Ryan Kesler had a goal and two assists and Lee Goren registered two points as the Manitoba Moose defeated the Hamilton Bulldogs 4-2 Saturday night.

Game Notes: Manitoba

The first penalty of the game went to the Moose after Kevin Bieksa gave Steve Ott a slash and shot to the face. The Moose were down for four minutes as a result.

On the penalty kill, Flaherty made several big stops. He stacked the pads on Duncan Milroy after Milroy one-timed a pass across the crease and made a big pad save off a Trevor Daley blast from the circle.

Near the end of the first, the Moose had a powerplay opportunity of their own and capitalized. Kevin Bieksa ripped a shot from the point that was redirected by Ryan Kesler past Danis.

A couple minutes later, Josh Green took a pass across the crease from Peter Sarno and fired it into the open cage to open a two-goal lead for the Moose.

After one period, the Moose had a 10-7 lead in shots and a 2-0 lead in the game.

In the second, Hamilton's best chance came when Tomas Plekanec was sprung on a breakaway. Plekanec's close-in backhander was turned aside by Flaherty.

The Moose came right back with a chance of their own as Sarno fed Green in front of the net but his redirected shot went wide of the goal.

With three minutes to go in the second, Tomas Mojzis almost made it 3-0. His blast from the point went off a Bulldogs player in front and just missed the goal by a small margin.

At the end of the second, Kevin Bieksa and Jason Ward dropped the gloves. Bieksa had the clear advantage, getting the better of Ward. However, Bieksa's jersey wasn't tied down in the fight and he received a game misconduct.

Shots in the second were 7-3 for Hamilton but the Moose still had the two-goal lead.

Hamilton did manage to score early in the second to draw to within a goal. Steve Ott blocked a Mojzis clearing attempt, then danced around the defenceman before putting the puck high on Flaherty from in close.

Jeff Heerema looked to regain the two-goal lead for the Moose a couple of minutes later when his blast trickled through the legs of Danis but the Hamilton netminder was able to get his glove on the puck just before it inched across the goal line.

Heerema redeemed himself at the midway point of the third. He spotted a loose puck and slapped it by Danis to make it 3-1. Kesler and Goren drew assists on the play.

Trevor Daley's singlehanded effort resulted in Hamilton's second goal, setting up a dramatic finish. Daley skated in from the left side and fired a shot on Flaherty. He then picked up his own rebound, circled the net and threw it out in front where Andrei Kostitsyn tipped it over the Moose netminder.

The Bulldogs came close to tying it, but Lee Goren's empty netter iced the win for the Moose.

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NOTES: Jimmy Roy, Kent Huskins and Justin Morrison were the scratches tonight...