Manitoba Moose drop their first game of the season as the Grand Rapids Griffins hold on for 1-0 win

The Moose left Iowa last weekend with a 2-0-0 record after sweeping their series opening weekend for the first time since AHL hockey returned to Manitoba 10 seasons ago. They looked to continue that success this evening in Michigan. The only question mark after a few days of practice in Winnipeg was whether or not Jets prospect Chaz Lucius (2021 1st) would be making his season debut which seemed unlikely as he dressed in an extras uniform during practice but did participate in PP2 drills.

Lineup news:

The good news was that both Chaz Lucius and Dylan Anhorn were available for the game and would be inserted into the lineup. They were scheduled to come in for Ben King and Dmitry Kuzmin however there was a late substitution which saw Kuzmin stay in and Tyrel Bauer come out.

Moose lineup:

Toninato-Lambert-Ford
Shaw-Zhilkin-Chibrikov
Suess-Lucius-AJF
Liwiski-Nikkanen-Torgersson

Lundmark – Salomonsson
Anhorn – Kuzmin
Sautner – Barteaux

Milic
DiVincentiis

Notable:

The game began slowly for Manitoba who were outshot 6-2 but they took control in the opening frame and would end it on a 5-0 run which made it a 7-6 shot edge after 20 minutes with neither team finding the back of the net.

Just past the midpoint of the middle frame Daniel Torgersson was a bit too casual in the neutral zone retrieving a puck which led to the Griffins taking it and scoring which would ultimately prove to be the game-winning goal.

Moose and Griffins each got nine shots in the middle frame but only Grand Rapids was able to find the back of the net so they lead 1-0 after 40.

Manitoba killed a penalty to Brad Lambert with seven minutes left in the 3rd which allowed them to stay in the game. As they pushed for the equalizer they came this close but Griffins goalie Ville Husso shut the door on Dylan Anhorn.

That was as close as they would get as the Griffins held on for the 1-0 victory handing the Moose their first loss of the season as they drop to 2-1-0.

Multi-point game:

None.

Highlights:

Post-game interviews:

Up next:

The Moose conclude the weekend series with a re-match tomorrow night. Puck drop is at 6 PM CDT.