The game started off at a fairly dull place with both teams trying to get into their game plans.
The Moose took the first powerplay of the game after Craig Darby was nabbed for hooking. The Aeros worked the powerplay to perfection as Patrick O'Sullivan made a pretty pass from behind the net to Petr Taticek in front who one-timed it passed Rob McVicar.
Mike Brown showed a ton of hustle with 13:36 to play as, one on one, he stole the puck from the Houston defender and forced Harding into a quick save while going hard to the net.
Just as a Moose powerplay was ending Bryan Lundbom was awarded a penalty shot after Brett Skinner hooked him on a breakaway. On the penalty shot Lundbom seemed to take a rather relaxed wrist shot that McVicar turned away easily.
With 5:48 to play in the first Josh Harding made a fantastic glove save to keep the Aeros on top as Nathan Smith found himself alone in front. Harding slide across the ice and picked the puck out of the air at the last second.
Prestin Ryan made his first point of the season a beauty as he took a nice feed from Burrows, walked in on Harding, made a great deke and flipped a backhand upstairs to tie the game at one.
With under a minute to play Jimmy Roy got his first of the season to put the Moose up one, as he jumped on a big rebound out in front of Harding and snapped it under a leaping Mike Keane and passed Josh Harding.
With three minutes gone in the second Jozef Balej just about put the Moose up by two as he ripped a shot on Harding that grazed the top of his goal stick and over the net.
Manitoba took their third powerplay of the game with just over 14 to play in the second after Joel Ward was called for tripping. Their best chance of the powerplay came as Jaffray had the puck at side of the net and spotted Brett Skinner streaking in from the point, Josh Harding came across to make a nice save.
With 9:37 to play in the second the shots were tied at 16.
Houston drew even at 13:32 of the second as Patrick O'Sullivan threw a harmless looking shot towards the goal that got through traffic and beat McVicar stick side.
Houston went up one minutes later as they got their second powerplay goal of the game. Erik Westrum got his 28th point of the season as he one-timed the puck at the right side of the net to beat McVicar glove side.
Manitoba had a powerplay goal waived away with 2:30 to play as Alex Burrows was said to have knocked in a Brett Skinner point shot with his glove.
Manitoba was given a 5 on 3 advantage to end the first as Murphy was sent off for interference and Stokes for slashing.
The second period ended with Houston up 3-2 and outshooting the Moose 24-21.
The Aeros were able to kill of the two man advantage with ease to start the third period as Manitoba did not register a shot on net.
The Moose were given another 5 on 3 advantage with just under three minutes gone in the third. The Moose passed the puck around nicely with Jesse Schultz picking up a rebound at the side of the net and flipping it over a sprawled out Josh Harding for his ninth of the season.
After Jimmy Roy was given two minutes for interference the Aeros again capitalized on the powerplay. Maxime Fortunus made an ugly giveaway to Kirby Law in front who snapped it past McVicar.
A great burst by Sven Butenschon tied the game at four with about nine minutes to play. Butenschon took the puck at centre ice, snuck past the defender then slid a pass across the crease to Schultz who knocked in his second of the game.
With 4:20 to play in regulation the shots were again tied at 32.
The Moose took the lead with 2:48 to play as directly off a faceoff in the Aeros zone Rick Rypien threw a shot on net that hit a defender and bounced underneath of Josh Harding.
The Moose were forced to play the remainder of the game 6 on 4 as Jaffray was called for holding the stick and Houston pulled their goalie. The Moose fought the Aero's late pressure with great hustle from Rick Rypien to hold on for the 5-4 victory.
1
2
3
TOTAL
Houston
1
2
1
4
Manitoba
2
0
3
5
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: HOU - 4:14 P. Taticek (5) P. O'Sullivan, E. Westrum PP MTB - 16:00 P. Ryan (1) A. Burrows, S. Butenschon PP MTB - 19:27 J. Roy (1) R. Rypien
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: HOU - 13:32 P. O'Sullivan (6) D. Wood, C. Murphy HOU - 15:23 E. Westrum (9) K. Law, R. Murray PP
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: MTB - 3:17 J. Schultz (9) S. Butenschon, A. Burrows PP HOU - 5:41 K. Law (10) PP MTB - 11:22 S. Butenschon (6) PP MTB - 17:12 R. Rypien (3) M. Keane
PENALTIES: 1st MTB - C. Darby 2.00 Hooking 3:46 1st MTB - A. Burrows 2.00 Hooking 8:02 1st HOU - P. Olvecky 2.00 Hooking 10:36 1st MTB - R. Rypien 2.00 Roughing 13:19 1st HOU - E. Reitz 2.00 Roughing 13:19 1st HOU - E. Westrum 2.00 Interference 15:36
2nd HOU - J. Ward 2.00 Tripping 5:48 2nd MTB - M. Brown 2.00 Hooking 8:19 2nd HOU - J. Olson 2.00 Boarding 10:32 2nd MTB - M. Keane 2.00 Holding 14:04 2nd HOU - J. Tetarenko 2.00 Interference 16:30 2nd HOU - C. Murphy 2.00 Hooking 19:17 2nd HOU - R. Stokes 2.00 Slashing 19:47
3rd HOU - C. Murphy 2.00 Hooking 2:01 3rd HOU - K. Law 2.00 Unsportsmanlike conduct 2:45 3rd MTB - J. Roy 2.00 Interference 4:50 3rd MTB - M. Keane 2.00 Hooking 8:38 3rd HOU - P. O'Sullivan 2.00 Hooking 9:42 3rd MTB - N. McIver 2.00 Holding 12:39 3rd MTB - J. Jaffray 2.00 Hooking 18:32
ATTENDANCE:
6688
SHOTS ON GOAL
1
2
3
TOTAL
Houston
10
14
10
34
Manitoba
13
8
15
36
POWER PLAY STATS
Houston (2 for 4)
Manitoba (1 for 7)
GOALIES
HOME TEAM
S
SV
PCT (%)
Flaherty
0
0
00.0%
McVicar
34
30
88.2%
AWAY TEAM
S
SV
PCT (%)
Harding
36
31
86.1%
Kotyk
0
0
00.0%
1. - MTB Sven Butenschon 2. - HOU Erik Westrum 3. - MTB Rick Rypien
The Moose will finish up their season series with the Houston Aeros tomorrow night at the MTS Centre. Great seats are still available or listen to the games live on CJOB.
Photos by Rusty Barton, Manitoba Moose. Click on one of the thumbnails at right to reveal a larger version of this image.
Photos by Jonathan Kozub, Manitoba Moose. Click on one of the below thumbnails to reveal a larger version of the image above.
