Moose earn split with Baby Leafs

March 28, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Manitoba Moose concluded a four-game homestand this past week with a pair of games against the St. John's Maple Leafs. In what was likely a first round playoff preview, the teams split a pair of games with Manitoba winning 6-4 on Thursday and St. John's prevailing 7-2 on Saturday.

On Thursday, the teams traded leads several times before the Moose finally exploded for a trio of goals in the third period to win. New acquisition Danny Groulx scored two goals in the victory. On Friday, special teams were the story with St. John's going 4-for-9 with the man advantage including three powerplay goals in a four-goal first period. The Moose struggled on the powerplay, going 1- for-9 on the night.

Next up for the Moose is a three-game road trip. The club meets Hamilton on Wednesday, March 30 on Rogers Sportsnet followed by a meeting with Syracuse April 1 that can be seen on a pay-per-view webcast via www.moosehockey.com. The trip concludes in Binghamton Saturday, April 2.

MOOSE NOTES

Seven Not So Lucky: The seven goals allowed by the Moose in Sunday's 7-2 defeat to the St. John's Maple Leafs was the most goals allowed by the Moose in one game this season. In fact, the Baby Leafs are now the only team to have scored more than five goals on Manitoba in one game, as they have done it twice (02/12/05 – 6-1 @ STJ; 03/26/05 – 7-2 vs. STJ). The last time the Moose allowed seven goals in one game was back on Dec. 13/03 when they lost 7-2 to the Cleveland Barons in Cleveland. So far this year, the Moose themselves have scored six or more goals on seven different occasions.

Streaks Alive Despite Loss: The Manitoba Moose enter the week with a pair of defencemen enjoying lengthy points streaks. Captain Nolan Baumgartner scored his ninth goal of the season in Saturday's 7- 2 loss to the St. John's Maple Leafs and is currently enjoying a five game points streak (2G, 5A). Also, defenceman Kevin Bieksa is also on a five-game points streak thanks to an assist in Saturday's game. He now has two goals and four assists over that span.

Four Also Not So Fortunate: By allowing the St. John's Maple Leafs to score four powerplay goals in Saturday's 7-2 defeat, the Manitoba Moose set a season high. Prior to Saturday's game, the most powerplay goals allowed by the Moose in one game was three back on March 6th in a 5- 4 loss to Rochester at the MTS Centre. The franchise record for the most powerplay goals allowed in a game by the Moose is six, set back on Dec. 16/94 when the Minnesota Moose lost 7-4 to Kansas City.

Sarno Still Eying "Manitoba" Assist Mark: With a pair of assists in Saturday's 7-2 loss to the St. John's Maple Leafs, Manitoba Moose centre Peter Sarno now has 57 assists on the season. That leaves him 10 assists shy of the Manitoba Moose record for assists in a season set by Bill Bowler back in 1998-99. That season, Bowler collected 67 assists. Sarno and the Moose still have 11 games left on the AHL regular season schedule. He is currently second overall in assists in the AHL, 15 behind Binghamton's Jason Spezza. The overall franchise record for assists in a season is 81 set by Stephane Morin back in 1994-95 when he played with the Minnesota Moose.

Groulx Paying Dividends: Newcomer Danny Groulx scored a pair of goals – his first with the Manitoba Moose – to give him five points in four games since joining the team near the Clear Day Deadline. That was Groulx's first two-goal game of his career. Groulx has now had a pair of twopoint games since joining the Moose. In his previous three seasons with Grand Rapids, he only a pair of two-point games in total.

UPCOMING OPPONENTS

Hamilton Bulldogs

Wednesday, March 30, 6:00 p.m. Radio: CJOB 68

Venue: Copps Coliseum TV: Rogers Sportsnet

The Moose meet the Hamilton Bulldogs for the sixth time this season on Wednesday. In five previous meetings, Hamilton has won three times with the Moose winning twice... The Bulldogs have played themselves into a playoff position gaining points in five of their last six games and nine of their last 11. They now sit in fourth place in the North Division, two points ahead of Syracuse... Most recently, Hamilton won a pair of key games in Edmonton against the Road Runners this past weekend... Tomas Plekanec leads the team in scoring with 54 points (24g, 30a) in 70 games... Chris Higgins is the team's leading goal scorer with 26 goals. Higgins has four goals and six points in four games against the Moose this season... Steve Ott has 272 penalty minutes to go along with 38 points (17g, 21a). Ott has three goals in five games against Manitoba... Yann Danis has appeared in 46 of 70 games for Hamilton this season, winning 23 of the team's 31 games (23-16-5) with a 2.42 goals-against average and .921 save percentage... Lee Goren and Ryan Kesler each have six points in five games against Hamilton, with Goren leading the way with four goals... Manitoba has an all-time record of 10-22-1-0 against the Bulldogs, including 4-14-1-0 at Copps Coliseum.

