Moose Take Down Amerks 3-2 On Heritage Night

Published on November 12, 2010 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Manitoba Moose dubbed it Heritage Night, meant to recognize their own 15th anniversary in Winnipeg and the 75th season of the American Hockey League. In front of a near sellout of 8,443 at MTS Centre, the Moose (8-5-0-1) gave the Rochester Americans (8-7-1-0) their own night to remember shellshocking them with 45 shots and coming away with a 3-2 win. Cody Hodgson scored the game winner and Eddie Lack turned away 21 of 23 shots for his third straight win.

The first team to crack the scoreboard would be the visiting Rochester Americans. Rochester defenceman Michael Caruso received a pass from Eric Selleck across the blue line then sent a low hard wrister toward Moose goalie Eddie Lack. A shot that was likely intended to be tipped instead found its way through to the net and by Lack on the low right side of the net at 10:21 of the first period.

The Moose didn't leave the home crowd hanging for long as it only took 15 seconds for their offence to reply. After wheeling out of the corner and around the top of the left circle in Rochester's end, Moose forward Kevin Clark sent a shot on net that pin-balled to Aaron Volpatti at the top of the crease. Volpatti's whack was steered away by Markstrom but Clark tracked the rebound in the mess of skates in the crease and poked home his second goal of the season.

Shortly after, the Moose went to work on a 5-on-3 power play after minor penalties to Rochester's Aaron Bendickson and Chris Taylor at 11:16 and 11:57. It took less than a minute for the home team to strike as Jeff Tambellini fed Joel Perrault for a point shot, then cleaned up the ensuing rebound from the side of the net for his third goal of the season.

Rochester's A.J. Jenks evened up the score with 1:20 left in the first period. Jenks was fed a pass by Selleck while all alone in between the hash marks in front of Lack. He then roofed a quick shot by the Moose tender's blocker for his first goal in his first game for Rochester this season.

At the end of 20 minutes, the Moose outshot the Americans 17-10 but entered the intermission tied 2-2.

Manitoba's offensive arsenal was blasting away at every opportunity as the Moose racked up 25 shots on Rochester goalie Tyler Plante before the halfway point of the game. 14 Moose players had recorded at least one shot by the 10:00 mark of the second period.

The hottest line for the Moose since being thrown together has been Sergei Shirokov, Cody Hodgson, and Bill Sweatt. They're hot streak couldn't be doused by the Americans in this game as the trio accounted for Manitoba's second period go-ahead goal. With a defender draped on his back, Cody Hodgson carried the puck from behind the net and got away two backhanded shots before switching to the forehand to clean up his second rebound past Plante. Hodgson's team leading seventh goal of the season was assisted by Shirokov and rookie defenceman Chris Tanev at 17:32 of the second period.

Hodgson's goal stood as the only second period marker following a highly offensive first. The Moose led 3-2 after 40 minutes with an extensive 35-17 shot lead over Rochester.

Through a scoreless third period, the Moose were put on their heels in the dying minutes with Shawn Weller in the penalty box for high sticking. Eddie Lack made a few clutch saves, as did Stefan Schneider blocking two straight point shots before Marco Rosa cleared the puck down the ice and missed the empty net goal by bouncing it off iron.

In the end the Moose came away with the 3-2 victory for their third straight victory of the season and improved to 8-5-0-1 in 2010-11. Despite the close margin on the scoreboard, the Moose outshot the Americans 45-23.

The Moose welcome the Americans for the rematch tomorrow night at MTS Centre for the second of eight games in the season series. Game time at MTS Centre is 7:30 p.m.

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American Hockey League Stories from November 12, 2010


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