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Moose Bitten by Monsters 6-4 in Game One Loss

April 16, 2011 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Manitoba Moose (0-1) began their seventh trip to the postseason on Saturday afternoon at Quicken Loans Arena while the home team Lake Erie Monsters (1-0) were playing in their first playoff game in franchise history. Both teams traded leads but the Monsters, powered by a three-goal second period, proved playoff-ready in a 6-4 win in front of the 7,908 Lake Erie fans in attendance. Monsters forward Matt Ford helped his team jump out to a 1-0 series lead by scoring twice, including the game winner, while Jason Bacashihua turned away 21 Moose shots.

The Monsters went to the power play early on a delay of game minor penalty to Manitoba's Aaron Volpatti at 0:44. While Lake Erie didn't convert on the power play, they did their damage shortly after.

With the teams evened up Monsters forward Matt Ford won a foot race for the puck in the neutral zone, then cut from the right wing toward the net and sniped a low shot through Eddie Lack at 3:27 of the first period. Ford's unassisted effort was the first Calder Cup Playoff goal in Monsters' franchise history.

The hottest player down the stretch for Manitoba was centre Marco Rosa. The AHL vet recorded 11 points in the final nine games of the season. Not surprisingly, Rosa had an answer to his team's early 1-0 deficit. After winning the faceoff back to defenceman Travis Ramsey, Rosa went to the net and buried a loose puck at 6:47 after Ramsey sent it toward Lake Erie's Jason Bacashihua.

The visitors took the lead at 13:46 when Marco Rosa stole the puck from a Monsters defenceman behind the Lake Erie net then quickly spotted Sergei Shirokov high in the slot. Shirokov, Manitoba's regular season scoring champ, ripped the puck to the top corner past Bacashihua to give the Moose their first lead of the game.

The Monsters showed a lot of energy early on outshooting the visiting Moose 8-5 in the first period. But by the first intermission, it was Manitoba that held a 2-1 lead.

Lake Erie's early goal scorer took a trip to the penalty box at 1:23 of the second period when Matt Ford was singled out for tripping. During the regular season, the Monsters had the league's top penalty kill when at home and it proved to be a good situation for them again in the playoffs.

Penalty killer Justin Mercier poked the puck past Manitoba's point man then blazed away on a shorthanded breakaway. Mercier made a deke to the backhand and tucked the puck inside the post behind the Moose goalie to tie it up 2-2 at 1:41 of the second period.

Lake Erie proved how dangerous both special teams units can be with a power play goal at 9:20 of the second period. Manitoba's Rick Rypien took a roughing call at 8:32, then midway through the minor penalty the Monsters' captain converted a chance in front of the Moose net flipping in a third Monsters goal.

Bradley Malone recently joined the Lake Erie Monsters for his first pro game on Saturday afternoon. The rookie Malone showed poise late in the second period making a tape-to-tape pass to Ryan Stoa from the corner to the far side of the Moose net. Stoa tapped in the puck giving the Monsters a 4-2 lead at 17:33.

Manitoba's power play had ample opportunity to strike in the second period but could not register a goal on four chances. Lake Erie's penalty killers shut down eight minutes of man advantage play and even registered a shorthanded marker early in the frame. The Moose led 2-1 at the first intermission but found themselves down 4-2 just 20 minutes later.

Through a dismal second period for the Moose, Marco Rosa still appeared to be the team's best player on Saturday. He looked good in the third period too with his second of the game just 0:20 into the frame. Rosa's goal, assisted by rookie Bill Sweatt, brought the visitors to within one goal with nearly a full period remaining.

The play developed differently than his first goal, but Lake Erie's Matt Ford scored his second goal from the same spot cutting to the Moose net through the right circle and picking Eddie Lack's five hole at 13:18 of the third period. Ford's second goal gave the Monsters a late and crucial 5-3 lead. With the fifth goal against on 25 shots, the Moose elected to swap goalies bringing in the former Lake Erie goaltender Tyler Weiman.

Not very often do you see a defenceman in the offensive zone while on the penalty kill but rookie d-man Kevin Connauton pinched at the right time finding a loose puck just outside Jason Bacashihua's crease and burying it at 16:56. The shorthanded marker shrank the Monsters' lead to 5-4 with only a few minutes to go.

The Monsters put away the Moose with an empty net goal that travelled the full length of the ice off the stick of Mark Olver. Lake Erie held their 6-4 lead for the remaining 18 seconds to capture their first ever postseason victory, jumping out to a 1-0 series lead over Manitoba. Game 2 of the best-of-seven opening round series goes Sunday at 2 p.m. CT at Quicken Loans Arena. Brian Munz brings you the action live on CJOB 68. Listen onlline at www.cjob.com.

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