Eric Comrie’s 35 saves backstop Moose to 3-1 win over Griffins

While admittedly I have missed my first two Moose games a few weeks back I didn’t anticipate having to learn the entire roster once again as there are a number of new faces and jersey numbers to become familiar with as players got recalled to Winnipeg and replacements added by Manitoba.

The Griffins came into action on a bit of a slide as they were dealing with some injuries but they are still a dangerous, first place team in the Central division.

The Moose really started the game well with the only blip being a 5 on 3 power play they gave Grand Rapids but Eric Comrie stood on his head and the rest of the team did a nice job on the penalty kill.  A puck kicked out to Danick Gauthier, who was playing in his first game with Manitoba tonight, and he buried it on the power play to give the Moose a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.  Eric Comrie wasn’t particularly tested with a high volume of shots but he faced a number of high quality chances.

The 2nd frame was a tougher affair as Grand Rapids took it to Manitoba for a big portion of the period as they attempted to but failed to solve Eric Comrie.  They outshot the Moose 14-4, including seven shots on the power play but couldn’t beat Comrie.  Scott Kosmachuk finished off a 2 on 1 after a nice pass by Francis Beauvillier to give Manitoba a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes

Once again the Griffins outshot the Moose 15-11 in the final frame but couldn’t solve Comrie until the final two minutes of the period when Matt Lorito snuk in behind the Manitoba defence and scored to make it a one goal game.  But the Moose held and then Francis Beauvillier provided the insurance with an empty netter to give the home side a 3-1 lead.

Post-game audio:

Eric Comrie

Ryan Olsen

Coach Vincent