The Moose had lost five straight games heading into tonight’s game as they attempted to whittle down their magic number to punch their tickets to the playoffs.
Lineup news:
They changed up goalies as Arvid Holm got the crease. At forward Evan Polei was out, Tyler Boland in and on defence it was Tyrel Bauer in, Simon Lundmark out.
Moose lineup:
Malott-Toninato-Harkins
Torgersson-Maier-Limoges
Boland-Nikkanen-Reichel
Jones-Meireles-Ford
Sautner – Gawanke
Heinola – Stewart
Oligny – Bauer
Holm
Salminen
Notable:
Moose handed out some hardware to the team in advance of the final regular season home game.
MVP: Declan Chisholm
Fan Favourite: Jansen Harkins
Rookie: Dean Stewart
Best Dman: Leon Gawanke
Community Service: Jimmy Oligny
Nice save by the Winnipeg crowd as the anthem singer (who has a fantastic voice) momentarily forgot the words in the U.S. anthem and they began to sang with her. She quickly recovered but nice work by the fans.
Unlike the last few games where the Moose started quickly but didn’t get rewarded. Tonight they got it and it was a Moose record breaker as Leon Gawanke set the new record for goals by a defenceman with his 17th of the year which gave his team a 1-0 lead. He passes Sami Niku (16) who previously had the highest total for the Moose in the AHL. He tied Brett Hauer for most goals by a defenceman in the total history of the Moose (including IHL).
The Griffins came out like a house on fire to start the 2nd but Arvid Holm was up for the task as they fired seven shots (to Manitoba’s zero) to start the middle frame.
Took the Moose just five seconds on the power play to take the lead courtesy of Dominic Toninato’s 18th of the year. Assists for Heinola and Gawanke (40th point of season). Made it 2-1 for Manitoba.
New goal scoring leader for the Moose as Jansen Harkins got his 22nd of the season to give Manitoba some insurance as he made it 3-1.
The slide is over as the Moose played a complete 60 minute game to take it 3-1 on Fan Appreciation Night.
Goalie Arvid Holm was very good making 22 saves on 23 shots as he improves to 18-11-3 on the season with a 2.60 GAA and a .913 save%.
With the loss the Griffins were eliminated from playoff contention.
Player media availability:
Coach media availability:
Highlights:
Up Next:
The Moose are off tomorrow.
