Live from Carver Arena in Peoria, your Baby Blues are taking on the Little Leafs tonight.
Peoria, under new coach Rick Wamsley, enters the match with a record of 19-13-1-3, good for fourth place in the AHL's West Division, two points back of third-place Rockford with four games in hand on the IceHogs.
From the official Game Notes for tonight:
Tonight's Matchup
Recent Action: This will be the second and final meeting this season between the Rivermen and the Toronto Marlies. The Rivermen lost 3-2 on Dec. 30 in Toronto. The Marlies jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first and scored again in the third. The Rivermen were able to make a comeback scoring the final two goals of the game but fell short. It was their first meeting since January 12, 2007 and Peoria's first trip to Toronto since October 22, 2006.
Peoria is 2-3-0-0 against the Marlies all time and 1-1-0-0 both at Carver Arena. Peoria lost their third straight game on Saturday when they fell 3-2 in a shootout to the Chicago Wolves. Nicholas Drazenovic and Jonas Junland scored in regulation. Bryce Lampman and Aaron Palushaj collected two assists apiece. Ben Bishop stopped 36 of 38 shots and took his second shootout loss of the season. It was the first time Bishop had dropped back-to-back games since Nov. 13 and 18.
Toronto snapped a four-game losing streak last Wednesday against the Rivermen at Ricoh Coliseum. Since then they are 1-0-1 after beating Milwaukee on Saturday and dropping a 4-3 decision to Rockford IceHogs at the Rockford Metro Centre. Andre Deveaux scored his team leading 10th goal along with Kyle Calder and Tyler Bozak. Former New York Islanders goalie Joey MacDonald took the loss, stopping 24 of 28 shots.
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Peoria: Hannu Toivonen (G), Danny Richmond (D), Bryce Lampman (D), Pascal Pelletier, Aaron Palushaj, Julian Talbot (F).
Toronto: Adam Munro (G), Brendan Mikkelson (D), Jonas Frogren (D), Ben Simon, Kyle Rogers, Jay Rosehill (F).