By Travis Kondratuk
www.moosehockey.com
For the third straight game between these two clubs 60:00 would not decide things, and for the second straight game the Hamilton Bulldogs and Manitoba Moose would require a shootout to decide the outcome. Mikhail Grabovski scored on a nice deke which meant Mike Keane would have to tie it for the Moose for the second game in-a-row. Keane fired his shot off the cross-bar and the puck stayed out giving the Bulldogs the 3-2 win and the extra point in the standings. The Moose are now 15-13-4-4 and sit third in the North Division standings. The victory actually propelled the Bulldogs into first place in the North Division standings, one point ahead of the Rochester Americans.
>> Click here to see official scorer's sheet
First Period
Nathan Smith scored his eighth goal of the season and his second versus the Bulldogs this year to give the Moose an early 1-0 lead. With Zack Stortini in the box for roughing, the Moose took advantage of their first powerplay of the game as Jannik Hansen fed a beautiful cross-ice-back-door pass to Smith who roofed it to put the Moose on top at 4:32 of the first period. Alex Edler drew the second assist to give him six assists versus the Bulldogs this season.
Alexandre Bolduc scored his first goal of the season for the Moose as Adam Keefe fed him a pass from behind the Bulldog net. Keefe took a nice stretch-pass from Jesse Schultz who is playing in his first game since returning from injury. Keefe fired a soft wrist-shot on Jaroslav Halak who steered the puck behind the net, where Keefe hustled to gather the rebound and feed a nice pass to the front of the net. Bolduc came streaking in and burried the one-timer past Halak to put the visiting Moose up 2-0 at 11:48 of the first.
The Moose played a strong opening road period and lead 15-5 in shots and held the Bulldogs to 0-for-2 on the powerplay.
Second Period
The first half of the second period was spent primarily in the neutral zone as both teams struggled to get any offensive chances. At the 10:00 mark the teams had managed only three shots apiece, and what few chances their were, Flaherty and Halak were their to make the stops.
Duncan Milroy tipped a blast from Martin Biron at the point to bring the Bulldogs within a goal of the visiting Moose. Prestin Ryan took a tripping call at 15:28 and the Bulldogs capitalized as Milroy scored his 14th goal of the season at 15:45 to make the score 2-1.
At 18:36, Ryan O-Byrne breaking out of his own zone drifted a long shot from beyond centre-ice that Jonathan Ferland redirected at the Moose blueline. The puck then took a funny skip and managed to hand-cuff Wade Flaherty to tie the game for the home-town Bulldogs. Goaltender Jaroslav Halak was given the second assist on the game-tying goal.
The Moose scored two in the first and the Bulldogs responded with two in the second to leave the two teams tied going into the final period. This should come as no surprise as the Moose and Bulldogs always play close games. In fact all but one of their contests have been decided by more than a goal this season, while the last two required overtime and a shootout.
Third Period
The last minute goal at the end of the second seemed to have the Moose on their heels as the Bulldogs dominated the first half of the third period. The Moose failed to register a shot in the third until almost the 9:00 mark.
Wade Flaherty after letting in the soft one at the end of the second, mad e up for his ghaff as he stoned Kyle Chipchura to keep the Moose tied. The Bulldogs worked the puck around behind the Moose net where a pass came out to Chipchura at the top of the crease. Flaherty anticipated the pass perfectly, diving out with his blocker to stop the sure goal.
For the third straight game between these two clubs 60:00 would not decide things, as the Hamilton Bulldogs and Manitoba Moose are tied at two after three periods. The Moose dominated the first period, but the Bulldogs took over from there as Hamilton outshot Manitoba 23-13 in the final two frames.
Overtime
Once again the extra period would not decide the outcome between these two clubs, and a shootout would be required to decide who takes home the extra point in the standings. The last time these two teams faced each other the shootout went to 10 shooteres apiece before the Bulldogs won 4-3.
Shootout
1)MTB - Jason Jaffray went first as he deked but missed the goal as he tried to go stick-side, but Halak got his pad down to force Jaffray wide.
