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Moose roll Rampage

March 12, 2011 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


Over a week on the bus is much more tolerable when the team is winning. The Manitoba Moose (37-23-1-5) have stuck to that script with four wins in five games during their current West Division road trip. Game six of the trip took them to San Antonio to take on the Rampage (36-25-3-0) on Saturday night. In front of 7,446 at AT&T Center, the visiting Moose gave the home crowd little to cheer about in a commanding 7-2 win that featured goals by six different Moose players and 27 saves by the winning goalie, Eddie Lack.

Eddie Lack made his 43rd start of the season for Manitoba, but as busy as the Moose goaltender has been, he can't complain when compared to the workload of Rampage goalie Matt Climie. Climie's 14th consecutive start was a rocky one as the Moose scored first at 7:33 when centre Garth Murray converted a centering feed by Aaron Volpatti.

Then a minute later, a shot by Manitoba's Cody Hodgson deflected high above Climie's net. The Rampage 'tender tried to knock it out of the air but accidentally deflected it down into his own net. The ref said he saw the puck cross the goal line, Climie felt otherwise and let it be known resulting in a gross misconduct. Adding to Climie's rough night, the second goal was scored on Manitoba's fourth registered shot giving the coach enough reason to try a different goalie.

San Anotonio's first goal of the game came from a defenceman scoring his first of the season. Rampage d-man Jeff May pinched in on the rush and managed to fight off a checker to score while on one knee sweeping in a rebound. The first goal of the home team was scored at 15:30 of the first period.

The Moose entered the second period leading 2-1 but extended that to a two goal lead at 4:20 of the middle frame when Shawn Weller deposited a rebound upstairs with a backhand shot. The original shot came all the way from the left point where Yann Sauve sent a long wrister on San Antonio's second goalie, Joe Fallon. The assist gave Sauve his fourth point the in past five games.

After chasing a dump in, Cody Hodgson picked up the puck and dished to Bill Sweatt as he entered the Rampage end. Sweatt stepped right into it and blasted the puck past Fallon for Manitoba's fourth goal at 5:59 of the second period. The Moose climbed to a commanding 4-1 lead on Sweatt's 16th goal of the season.

When the puck wasn't finding San Antonio's net, their players were finding the penalty box. The Rampage marched three guys to the penalty box in the second period with the third minor, to Maxim Goncharov, creating a four-on-four situation between the Moose and Rampage. T

he Moose took advantage of the extra space and set up in the Rampage zone. Moose leading scorer Sergei Shirokov was denied at the left side of the net but the rebound bounced to the right where Alexandre Bolduc slammed home his fifth of the season at 15:41.

The teams entered the second intermission four goals apart with the visiting Moose leading 5-1 after two periods. Manitoba also led 25-20 in shots on goal with Moose goalie Eddie Lack turning away 19 of 20 Rampage shots.

The Rampage found out early in the third period that Bill Sweatt's speed does kill on occasion. The blazing rookie forward received a pass at his own blue line and flew past both the Rampage captain Nolan Yonkman and goal scorer Jeff May as Sweatt left the D-pair in his dust and slid the puck past Joe Fallon just 1:30 into the third period. Sweatt's second of the game gave Manitoba a daunting 6-1 lead with most of the third period remaining.

If you can't score, sometimes you have to fight. After Aaron Volpatti laid a healthy hit on San Antonio's Alexandre Picard in the corner, the two forwards threw their gloves and as many blows as they could in a short period of time. After the two split, both parked in their respective penalty boxes for the next five minutes.

It came down to a foot race when Moose defenceman Kevin Connauton straight up beat Ned Lukacevic in a race back to the San Antonio end. Connauton got out ahead of Lukacevic and cut to the Rampage net before sending a low shot by Fallon with 6:50 left in the game. Connauton's 11th goal of the season piled onto his team's commanding lead as the Moose led 7-1 at that point in the game.

Not likely sparking a comeback, the Rampage gave the home crowd something to cheer for with 4:03 left in the game. Veteran forward Randy Robitaille handcuffed Eddie Lack with a shot from the high slot that the goalie surrendered a big rebound on. The puck bounced in the air and off of a Moose defenceman before finding its way into the Manitoba net for the second time on the night.

In such a high scoring affair, special teams was almost a non-factor as the Moose scored seven even strength goals. That was not for a lack of chances as Manitoba missed out on seven power plays during the game. The only team to score during a Moose man advantage was the Rampage who scored one of their two goals while shorthanded.

The Moose conclude a series of 11 road games tomorrow in Houston when they face the Aeros at 4 p.m. CST. Brian Munz brings you the action live from Toyota Center, only on CJOB 68. Hear it online at www.cjob.com.

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