Moose Extinguish Flames, 4-2

Published on October 29, 2008 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Manitoba Moose came back from a 1-0 deficit and scored three goals in five-minutes to beat the Quad City Flames 4-2, extending their winning streak to five-games. Captain Mike Keane earned his first goal of the season, Michael Grabner netted two and goaltender Karl Goehring saved 33 of 35 shots for his first victory with the club.

Near the three-minute mark of the opening period, Manitoba defenseman Trevor Ludwig was dealt the game's first infraction and Quad City's power play unit made its debut. The Moose limited the Flames scoring opportunities on goaltender Karl Goehring and killed the man-advantage to keep the game scoreless through the early minutes of the first.

At 4:50 Quad City's Kyle Greentree was fined for slashing, giving Manitoba a 50-second opportunity to capitalize with an extra-man. The penalty expired before the Moose could break Matt Keetley and the teams went back to even strength.

At 7:40 the Flames opened the scoring as a pass from Kyle Greentree opened the backdoor for Adam Cracknell, putting the home team up by one.

The Moose received their second power play opportunity when Peter Vandermeer was sent to the box for elbowing. Manitoba was only able to register two attempts and went zero for two on the PP.

With five-minutes to go in the first, the Moose earned the equalizer. Although Keetley stopped the initial shot and the puck was on the way out of the danger zone, the Flames defensemen fumbled and sent the puck straight to Michael Grabner who fired a shot into the back of the Flames net.

With little recovery time for the home club, Moose Captain Mike Keane scored a quick second goal, with help from Alexandre Bolduc, to put the Moose in their first lead of the game at 2-1.

Even though the Flames were outshooting the Moose 15-9, the visitors were the next to score again. Grabner netted his second of the night - both assisted by Raymond Sawada - snapping the puck passed Keetley ending the first period on top of the Flames, 3-1.

The second stanza started with flaring tempers as Pierre-Cedric Labrie and Peter Vandermeer dropped their gloves in the Moose's turf. Labrie hammered Vandermeer with several solid blows before both players fell to the ice and were reprimanded with five-minute fighting majors each.

The Flames were handed their second power play as defenseman Daniel Rahimi was called with a tripping minor. The penalty perished without a single shot on Goehring and both clubs' went scoreless on all four man-advantages.

Alexandre Bolduc's holding minor gave the Flames a two-minute five-on-four, but solid saves by Goehring halted any opposition scoring chances.

With 5:37 to go in the second, Warren Peters slipped the puck through Goehring's five-hole to tighten the gap at 3-2 on the Flames 25th shot of the night.

Moose rookie, Mario Bliznak, served the first penalty of the final frame for hooking. Manitoba's penalty killers, fourth in the AHL, looked sharp by blocking the Flames from tying up the game.

After an action-packed first two periods, the pace of play seemed to slow down with minimal chances and equal back-and-fourth play between the two clubs.

At 8:19 Zack FitzGerald revved up the tempo with a holding penalty, giving the Flames their fifth power play of the night. The penalty timed-out and eventually so did the game, as Jason Jaffray snapped an empty netter and secured a 4-2 victory over the Flames, extending the Moose's winning-streak to five consecutive games.

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American Hockey League Stories from October 29, 2008


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