Moose Ice Penguins, 6-4

January 30, 2010 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Manitoba Moose put an end to their six-game losing streak when they beat the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 6-4 on Saturday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza. Sergei Shirokov notched a pair of goals while Mike Keane, Marco Rosa, Dusty Collins and Matt Pettinger rounded out the scoring. Cory Schneider earned his 20th victory this campaign by stopping 24 of 28 shots.

The Moose and Penguins matched eachother shot-for-shot through the first three minutes of play, but Cory Schneider and Brad Thiessen kept an early opening goal off the clock.

An interference penalty to Matt Pettinger at 3:42 gave Wilkes-Barre/Scranton their first man advantage of the night. The home team came up big on the powerplay when Luca Caputi and Dustin Jeffrey broke into Manitoba's zone on an odd man rush. With a pass from Caputi, Jeffrey fired the puck into the open back door to put his club in a 1-0 lead.

But 5:42 later, the Moose got back on even terms. After a failed scoring attempt by Lawrence Nycholat, Captain Mike Keane picked up the loose rebound and jammed it past the goal line to notch his ninth of the season and tie the game at one.

Manitoba benefited from their first powerplay of the night when Zach Sill was put away for slashing at 11:21. Nycholat initiated the play when he fired a slapshot from the blueline that bounced off the cross bar. Sergei Shirokov, eager to end his four game scoring drought, pounced on the stray puck and smacked it into the mesh to regain the lead on the PP, 2-1.

With 3:13 to go in the first frame, the Moose extended their lead. With a centering pass from Marty Murray, Sergei Shirokov scored his second in a row - and his team leading 16th of the season - when he topped the puck over Thiessen for a 3-1 tally.

The Penguins started the second period strong, capitalizing 49 seconds into the frame. Situated in Manitoba's zone, Dustin Jeffrey's initial shot deflected off of Luca Caputi and into the net, 3-2.

The Moose fought back, however, and put another point on the board minutes later. At 3:25, Matt Pettinger smacked the puck on net from the slot, but it was blocked by Thiessen. Marco Rosa fought for the rebound and poked it in to double-up the Penguins, 4-2.

The back-and-forth scoring pattern continued when the Penguins capitalized at 7:23. With a crowd of players in front of Schneider's crease, Eric Tangradi made it a one-goal game when he beat the third-year ‘tender on his glove side.

At 16:22 Dusty Collins notched his second goal of the season when he fired the puck on an angle from the bottom of the near circle to put the Moose on top 5-3 heading into the third period.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton opened the third period with an early powerplay after Evan Oberg was charged with tripping at 3:33. With a sneaky pass from behind the net, Luca Caputi found light between Schneider's goal pads to send home his second powerplay goal of the night, 5-4.

The Penguins tried desperately to notch a game-tying goal in the finals minutes of play, outshooting the Moose 27-25. With Thiessen on the bench for the final minute, Matt Pettinger stole the puck on a giveaway and potted an empty netter to confirm the game, 6-4.



American Hockey League Stories from January 30, 2010


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