Grand Rapids Griffins stun Manitoba Moose with two goals in last minute for 4-3 comeback win

The Moose lost last night 5-4 in OT to the Griffins despite holding a 4-1 lead into the 2nd period. Given how important these games are against divisional opponents they could not afford to have another letdown like they did last night as they try to climb out of the Central division basement.

Lineup news:

Not unexpectedly the Moose remain without Chaz Lucius (ankle), Brad Lambert (result of big hit last weekend) and Carson Golder (muscle spasms). Also no Tyrel Bauer with Dean Stewart drawing in for him.

Moose lineup:

Malott – Ford – Chibrikov
Viel – Reichel – Suess
Bongiovanni – Nikkanen – Kemp
Torgersson – Zhilkin – Caron

Capobianco – Barteaux
Sautner – Stewart
Heinola – Lundmark

Salminen
Delia

Notable:

It was a milestone game for Jeff Malott as he played in his 200th AHL game for the Manitoba Moose. Ties him with former Jets draft pick Jansen Harkins in games played wearing antlers.

Less than one minute into this game the Moose got on the board courtesy of Jets prospect Nikita Chibrikov putting home this Ville Heinola pass.

Just under three minutes later Nikita Chibrikov picked up his second of the game which made it 2-0 as he does some good work to force a turnover which Jeff Malott collects and then sets up 19 for the goal. He’s up to 13 goals on the season as he beats former Jets/Moose goalie Michael Hutchinson five hole

Speaking of former Jets/Moose goalie Michael Hutchinson he got some love from the Winnipeg crowd during the commercial timeout. He spent five seasons as part of the organization.

With the Moose up a pair goalie Oskari Salminen made the save of the night for the Moose on a Griffins 2 on 1.

It would prove to be a timely save as seconds later Thomas Caron with the bank shot makes it 3-0 for the Moose as he scores in back-to-back games for Manitoba.

There was some serious commitment at the end of the 2nd period by the Moose to keep the Griffins at zero as the entire PK unit did what they needed to do to not allow a goal against.

Unfortunately for Manitoba the Griffins were able to get rolling in the 3rd period scoring this deflected shot early before sneaking this one by Salminen to make it a one goal game.

Given the current losing streak for the Moose the lead did not feel secure and that proved accurate as the Griffins Austin Czarnik tied the game with Hutchinson pulled for an extra attacker with 42 seconds left in the period and then they stunned the crowd by winning the game 30 seconds later and with 12 seconds left in the contest.

After the game the mood as you might expect was not a good one from the Moose players and the sentiment was summed up by Nikita Chibrikov who apologized to the fans for that game.

Multi-point game:

Nikita Chibrikov 2G
Jeff Malott 2A

Coach/Player media availability:

Interview with Kristian Reichel runs from the start to 2:03
Interview with Nikita Chibrikov runs from 2:04 until 3:22
Interview with assistant coach Eric Dubois runs from 3:23 until the end.

Highlights:

Up next:

The Moose are off tomorrow and will return to the ice on Monday for practice as they start to prepare for their two-game set which begins on Tuesday against the Wolves.