The Manitoba Moose dropped their third overtime game this season with 5-4 decision to the Hamilton Bulldogs on Saturday night in front of 13,582 at MTS Centre. With 1:07 left in the fourth period, Hamilton's P.K. Subban netted the game-winner on goaltender Cory Schneider to split the club's second series this season.
The Moose came out of the gates hungry, situating themselves in the visiting zone and firing two shots on Curtis Sanford in the opening minutes. The home team drew the first penalty of the night when Nolan Baumgartner was called-out for roughing at 5:40. Despite racking up three shots on the man-advantage, Hamilton was stifled by Manitoba's penalty kill unit and starting net minder Cory Schneider.
By the mid-way point of the first period, Hamilton took the shot lead 10-3 and quickly translated that into a goal lead. Mathieu Carle wired the puck from inside the red circle and the bullet flew in between Schneider and his right goal-post to open the scoring at 10:54.
Manitoba earned back-to-back penalties, and a five-on three advantage heading into the second period, but the club didn't capitalize on either advantage and extended their powerplay drought even further.
A mere 2:04 into the second stanza and directly after their penalty expired, the Bulldogs extended their lead. David Desharnais' initial shot was stopped by the post, but Mathieu Carle slapped the rebound into the open back door for his second of the night, 2-0.
With Mario Bliznak serving time for hooking, the ‘Dogs found the back of the net once again. Sergei Kostitsyn inched in on Schneider and topped the puck over the tender to take a three-goal lead.
Less than a minute later the Moose broke their goose-egg. With a sleek across-the net pass from Sergei Shirokov, Erik Christensen tipped the puck in between Sanford's legs to get on the board, 3-1.
Moments later, Evan Oberg blasted the puck from the blueline and veteran forward Marty Murray backhanded the disc into the mesh to inch closer, 3-2.
Brian Salcido gave the Bulldogs their third powerplay of the night when he was put away for high-sticking at 12:30. Planted in the Moose zone, David Desharnais flipped the puck over Schneider's extended goal pad to double his clubs lead.
A defensive slip up by Hamilton allowed Sergei Shirokov to escape on a breakaway and notch his team-leading ninth goal of the season to put his team within one, 4-3, heading into the third period.
The Manitoba Moose ended their powerplay scoring drought at 10:33 of the final frame. Marco Rosa teed up the puck at the point and drove it straight into the net to knot the game at four goals apiece.
The teams battled back and forth for the remainder of the game, but neither club could score the deciding goal. Nathan McIver suffered a late delay of game penalty and the Moose embarked on overtime down an attacker.
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