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Moose Shut out Americans in 1-0 Shootout Win

February 23, 2011 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The best way to endure a tough stretch is to focus on "one game at a time". The Manitoba Moose (31-20-1-5) started game number one of an 11-game stretch on the road by visiting the Rochester Americans (26-27-3-3) on Wednesday night. The 3,612 Rochester fans at Blue Cross Arena waited over 65 minutes for a goal and they have Eddie Lack and Tyler Plante to blame for that. Manitoba and Rochester's netminders were perfect until the shootout, when Manitoba's Lack stopped four of five shooters to clinch the 1-0 win and his fourth shutout of the season.

Eddie Lack earned his 36th start of the season after winning his previous game on Saturday night versus the Lake Erie Monsters. He was sharp on a chance by the Americans five minutes into the game when Rochester's Kenndal McArdle one-timed a drop pass by Mark Cullen on the rush but was denied by Lack.

Lack was equally impressive on a shot he didn't see midway through the first. Rochester's leading scorer Michal Repik circled the Moose goal then labelled a pass onto the stick of a teammate rushing the net. Lack slid across his crease, taking the one time shot by Michael Duco off of his chest.

The first penalty of the game came at 19:38 in when Rochester's Clay Wilson likely prevented the first goal of the game. Moose leading scorer Sergei Shirokov was about to finish off a tic-tac-toe play but was restrained by Wilson's stick. The Moose hadn't scored by the first intermission but had a 12-10 shot lead after 20 minutes.

The most glorious chance of the game through two periods never registered as a shot on goal. Rochester's Chris Taylor faked a slapshot from close in to Lack's right side but deftly sent the puck cross ice to a trailing Mark Cullen, who wound and fired a one-time shot over the wide open Manitoba Moose goal mouth.

That occurred with just seconds remaining in the second period. The remaining time ticked away and the Moose and Americans remained scoreless at the second intermission. The shots counted 23-18 in Manitoba's favour.

The gamesheet didn't see a lot of action through two periods with only three penalties and zero goals to speak of. All three harmlessly killed off as the Moose were 0-for-2 on the man advantage while the Americans failed to score on their only chance with Manitoba forward Guillaume Desbiens called for hooking late in the second period.

The third period was more of the same with both teams trading shots but failing to find any goals. Rochester had two great opportunities to crack the draw on one power play early and another late in the third. On both, Manitoba's penalty kill stifled the Americans.

Rochester's Kenndal McArdle was called for hooking during a late third period scrum in front of the Americans net. Manitoba did not score before the end of the third but carried a quarter of their man advantage into overtime. Rochester killed the remainder of that penalty, then failed to score on their own man advantage when Moose d-man Kevin Connauton cleared a puck over the glass in his own zone.

Both goalies were flawless during regulation but a shootout would determine the better of the two. Sergei Shirokov scored the first goal of the shootout after Lack stoned a pair of Rochester shooters. The Americans Michal Repik answered back but he was the only one of five to bury one for the home team. Manitoba's Garth Murray scored the shootout winner in the fourth round.

Repik's shootout attempt was the only puck to evade Lack during the night with Manitoba's goalie stopping all 28 shots against in regulation. Tyler Plante was also impressive in Rochester's net stopping 33 through three periods and overtime. In the end Lack was the better one when it counted in the shootout. The Moose will hang around Rochester until Friday night when the Americans host Manitoba for game five of their season series. Brian Munz brings you the action live on CJOB 68 with puck drop at 6:35 p.m. CST.

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American Hockey League Stories from February 23, 2011


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