Moose return home to sweep Rampage

February 23, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Manitoba Moose returned from a seven-game road trip with their backs against the wall having lost their last five games but stepped it up big time against the San Antonio Rampage, winning games on Friday and Saturday to keep pace with the North Division playoff race. The highlight of the weekend was Friday's game, as the Moose wore the 1972-73 WHA Winnipeg Jets jerseys won won 5-0 with Brandon Reid scoring four goals.

The Moose get right back at it on Tuesday as the Albany River Rats come to town for the first time ever. The two sides rematch again on Wednesday and the Moose wrap up the week Sunday afternoon against the Milwaukee Admirals.

UPCOMING OPPONENTS

Albany River Rats

Tuesday, February 24th 7:30 p.m. Winnipeg Arena

Wednesday, February 25th 7:30 p.m.

The Albany River Rats enter the week in seventh in the AHL's East Division at 15-25-10- 6...They are currently 14 points out of the final playoff spot in the East Division...The Rats are 6-12-5-4 away from home...Albany is undefeated in its last three games (1-0-2- 0) since hiring new head coach Robbie Ftorek...The two games in Manitoba this week wrap up a four-game road trip for Albany...The River Rats power play is ranked 23rd in the league with a 12.8% success rate...They are 24th in the AHL in penalty-killing with a 83.46% success rate...Albany has given up the third-most goals against in the league at 172. They have also scored the fourth-fewest amount of goals at 124...Albany's leading scorer is Craig Darby who has 17 goals and 32 assists for 49 points in 53 games...Defenceman Alex Brooks leads the team in plus/minus with a +3 rating...The River Rats feature former Moose Steve Kariya, who played parts of two seasons for Manitoba. Kariya is third on the Rats in scoring with 10 goals and 17 assists for 27 points in 34 games played. The Moose and River Rats have met once this season back on December 17 with the Moose prevailing 2-0. Ryan Ready and Chris Nielsen scored the goals for Manitoba and Tyler Moss received the shutout. It was the first-ever meeting between the Moose and River Rats.

Milwaukee Admirals

Sunday, February 29th 4:00 p.m. Winnipeg Arena

The Admirals enter the week in second in the AHL's West Division at 30-16-6-3...They are 14-7-3-3 away from home...The Admirals are 2-2-0-0 in their last four games but previous to that had won seven straight...The Admirals power play is ranked 12th in the league with a 15.11% success rate...They are 14th in the AHL in penalty-killing with a 86.15% success rate...Milwaukee features an explosive offence, with a league-leading 177 goals scored this season...Milwaukee's leading scorer is Tony Hrkac who has 12 goals and 31 assists for 43 points in 45 games...Hrkac is tied for tenth in the league in assists...Mathieu Darche is the team's leading goal scorer with 22 goals and ranks seventh in the league...Defenceman Curtis Murphy and left winger Timofei Shishkanov are first and second respectively in the league in plus/minus at +22 and +21...Goaltender Wade Flaherty ranks eighth in the league with a 1.95 goals-against average and ranks 12th with a .927 save percentage...The Moose and Admirals have met twice this season with the Admirals winning 5-1 back on February 11 and the two teams tying 1-1 on October 15. The Moose have a 20-28-11 record all-time against the Admirals, including 10- 8-2-0 at Winnipeg Arena.

MOOSE NOTES

Ryan Kesler's goal Saturday night was his first as a Moose since the second game of the season, October 13 vs. St. John's. He had gone 24 games between goals. In addition to breaking the slump on the weekend, Friday was Kesler's first game at Winnipeg Arena since November 22 against Cincinnati.

Kirill Koltsov also broke a lengthy scoreless streak with his marker on Saturday. His last goal was scored during a two-goal performance on the season opener October 11 vs. St. John's. Koltsov had gone 52 games between goals.

The four goals scored by Brandon Reid Friday night matched a franchise record set previously by Chris Govedaris (December 8, 1995 Los Angeles at Minnesota) and Greg Pankewicz (April 9, 1997 Manitoba at Milwaukee; October 29, 1997 Manitoba at Kansas City). It was also the first time a Manitoba Moose player registered four goals in a game at Winnipeg Arena. The four goals for Reid was also a career high, as he had never scored more than two goals in a game in his professional career.

With all the hoopla surrounding Reid's four-goal outburst, Peter Sarno quietly slipped under the radar and netted two very important assists while playing the point on the power play in the first period of Friday's game. Sarno's presence has added some spark to the Moose power play, which was 4-for-13 on the weekend (30.8%). Sarno was acquired last week from the Edmonton Oilers organization in exchange for goaltender Tyler Moss.

With Saturday's opening goal, Pat Kavanagh scored the game's first goal for the third time this season, tying him with Jaroslav Obsut and Fedor Fedorov for the team lead.

With an assist in each of the last three games, defeceman Rene Vydareny is currently enjoying the longest assist streak of his career at three games. He also matched the longest point streak of his career. He had a three-game scoring streak last season as well, from January 21 to 24, 2003.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOMINEE

Brandon Reid

2 GP, 4 G, 0 A, 4 PTS, +2, 0 PIM

This week's Player of the Week nominee for the Manitoba Moose is centre Brandon Reid. Over the two games played, he scored four goals. He also had a +2 rating and fired five shots on goal. On Friday, February 20, Brandon Reid became the first Moose player to ever score four goals in one night at the Winnipeg Arena. He was named the game's first star on the night. Reid, who led the Moose in scoring last season with 54 points (18g, 36a) in 73 games is the leader again this year so far, with 43 points (15g, 28a) in 56 games.



American Hockey League Stories from February 23, 2004


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