The Peoria Rivermen had a tough schedule last week after they played two games against the first-place Charlotte Checkers and one game against the second-place Grand Rapids Griffins. Unfortunately, the Rivermen were only able to obtain one point out of a possible six.

Nov. 8 – 5-4 OTL at Charlotte
Zach Boychuk scored the game-winning goal in overtime to lead Charlotte (Carolina Hurricanes) to a 5-4 win over the Rivermen on Thursday night at Time Warner Cable Arena. Anthony Nigro, Anthony Peluso, Derek Nesbitt and Ian Cole all scored goals for Peoria while T.J. Hensick earned three assists. Jake Allen allowed five goals on 41 shots. The Rivermen went 1-for-5 on the man advantage.

Nov. 9 – 4-2 L at Charlotte
The Checkers scored the game’s last three goals in their 4-2 victory over the Rivermen on Friday night. Taylor Chorney opened up the scoring in the first frame on the power play. After Zach Boychuk evened the contest in the second, Derek Nesbitt scored his second in as many games to give the Rivermen a 2-1 lead. Chris Terry would score twice and Justin Faulk would add another in Charlotte’s fourth win against Peoria this season. In his second start of the year, Mike McKenna stopped 39 of 43.

Nov. 10 – 5-3 L vs. Grand Rapids
The Rivermen scored two goals in the opening 2:56 of the first period but were unable to hold on in a 5-3 loss to the Grand Rapids Griffins (Detroit Red Wings) at home in front of 6,641 fans. T.J. Hensick, Derek Nesbitt, and Mark Cundari tallied Peoria’s goals in the loss. Five Grand Rapids players had multi-point evenings, including Francis Pare, who scored the game-winning goal with just 2:36 remaining in the third period. Jake Allen turned aside 32 of the 36 shots he faced. The Rivermen had a power play goal for the third straight game.

Rivermen Notes

• T.J. Hensick had seven points (1G, 6A) in three games played last week, and now has 12 points (3G, 9A) on the year.
• Derek Nesbitt scored a goal in all three games last week. He leads the Rivermen in SOG with 39.
• Ian Cole has stepped up offensively and picked up his first three points (1G, 2A) of the season last week, including a power-play goal.
• In their first nine games the Rivermen went 1-for-36 on the man advantage (2.8%). In their last three games Peoria has gone 3-for-11 (27.3%) on the power play.
• The Rivermen now have a record of 2-7-2-1 and still haven’t won a game on the road (0-3-2-0).

The Rivermen will visit the Rockford IceHogs Wednesday night before they face the Chicago Wolves on Friday and Saturday. Games can be heard on CD Country 107.9 FM. For game updates follow @rivsgameday on Twitter.