LaVire

From RiverKings Media