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Moose Head West

March 8, 2011 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The key to a successful road trip is to pick up wins early, which is what the Manitoba Moose were able to do in the first two games of their current West Division trip. They lost game three of the trip on Sunday and will regroup in Oklahoma City on Tuesday night when they visit the Barons. The North Division continues to be an unpredictable cluster of teams as the Moose finished the week tied with Hamilton for first, but only leading the fifth-placed Abbotsford Heat by three points.

Friday, March 4, 2011: Manitoba 4, Peoria 3 (SO) The Moose played Peoria for the fourth time this season, securing their fourth win over the Rivermen in a shootout decision. Neither goalie lacked any action with Eddie Lack and Jake Allen combining for 82 shots against in 65 minutes of regulation. The Moose built a 3-1 lead in the second period that didn't last. Peoria bridged the gap with less than a minute left to play on a goal by Dave Scatchard. Then following overtime, Lack was the sharper Ttender stopping five of seven chances before rookie Bill Sweatt scored the shootout winner.

Saturday, March 5, 2011: Manitoba 4, Milwaukee 2 Manitoba's power play converted for the first time in eight games, which proved to be the most opportune moment to as it helped the Moose capture their third consecutive road win. The power play marker scored by Yann Sauve was the goal of his pro career. Goalie Tyler Weiman made his first start for the Moose since Feb. 16 and stopped 30 of 32 shots in a 4-2 win.

Sunday, March 26, 2011: Manitoba 2, Chicago 3 Both teams were completing a busy weekend of three games in three days but the Moose appeared to be far worse for wear. The Wolves piled on 16 shots in the first period, only scoring once on Eddie Lack, but opened up a 3-0 lead in the second period. Manitoba eventually scored late in the second period on a shorthanded breakaway by Garth Murray. Then with Yann Sauve's second career goal in the third period, the Moose came close to overcoming their sluggish start but rookie goalie Edward Pasquale shut the door.

Moose Notes

THE ROAD REPORT: Oklahoma City marks the halfway point of Manitoba's seven-game West Division road trip on which they're currently 2-1-0-0. Their overall record on the road is 16-13-0-4, ranking them 18th in the AHL with a road winning percentage of 0.545. While on the road, Manitoba averages 2.61 goal for per game which is slightly lower than their season average of 2.78. Road goals against average is 2.79, higher compared to a season average of 2.52 goals against. Manitoba's special teams while on the road ranks last in power play (9.5%) but is the league's fifth best on the penalty kill (86.4%).

THE WAITING GAME: Manitoba's rookie defenceman Yann Sauve didn't play a game this season until Nov. 26, then playing with Victoria of the ECHL. If that wait wasn't long enough, he scored his first goal on Mar. 5 in his 26th game with the Moose. There was no wait for his second goal as he scored in his next game on Mar. 6. During his first professional season, Sauve has played 38 games in three different leagues starting with eight games in Victoria (ECHL), 27 games with Manitoba (AHL), and also a brief three game call-up with the Vancouver Canucks (NHL) in February.

GARTH'S A KILLER: All that is asked of a penalty killer is to keep the opposition from scoring. A goal for while shorthanded is a nice added bonus. Garth Murray scored on a shorthanded breakaway on Sunday giving him three shorthanded markers this season. He's scored five goals in total since joining the Moose on Dec. 11. Murray has been an important edition to Manitoba's penalty kill unit that ranks second in the league at 85.5%. In 38 games this season, Murray has eight points (5g, 3a).

Upcoming Opponents

@ Barons - Mar. 8 - 7:05 p.m. @ Aeros - Mar. 11 - 7:35 p.m. @ Rampage - Mar. 12 - 7:00 p.m. @ Aeros - Mar. 13 - 4:05 p.m.

The Moose play four more West Division games this week before returning home for eight home games through the rest of March. The next time the Moose will see the inside of MTS Centre is on Mar. 15 when they host Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Player of the Week Nominee

Keith Seabrook

Acquired on Mar. 4 by the Moose on on loan from Abbotsford, defenceman Keith Seabrook scored in his first game with ManitobaI Followed up strong debut with two assists in his second game with MooseI Currently third among Moose d-men with 23 points (5g, 18a) in 51 games this season...

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