Moose defeat Rocket 3-2 in shootout, sweep four game homestand

(1) Recap

After taking them to task in a 5-2 victory on Sunday afternoon, the Moose once again took on the Laval Rocket – farm club of the Montreal Canadiens – on Tuesday night at Bell MTS Place. The Moose came in as winners of 7 of their last 8 games, and sat first place in the AHL’s Central Divsion.

First Period

13 minutes into the first, Matt Taormina circled the net and fed Antoine Waked, who had slipped out of the reach of Sami Niku. Waked one-timed it glove side on an unsuspecting Eric Comrie. 1-0 Rocket.

Second Period

Halfway through the second, and on the PP, Michael Spacek fed a wonderful pass into the slot for Michael Sgarbossa, who tipped it past Michael McNiven. 1-1.

Right after the powerplay goal, Michael Sgarbossa deflected a low point shot by Peter Stoykewych – his second goal in just 40 seconds.

With 1:01 left in the second period, and with Laval on the PP, Chris Terry stood at the right faceoff dot and blew a wrister by Eric Comrie, glove side to knot things up at 2.

Third Period

No scoring

Overtime

No scoring

(2) Scoring Summary

Official Game Sheet: Link 

(3) Lineup

Forwards

Lemieux-Petan-Roslovic
De Leo-Spacek-Appleton
Harkins-Sgarbossa-Lipon
Beauvillier-Cormier-Robinson

Scratches: Sutter, MacLise, Kramer

Defence

Schilling-Stoykewych
Niku-Melchiori
Kulevich-Beaudoin

Scratches: Gotovets, Nogier (IR)

Goaltender

Comrie
Hutchinson

(4) Prospect Pulse

Jack Roslovic

An off-game by his standards – Roslovic had two shots on goal, and only 1 scoring chance. He had a few takeaways early in the game, but made a bad turnover in OT which led to him being benched for the remainder of the game, including the shootout.

Sami Niku

An off-game for Niku as well. He was burned on Laval’s opening goal, giving his man too much space in a pretty good scoring area. He did create a great chance for Mason Appleton on the PP, and made a few decent inroads into the offensive zone, but overall, it was one of his lesser games this year.

Brendan Lemieux

Very involved in the play tonight, with 6 shots on goal, and 7 shot attempts overall – all at even-strength. However, he made a few questionable choices on key plays – a two-on-one late in the third, where he chose to pass despite having a clear lane to shoot; then in OT, he had a great passing lane over to Sami Niku back-door, but instead chose to shoot, which created a two-on-one against. He made good things happen, but you hope these types of mistakes are correctable.

Michael Spacek

Was more noticeable tonight than in any other game thus far this season. He had a fantastic primary assist Sgarbossa’s first goal – great vision to find him through traffic. He also had 2 shots, and 4 shot attempts – his highest totals thus far record (though shot attempts are not tracked on the road). A very nice game for the rookie, in his 5th game back from injury.

Nic Petan

He had his chances tonight but was a bit snake-bitten until the shootout, where he pulled off a move that only slick hands can make. He was involved in the play throughout the game, with 2 scoring chances, 3 shots, and 5 shot attempts.

(5) Coach Vincent post-game

(6) Next Game Action

Friday night in Grand Rapids, Michigan