Peoria, Ill.: After briefly trailing 1-0 in the first period, the Thunderbolts scored four unanswered goals to defeat the Rivermen 4-1 in Peoria on Friday night, the win setting a new franchise record for their longest streak without a regulation loss, now at nine consecutive games. The Thunderbolts’ next home game at Ford Center will be on Friday, December 5th against the Macon Mayhem at 7:00pm CT.
The Rivermen grabbed the game’s first lead at 10:29 of the first period, with Griffen Fox scoring on a power play net-front deflection. At even strength, Evansville responded just over 3 minutes later at 13:42, with Scott Kirton scoring on a rebound from John Woernle and Tyson Gilmour. In the second period, the Thunderbolts took the lead at 11:22 as a tic-tac-toe passing play from Joey Berkopec to Isaac Chapman connected to Aidan Litke on a cross-slot one-time snapshot. Evansville kept rolling in the third period, as Kirton scored on a power play 55 seconds into the period from Keanan Stewart and Gilmour to extend Evansville’s lead to 3-1. In the final stretch of regulation time, Connor Federkow added an unassisted empty net goal, shot from deep in the Thunderbolts’ zone with 1:03 remaining to seal the victory, 4-1 Evansville the final score. With the victory, Evansville has set a new franchise record with nine consecutive games without losing in regulation, with a record of 8-0-1 over the stretch. Previously, the record was eight games, accomplished twice between January 5th and 23rd of 2018 (6-0-2) and between February 21st, 2020, and October 16th, 2021 (6-0-2).
Kirton led the way with two goals, Litke and Federkow scored one goal each, and Gilmour tallied two assists. In goal, Kristian Stead finished with 31 saves on 32 shots for his 10th win of the season. The Thunderbolts and Rivermen meet again on Saturday, November 29th at Peoria Civic Center, with Evansville leading the season series 3-0.
