Moose offence runs wild in 5-1 victory over Rampage

The Moose took on the San Antonio Rampage – farm club of the Colorado Avalanche – in a Wednesday night affair at the MTS Centre. The Moose came in looking to improve their record, which sat at 6-14-1-2, third last in the AHL. Adam Lowry played his first game in a Moose uniform, just hours after being re-assigned to the AHL.

Key Plays of the Game

1. Four minutes into the game, and on the PP, Nic Petan entered the offensive zone along the left boards and tried centring a pass – the puck went off a defender’s stick and trickled past Calvin Pickard to put the Moose up 1-0.
2. With a minute left in the first, Andrew MacWilliam made an incredibly sloppy giveaway just outside his own zone. He gave it to the wrong guy – Colorado’s first pick, 10th overall in 2015 – Mikko Rantanen, who busted in and beat Comrie upstairs with an impressive backhander to tie things at 1.
3. After Patrice Cormier’s shot was blocked, Matt Halischuk picked up a puck in the slot and wasted no time, firing it high blocker on Pickard to put the Moose up 2-1 just 3 minutes into the second period.
4. After Borna Rendulic walked through a Jets defender and made a great cross-ice feed, Eric Comrie went post-to-post to make a huge pad save to keep the Moose ahead in the second period.
5. With 10 minutes left in the game, Patrice Cormier batted a rebound out of mid-air to give the Moose a 3-1 lead.
6. Just a few minutes later, and after a long stretch where the Moose controlled the puck in the offensive zone, Scott Kosmachuk collected a rebound and just managed to get enough on a backhander to get it in, putting the Moose up 4-1.
7. Adding insult to injury, Matt Fraser took a seemingly harmless wrister from Julian Melchiori and made a great deflection to put the Moose up 5-1.

Game Stats Link

Overall, the Moose played their best game of the season, out-shooting the Rampage 36-23, setting their widest margin of victory at 4 goals, and hitting their season high in goals scored, with 5. (The previous season high was just 3.)

Tonight’s Top Moose

Eric Comrie – A very solid performance, he made several big stops when the Moose were clinging to a 1-goal lead.

Matt Halischuk – good hustle – especially while shorthanded – noticeable in the offensive zone, and a great snipe for the game-winner.

Adam Lowry – first and foremost, he was really good on the penalty kill tonight, breaking up plays, and generating a good chance as well. He played a prominent role in the offensive zone, with 4 shots on net, and had a few other chances which went just wide. He also played with an edge, and got his nose dirty. A very good debut.

Which Player is Getting The Call-Up?

With Adam Lowry’s demotion, a forward will be called up prior to the Jets’ Friday night game against New York. Prior to tonight’s game, one might have assumed that Joel Armia was most likely to fill the spot, given that he was with the team for several games on their most recent road trip. (Though he didn’t play). However, with Paul Maurice watching from the press box, Armia had one of his worst games of the season, creating very little, and giving up the puck on multiple occasions, often in high-risk, low-reward situations. That doesn’t mean that Armia won’t get the call, but it creates some doubt, especially given that Patrice Cormier has also been a call-up option for the Jets this season, and was named 1st star tonight.

Injuries

J.C Lipon remains week-to-week, while Thomas Raffl also missed the game with an injury. Raffl’s story is interesting – he recently took a puck to the jaw in practice, but came back and actually played both games this past weekend before leaving with a back injury. It wasn’t until the back injury that they checked things out and discovered that he had broken his jaw. He’ll likely be out for several weeks.

Post-Game Audio

Adam Lowry

Eric Comrie

Coach Keith McCambridge