Marlies take first blood in OT

April 15, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


Tensions were high in Game 1 of the North Division Semi-final between the Manitoba Moose and Toronto Marlies, especially when the hard-fought battle headed to overtime. But only five minutes into the extra period, Marlies sniper Bates Battaglia fired the game-winner past Cory Schneider to give Toronto a 3-2 victory and a 1-0 series lead.

At 2:10 Manitoba's powerplay unit made their first appearance when Justin Pogge was handed a minor for interference, served by Jeremy Williams. An array of misdirected shots kept the home teams count at three until play returned to even-strength.

Raymond Sawada returned the favour at 9:04 when he was put away for hooking, but like the Moose, the Marlies were unable to break their goose-egg on their opening powerplay.

Opening the second period the Marlies were leading in shots 12-9 and had placed themselves firmly in the Moose zone. Net minder Cory Schneider made acrobatic save after acrobatic save to ensure the game remained scoreless.

At 6:34 Kyle Rogers flew down the right side of the ice and slapped the puck from outside the red circle and into the net to open the scoring for the Marlies.

Toronto's Darryl Boyce suffered a slashing call after the goal to give the Moose their second man-advantage. The Marlies wouldn't enjoy their lead for long as Guillaume Desbiens tucked the puck between Pogge and his right goal post to knot the game at one on the powerplay.

At 13:26 the Marlies regained their lead. After Schneider made the first save on Alex Foster's attempt, the bullet was nudged over the line by Ryan Hamilton to put the Marlies in a 2-1 lead.

Three minutes later the Moose responded. With a pass from Mark Cullen, Raymond Sawada nipped the puck passed Pogge to tie things up at two.

With the Moose leading in shots 38-22, neither team could break the tie and the clubs were forced into overtime.

Overtime

Five minutes into overtime Schneider was faced with a two-on-one and Bates Battaglia snapped the puck in the back door to earn a 3-2 victory over the Moose.

LOOKING AHEAD

The Manitoba Moose host the Marlies for Game 2 of the North Division Semi-Finals on Friday night at the MTS Centre.

NEXT GAME

Friday, April 17, 2009 - 7:30 p.m. @ MTS Centre

(7:05pm on CJOB Radio with Brian Munz & Chris Neilson)



American Hockey League Stories from April 15, 2009


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