Barons lose another late lead, fall to Peoria Rivermen

Peoria scored with just under six minutes left to break a tie and added an empty-net goal to post a 4-2 win over the Barons on Tuesday night at the Cox Convention Center.

It was Oklahoma City's fifth consecutive loss. In three of the last four losses, opponents have scored the go-ahead goal late in the third period.

“That's been happening quite a bit this year,” said coach Todd Nelson. “That's the thing that's bothersome. Teams are scoring timely goals against us. I know we're young. But we have to recognize as a group you have to weather the storm.”

All five losses would have been by one goal if the Rivermen hadn't scored an empty-netter with 21 seconds left.

“These last four games I don't think we've deserved a better fate than we've gotten,” said team captain Josh Green. “We're losing tight games because we're not working hard enough to find ways to win.”

The turning point came midway through the second period. The Barons led 1-0 and were in position to take a two-goal lead.

Taylor Hall, who scored his sixth goal of the season to give OKC the 1-0 lead, used some nifty stick work to get Peoria goaltender Jake Allen down, but Hall's pass missed Mark Arcobello.

“I didn't see a yawning (open) cage. I saw a half-open net,” Hall said. “My backhand probably isn't my strong suit. I have a pretty big curve on my stick. If I had gotten the pass to Arco, he would have had an empty net. I just missed (Arcobello) by a millimeter.”