Eller stays hot, but Rivermen fall to Stars

Rookie forward Lars Eller has been red-hot in the month of March, with four goals and nine points in Peoria's five games played this month. Eller's personal hot streak, however, could not help the Rivermen to a road win last night.

Veteran Pascal Pelletier tallied a goal and an assist, and Eller assisted on both Peoria goals, but Aaron Gagnon's 18th goal of the season early in the third was the difference in a 3-2 win for the Texas Stars before 3,909 fans at the Cedar Park Center in suburban Austin.

Peoria's high-octane power play, ranked second in the AHL (63/302, 20.9%), was not firing on all cylinders last night, with only Pelletier's goal at 5:21 of the second period to show for seven opportunities with the man advantage.

LINK to the official game sheet from the AHL website.

Joe Fallon, making his second start for Peoria since coming over from the Chicago organization, made 20 saves in the loss. The Rivermen (30-27-2-6) continue their Texas road trip on Friday night with a 7:35 pm CST start at the Toyota Center in Houston vs. the Aeros (29-28-6-2).

Rick Wamsley's club is in sixth place in the AHL West Division, one point behind fifth-place San Antonio with a game in hand, and trailing Milwaukee (35-23-1-6) by nine points for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Admirals pulled further away from the Rivermen with a 5-1 home win over Lake Erie last night, and play next on Saturday at home vs. the Toronto Marlies.