Wolves fall victim to Rivermen

PEORIA - The Chicago Wolves fell into a 2-goal hole and couldn't recover, suffering a 4-2 loss to the Peoria Rivermen at the Carver Arena Friday night.

Right wings Joey Crabb and Spencer Machacek each lit the lamp for Chicago (33-28-2-1), who saw their four-game winning streak come to a halt.

Peoria (31-28-1-1) quickly stepped out to the lead at 1:16 of the first frame when center Julian Talbot corralled his own rebound and fired a shot through traffic and past Wolves goalie Ondrej Pavelec.

Pavelec (15-13-1) turned aside 25 of 29 shots and allowed two goals or more for the first time in six starts.

The Rivermen increased their lead, 2-0 at 6:34 of the middle frame. Center Curtis Fraser broke away at the blueline and slid a pass to right wing Ryan Reaves, who flipped a shot past Pavelec.

The Wolves pulled within 1 when defenseman Clay Wilson took the puck up the ice before slipping it to Crabb, who found the seam and ripped a shot past Peoria goaltender Manny Legace.

Legace (4-5-0) posted 29 saves on 31 shots.

Peoria stepped ahead, 3-1, at 14:37 of the second period when right wing Carl Corazzini chipped a rebound over the pads of a sprawled out Pavelec.

The Rivermen inched ahead 4-1 at 14:27 of the final frame when center Trent Whitfield collected the puck at the doorstep and banged his own rebound by Pavelec.

Machacek brought the Wolves within two and rounded out scoring, when he accepted a feed from defenseman Scott Lehman and slapped a shot past Legace at 15:37 of the third period.

The Wolves travel to Texas to face the Houston Aeros at the Toyota Center Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.