Sports stats



Moose Shot Down by Penguins 4-1

February 8, 2011 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


Wilkes-Barre, PA - The Manitoba Moose (28-16-1-5) faced a stretch of four games in five nights split between the AHL's top team, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (37-14-0-0), and the defending AHL Calder Cup Champions in Hershey. The Moose entered the final game of their Eastern stretch with four out of a possible six points and visited the Penguins a final time on Tuesday night. The visiting team opened the scoring quickly but Manitoba's lead was short-lived and never seen again. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton scored two of their four unanswered goals on the power play while Brad Thiessen stopped 18 of 19 shots on the Penguins net to backstop his team to a 4-1 win in front of 4,349 at Mohegan Sun Arena.

The NHL veteran defenceman Sami Salo made a big splash with the Moose on Friday in Wilkes-Barre scoring twice, including the game winner. In his next game against the Penguins, his final with the Moose, Salo took an early seat in the penalty box for dumping the puck over the glass in his own zone.

Manitoba's top ranked penalty kill escaped the Salo infraction unharmed and scored seconds after he returned to the play. Rushing up ice, rookie Jordan Schroeder finished a passing play by scoring his ninth of the season. Schroeder's marker at 3:37 put the Moose up 1-0 early on and extended his current point streak to five games.

The lead was short lived, as was the even strength situation. Mario Bliznak was called out for high sticking 20 seconds after Schroeder's goal and Wilkes-Barre made the Moose pay. All three of Wilkes-Barre's leading scorers collaborated as Nick Johnson scored his 20th at 5:14, assisted by Brett Sterling and Ryan Craig.

Still early in the first, the Penguins scored the third goal of the game at 6:27 as Joe Vitale pasted a one-time pass on the stick of Kevin Veilleux as the Penguins centre drove the Moose net. Veilleux made no mistake as he put the puck past Moose goalie Eddie Lack to give his team a 2-1 lead.

Manitoba had two power play opportunities to tie up the game with stick infractions assessed to Geoff Walker and Joey Haddad. The Penguins' PK unit didn't allow many clear shots on goaltender Brad Thiessen and denied the Moose from drawing even.

The Penguins were the better skaters in the first 20 minutes and continued a torrid pace in the second period. Eddie Lack was sharp on a pair of shots by Wilkes-Barre's Kevin Veilleux but after stopping the rebound, Lack couldn't get the pad in the way of a shot along the ice by Chris Collins at the side of the crease. The Penguins extended their lead to 3-1 at 6:38 of the second period.

Moose rookie Kevin Clark hauled down an opponent while in Manitoba's end and was called for hooking at 15:58 putting the PK back to work. Penguins team captain Ryan Craig parked in front of Lack and cleaned up a cross ice tic-tac-toe play that Lack stopped but didn't control. Wilkes-Barre scored their fourth of the game at 17:06.

There were very few whistles in a free-flowing second period and even fewer chances for the Moose. Manitoba registered just one shot on goal in the second period while the Penguins put 12 on Lack including their third and fourth goals of the game.

The Penguins proved to be one of the more physical opponents the Moose had faced this season and team captain Nolan Baumgartner can attest. He took a hard hit in the second period, then early in the third he was targeted by Penguins forward Chris Collins and took and absorbed another thunderous check in Manitoba's end.

The third was more even than a lopsided performance in the second period, but the Moose failed to make any ground on the Penguins. Manitoba and Wilkes-Barre split seven shots each in the third period with Brad Thiessen knocking away all shots against the Penguins net.

The Penguins avenged Friday night's 3-2 loss to the visiting Moose by taking out Manitoba 4-1 on Tuesday. They outshot the Moose 32-19 in the game and after surrendering the first goal of the game, piled on four goals for a convincing 4-1 win. The Moose return home to host the San Antonio Rampage on Feb. 11 & 12. Saturday, Feb. 12 is Mike Keane Night when the Manitoba Moose will raise Keane's number to the rafters of MTS Centre. Brian Munz and Jim Toth bring you the action of both games on CJOB 68.

• Discuss this story on the American Hockey League message board...

American Hockey League Stories from February 8, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central