Moose bounce back defeating IceHogs 4-0 and earn three of four points to start season

After falling apart in the 3rd period of the home opener the Moose were looking to bounce back this afternoon in the re-match. Out from yesterday are Jeff Malott, Nicholas Jones and Wyatt Bongiovanni and coming are Jansen Harkins, Dominic Toninato and Cole Maier.

Moose lineup:

Limoges-Lucius-Eyssimont
Harkins-Toninato-Lambert
Polei- Maier- Stenlund
Torgersson-Nikkanen-Reichel

Heinola -Lundmark
Chisholm-Gawanke
Saunter- Bauer

Salminen
Holm

Notable:

For Jansen Harkins this was his first AHL game since December 17th, 2019.

Goalie Oskari Salminen made his North American debut this afternoon for Manitoba.

About the only thing to like in the first period was the play of Oskari Salminen who stopped all 15 shots he faced. Spoiler alert that theme continued for the rest of the game.

Couple more examples of Jets 2021 1st rounder Chaz Lucius getting himself open for chances here and here.

It didn’t result in a goal so often gets forgotten but good vision with this pass by Jets 2019 2nd rounder Simon Lundmark to get the puck up to Kevin Stenlund who set up a Kristian Reichel chance.

Not much was happening in this game through almost 40 minutes before Jansen Harkins took this puck and ripped a shorthanded goal to break the deadlock.

Another one of those things that doesn’t show up on a scoresheet so could get overlooked was the fact that the Moose might have found a very good penalty killer in Jets 2019 4th rounder Henri Nikkanen. I remember at a Jets development camp a few years back he mentioned he models his game after Mikko Koivu.

It isn’t his first pro goal but it was the first AHL goal alert for Jets 2022 1st rounder Brad Lambert who scored this bar down beauty coming out of the penalty box.

The floodgates opened shortly thereafter and Kevin Stenlund got his first with the Moose, which was also a nice snipe, to make it 3-0 for the home side.

Evan Polei sealed the deal making it 4-0 for the Moose with the empty net dagger with 2:29 left in the 3rd period.

Big game for netminder Oskari Salminen who made 32 saves for the shutout victory.

Player media availability:

Coach media availability:

Game Highlights:

Up Next:

The Moose are off tomorrow and will be back on the ice on Tuesday for practice before they head out on the road for three games.