Cottonmouth bounce back to beat Peoria

PEORIA, Ill. — The Columbus Cottonmouths bounced back from a rout on Friday night to beat Peoria 3-1 on Saturday night.

The Snakes scored the first three goals of the game, one in each period.

Louis Belisle scored on a power play just 2:50 into the game. Kyle Thomas and Shawn Bates had the assists.

Thomas scored a short-handed goal at 12:12 of the second period for a 2-0 lead.

Neilsson Arcibal put the Snakes up 3-0 at 16:25 of the final period. Max Cook and Matt Gingera had the assists.

Peoria didn’t break through against Andrew Loewen until Josh Harris scored at 18:15 of the third period.

Loewen stopped 28 of the 29 shots he faced.

Peoria had beaten the Snakes 7-1 on Friday.

Columbus, which has gone 12-2 since an 0-7 start, is fifth in the SPHL standings with 24 points, one behind Louisiana. Peoria is tied with Knoxville for second with 30. Pensacola leads with 34.

The Snakes return to the ice on Friday at Louisiana.

This story was originally published December 28, 2014 at 8:31 AM with the headline "Cottonmouth bounce back to beat Peoria."