Action heated up with two minutes played in the first period as Houston's Bill Kinkel took a charging penalty after leaving his feet to hit Bernier. Kinkel was fired up and wanted a piece of someone. McIver stepped in and the two pushed and shoved, both were given four minute double minors for roughing, with Kinkel getting the initial charging penalty as well.
Burrows had a great chance to put the Moose up 1-0 as he deked in from the right corner and tried to stuff the puck passed Kotyk. Minutes later Kotyk was forced into making a big skate save as Jesse Schultz streaked in and made a nice deke to the right.
Houston struck first on the powerplay as Curtis Murphy snuck in from the point and took a pretty feed from Rem Murray in the corner and slid the puck underneath Wade Flaherty.
With 8:44 played, Jesse Schultz tied the game at ones at he took a quick shot on Kotyk, who gave a big rebound right back to Schultz, who made no mistake popping his fourth goal of the season.
After a game that started out with both teams going full speed, both clubs seemed to settle in to their game plans. With five minutes to play the shots were 12-8 for Houston.
After a exciting first period the game was tied at one with the shots 14-8 in favor of Houston.
The Moose came out of the gates firing as Jesse Schultz used his speed to get around Houston defender, he made a nice pass right on the tape of Nathan Smith who looked like he had an easy goal until Kotyk came across to make an unbelievable post to post save.
Kotyk continued to keep the game tied with five minutes played in the first as Mike Brown made a nice feed to Fortunus streaking in from the point, who fired a quick shot but Kotyk made another big save.
Off of a big turnover, Craig Darby took the puck at the Aeros blue line, streaked in on goal and fired a quick shot that hit Kotyk. The shot bounced off of Kotyk's shoulder and into the air, where Jason Jaffray was there to whack home the go ahead goal.
The Aeros had a great chance to tie the game up shorthanded with less than three minutes to go in the second, Houston's Murphy snuck down the right wing and floated a pass across the middle Bryan Lundbohm forcing Flaherty into a nice sliding save.
After two periods Houston continued to lead 23-19 in shots and the score remaining 2-1 Moose.
The Moose dominated the play in the first few minutes of the third period controlling the puck in the Aero's zone and backchecking well without the puck.
Bernier almost gave the Moose some breathing room as he took the puck in the slot and ripped a shot off of the right post.
The Moose were given a 5:00 minute powerplay after Josh Olson got his stick up on Jason Jaffray and drew blood. The Moose had a tough time getting anything started in the first few minutes of the major penalty. The Aeros were getting a load of pressure in the Moose zone not giving the Moose a chance to get their powerplay setup.
Kirby Law was a split second shy of tying the game as he took a bounce off of the boards behind the net and quickly wrapped it around, Flaherty was up to the challenge as he stuffed the puck against the post.
The Aero's tied the game with 4:48 to play as Kirby Law took a pass from behind the net out in front and got enough of the puck to put it pass Flaherty.
Rypien had a good chance to get the game winner with 30 seconds to play as Rick Rypien streaked down the right wing and fired a quick shot on Kotyk that was turned away.
The teams exchanged minor chances in overtime until Jason Doig was hauled down giving the Moose a powerplay. The Moose broke in two on one as Darby fired a shot and hit the left goal post keeping the score tied heading into a shoot-out.
SHOOT-OUT RESULTS
1. MTB - Balej - Miss
1. HOU - Westrum - Miss
2. MTB - Burrows - Miss
2. HOU - O'Sullivan - Miss
3. MTB - Schultz - Scores
3. HOU - Law - Miss
4. MTB - Jaffray - Miss
4. HOU - Voloshenko - Miss
5. MTB - Darby - Miss
5. HOU - Murray - Miss
Wade Flaherty stopped all five shots and Jesse Schultz roofed the shootout winner as the Moose take the shootout 1-0!
1
2
3
OT
TOTAL
Houston
1
0
1
0
2
Manitoba
1
1
0
0
2
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: HOU - 5:52 C. Murphy (1) R. Murray, P. O'Sullivan PP MTB - 8:34 J. Schultz (4)
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: MTB - 12:10 J. Jaffray (1) C. Darby, B. Skinner
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: HOU - 15:12 K. Law (8) E. Westrum
PENALTIES: 1st - HOU - B. Kinkel 2.00 Roughing 2:11 1st - MTB - N. McIver 2.00 Roughing 2:11 1st - HOU - B. Kinkel 2.00 Charging 2:11 1st - HOU - B. Kinkel 2.00 Roughing 4:11 1st - MTB - Served by M. Bernier 2.00 Bench minor - Too many men 5:00 1st - MTB - A. Burrows 2.00 Hooking 6:19 1st - MTB - A. Burrows 2.00 Hooking 9:27 1st - HOU - K. Law 2.00 Interference 10:19
2nd - MTB - B. Skinner 2.00 Holding 14:23 2nd - HOU - S. Kotyk 2.00 Delay of game 15:41 3rd - HOU - J. Olson 5.00 High sticking 5:32
ATTENDANCE:
5052
SHOTS ON GOAL
1
2
3
OT
TOTAL
Houston
14
9
3
0
26
Manitoba
8
11
6
4
29
POWER PLAY STATS
Houston (1 for 4)
Manitoba (0 for 5)
GOALIES
HOME TEAM
S
SV
PCT (%)
Flaherty
29
27
93.1%
Gherson
0
0
00.0%
AWAY TEAM
S
SV
PCT (%)
Harding
0
0
00.0%
Kotyk
26
24
92.3%
1.MTB - J. Jaffray 2.HOU - S. Kotyk 3.MTB - W. Flaherty
The Moose will head back to San Antonio for another game against the Rampage tomorrow night before coming back to Houston to play on Sunday afternoon. Listen to the games live on CJOB.
