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Moose Stunned by Bears 4-3

January 7, 2011 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


With six players sidelined by injuries, the remaining roster of the Manitoba Moose (20-12-0-4) took on the Hershey Bears (22-13-0-1) with an opportunity to clinch first place in the Northern Division. Even though the Moose had been hot as of late winning eight of their previous nine games heading into Friday night, they were unable to take advantage of power plays and lost 4-3 in front of the 7,442 fans in attendance at the MTS Centre.

After 20 minutes the Moose held a slight lead in shots on goal but trailed where it counts, 2-1. The Bears opened up the scoring as Brian Fahey snapped the puck past Moose net minder Eddie Lack 0:43 into the game.

Shortly after, the Bears struck again. As they circulated the puck in the Moose zone Nikita Kashirsky was left open to score the second Bears goal of the game at 2:09.

In the dying minutes of the first period the Moose were able to generate some offence as the red hot Sergei Shirokov scored with 1:07 left. Shirokov's 14th goal of the season extended his point streak to nine games.

As the second period began, the Moose spent the majority of the first half on the power play however were unable to capitalize on a pair of man advantages as Bears goaltender Dany Sabourin shut down all offensive opportunities.

The Moose remained persistent and continued to fire away at Sabourin as home grown Manitoban Kevin Clark scored his fifth goal of the season at 3:04 tying the game at two apiece.

The Bears came back with 1:52 left in the period as Kyle Greentree set up Andrew Gordon on the power play, who picked up his own rebound and potted his 17th goal of the season giving the Bears the 3-2 lead into the third period.

In the third period the Moose continued to outshoot the Bears and control the play. At 8:25 an aggressive fore check by right winger Josh Aspenlind allowed Moose captain Nolan Baumgartner to feed Mark Flood who unloaded a slap shot to the Bears top corner tying the game at 3-3.

While breaking out on the power play Mario Bliznak took a devastating hit by Bears forward Steve Pinizzotto, both players were slow to get up as the battle continued between the blue lines.

With 51 seconds left in the third, Moose winger Shawn Weller took a penalty for tripping. The Bears almost immediately capitalized as Andrew Gordon scored his 2nd of the game with 24 seconds to go giving the Bears the lead and ultimately the 4-3 win. The Moose will host the Bears in the rematch tomorrow night at MTS Centre. Game time is 7:30 pm CST. Catch the game live with Brian Munz and Jim Toth on CJOB 68. Hear it online at www.cjob.com.

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