By Travis Kondratuk
www.moosehockey.com
Wade Flaherty earned his second shutout of the season and the penalty kill came up big once again as the Moose held the Marlies off the score sheet in a 3-0 victory. The win was the sixth straight at home for the Moose and vaults the team into sole possession of first place again, two points ahead of the idle Rochester Americans. Tomorrow the Moose host the Marlies again at the MTS Centre, game time is 7:30PM CDT.
>> Click to view photos of tonight's game.
>> Click here to see official scorer's sheet
First Period
Wade Flaherty gets his second start of the season versus the Marlies this year while Justin Pogge makes his fourth start against the Moose this season.
Wade Flaherty took an early high-sticking penalty to give the Marlies the first powerplay advantage of the game. Brad Moran served the penalty for the Moose. The Moose killed off the penalty without incident, not allowing a shot on goal.
Jay Harrison took a tripping penalty at 3:16 to give the Moose their first man-advantage. Colby Genoway and Yannick Tremblay manned the points to start the powerplay for the Moose. Manitoba managed to get a couple of shots on net but couldn't score.
Lee Goren put the Moose in front at the 10:33 mark as he backhanded a rebound through the wickets of Justin Pogge. Brad Moran and Jason Jaffray assisted on Goren's 19th goal of the season. The goal was a bit of a softy that Pogge would definitely like to have back.
Erik Westrum took a late high-sticking penalty at 17:43 to give the Moose their fourth straight powerplay of the period. The Moose had a tough time penetrating the Marlies' zone and went without a shot in their final powerplay of the period.
The Moose lead 9-6 in shots after the first period thanks to a 4-to-1 advantage in powerplays. Though they couldn't score with the man-advantage, the Moose still lead 1-0 thanks to Lee Goren's even strength marker.
Second Period
The Moose broke in on a quick counter attack early in the period where Colby Genoway fed Yannick Tremblay who was sneaking in back door but Justin Pogge made a nice pad save as he came sliding cross-crease to stop the Moose defenceman.
Pogge looked a little less sharp on the next Moose chance as J.J. Hunter wristed a weak shot on net that squeaked through the pads of the Marlies goaltender. However, he managed to look back just in time to pull the puck off the goal line with his blocker hand to save the goal.
Mike Brown took the first penalty of the second period as he was called for tripping at 3:36.
On the penalty-kill Wade Flaherty made his best save of the game as he stoned Tyson Nash on the doorstep with his left pad and then he stopped Brett Englehardt on the rebound to keep the Marlies off the board.
Mike Brown lost his helmet on a shift around the mid-way point of the period and took a hit from Tyson Nash that sent him awkwardly into the boards. Brown took exception and chased after Nash to try and settle things, but Marlies defenceman Dominic D'Amour stepped in to drop the gloves instead. The fight started out pretty even but D'Amour's reach advantage started to show as he earned the upper hand. Brown lost his balance and probably should have stayed down as he was still off balance but he stood back up and tried to keep fighting. D'Amour took control from there as he got Brown's jersey tied up and pounded him until he finally fell to the ice.
Maxime Fortunus took a hooking penalty a few minutes later to put the Moose shorthanded for the fourth time in the game. Jason Jaffray had the best chance of the penalty as he had a shorthanded breakaway from centre ice. Jaffray tried to go five-hole on Pogge where he's looked shaky all night, but he shut the door this time stoning Jaffray on the initial shot and then again on the rebound.
Brad Moran was given a holding penalty as the period expired, so the Moose will start the Final frame shorthanded once again.
The Marlies battled back in the second period to take the lead in shots 21-17, but they have yet to beat Wade Flaherty.
Third Period
Justin Pogge made a brutal giveaway in his own end as he tried to backhand the puck around his goal, but his clearance went off the end boards where Brad Moran picked it off. Moran then raced around to the front of the goal and flipped the puck past Pogge who was unable to recover in time. Moose fans started to reign down taughnts of POGGE! POGGE! towards the Marlies goaltender. The goal was Moran's 20th of the season for the Moose.
With Brandon Reid in the box for hooking Nathan Smith took a high-sticking penalty to give the Marlies an extended 5-on-3 powerplay.
Wade Flaherty and the Moose penalty killers stepped up big time as Flats made some huge saves and the penalty killers made some huge blocks in front of him to shut down the Marlies man-advantage once again.
Shortly after the Moose killed the two-man advantage off, Alex Edler took a boarding penalty deep in the Moose zone to put the home team down a man once again. The Moose had taken the last five penalties of the game.
Manitoba was up to the task one more time as they shut down the Marlies attack, leaving them 0-for-8 on the powerplay in the game.
J.J. Hunter put the final nail in the coffin as he scored a beauty with 1:14 left in the game. Hunter picked off a clearing attempt and broke in from the blueline down the left wing. Brandon Reid drove to the net to create a perfect decoy, but Hunter used it to his advantage as he lifted a nifty backhander over the glove of Justin Pogge.
Manitoba continued their dominance of the Marlies as they improved their record to 5-0-0-0 over the Baby Buds this season and their overall record to 11-0-1-1 against Toronto.
Wade Flaherty earned his second shutout of the season making 31 saves along the way to earn his 15th victory of the year for the Moose.
The win vaults the Moose into sole possession of first place in the North Division once again, two points up on the idle Rochester Americans.
Moose scratches: Prestin Ryan, Rick Rypien, Marc Chouinard, Brendan Brooks, Tyler Bouck, Parick Coulombe, Alexandre Bolduc
Marlies scratches: Chris Harrington, Brad Brown, Alex Foster, Jeff Corey
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Global Highlights - Moose vs. Marlies - stream
| SCORING |
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| Toronto |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Manitoba |
1 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
Mar 2, 2007 - MTS Centre FIRST PERIOD:1. Manitoba, L. Goren (19) (B. Moran, J. Jaffray) 10:33 Penalties - W. Flaherty Mtb (high-sticking) 0:55, J. Harrison Tor (tripping) 3:16, R. Earl Tor (hooking) 12:10, B. Leeb Tor (slashing) 14:08, E. Westrum Tor (high-sticking) 17:43 SECOND PERIOD:No Scoring Penalties - M. Brown Mtb (tripping) 3:36, M. Moro Tor (holding) 6:33, N. McIver Mtb (holding) 8:42, D. D'Amour Tor (fighting) 11:49, M. Brown Mtb (fighting) 11:49, M. Fortunus Mtb (hooking) 13:16, B. Moran Mtb (holding) 20:00 THIRD PERIOD:2. Manitoba, B. Moran (20) 2:11 3. Manitoba, J. Hunter (7) 18:46 Penalties - B. Reid Mtb (hooking) 11:58, N. Smith Mtb (high-sticking) 12:26, A. Edler Mtb (boarding) 15:57
| SHOTS |
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| Toronto |
6 |
15 |
10 |
31 |
| Manitoba |
9 |
8 |
8 |
25 |
POWER PLAYS:Toronto Marlies 0-8. Manitoba Moose 0-5. GOALTENDERS:Toronto Marlies Pogge 19-25-2 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 59:28 SV: 22 GA: 3 [L] Manitoba Moose Flaherty 17-9-2 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 59:52 SV: 31 GA: 0 [W]
Attendance:
8263
- MTB - #33 Wade Flaherty
- MTB - #20 Brad Moran
- MTB - #12 Mike Keane
- The Moose take on the Marlies one more time tomorrow at the MTS Centre to conclude their three-game series that started in Toronto last Sunday.
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Updated: Mar. 2, 2007 at 9:28 PM CST
