Moose bite back, beat Wolves 4-1

April 2, 2008 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


WINNIPEG, MB. - The Manitoba Moose were seeking vengeance for Tuesday night's 5-4 loss to the Chicago Wolves, and the club found what they were looking for by winning Wednesday's rematch 4-1. Defenceman Danny Groulx earned a goal and an assist in the game, while rookie goalie Cory Schneider stopped 15 shots for his 10th win in 11 starts.

Nearly seven minutes of uninterrupted play resulted in only one shot on Schneider and his Wolves counterpart Ondrej Pavelec. Two minutes and one visiting shot later, Chicago's Chad Denny took an interference penalty and offered the Moose the game's first powerplay. Though the club couldn't score on the man-advantage, Manitoba tested Pavelec twice to assume their first shot lead of the game.

That shot-lead translated into a goal-lead with just under six minutes left in the period. As the Moose carried play back into the Wolves zone, Groulx was fed the puck at the top of the far face-off circle, at which point he fired it just inside Pavelec's right goal-post to give his club a 1-0 lead.

After the goal, two more Chicago penalties kept Manitoba on the powerplay for the rest of the period. The Wolves killed the first penalty, but the Moose beat Pavelec on the second. Poised on the left wing, Colby Genoway bounced the puck off the end boards and back out to Greg Classen, who scored his 10th of the season on a sharp-angle shot.

Two minutes into the second period, Juraj Simek added to Manitoba's lead. With a cluster of players crowding Pavelec's crease, the Slovakian rookie powered the puck around the net and wrapped it into the crowd, where it bounced off a defender's skate and into the net. The goal was Manitoba's third in seven shots.

For Chicago, it would take five shots to break their goose egg. Four minutes after Manitoba's goal, winger Colin Stuart slapped the puck past Schneider's glove to put the Wolves back within two.

Despite good chances at both ends of the ice, the goalies ensured both lamps stayed unlit through to the end of the second, enabling the Moose to carry their 3-1 lead into the final frame.

Manitoba's penalty killers were called into action early in the third as a trio of Moose penalties kept the club down a man through to the game's final eight minutes. At that time, Wolves forward Darren Haydar took a roughing penalty and both clubs played four-on-four heading into Manitoba's third powerplay. Although the home team broke the 20-shot mark on the man-advantage, Pavelec strove and stretched to stop the puck and maintain the 3-1 score.

The Wolves opted for an extra attacker in the final two minutes, and thus Pavelec could do nothing to prevent Daniel Rahimi's empty-netter that sealed Manitoba's 4-1 victory. With the win, the Moose split their season series vs. the Western Conference leaders and broke a three-game winless skid.

LOOKING AHEAD: The Moose close out their regular season home schedule Friday and Saturday nights vs. Toronto.

NEXT GAME: FRIDAY, APRIL 4 (MTS CENTRE - WINNIPEG, MB.)



American Hockey League Stories from April 2, 2008


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central