Illegal Curve Hockey

Manitoba Moose win second straight as they kick off two-game set against IceHogs with 4-2 win

Photo Credit: Jonathan Kozub/Manitoba Moose

The Moose have been practicing in Winnipeg all week as they got set for this two-game set against their Central division rival IceHogs who they hadn’t yet beaten in three chances coming into this game.

Lineup news:

Only changes from the last game came on forward with Daniel Torgersson & Dominic Toninato coming into the lineup and Nicholas Jones & Henri Nikkanen coming out. The defence remained the same as last game while they flipped the netminders.

Moose lineup:

Malott – Lambert – Ford
Bongiovanni – Lucius – Reichel
Suess – Toninato – Chibrikov
Torgersson – Zhilkin – Viel

Capobianco – Stewart
Sautner – Lundmark
Kniazev – Bauer

Delia
Salminen

Notable:

The game didn’t get off to the best start for Manitoba as they took two minors at the 1:18 mark to put them down 5 on 3 which Rockford took advantage of to score the opening goal of the game.

Back with the Moose after spending time with the Jets forward Dominic Toninato tied the game in the first period after he put home his own rebound. That’s three straight game with points for the Minnesotan.

Picking up the secondary assist was Jets prospect Nikita Chibrikov who is up to 18 points (8G 10A) in 17 games which is good enough for second in AHL scoring.

The Moose had a dominant 10-12 minutes of the middle frame as they took a 2-1 lead courtesy of Wyatt Bongiovanni‘s fifth goal of the season (second straight game with a goal) as he fired home this shot on the power play. They outshot the IceHogs 20-4 during this stretch.

After Rockford scored to tie the game with 2:38 left in the 2nd veteran Jeffrey Viel got his first with Manitoba just over a minute later to give the home team a 3-2 lead. It would turn out to the game-winning goal.

It was an even final frame but Jeff Malott salted the game away with the empty-net dagger.

Moose win it 4-2 over the IceHogs to kick off the two-game homestand with a victory. They’ve now won two straight and improve to 8-9-0.

Multi-point game:

Dominic Toninato 1G 1A
Jeff Malott 1G 1A

Player/coach media availability:

Highlights:

Up next:

The Moose are scheduled to practice tomorrow at 10:30 AM at hockey for all centre before their re-match on Sunday against the IceHogs.

David Minuk

Working hard on a daily basis to provide the latest Winnipeg Jets and Manitoba Moose news for our readers and listeners. I also appear on the Illegal Curve Hockey Show every Saturday on our YouTube channel as well as the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show after every single Jets game. And I occasionally jump in the play-by-play booth at Canada Life to provide colour analysis during Manitoba Moose games.