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Moose Dogged by Hamilton 6-3

April 8, 2011 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The implications of the game were laid out for both teams. The Manitoba Moose (43-29-1-60) and Hamilton Bulldogs (43-27-2-7) sat tied for first in the North Division at 93 points and only had one another left to play this season. The winner of the weekend series would finish higher in the standings. The visiting Bulldogs opened the scoring and never relinquished their lead. Hamilton scorer Aaron Palushaj buried a hat trick on Manitoba while former Moose goalie Drew MacIntyre made 28 saves in the 6-3 Bulldogs win in front of 8,583 on Friday night.

The Moose spent the opening minutes cycling in Hamilton's end, their closest chance a point shot by Keith Seabrook that bounced off the iron behind Bulldogs goalie Drew MacIntyre. The pressure eventually led to the game's first power play as the Moose forecheck frustrated Hamilton's Danny Masse into taking a cross-checking penalty at 2:43. The home team couldn't capitalize on their first man advantage.

Hamilton went to the power play at 12:38 after Moose leading scorer Sergei Shirokov got over active with his stick in the corner and hauled down the Bulldog defender. The Moose prevented a conversion, then as Shirokov left the penalty box penalty killer Alexandre Bolduc raced away on a breakaway. Bolduc was denied on the chance keeping the game tied 0-0.

The Moose went back to work on the power play late in the period when Hamilton's Jimmy Bonneau dumped the puck over the glass in his own zone. That penalty ran out at 19:49, as did the remaining 11 seconds. Manitoba outshot Hamilton 13-10 in the first period but the goalies, Eddie Lack for Manitoba and MacIntyre for Hamilton, were perfect through 20 minutes.

The most dangerous line in the AHL lately has been Hamilton's first line of Nigel Dawes, Dustin Boyd, and Aaron Palushaj. They struck at 7:30 of the second when a slap shot by Dawes from the left circle bounced to Palushaj crashing from the right. Palushaj, who had scored 19 other times this season, knew what to do with it and made the easy tap in giving his team a 1-0 lead.

The Moose didn't help their comeback cause by taking a roughing penalty at 8:26. Alexandre Bolduc spent less than a minute in the box when Aaron Palushaj struck again on a one-time shot from the bottom of the right circle. Palushaj's second goal of the game propped up the visitors 2-0 at 8:41 of the second period.

Manitoba's checking line avenged at least one of those two quick goals with one of their own at 11:08. Aaron Volpatti streaked into the Hamilton zone down teh left wing wall and sent a hard snapshot on Drew MacIntyre that the 'Dogs goaltender got a piece of, but not enough. The puck trickled in behind the former Moose stopper, cutting Hamilton's lead to 2-1.

Bodies had been flying through the whole first half of the game but the two biggest hits involved Winnipeg-born Bulldogs sniper Nigel Dawes. The AHL's leading goal scorer was stood up hard by Manitoba's Marco Rosa, then on the same shift Dawes took his frustration out on Moose winger Jason Jaffray near the benches.

The Moose were caught off-guard late in the second period as another Bulldog from Winnipeg, Dustin Boyd, skated away on a near breakaway. Sergei Shirokov's stickwork resulted in his second hooking minor that prevented another Hamilton goal. For the time being.

Shirokov went away at 16:27. Not long after, Dustin Boyd avenged his stolen breakaway by stuffing in a loose puck in front of the Moose goal at 17:26. Boyd's 19th of the season gave the Bulldogs at 3-1 lead the visiting team would carry into the second intermission.

When Manitoba's power play is working, Mark Flood and Marco Rosa are often the catalysts. The Moose defenceman and centre connected at 3:28 of the third period. First Flood dished to Rosa from the point to the half wall, then Rosa circled into the slot and picked the top blocker side of the Hamilton net.

Rosa's goal cut the visitor's lead to one goal, but for a very short period of time. As soon as Hamilton entered Manitoba's zone, a scramble in front of Eddie Lack ensued. The end result was a loos puck between the circles that Aaron Palushaj swooped in and fired past Lack to complete his hat trick, just 20 seconds after Manitoba's last goal. The Bulldogs led 4-2 with 16:12 left in the third period.

Moose winger Shawn Weller hadn't scored for awhile but he didn't forget how to. Weller went hard to the net, as hard-nosed goals often begin, and took a backhand pass from Alexandre Bolduc before going to the backhand and sliding the puck under Drew MacIntyre for his 12th of the season at 11:26 of the third period.

Time and time again, the Bulldogs found a way to answer back and did so immediately following Manitoba's third goal of the night. At 13:03, a costly turnover in the Moose zone resulted in Hamilton's Andrew Conboy gaining posession high in the slot with Manitoba's goalie scrambling to regain position. Before he could, Conboy fired his 13th goal of the season into an open Moose net.

Hamilton's 5-3 lead turned into 6-3 two minutes later after another turnover in the Moose zone was converted by Hamilton on a tic-tac-toe play ending with Bulldogs forward Ian Schultz wristing the puck high on Lack while he slid across the crease. The Moose hole grew to three goals deep with exactly 5:00 to play.

The Moose could not assemble any kind of comeback in the remaining minutes and dropped the first of two games to Hamilton by a score of 6-3. Eddie Lack faced 42 shots in the Moose net while Drew MacIntyre stopped 28 of 31 shots by Manitoba.

Still fighting for a better playoff position, the Moose host the Bulldogs one final time on Saturday night at MTS Centre for game 80 of the regular season. Game time is 7:30 p.m. CST with a special season ending CJOB pre-game show beginning at 6:05 p.m. Listen online at www.cjob.com.

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