1)HAM - Andre Kostitsyn was first up for the Bulldogs, he also missed the net as he tried to shoot low glove-side on Flaherty.
2)MTB - Jesse Schultz was next for the Moose but Halak made the blocker save.
2)HAM - Corey Locke was the second shooter for the Bulldogs, but Wade Flaherty made a big left-pad save to deny him.
3)MTB - Lee Goren was third for the Moose, he deked but missed the goal as he tried to go blocker-side on Halak.
3)HAM - Duncan Milroy was up next for the Bulldogs but he lost control of the puck and it rolled harmlessly into the corner.
4)MTB - Brad Moran was next for Manitoba, Halak slammed the five-hole shut denying Moran who tried to deke and stuff the puck through the legs of the Hamilton goalie.
4)HAM - Mikhail Grabovski was the fourth shooter for the Bulldogs and he made no mistake as he faked the slapshot and then deked forehand-to-backhand, sliding the puck past Wade Flaherty.
5)MTB - For the second straight game all the pressure rested on the shoulders of the Moose captain as Mike Keane needed to score to keep the shootout alive. Keane fired a shot that beat Halak but could not beat the cross-bar as the puck rang off the bar and came straight down but stayed out of the goal, giving the extra point to the Bulldogs once again.
Moose scratches: Brandon Reid, J.J. Hunter, Dustin Wood, Marc-Andre Bernier, Patrick Coulombe
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| SCORING |
1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
SO |
T |
| Manitoba |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
| Hamilton |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
Dec 27, 2006 - Copps Coliseum FIRST PERIOD:1. Manitoba, N. Smith (8) (J. Hansen, A. Edler) 4:32 PP 2. Manitoba, A. Bolduc (1) (A. Keefe, J. Schultz) 11:48 Penalties - J. Rullier Mtb (roughing) 2:46, Z. Stortini Ham (roughing, roughing) 2:46, R. O'Byrne Ham (holding) 6:47, J. Hansen Mtb (hooking) 7:55, N. Smith Mtb (hooking) 13:21 SECOND PERIOD:3. Hamilton, D. Milroy (14) (M. Biron, M. Grabovski) 15:45 PP 4. Hamilton, J. Ferland (9) (R. O'Byrne, J. Halak) 18:36 Penalties - N. McIver Mtb (unsportsmanlike conduct) 4:25, A. Baines Ham (unsportsmanlike conduct) 4:25, Z. Stortini Ham (cross-checking) 6:51, B. Moran Mtb (hooking) 7:19, P. Ryan Mtb (tripping) 15:28 THIRD PERIOD:No Scoring Penalties - J. Jaffray Mtb (hooking) 10:05, A. Archer Ham (hooking) 13:55, J. Hansen Mtb (hooking) 15:38 OT PERIOD:No Scoring Penalties - No Penalties Shootout Round 1 -
| SHOTS |
1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
SO |
T |
| Manitoba |
15 |
6 |
7 |
2 |
0 |
30 |
| Hamilton |
5 |
11 |
12 |
1 |
1 |
30 |
POWER PLAYS:Manitoba Moose 1-4. Hamilton Bulldogs 1-6. GOALTENDERS:Manitoba Moose Flaherty 17-9-2 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 65:00 SV: 27 GA: 2 [SOL] Hamilton Bulldogs Halak 16-11-0 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 64:57 SV: 28 GA: 2 [W]
Attendance:
4367
- HAM - #19 Duncan Milroy
- MTB - #17 Jannik Hansen
- HAM - #30 Jaroslav Halak
- The Moose finish this brief teo-game road trip tomorrow night in Toronto, before returning to Winnipeg to host the Syracuse Crunch Dec. 30/06 and Dec. 31/06 for the last two Moose games of 2006.
- The Moose have special indoor fireworks planned for the annual New Year's Eve game, and have opened the upper bowl for the first time this season. The team is expecting a complete sell-out as people look to kick-off their New Year's with the Moose.
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Updated: Dec. 27, 2006 at 9:25 PM CST