Syracuse Crunch

Friday, April 1, 6:30 p.m. Radio: CJOB 68

Venue: War Memorial at Oncenter TV: PPV Webcast

The Moose meet the Syracuse Crunch for the second time this season on Friday. The Crunch previously defeated Manitoba 5-3 on February 24... Syracuse sits two points behind Hamilton for the fourth and final playoff spot in the North Division... Friday's game will be available for fans to watch online by logging on to www.moosehockey.com then following the link. The cost is $6US to watch the game... Brad Moran, who became the all-time leading scorer in Crunch history last Saturday surpassing former Moose Lonny Bohonos, leads Syracuse in scoring this season with 63 points (25g, 38a)... Centre Mark Hartigan and Joe Motzko are tied for second on the team with 55 points. Hartigan leads the team with 27 goals... Moran, Hartigan and Tim Jackman each have two points against the Moose this season... Other notables on the team include former Moose Zenith Komarniski, who has 13 points (3g, 13a) in 51 games and 87 penalty minutes... Goaltender Karl Goehring has become the number one netminder due to a season-ending injury suffered by Pascal Leclaire back in November. Goehring has done well, sporting a 19-19-0 record with a 2.74 goals-against average and .907 save percentage with three shutouts in 41 appearances... His counterpart, Andrew Penner, has put up good numbers in limited action. In 19 games, he has a 7-9-1 record with one shutout. He also has a 2.62 GAA and .917 save percentage... The Moose are 2-2-1-0 all-time versus the Crunch, including 2-1-0-0 in Syracuse.

Binghamton Senators

Saturday, April 2, 6:05 p.m. Radio: CJOB 68

Venue: Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena

The Binghamton Senators play their fourth and final game of the season against the Moose this Saturday. The Moose won 5-3 back in Binghamton on October 30 and the two teams split a two-game set on December 4th and 5th... The B-Sens are in second place in the East Division with 88 points, one point behind Philadelphia... The B-Sens have only lost five times all season in 44 games when scoring three goals or more (35-5-3-1) and two of those occasions were versus Manitoba. They have only lost once all season when scoring four goals or more, also to Manitoba (31-1-1-0)... Jason Spezza leads the entire AHL with 99 points and is one point away from being the first American Hockey League player to register a 100-point season since Derek Armstrong (2000-01)... Denis Hamel is tied for fourth in the AHL with 33 goals... Other notables include Antoine Vermette with 62 points (24g, 38a) and rookie-of-the-year candidate Brandon Bochenski with 57 points (27g, 30a)... The Senators have six 20-goal scorers with the others being Josh Langfeld (24) and Chris Kelly (21)... Brian Pothier is sixth in the league in points among defencemen with 42 (12g, 30a)... Former Moose Pat Kavanagh has 10 goals and 17 assists in 70 games... Goaltender Ray Emery is 21-18-5 this season with a 2.71 GAA and .908 save percentage... His counterpart, Billy Thompson, is 17-7-2 with a 2.39 GAA and .921 save percentage... Manitoba is 4-2-1-0 all-time against the Senators, and have never lost in Binghamton in three games (3-0-0-0).

PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOMINEE

Nolan Baumgartner

2 GP, 1 G, 3 A, 4 PTS, +1, 4 SHOTS

This past week's Player of the Week nominee for the Manitoba Moose is defenceman Nolan Baumgartner. Baumgartner finished the week with a goal and four points. He had a plus-one rating and four shots on net. Thursday, Baumgartner netted three assists in leading the Moose to a 6-4 win over St. John's. Saturday, Baumgartner scored his ninth goal of the season. He is now tied with teammate Kevin Bieksa for 15th in league scoring amongst defencemen with nine goals and 35 points. Baumgartner is currently riding a five-game scoring streak.



American Hockey League Stories from March 28, 2005


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