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Moose Sink Admirals 4-2 On Saturday Night

March 5, 2011 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


Lately first place has been a temporary title for teams at the top of the North Division. Regardless, the Manitoba Moose (33-22-1-5) shared the lead entering Saturday night's game against the Milwaukee Admirals (35-16-4-7) who sit on top of their own division in the West. The Moose scored first and stayed out front to win the battle of top teams in front of 7,264 at the Bradley Center. Forward Guillaume Desbiens scored the game winning goal late in the second period while Tyler Weiman made 28 saves in his first start for the Moose since Feb. 16 securing a 4-2 win and once again retaining first place in the North Division.

If first impressions really are important, the Moose coaching staff think the world of defenceman Keith Seabrook who scored in his first game for the Moose on Friday night. For an early encore on Saturday, he fired a shot from the point that Sergei Shirokov deflected in giving Seabrook his second point in two games with Manitoba. The Moose jumped out to an early lead with Shirokov's 18th goal just 2:11 into the first period.

Moose goaltender Tyler Weiman made his 22nd appearance between the pipes on Saturday with his last start on Feb. 16. The Milwaukee Admirals made him feel unwelcome in his return peppering him on their first power play midway through the first period. Weiman was solid early in the man advantage but couldn't track a slap shot by Milwaukee's Grant Lewis at 9:47. Lewis found the twine behind Weiman's glove hand evening the score 1-1.

Manitoba's first power play of the game came at 16:49 when Patrick Coulombe was called for tripping. But that man advantage was short lived because Moose winger Victor Oreskovich was whistled down less than a minute later for hooking.

The penalties ran out, as did the first 20 minutes of regulation and the teams sat knotted 1-1. The Admirals counted 12 shots on Weiman while Manitoba recorded nine shots on Mark Dekanich through one period.

Moose centre Joel Perrault missed 27 games with a lower body injury sustained on an early January road trip. He returned on this early March road trip playing his first game back on Saturday in Milwaukee. He found the gamesheet early in the second when he was called for holding at 2:43 of the middle frame.

A five-on-three opportunity is just the prescription an ailing Moose power play needed. Manitoba, who had not scored on the power play in seven previous games, finally capitalized at 8:34 of the second period when rookie defenceman Yann Sauve scored his first AHL goal.

The next marker won't go down as a power play goal, but Guillaume Desbiens extended Manitoba's lead to 3-1 just as Milwaukee's Scott Ford returned to the ice after serving for a hooking call. Desbiens used a heavy screen in front of Mark Dekanich to his advantage sending a wrist shot from the high slot over the goalie's left shoulder with 24 seconds remaining in the period.

The Admirals entered the third period trailing by two and were able to help their cause 2:59 in. Defenceman Aaron Johnson deftly sent his point shot wide of the Moose net along the ice where Ryan Flynn waited to deflect in the puck. Flynn's fifth goal of the season closed Manitoba's third period lead to 3-2.

That goal was nearly for naught later in the period but Admirals goalie Mark Dekanich made a great pad save on Moose centre Alexandre Bolduc. With six minutes remaining, Bolduc cut to the net all alone after taking a feed from Sergei Shirokov, but was denied when he tried to reach around the sprawling goalie with the puck.

Time was not on Mark Van Guilder's side when the Milwaukee defenceman cleared the puck over the glass with 3:24 left in the third period. Van Guilder was sent away for delay of game costing his team two valuable minutes while trailing 3-2. As he returned to the ice, Dekanich left for the extra attacker.

Tyler Weiman came up huge for the Moose with under a minute to go by robbing Milwaukee's Gabriel Bourque on a one-time chance. It was his 28th and most important save of the night, as Cody Hodgson later scored the empty net goal securing a 4-2 win for the Moose over the Admirals.

The Moose carry on through the West Division tomorrow in Chicago. They'll wind up a string of three games in three days against the Wolves at Allstate Arena with puck drop at 3 p.m. CST. Brian Munz brings you the action live on CJOB 68. Hear it online at www.cjob.com.

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