Sports stats



Moose Blanked by Penguins 2-0

March 15, 2011 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Manitoba Moose (37-25-1-5) played at home on Tuesday night, which is no shock except that it's pretty rare that the Moose go nearly a month without seeing the MTS Centre in game action. In their first home game since Feb. 16, Manitoba hosted the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (47-18-0-1) in front of 6,572. The Penguins, also recognized as the top ranked team in the AHL, took 38 shots and solved Manitoba's Eddie Lack with a pair of net crashing goals by Geoff Walker and Ben Street. Meanwhile the Moose couldn't find the scoresheet in the 2-0 loss.

In Manitoba's last game against the Penguins on Feb. 8, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton nearly ran the Moose out of their building with their physical play. The Penguins won the game 4-1 and in the process took Moose captain Nolan Baumgartner out of commission for the next 13 games.

If the Moose took their last game against the Penguins as a challange, then the line of Victor Oreskovich, Aaron Volpatti, and Garth Murray answered the call with a very physical forecheck on their first few shifts.

Manitoba's highly regarded penalty kill saw work early and often in the game's opening period. First Joel Perrault was whistled for pinning Penguins captain Ryan Craig to the glass at 5:01. The PK unit took care of that two-minute disadvantage before going back to work at 10:06 with defenceman Ryan Parent singled out for tripping. Again, Manitoba's second ranked penalty kill kept the shots to the perimeter and out of the net.

The Penguins soon realized the best way to solve Manitoba's defence was to crash the net which led to their first goal at 16:54. Kevin Veilleux sent a backhand pass across the slot in front of Eddie Lack that winger Geoff Walker got a stick on while barrelling toward the Moose net. Wilkes-Barre carried their 1-0 lead into the first intermission, outshooting the home team 16-7 in the process.

Even after facing 16 shots in the first period, the worst was not over for Lack as he faced 24 before the game's halfway point. Only one more of those beat Lack but luckily couldn't beat the post as Wilkes-Barre winger Brett Sterling rattled one off the iron from a prime scoring position.

Being decidedly outshot by the visitors, it seemed Manitoba's best chance to even the score would need to come on the power play. Cue a tripping call to Geoff Walker as he hauled down Oreskovich while breaking to the net late in the second period. Shortly after Manitoba's man advantage was upgraded to a five-on-three with Sergei Shirokov getting hooked down by Wilkes-Barre's Joe Vitale at 19:06.

Manitoba had one chance trickle wide of the post and a few others deflected away by Penguins goalie John Curry. One minute into the third period, Wilkes-Barre had effectively killed off the extended Moose power play.

On a goal similar to their first, the Penguins Bryan Lerg tossed the puck into the slot while Ben Street crashed Lack's crease and deflected in his 10th of the season at 14:25 of the third period. The Penguins took a 2-0 lead on the 38th shot of the night the Moose goaltender had faced.

The Moose managed 22 shots on John Curry by the end of 60 minutes but not one of those found their way past the Penguins 'tender. Curry shut the door on the Moose serving the home team their sixth shutout of the season. The Moose host the Penguins in the rematch Wednesday night at MTS Centre. Game time is 7:30 p.m. with Brian Munz and Jim Toth bringing you the action live on CJOB 68.

• Discuss this story on the American Hockey League message board...

American Hockey League Stories from March 15, 2011


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