Moose Sink Rivermen 5-2

Published on December 27, 2010 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Manitoba Moose (16-10-0-4) gave their fans a three-game winning streak for Christmas and hoped to deliver a Boxing Week special as they hosted the Peoria Rivermen (20-9-2-1) for the first of four home games in the next six nights. Manitoba's Eddie Lack had a shutout streak of 127:26 end in the second period but still stopped 28, enough to help his team to a 5-2 win in front of 7,718 at MTS Centre. Marco Rosa scored his fourth goal of the year to put the Moose ahead for good early in the third period.

Coming off an extended holiday break (nine days since the last Moose game, six for the Rivermen), neither team came flying out of the gates with just three shots exchanged in the first eight minutes.

Nearly five minutes into the first period, Peoria forward Graham Mink received a pass as he entered the Moose zone while Lee Sweatt sized him up for a hip check that would have crumbled most hockey players. But at 6'3", 220-pounds, Mink stood his ground as he collided with the Moose defenceman.

If there were any cobwebs to be cleared from the break between games, they were definitely off by the end of the first. Late in the frame, Moose goalie Eddie Lack denied Graham Mink on a series of rebounds from in tight. Then within seconds, off of a quick transition Peoria's Jake Allen denied Moose defenceman Chris Tanev on a dangerous one-time chance from high in the slot.

Allen, who entered the game first in the AHL in goals against average (1.58), and Lack, sixth in average (2.03), looked every bit as good as their stats stopping every shot. The Moose led in that department 9-5 at the end of a scoreless first period.

Moose coach Claude Noel experimented with a new line in practice Monday morning, putting leading scorer Sergei Shirokov with Shawn Weller and Joel Perrault. That nearly paid off early in the second period as Jake Allen made back-to-back point blank stops on Perrault and Shirokov after Weller circled Peoria's zone and centered the puck to his linemates on the door step.

Lack was brilliant stopping a flurry of Rivermen chances early in the second period. He turned away 10 shots in the first half of the middle frame but after the Moose failed to clear the puck late in their first penalty kill of the game, a low Peoria point shot by Nathan Oystrick found a path through a maze of bodies in front and into the top glove hand corner of the Moose net.

The Peoria goal at 9:43 of the second halted Lack's running shutout streak at 127:26 which surpassed last season's high of 100:09. The watermark for the Moose sits at 179:56 and is held by former Moose netminder Tyler Moss.

Manitoba answered the bell just a couple minutes later with a heat seeking point shot of their own, also on the power play. Peoria's Dean Arsene was called for interference at 10:12 to give the Moose their second power play of the game. Then at 11:05, defenceman Mark Flood unloaded from the point at the right boards and squeezed the puck under Allen's arm to tie the game at 1-1.

At 13:08, Manitoba's suddenly vaunted power play went back to work and converted for a second straight time. A low wrist shot from the same area Mark Flood had recently scored from deflected off a Peoria penalty killer and directly to Sergei Shirokov in the left circle. Before Allen knew where the puck had deflected to, it had left Shirokov's blade as he buried his eighth goal of the season at 14:22 to give Manitoba a 2-1 lead.

Peoria then scored the first non-power play goal of the game just 1:25 later. Peoria's Phil McRae drove Manitoba's net and took a pass from Tyler Shattock, then lifted the puck over the right shoulder of Lack to even the game up at 2-2. The two teams entered the second intermission that way with Manitoba holding a slight edge in shots, 21-20, after the Rivermen racked up 15 on the Moose net during the second period.

Marco Rosa officially snapped out of a cold streak on Dec. 14 and continued his new pace early in the third period by burying his second goal in the past four games. Scored while in a four-on-four situation, Rosa grabbed a loose rebound then extended around the sprawling Rivermen netminder to tuck the puck in at 4:24. The assists on Manitoba's go-ahead goal went to defencemen Lee Sweatt and Mark Flood, who recorded his second point of the game.

Rivermen forward Ryan Reaves was one of many players tangled up after a whistle at 6:47, but Reaves squared off with Manitoba's Guillaume Desbiens. Reaves and Desbiens traded a blows with the Winnipeg-born Peoria winger scoring the takedown.

In case Moose fans didn't get enough over the holidays, the Moose line of Bill Sweatt, Marco Rosa, and Victor Oreskovich gifted the prettiest tic-tac-toe (plus two passes) Moose fans may have ever seen with 1:41 left to play in the game. Sweatt finished off the three-on-two passing play that left goalie Jake Allen and his two defencemen wondering what had happened.

Jonas Andersson walked in an empty net goal all the way from his own blue line with 19 seconds left to cap off the 5-2 win. The Moose outshot the Rivermen 34-29 and Lack earned his fourth straight win in as many consecutive starts. The Moose will play three home dates in the next five nights with the Peoria rematch first up on Tuesday, Dec. 28. Manitoba's New Year's Eve Classic see them host the Chicago Wolves this year. Game time for the Dec. 31 matchup is 4 p.m. CST. You can catch every Moose game live on CJOB 68 with Brian Munz.

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American Hockey League Stories from December 27, 2010


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