Moose Down Rivermen 6-1
October 20, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release
Winnipeg, MB (October 20, 2005) - The Manitoba Moose defeated the Peoria Rivermen on Thursday night by a 6-1 score. Center Troy Riddle scored for Peoria, but that lone goal was far from enough to keep the Rivermen in the game. Curtis Sanford suffered the loss in goal for the Rivermen, making 23 saves on 28 shots.
Through the first half of the first period, the Rivermen and the Moose struggled against one another without registering any goals. Both teams had chances to score, but Manitoba's opportunities were more numerous and of a better quality, mainly because the Moose had three power-plays in the early-going. The Peoria penalty-killing unit, however, successfully staved off minor penalties to Dennis Wideman, D. J. King, and Jon DiSalvatore.
After failing to capitalize on those three early penalties to Peoria, Manitoba broke through with the first goal of the game at even strength at 10:13. The goal came on a pretty tic-tac-toe passing play as the Rivermen defense was slow in getting back to support goaltender Curtis Sanford. Moose right wing Alexandre Burrows started the play by entering the Peoria zone and dishing off the puck to center Josh Green. Green then got Sanford moving laterally with a slick pass to Mike Brown, who put the puck into the net before Sanford could move back across the yawning goal.
In the wake of that goal, the two teams returned to back-and-forth play that produced no scoring. The first period ended with the Moose leading 1-0 in goals and 9-6 in shots on goal.
In stark contrast to the first period, Manitoba wasted little time in scoring during the second period. Just 49 seconds into the frame, Moose winger Jesse Schultz skated down the right wing and snapped a quick shot over Sanford's left shoulder.
A four-on-four situation developed at 6:49 of the second period, when the referee whistled both teams for a minor penalty. The Moose took advantage of the more open play, getting a goal to go up 3-0. Center Josh Green made it happen, as he collected the puck along the boards just above the right corner, dashed to the front of the net, and lifted the biscuit into the upper reaches of the goal while fighting off two Peoria defenders. The tally came at the 7:11 mark.
The situation grew bleaker for the Rivermen in the final minutes of the second. During a Moose power play, Josh Green and Alexandre Burrows combined to set up right wing Jozef Balej on a nice passing play, and Balej beat Sanford with a shot from the right circle. With 1:05 remaining until the second intermission, Manitoba claimed a commanding 4-0 lead.
Center Troy Riddle buoyed Peoria's hopes to stay in the game by responding to that late Manitoba goal. Perhaps catching the Moose by surprise, Riddle took a nice feed near the left face-off dot from winger Brendan Brooks and beat Moose netminder Wade Flaherty to the stick side. Down 4-1, the Rivermen faced a three-goal deficit heading into the third period.
The scoring in the game died down during the early portion of the third period. But momentum in the game swung back to Manitoba about midway through the final period when Peoria's D. J. King drew a major penalty for charging by leveling Manitoba's Gustav Engman. The Moose then received a five-on-three advantage after Troy Riddle was called for tripping soon thereafter. Manitoba converted the opportunity with a surgical pass through the Peoria defense by Balej to Craig Darby at the right side of the net. Darby made an easy tap-in at 12:48 for a 5-1 Moose lead.
When the Moose were called for a tripping penalty at 16:07 of the third, the Rivermen pulled goalie Curtis Sanford to take a six-on-four man advantage. The move back-fired, however, as Manitoba center Nathan Smith was able to carry the puck out of his own zone and flip it down the rink into the empty Peoria net for a 6-1 lead with less than three minutes to go.
The Moose held on to that five-goal lead the rest of the way to post a victory in their 2005-06 home opener. In addition to out-scoring the Rivermen, the Moose also out-shot them on this night by a count of 29-24.
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