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Moose Stunned by Penguins 4-1

March 16, 2011 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Manitoba Moose (37-26-1-5) set their season benchmark for goals in a game on Saturday night with seven. Only three days later, they couldn't buy a goal against the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins (48-18-0-1). Manitoba's Joel Perrault prevented that from becoming a recurring problem in Wednesday's rematch, but his goal was the only the Moose could muster. The Penguins capitalized on a massive momentum swing in the third period with three goals in the span of 1:41. Wilkes-Barre wrapped up a 4-1 win in front of 6,601 at MTS Centre handing the Moose their third loss in a row.

The Penguins shot at the Moose from every angle and distance on Tuesday night piling 38 shots on Eddie Lack. Tonight the Moose made sure to pepper Wilkes-Barre's goalie after John Curry shut them out last game. Moose defenceman Travis Ramsey recorded Manitoba's first shot on a bomb from the point, then on the same shift both Cody Hodgson and Bill Sweatt were denied on great chances from the slot in front of Curry.

Hitting would play a big role in Manitoba's game plan once again. Forward Guillaume Desbiens showed that midway through the first period when he cleaned out Penguins d-man Jason DeSantis while on the forecheck. Manitoba also kept the hard hitting trio of Garth Murray, Victor Oreskovich, and Aaron Volpatti together for Wednesday's rematch.

The first penalty of the game went to Wilkes-Barre's Robert Bortuzzo for his illegal hit. The Penguins defenceman was called for boarding Manitoba's Victor Oreskovich at 12:06. The Moose got a pair of shots through on Curry, both point shots, but couldn't solve the Pens 'tender on their first power play of the game.

Manitoba's second power play lasted less than 20 seconds before Joel Perrault took a drop pass from Cody Hodgson and launched a wrister over Curry's shoulder for the game's first goal at 16:45. Perrault's goal was his first in 13 games and Manitoba's first in four periods against the Penguins.

After an unflattering finish on Tuesday, the Moose turned the tables on the visiting team. Manitoba held a 1-0 lead at the first intermission and outshot the Penguins 12-5.

The Penguins swapped goaltenders to begin the second period as Brad Thiessen took to Wilkes-Barre's net in place of John Curry. There was no apparent reason for the switch after a first period in which Curry stopped 10 of 11 shots he faced.

The Moose got a taste of their own medicine in the second period as Wilkes-Barre began throwing bodies in Manitoba's end. The Penguins aggressive forecheck caused a few turnovers in the Moose zone but nothing causing the tying goal.

Just like in the previous game, Eddie Lack was called upon numerous times to keep the Moose in the game. The Penguins managed only five shots on Lack in the first period but came on strong shelling him with 20 shots in the following frame.

As the shots on goal began to pile up, so did the cheap shots. Both teams began taking liberties with the only call late in the period going to Manitoba's Sergei Shirokov for an elbow on Pens winger Chris Collins. The period expired with 1:08 left on Wilkes-Barre's power play but the Moose still held onto their 1-0 lead after 40 minutes.

Midway through the third period, the Moose had a power play nulliffied by an interference call to Shirokov. Manitoba successfully killed off what was left of their third penalty of the game, but once the teams were freshly evened up, a turnover in the Moose zone quickly became a Penguins goal when Bryan Lerg corralled a pass in front of Eddie Lack and roofed his 11th of the season at 11:06 of the third period.

That one goal swung the momentum heavily because the Penguins followed up their first goal with a second at '. A bad angle shot by Wilkes-Barre centre Zach Sill deflected off a Moose defenceman and past Manitoba's screened goaltender, giving the visitors a quick 2-1 lead.

Penguins d-man Corey Potter, recently returned to Wilkes-Barre by their NHL affiliate, then scored his third goal of the year when the puck leaked out to the point with enough time for the defenceman to lean into a slap shot at the top of the circle. Eddie Lack couldn't react quickly enough and the Pens suddenly led by two goals with 6:23 to play.

Moose defenceman Ryan Parent was forced to call it a night when 27 seconds after the Pens third goal, he sent Tim Wallace hard into the boards from behind earning Parent a five minute major and game misconduct. Wilkes-Barre added to their convincing third period lead while on the subsequent power play with Wallace exacting a bit of revenge at 16:07.

Wallace's 18th of the season effectively killed any fight left in the home team and the Moose dropped just their second regulation loss of the season when leading after two periods. Manitoba's Eddie Lack stopped 39 of 43 shots in the loss while the Pens used two goalies to capture their AHL leading 48th win of the season by a score of 4-1. The Manitoba Moose host Military Appreciation Night on Friday, Mar. 18 when they host the Texas Stars in the first of two games this weekend. The rematch on Sunday, Mar. 20 is Family Day at MTS Centre with puck drop at 2 p.m. Brian Munz and Jim Toth bring you the action in both games live in CJOB 68.

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