Manitoba Moose deserve a better fate but Devin Cooley leads Calgary Wranglers to 3-2 win

The Moose had a listless performance against the Wranglers on Friday night which saw them get pulverized 6-1 and held shotless in the middle frame (12-0 in favour of Calgary) and the final frame in that game they had a 10-1 edge which all translated to a poor team effort.

Lineup news:

Jets goalie prospect Thomas Milic got the net after Kappo Kahkonen had the last four starts.

Lines & D pairs:

AJF -Lambert – Ford
Suess – Toninato – JAD
Shaw – Conley – Chibrikov
Wagner -King – Empey

Sautner – Salomonsson
Anhorn – Barteaux
Kuzmin – Bauer

Milic

Notable:

Good start by Manitoba who have a 4-0 shot edge over Calgary early in this one. They continued to pour it on during the opening period but Wranglers goalie Devin Cooley was fantastic making 15 saves including this beauty on Dylan Anhorn.

They reversed course in the middle frame from the previous game as it was Manitoba which held a 6-0 shot edge over Calgary seven minutes into the 2nd. But then the penalty trouble began including this major penalty on captain Dominic Toninato which was called an elbow but was not evident on the replay. The PK was very good and they even ended up killing a 5 on 3 for the last minute of the major.

The action was fast and furious between Manitoba and Calgary in the 3rd period. After neither team scored through 40, there were five goals in the final frame

Things got going when Calgary got fortunate as a missed shot went right to Matrin Frk who opened the scoring.

One of the weirder goals you’ll see today which was credited to Parker Ford but I’m still not sure he actually touched it to get it across the line. Looked like the Wranglers defender did. If not then it will be Brad Lambert’s goal. Either way it tied the game 1-1. (Update: After the game the AHL credited it to C.J. Suess)

Jets D prospect Dmitry Kuzmin got his first of the season to tie the game 2-2.

What turned out to be the game-winning goal was one the officials had a chat about to see if there was goalie interference but with no review they ultimately called it a goal. It put Calgary back in front 3-2 over Manitoba.

The Moose deserved a better fate this afternoon but Wranglers goalie Devin Cooley was excellent making 36 saves in the 3-2 win. As I was reminder on social media he did similar during the playoffs a few years back when playing for the Milwaukee Admirals.

With the loss Manitoba falls to 6-11-0 which puts them last in the Central.

Multi-point game:

Dmitry Kuzmin 1G 1A

Highlights:

Post-game interviews:

Up next:

The Moose will have another week of practice as they prepare to face the Belleville Senators next weekend which concludes the six-game homestand.