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Battle of goaltenders results in 1-0 final

October 15, 2010 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


Manitoba Moose fans missed out on two wins to kick off the season with their team opening the season on the road. But a sellout crowd of 8,800 showed up to MTS Centre expecting to see the Moose extend that streak in the home opener. The result was a goaltending duel ending in a 1-0 Grand Rapids win.

After winning last Saturday in Rockford, Eddie Lack started in net for the Manitoba Moose in their home opener trying to make it two straight wins to start off his AHL career. Lack was tested early and often in Friday's season opener as he turned away five shots through the first five minutes of the game including several chances against while killing off a tripping minor to Lee Sweatt.

With five minutes left in the first period Grand Rapids was fresh into a man advantage with Griffins forward Cory Emmerton returning to the ice after taking a holding penalty. The Moose were still killing a penalty when Grand Rapids turned up ice with the puck and as they tried to enter the Moose zone, defenceman Evan Oberg deflected a pass behind their rush to Sergei Shirokov who turned away on a shorthanded breakaway. Shirokov attempted to deke to the backhand but was denied by Griffins goalie Joey MacDonald.

A minute later the tall Swedish netminder manning the Moose net put on a similar display. Lack made a series of down-and-out saves on Griffins forwards Joakim Andersson and Tomas Tatar that somehow kept the score at 0-0. The first period ended without a goal on the board.

The story of the first was a battle of netminders with both Lack and MacDonald turning away nine shots each. The second period brought much of the same with Lack stopping 21 and MacDonald turning away 15 by the end of the second frame. Few of those chances were harmless with nearly all coming on the powerplay. The Moose had taken 10 minutes in minor penalties and the Griffins, 12 minutes. Yet the score remained tied 0-0 after 40 minutes.

A Grand Rapids goal finally broke the draw with 9:48 left in the game. Eddie Lack stopped the 25th consecutive shot he faced but couldn't locate the rebound before Griffins winger Francis Pare poked home the loose puck for the first goal of the game. The assist went to the Griffins Jamie Johnson.

The Moose applied steady pressure through the game's closing minutes, especially through the final 60 seconds with Lack on the bench. Add to that with 20 seconds remaining the Griffins Brendan Smith took a hooking penalty giving the Moose a brief two-man advantage. In the end Joey MacDonald didn't crack and the Moose home opener ended 1-0, in favour of the visiting Griffins. The final shots in the game were 27-25 for Grand Rapids.

The rematch goes down tomorrow night Saturday, October 16 at MTS Centre with game time at 7:30 p.m. CST.



American Hockey League Stories from October 15, 2010


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