Evansville, In.: Behind two goals from Brendan Harrogate, more solid goaltending from Ty Taylor, and an excellent 60-minute defensive effort, the Thunderbolts secured their 4th win in a row and snapped Peoria’s 6-game win streak, 3-1 on Friday night at Ford Center. The Thunderbolts’ next home game will be on Saturday, March 23rd against the Peoria Rivermen, puck drop at 7:00 pm CT.
In a very evenly played first period, the Rivermen scored the lone goal as Nicholas Aromatario scored at 7:49 to give Peoria the first lead of the night. Evansville’s offense came alive in the second period, starting with Harrogate’s first goal of the night on a power move to the Rivermen net to tie the game, assisted by Myles Abbate and Mark Zhukov at 4:51. At 9:22, Harrogate sniped home his second goal of the game off an entry play from Scott Kirton and Dmitri Yushkevich to put Evansville ahead 2-1. Only 15 seconds later at 9:37, Adam Pilotte finished a net-front rush by Lincoln Hatten to extend the lead to 3-1, the goal being Pilotte’s first professional goal in his professional debut, with the assists at this time being awarded to Grayson Valente and Matthew Hobbs. Evansville’s defense did the bulk of the work in the third period, holding Peoria to only 8 shots while also frustrating the Rivermen enough to force them to take four penalties down the stretch, as the 3-1 lead for Evansville held to the finish.
Harrogate scored two goals on the night with Pilotte scoring the other Evansville goal. In goal, Ty Taylor made 18 saves on 19 shots for his 6th win of the season. The Thunderbolts and Rivermen meet for the final time this regular season on Saturday, March 23rd at Ford Center. With the win and Knoxville loss, the Thunderbolts now only need 1 more point or another Knoxville loss to clinch a playoff spot.
