The first few minutes of the game flew by without interuption as the teams skated back and forth down the ice at a steady pace.
Butenschon took the first Moose shot on goal with nearly five minutes played in the first, which forced Griffin's goalie Joey MacDonald into a quick toe save.
Minutes later Rob McVicar was forced to make three quick saves in a row as the initial Griffin's point shot rebounded out in front giving Grand Rapids a few good chances.
Manitoba put on some heavy pressure midway through a quick first period. Josh Green had a great chance out front with a wide open Griffin's net but the defender got a stick on it to send it wide.
Manitoba took the first powerplay of the game as Jaffray was hooked as he broke in alone but still managed to rip a shot off the crossbar. Kyle Quincey was given the hooking minor, but the Moose failed to convert on the powerplay.
A scoreless first period concluded with the shots 11-8 for Manitoba.
Grand Rapids took their first powerplay of the game with just under three minutes gone in the second period as Doig took a holding penalty. Manitoba killed the first half of the penalty with ease but couldn't hold on as Nick Martens was able to bank the puck in off of a helpless McVicar.
Rick Rypien had a great chance to draw even as the Moose broke into the Griffin's zone. Jaffray dropped the puck back to Bieksa who had a wide open slap shot in the slot. MacDonald stopped the initial shot but Rypien came within inches of putting home the rebound as he knocked the puck out of the air.
The Griffins took a 2-0 lead at 7:40 of the second after a Moose defensive breakdown allowed Donald MacLean to get his own rebound on a McVicar pad save and flip it into a wide open net.
At 12:53 of the second Manitoba took their third powerplay of the game after Bootland was gated for interference. Jesse Schultz had a great chance as the Moose broke in 3 on 2, but Schultz snapped it just wide of the right post. The penalty expired with the score remaining 2-0 Griffins.
Grand Rapids looked for a third goal to ice the game late in the second as they peppered McVicar with shots and controlled the zone for the last two minutes of the period. Manitoba was able to hold the Griffins and the period expired with the Griffins leading 2-0 and outshooting the Moose 26-16.
Yuri Moschevsky took his first penalty of the season, Manitoba's second of the game, at 4:45 of the third as he was sent off for boarding. It was Manitoba with the best chance to score on the advantage though as they broke in on MacDonald, Mike Brown kept and fired it just over the crossbar.
Two heavyweights went at it just as the penalty had expired as Kevin Bieksa and Kent McDonell squared off. Both landed a couple good blows but neither hit the ice as the linesmen broke it up after about a minute.
The Moose drew within one after Craig Darby streaked in a made a pretty drop pass to Jesse Schultz in the slot. Schultz got enough on it to put it past Joey MacDonald for his team leading tenth of the season.
Failure to clear the zone resulted in a third Grand Rapids goal with 9:15 left in regulation as MacLean got his second of the game.
With seven minutes left to play Grand Rapids was outshooting the Moose 33-19.
It was again Jesse Schultz in the right place at the right time as a rebound from a Brett Skinner point shot feel right on Schultz's stick, who made no mistake putting it home with Joey MacDonald out of position.
Seconds later the Moose went down two again as Donald MacLean was able to lose Bieksa off a face-off in the Moose zone and deposit his third of the game.
Manitoba pulled McVicar with a minute and a half to play but could not get back into the game. The game finished with the score 4-2 and the shots 35-25 both in favour of the Griffins.
1
2
3
TOTAL
Grand Rapids
0
2
2
4
Manitoba
0
0
2
2
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring:
No Scoring
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: GRA - 4:18 N. Martens (2) V. Filppula, K. Quincey PP GRA - 7:40 D. MacLean (4) D. Meech, E. Manlow
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: MTB - 7:59 J. Schultz (10) C. Darby, S. Butenschon GRA - 10:45 D. MacLean (5) N. DiCasmirro MTB - 16:47 J. Schultz (11) B. Skinner, J. Jaffray GRA - 17:30 D. MacLean (6) N. DiCasmirro
PENALTIES: 1st GRA - K. Quincey 2.00 Hooking 9:15 1st GRA - K. Quincey 2.00 Holding the stick 17:24
2nd MTB - J. Doig 2.00 Holding 2:54 2nd GRA - D. Bootland 2.00 Interference 12:53
3rd MTB - H Y. Moscevsky 2.00 Boarding 4:35 3rd MTB - 5.00 Fighting 6:47 3rd GRA - K. McDonell 5.00 Fighting 6:47
ATTENDANCE:
6692
SHOTS ON GOAL
1
2
3
TOTAL
Grand Rapids
8
18
9
35
Manitoba
11
5
9
25
POWER PLAY STATS
Grand Rapids (1 for 2)
Manitoba (0 for 3)
GOALIES
HOME TEAM
S
SV
PCT (%)
McVicar
35
31
88.5%
Flaherty
0
0
00.0%
AWAY TEAM
S
SV
PCT (%)
MacDonald
25
23
92.0%
Howard
0
0
00.0%
The Moose will finish up their four-game homestand tomorrow night with another game against the Griffins. Get your tickets today 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.
