Both teams came out of the gate with a quick pace playing the first few minutes with only one stoppage in play and a shot on goal each.
Josh Green took the first penalty of the game at 3:58 as he was called for tripping. Grand Rapids worked their fifth place powerplay well containing the puck in the Moose zone but could only record a single shot on goal.
The first good chance of the game came with just over 11 minutes to play in the first, as Rick Rypien chased down a puck in the Griffins zone, pulled it back and flipped a quick shot on Jimmy Howard. Mike Keane followed with a good rebound chance but the Griffin's netminder kept the game scoreless.
With 8:24 to play the shots were even at six a piece.
Manitoba took their first powerplay of the game after Jason Jaffray was mauled by defencemen Greg Amadio, who was sent off for holding. The Moose were able to control the puck in the Griffin's zone but one too many turnovers resulted in only one shot on net and an unsuccessful powerplay.
The Moose went on their second powerplay of the game at 15:59 of the first after the Griffins were called for delay of game. Manitoba passed the puck in the Griffins zone for all but ten seconds of the powerplay without recording a shot.
Manitoba took a 1-0 lead after Mike Keane made a nice move around Howard, threw it across the crease and off of Rick Rypien's skate and in.
At the end of the first period the Moose led 1-0 and were outshooting their opponents 10-9.
The Moose came within an inch of a second goal to start the second as Darby and Green worked a pretty passing play in the Griffins zone. Green finished the play as he flipped the puck at Howard who grabbed it off the line at the last second.
Burrows gave the Griffins their second powerplay of the game at 4:02 as he attempted to set a pick for Rick Rypien and caught the Grand Rapids defencemen with an elbow. Manitoba did well to kill the penalty allowing the Griffins only a single shot on net.
Minutes later Grand Rapids was able to draw even after a scramble in front of the Moose net. Flaherty made the initial save but Matt Ellis was able to jump on the rebound and tie the game.
The teams skated four on four with just over eight minutes to play in the second after DiCasmirro hauled down Jesse Schultz and was called for hooking. Schultz was also called for unsportsmanlike conduct as he was said to have dove.
With 5:39 to play in the second the shots were 19-13 for Manitoba.
The Moose took the lead once again on the powerplay as Jason Jaffray walked out in front from the side of the net and attempted a shot. The puck found it's way to Nathan Smith's stick, who made no mistake shelfing it up and over Howard's right shoulder.
At the end of two the score remained 2-1 and the shots 22-15 both in the Moose favour.
Burrows had the first good chance of the third period for the Moose as he took advantage of a Griffins turnover and wired a slapshot that hit Howard in the shoulder and went out of play.
Grand Rapids defenceman Greg Amadio took the first penalty of the third period, a holding call, with just under 12 minutes to play, putting Manitoba on their fourth powerplay of the game. Butenschon took the best chance of the game as he took a pass, wide open in the slot, but Jimmy Howard came up huge to keep Grand Rapids within a goal.
With just over five minutes left ini regulation the Moose led in shots 28-20.
Grand Rapids tied things up with 4:12 left in the third, when Darrly Bootland broke in alone a ripped a slapshot to the top left corner.
Manitoba was able to weather the storm of pressure put on by Grand Rapids in the closing seconds of the game to push the match into overtime.
Both teams had their fair share of chances in the overtime period the best from Grand Rapids coming as forward Eric Manlow forced Flaherty into a huge blocker side save on a breakaway. Green came back the other way with a nice move around the defender, cut in front and ripped a shot that Howard turned away.
Jiri Hudler and Valtteri Filppula scored in the shootout to give Grand Rapids a 3-2 win.
SHOOT-OUT RESULTS
1. MTB - Green - Missed
1. GRA - Kopecky - Missed
2. MTB - Schultz - Missed
2. GRA - MacLean - Missed
3. MTB - Burrows - Missed
3. GRA - Hudler - Scored
4. MTB - Darby - Missed
4. GRA - Manlow - Missed
5. MTB -
5. GRA - Filppula - Scored
1
2
3
OT
SO
TOTAL
Grand Rapids
0
1
1
0
1
3
Manitoba
1
1
0
0
0
2
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: MTB - 19:04 R. Rypien (4) M. Keane, K. Bieksa
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: GRA - 7:02 M. Ellis (5) M. Hackert, J. Insana MTB - 15:25 N. Smith (5) J. Jaffray, K. Bieksa PP
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: GRA - 15:48 D. Bootland (5) T. Kopecky, T. Richards
OVERTIME -- Scoring:
No Scoring
PENALTIES: 1st MTB - J. Green 2.00 Tripping 3:58 1st GRA - G. Amadio 2.00 Holding 12:14 1st GRA - Served by M. Hackert 2.00 Bench minor - Delay of game 15:59
2nd MTB - A. Burrows 2.00 Interference 4:02 2nd MTB - J. Roy 5.00 Fighting 8:24 2nd GRA - D. Bootland 5.00 Fighting 8:24 2nd MTB - J. Green 2.00 Boarding 9:22 2nd MTB - J. Schultz 2.00 Unsportsmanlike conduct 11:46 2nd GRA - N. DiCasmirro 2.00 Hooking 11:46 2nd GRA - N. Martens 2.00 Roughing 14:42
3rd GRA - G. Amadio 2.00 Holding 8:17 3rd MTB - N. McIver 2.00 Holding the stick 12:34
ATTENDANCE:
6811
SHOTS ON GOAL
1
2
3
OT
TOTAL
Grand Rapids
9
6
10
5
33
Manitoba
10
12
7
4
30
POWER PLAY STATS
Grand Rapids (0 for 4)
Manitoba (1 for 4)
GOALIES
HOME TEAM
S
SV
PCT (%)
McVicar
0
0
00.0%
Flaherty
30
28
93.3%
AWAY TEAM
S
SV
PCT (%)
MacDonald
0
0
00.0%
Howard
33
31
93.9%
1. MTB - J. Green 2. MTB - W. Flaherty 3. GRA - J. Howard
The Moose will head back on the road for the weekend, heading into Toronto on Friday to face the Marlies in the first of eight meetings this season. 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.
