Three well-deserved points

Published on February 27, 2006 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


The Moose faced another tough opponent this week as they took on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in back-to-back weekend games at the MTS Centre. The Moose got down a goal on Friday night but fought back with three unanswered goals, two from Jesse Schultz, in a 3-1 win. Saturday night followed a similar storyline as Wilkes-Barre opened the scoring with two goals and led 2-0 into the third period. Manitoba was again resilient fighting back to tie the game and send it into overtime. But, after a Tomas Mojzis interference penalty in overtime, the Moose couldn't fend off the Penguins on as Erik Christensen scored the game winner 4:03 into the extra period.

The Moose now head on their longest road trip of the season, eight games, beginning on Wednesday in Chicago and continuing into Omaha and Iowa for three weekend games.

MOOSE NOTES

Another One in the Books: After Saturday night's 3-2 overtime loss concluded the season series with Wilkes-Barre, the Moose have now finished five of their 15 season series. Manitoba has concluded series' with Peoria (1-3-0), San Antonio (3-1-0), Houston (2-2-0), Philadelphia (4-0-0) and now Wilkes-Barre (2-1-1). The Moose will finish another two season series this week with games in Omaha (1-2-0) and Iowa (2-0-0).

Butenschon Big in First Game Back: With Friday night's 3-1 win over Wilkes-Barre being his first since missing 10 games with a shoulder injury, Moose defenceman Sven Butenschon picked up where he left off recording an assist on Jesse Schultz's game winning goal in the Moose victory. Butenschon nows sits sixth on the team in scoring with 13 goals and 14 assists for 27 points in 43 games played.

Deja-Vu for the Moose: After an overtime loss against Wilkes-Barre on Saturday, the Moose now sit with a 34-17-4-3 record for 75 points in 58 games, the exact same point totals as last year after 58 games played. In the 2004-05 season the Moose boasted a 34-17-1-6 record after 58 games. In the remaining 22 games last season, Manitoba played just above the .500 mark with a 10-9-2-1 record.

UPCOMING OPPONENTS

Chicago Wolves
Wednesday, March 1st - 7:00 PM
Allstate Arena
CJOB Radio - B2 Networks

Manitoba will begin an eight game road trip, their longest of the season, with a Wednesday night game in Chicago against the Wolves. This will be the second of four meetings between the teams this year, with the Moose winning the first game 3-1 in Chicago in mid October. Chicago has struggled this year sitting sixth in the West Division with a 22-25-3-6 record, good for 53 points in 56 games. The Wolves powerplay ranks 23rd in the league with a 14.8% scoring rate while their penalty kill has been slighty better with an 81.7% efficiency rating for 19th spot in the AHL. The teams will conclude their season series at the MTS Centre on Mar 17th and 18th.

Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights
Friday, March 3rd - 7:00 PM
Civic Auditorium
CJOB Radio - B2 Networks

Following a day of rest, the Moose will continue their West Division road swing with a Friday night game in Omaha against the Knights. Omaha currently sits fourth in the West Division with a 26-24-2-7 record, good for 61 points in 59 games. The Knights have been on a roll of late with wins in their last three games and an 8-2-0 record in their last ten. Omaha have been decent in the special teams department. They are currently 13th in the league on the powerplay, scoring 17.5% of the time. The Knights have done well killing penalties this year, sitting fifth in the league with a 84.9% kill rate. These games will mark the final two meetings between the clubs this year with Omaha winning back-to-back games at the MTS Centre on Feb 10th and 11th.

Iowa Stars
Saturday, March 4th - 7:00 PM
Sunday, March 5th - 4:00 PM
Wells Fargo Arena
CJOB Radio - B2 Networks

Following their Friday night meeting with Omaha the Moose will have back-to-back weekend games with the Iowa Stars. This will mark the final games between the clubs this season with the Moose sweeping a two-game series at the MTS Centre on Feb 3rd and 4th. Iowa currently sits fifth in the West Division with a 25-25-1-5 record for 56 points in 56 games played. The Stars have struggled on the powerplay this season, scoring only 14.9% of the time, good enough for 22nd in the AHL. They have been slightly worse at killing penalties sitting 24th in the league with an 80.2 kill percentage.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Jesse Schultz

Jesse Schultz appeared in both games the Manitoba Moose played this week. He compiled three goals and two assists for five points in those two games. He fired 11 shots on net this week, including a total of eight in Friday's 3-1 victory over the Penguins. In total, the Moose scored five goals this week and Schultz was involved in each of those goals. He scored the game-winner on Friday and set-up the game-tying goal in Saturday's 3-2 overtime loss to Wilkes-Barre. Schultz now has a career-high 29 goals and 46 points on the season to lead the Moose. He also has 10 powerplay goals and four game-winning goals to lead the team.

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American Hockey League Stories from February 27, 2006


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