The Moose are in rare territory having lost four straight games. It is all the more surprising given that it has taken place at home where they have generally been successful this season going 18-8-1-3 prior to this slide. And it isn’t as if they have been playing poorly in all games. In their loss on Saturday afternoon they outshot the Canucks 15-0 by the midpoint of the 1st period but didn’t have any thing to show for their effort.
Practice notes:
Only player missing from skate this morning was Wyatt Bongiovanni who is day-to-day. The team also had Evan Polei and Thomas Caron skating in light blue. It was a tough practice for Kristian Reichel who slammed hard into the boards on one rush and shortly thereafter took a puck to the face. After he got attended to on the ice he stayed out with his teammates for the entire practice.
No changes from the last game when it comes to the forward group. Depending on how the week goes you could see Evan Polei back in the lineup.
Lines:
Malott – Toninato – Limoges
Harkins – Meireles – Boland
Torgersson – Nikkanen – Reichel
Jones – Maier – Ford
Health update:
Bit of good news for Moose defenceman Declan Chisholm who I was told skated this morning ahead of team practice. Head coach Mark Morrison indicated to me when I asked about a timeline for his return that “we’re pushing for the end of the season”. That would be good news given he went down with his high-ankle sprain in the game in Chicago on March 19th and this timeline could mean he is back in under 4 weeks.
On Wyatt Bongiovanni he remains day-to-day. The team is waiting for him to be able to have an IR skate and to see how his injury reacts to that.
With regards to Evan Polei they don’t want to put him in until his conditioning is back up after he dealt with a tough stretch of injury, illness and injury.
Player availability:
Up next:
The Moose are off tomorrow but return to the ice on Wednesday for a practice as they continue to prepare for the final two home games of the regular season which will be on Thursday and Friday against the Griffins.
