Everything fell into place for the Moose on Saturday. They had a heck of a game in the early afternoon defeating the Canucks by a final score of 3-2 but heavily outshooting Abbotsford 45-12 as they added two big points to their standings bank. Then three of the four teams around them lost. The two teams (Rockford & Texas) ahead of them both lost in regulation. Then 7th place Iowa defeated 6th place Chicago to leapfrog ahead of their opponent by a point in the standings. So the evening ended in the Central playoff race as:
3. Rockford: 65 (13)
4. Texas: 64 (10)
5. Manitoba: 58 (12)
6. Iowa: 51 (11)
7. Chicago: 50 (12)
Brackets show the games remaining for each club after Saturday night.
Manitoba was the only team in action today which meant they could gain some ground on the teams ahead of them and put some more distance on the teams behind them in the standings.
Lineup news:
Only a couple of changes today. Collin Delia in net for Thomas Milic and Daniel Torgersson for Carson Golder.
Moose lineup:
Malott – Lambert – AJF
Suess – Toninato – Chibrikov
Viel – Reichel – Ford
Torgersson – Nikkanen – Jones
Capobianco – Barteaux
Heinola – Lundmark
Sautner – Bauer
Delia
Millic
Notable:
Unlike yesterday not a great start for the home team as the first goal of the game goes to the Canucks as Moose goalie Collin Delia beat clean early in the first period.
However they answered back on the power play as Jets prospect Nikita Chibrikov draws the Moose even on the power play as he fires it on net trying to find Jeff Malott but it gets deflected in by a defender. Assists to Ville Heinola and Brad Lambert (notable assist).
A few minutes later the afternoon ends for Collin Delia who gets the hook after giving up his second goal on the seventh shot for the Canucks. Abbotsford took a 2-1 lead. In comes Thomas Milic.
Good response shift by the Moose after the Delia pull as AJF ties the game 20 seconds later. That’s his 10th goal of the season for Manitoba.
With his second assist of the afternoon Jets prospect Brad Lambert now sits alone in 4th place on the Moose All-Time points list for rookies with his 49th of the season. He’s up to 19 goals and 30 assists in 55 games. The 30 apples puts him 6th on Rookie Assist list.
Jeff Malott got the secondary assist on the second Moose goal. That was his 25th assist and when you combine that with his 19 goals gives him 44 points on the season. That matches his career high set last season but he does it in 11 fewer games.
It was a good opening period by Manitoba who outshoot Abbotsford 15-8 but score was 2-2 after 20 minutes.
Three more goals for the Canucks in the middle frame gave the visitors a 5-2 lead over the Moose making it a tough hill to climb for Manitoba in the 3rd period.
They were unable to do so and the Canucks took it 5-2 which meant Manitoba was unable to gain any ground on Rockford/Texas and to put some distance between themselves and Iowa/Chicago.
Multi-point game:
Brad Lambert 2A
Highlights:
Post-game interview:
Up next:
The Moose are off tomorrow but will return to the ice on Tuesday as they prepare to face the Marlies in a two-game set which gets underway on Wednesday.
