Moose Drop 4-3 Decision To Griffins

Published on March 19, 2010 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Manitoba Moose dropped a divisional battle on Friday night when they sacrificed a 4-3 decision to the Grand Rapids Griffins in front of 8,800 fans at MTS Centre. Brian Salcido, Sergei Shirokov and Mario Bliznak all scored for Manitoba while Cory Schneider stopped 22 of 26 shots in his 21st loss this season.

The Griffins drew first blood when Brad May capitalized at 4:14. To the right of Cory Schneider's net, May claimed the puck and snipped it between the tenders right shoulder and right goal-post for an early one-goal lead.

It didn't take the visitors long to strike again when Francis Pare, who was standing alone on the doorstep, was fed the puck by Riley Armstrong before he fired it between Schneider's legs for a 2-0 tally.

Manitoba's powerplay unit made their debut at 13:57 when Logan Pyett was put away for holding. With 21 seconds left on the man-advantage, defenceman Brian Salcido slapped the puck from the point and watched it sail through traffic and past goaltender Daniel Larsson to get his club on the board.

The Moose fought hard in the second period and Schneider was making save-after-save to keep his club in the game. At 14:59, Sergei Shirokov escaped on a breakaway and faked-out Larsson to knot the game at two. The tie didn't last for long, however, when Jeremy Williams beat Schneider over his glove hand a mere 21 seconds later.

At 18:30 tempers flared between both lines in the Griffins zone. Most notable of the brawls was between Nathan McIver and Jamie Tardif who squared off in front of Larsson's crease. After several back-and-forth punches the fight ended when McIver toppled on top of Tardif in front of Manitoba's bench. Each player was handed a five-minute fighting major that would carry into the final frame.

At exactly 9:00 into the third period, Mario Bliznak topped the puck over Larsson to tie the game at three with his eighth goal of the season. After the tying goal, Manitoba was leading the shot clock 30-22.

With four minutes remaining in the game, the Griffins invaded the Moose zone. John Vigilante flew towards the net and slid the puck past Schneider's extended left goal pad to confirm a 4-3 victory for his team.

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American Hockey League Stories from March 19, 2010


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