Moose beat Bulldogs 3-2 in OT

Published on December 22, 2007 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


WINNIPEG, MB. -- Reeling from a 4-2 loss Friday night, the Moose were looking to rebound vs. the Bulldogs Saturday night at the MTS Centre. Tied at two after regulation time, Moose defenceman Nathan McIver ended the overtime battle with only 22 seconds left on the clock, receiving first star honours for the goal.

After nearly three minutes of back-and-forth play following the opening face-off, Manitoba's Alexandre Bolduc was called for hooking and the visiting Bulldogs benefited from the game's first powerplay. A couple of shorthanded surges into the Hamilton zone kept pressure off Drew MacIntyre during the man-advantage, and the Bulldogs had tallied one shot to Manitoba's three by the five-minute mark.

With the exception of near Moose goal, in which the slow-moving puck slid from post to post along Jaroslav Halak's goal-line, quality scoring chances were hard to come by for both clubs through the midway point of the opening frame. But the Bulldogs picked up the pace in the latter half of the first, and on the visitor's seventh shot of the game, Duncan Milroy fooled MacIntyre and netted the first goal of the game.

As the second period started and the second Hamilton powerplay ticked down, the Moose set themselves up in the Bulldogs zone. Poised at the corner of the crease, Milan Gajic tipped in Jimmy Sharrow's blue-line slapshot to tie the game at one. 1:24 later, Zack FitzGerald tallied his third of the season, snapping the puck through Halak's five-hole to give the home team their first lead of the game.

Hamilton received their first powerplay chance to tie it back up when Nathan McIver was called for holding at 6:48, but Manitoba killed that man-advantage and maintained their one-goal lead.

Two Bulldogs penalties failed to result in more Moose scoring, and Hamilton took advantage of the tight game once back at five skaters. Stickhandling his way towards the Moose net, Daniel Corso slipped his first of the season under MacIntyre's left pad to tie the game at two.

With Hamilton's Jonathan Ferland in the box to start the third, Manitoba tested Halak but were unable to regain their lead. Near the midway point of the frame, the Bulldogs countered with their fourth powerplay of the game and also failed to break the stalemate, thanks largely to a handful of acrobatic saves by MacIntyre.

As the Bulldogs reached the 30-shot mark, the buzzer sounded to close out regulation time and the game headed to overtime.

A turnaround in the neutral zone resulted in Manitoba's first good overtime scoring chance, but Joel Bouchard tied up Bolduc's breakaway and took a holding penalty as a result. Though a second powerplay goal wasn't in the cards for the Moose, McIver made it happen during four-on-four play, scoring from the near face-off circle with 22 seconds left on the clock to secure an overtime win for Manitoba.

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American Hockey League Stories from December 22, 2007


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