PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) – So close, and yet so far, for the Peoria Rivermen.
Their quest for a third President’s Cup in five years came up just short Saturday night. After taking a 2-0 series lead, they dropped the final three matchups to the Evansville Thunderbolts; including the decisive Game 5 in Peoria.
The night started off well for the Rivermen with a goal from captain Alec Baer just seven minutes in. But then the nightmare started for goaltender Nick Latinovich.
Statistically, he was by far the best goalie in the SPHL playoffs, and easily top two league-wide in the regular season. But he misplayed a puck off his pad that gifted the Thunderbolts with the equalizer just 39 seconds after Baer’s goal.
Evansville would then put up four more goals in the ensuing 23 minutes of action, leading to Tino to be pulled from the game.
Peoria would make it a one-goal game in the third, but ultimately fell 6-4.
Despite the off-night between the pipes, captain Alec Baer said afterward the team wouldn’t have even been in a position to win the championship without Latinovich or Jack Bostedt.
Our goalies were a big part of that. Both of them, you know…Either of them were in the net, you know, it was a very confident group for us. And, you know, we we kept bringing back pieces, you know, later in the year. And, you know, I think our leadership group, you know, me and then the guys around me do a big part of, you know, bringing guys into the fight.
Alec Baer
Kudos to them. That’s a heck of a hockey team over there. I can’t imagine, you know, what was going through their mind down 0-2 [in the series]. And listen, that’s one of the most epic series that we’ve had. I mean, one of those games where any other game we score four [goals] in the series, you know, it’s good night. But that’s the way hockey is. That’s the way sports are.
Eric Levine, Rivermen Assistant Coach
I don’t think anything that I said made anyone feel better about it. There’s just thanking every guy for going to battle and just telling everyone I love them. To the fans enjoy it, it’s such a great place to play. Like tonight’s crowd showed it. Sorry you couldn’t get it done for them, but being able to play for Peoria, the Riverman, it’s personally it’s brought me a lot, but it’s there’s just so much pride for the city.
Mike Gelatt
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With Colorado goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood pulled for an extra attacker late Saturday at Grand Casino Arena, Colorado center Nazem Kadri, alone at the bottom of the right circle, threw one final puck on net for the Avalanche.
There were nine seconds remaining, and zero chance of the Avs scoring three goals to send the game to overtime. Yet, when Kadri’s shot left his stick, Brock Faber stepped in front of it.
Why let Colorado leave the ice with even a sliver of momentum they could take into Game 4 Monday in St. Paul?
Matt Boldy pounced on the loose puck and scored an empty-netter with four seconds left to seal the Wild’s 5-1 victory, their first since closing out a first-round series win in Game 6 against Dallas on April 30.
Faber set up the first goal, scored the fourth, and set up the empty-netter when he blocked Kadri’s shot. In nine postseason games, he has four goals and nine points. So does blue line partner Quinn Hughes, who has unlocked something in Faber since joining the Wild via trade on Dec. 13.
Together, they have been the engine that makes the Wild go. The Wild are a forechecking team, and they’re the guys that keep the puck in the zone. The Avalanche had no answer for them on Saturday.
The Wild were a little stunned by how sideways Games 1 and 2 went for them in Denver. Now, the Avalanche were talking about what they have to do to contain the Wild forecheck — which was the key to everything for Minnesota on Saturday.
“Mobile D men out there,” veteran center Brock Nelson said. “Quinn and Brock can circle the zone, support one another, create a little bit of space. … We have to be sharp, be quick to close on the D men, try to prevent them from rolling a bit more and then just be quick to support.”
The Wild’s relentless siege on Colorado’s zone put the Central Division leaders, and President’s Trophy winners, on their heels. Avalanche penalties led to Kirill Kaprizov’s four-on-four goal, and to Hughes’ four-on-three score.
Ryan Hartman scored a power-play early in the second period, and the Wild scored on a delayed penalty when Faber started a rush, passed to Vladimir Tarasenko and crash the net, where the rebound off Tarasenko’s shot bounced off Faber’s leg and over the goal line for a 4-1 lead.
“One of those guys,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “He has the ‘it factor.’ ”
With a promising season on the line in a must-win game, Hynes rode his top blue liners hard — 29 minutes, 30 seconds from Faber, 28:30 from Hughes. He had to; it was that kind of game. None of the other defensemen played more than Jared Spurgeon’s 17:38.
The Wild didn’t just get up off the mat on Saturday, keep the bell from ringing at least once so they can look themselves in the mirror. They used a three-day break — their first real rest since sealing their first-round series with Game 6 against Dallas on April 30 — to get better.
The Avs didn’t lose that game Saturday — their first in seven postseason contests — Minnesota won it. The Wild reminded everyone that they’re an awfully good team. Their stars — Kaprizov, Boldly, Hughes, Faber and rookie goaltender Jesper Wallstedt among them — were the game’s best players. Their checking lines were relentless. The D made smart decisions. Passes were crisp.
“Tonight was a lot better. Tonight was the way we play,” Faber said.
For all the fireworks and special teams play, the Wild really sealed their win by keeping the Avalanche pinned in their own end for much of the third period. Until they pulled Blackwood — a courtesy replacement for Wedgewood in the second period — the Avs just didn’t have enough zone time late to forge a rally.
“They got a couple bounces … but they earned their bounces,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “They were going to the net hard. They looked like they were quicker, more physical and more determined. So, now it’s up to us to respond.”
The forecheck came in waves, mostly with Hughes and Faber at the point. Maybe we were so enamored with Hughes that we slept on Faber a little. He’s been so good since he was a Calder Trophy finalist as a rookie — general manager Bill Guerin followed with an eight-year contract extension worth $68 million — that it’s difficult to call this postseason a revelation.
And yet it has been.
Sometimes good players stay good players; sometimes they become great players. We’re watching Faber, just 23 and in his third NHL season, become a great one.
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