Manitoba Moose stay red-hot as they demolish Grand Rapids Griffins 5-1 to improve to 9-1-0 in last ten

The Moose came into this morning’s action one of the hottest teams in the AHL after winning five of six games on their recent road trip. Would they be able to keep that going in this morning’s school day game in front of 1000s of screaming kids against another divisional opponent in the Griffins who sit in 2nd place in the Central.

Lineup news:

Only one change made with Daniel Torgersson coming back into the lineup for Carson Golder.

Moose lineup:

Malott – Lambert – AJF
Suess – Toninato – Chibrikov
Viel – Reichel – Ford
Torgersson – Nikkanen – Jones

Capobianco – Barteaux
Heinola – Lundmark
Sautner – Bauer

Milic
Delia

Notable:

Kids were ready to go right even before but definitely during anthems. They even did a 1st period wave.

After a very good start to the period the Moose opened the scoring courtesy of Dawson Barteaux‘s fifth of the season.

Parker Ford got the kids to their feet as he made it a 2-0 game on the power play. That was his 14th goal of the season and fourth goal in the last four games for Manitoba.

With the primary assist on the second Moose goal Jets prospect Brad Lambert’s 44 points (18G 26A) in 52 games ties him with Kyle Connor’s rookie totals for Manitoba. Connor had 44 points (25G 19A) in 52 games during the 2016-17 season. Of course Lambert wasn’t done.

Proving that the best defence on a PK is good offence, Jeffrey Viel took a pass that was too hot to handle for the Griffins all the way for this shorthanded breakaway goal.

They say it’s hard to play the first game after a long road trip but if the 1st period was any indication that wasn’t gonna be the case for these Moose as they led 3-0 after 20 with a 10-4 shot edge.

Griffins were all over the Moose to start the middle frame but it was Manitoba who struck first in this period proving hockey is a funny game. AJF got his ninth to make it a 4-0 game for the home team.

Lambert picked up an assist on the Moose fourth goal to surpass Kyle Connor’s rookie total.

And I was writing a tweet that he was chasing Jack Roslovic as the next top Jets prospect for Moose rookie points totals and Lambert scored to make it a 5-1 game.

AHL Player of the Week Thomas Milic didn’t need to make a ton of saves but when he was called upon he was calm and cool when doing so.

With the game-winning goal Parker Ford now has 6 which have been game-winners. That ties him for 1st on the Moose All-Time list for game-winning goals by a rookie with Mason Appleton who had 6 back in the 2017-18 season.

With the win the Moose are now 9-1-0 in their last ten games as they join the IceHogs as the hottest teams in the AHL. They now have an eight point cushion over the Wolves for the fifth and final playoff spot in the Central (although Chicago has a game in hand). They are also now just five points back of the Stars for the 4th spot (and it’s Manitoba who has a game in hand on them).

Multi-point game:

Brad Lambert 1G 2A

Highlights:

To follow.

Post-game interview:

Up next:

The Moose will play the Griffins tomorrow night at a normal puck drop time of 7 PM CDT.