Moose Tame Rampage, 5-2

Published on November 20, 2008 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Manitoba Moose gave up the first goal of the night but answered with five to beat the San Antonio Rampage 5-2 in front of 6140 fans at the MTS Centre. Cory Schneider made franchise history with his tenth consecutive win, the longest of any Moose goaltender and Mark Cullen netted a hat trick to earn first star honors.

With Al Montoya backstopping the visiting net, San Antonio started strong at the opposite end of the ice by firing two quick shots on Cory Schneider and capitalizing on the second one. Left winger, Brett MacLean, snuck the puck between Schneider's glove and the left goal post to put the Rampage in the first lead of the game at 48 seconds.

By the five-minute mark, San Antonio had tallied four shots to Manitoba's zero leading into the first penalty of the game, a holding minor to San Antonio's David Schlemko. The Moose tied things up on the powerplay netting their first shot of the night, courtesy of Mark Cullen.

At 10:18 Jason Jaffray broke into the visitors' zone and went top shelf on Montoya to earn his tenth goal of the season and the Moose's first lead of the game, 2-1.

Rough-and-tumble winger Francis Lessard and Moose winger Raymond Sawada began a punching quarrel, resulting in five-minutes fighting majors each, with an extra elbowing penalty to Lessard. The Moose went two-for-two on the powerplay as Cullen netted his second of the night to put the Moose on top of the Rampage, 3-1.

Seven minutes into the second period, Rampage defenseman Jonas Ahnelov took a holding penalty and offered the Moose their third five-on-four of the game. San Antonio's penalty killers limited Manitoba to one shot, however, and the home team couldn't extend their lead on the man-advantage.

Tempers flared and fists flew near the midway point of the second as Zack FitzGerald and Adam Keefe met for a brief fight in the neutral zone. FitzGerald dominated the scrap and both players were reprimanded with fighting majors.

In the aftermath of the fight, Manitoba netted their fourth goal of the game when Jason Krog snapped the puck between Montoya's legs to put his squad up 4-1.

At 9:48 Alexandre Bolduc's interference fine gave the visitors their first powerplay of the match-up. The Moose cleared the puck on two occasions and killed the two-minutes without allowing too much action on Schneider.

The Moose went on the penalty kill early in the third but Schneider denied all opposing opportunities and the play continued to travel evenly between both zones.

Darryl Bootland's interference call followed by Mike Keane's cross-checking penalty gave the Rampage a five-on-three late in the third period. Both penalties expired without any action on the scoreboard and Manitoba led San Antonio in shots 23-19.

At 17:44 Guillaume Desbien gave the Rampage their final powerplay of the night. With a crowd in front of Schneider's net, Derek Nesbitt netted the Rampage's second goal, tightening the gap 4-2.

The Rampage opted to pull Montoya in the final minutes of the third, but the extra attacker wouldn't make a difference and Cullen earned his third of the night on an empty net to secure a 5-2 victory for the Moose.

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American Hockey League Stories from November 20, 2008


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