By Travis Kondratuk
www.moosehockey.com
Jason Jaffray scored two goals and added an assist, while Lee Goren had a goal and two assists for the Moose to stake the team to its seventh straight victory and their 16th in their last 17 games overall. Manitoba improved their record versus the Griffins to 4-1-0-1 on the season and 38-17-7-4 overall in the standings. Drew MacIntyre made 24 saves for his 20th win of the season, and the Moose will need more solid starts from their young goaltender as they wait to find out the extent of Wade Flaherty's knee injury.
>> Click to view photos of tonight's game.
>> Click here to see official scorer's sheet
First Period
Drew MacIntyre gets the start in goal tonight for the Moose as Wade Flaherty was sent home to Winnipeg to get his injured knee looked at. Dov Grumet-Morris, called up from Cincinnati of the ECHL will back up MacIntyre for Manitoba. Stephan Liv gets the starting nod in goal for the Griffins.
Manitoba took the early lead in this one when Lee Goren took the puck in behind the Griffins net, stopped and fed a pass out front to Jason Jaffray who had found a hole between four Griffins. Jaffray took the pass and roofed his 32nd goal of the season over the glove of Stephan Liv putting the Moose up 1-0. Goren and Moran assisted on the opening goal of the game at 3:47 of the first.
The Griffins tied the game a few minutes later as Kip Miller took a pass from Ben Simon along the right-wing boards, streaked in and fired a shot that beat Drew MacIntyre. The goal was the 22nd of the season for Miller, who leads the Griffins in goals scored. Simon and Quincey drew the assists on the goal at 7:50 of the period.
Brad Moran took the first penalty of the game for either team when he was called for slashing at the 9:20 mark. Manitoba's number one ranked penalty kill had little trouble with the Griffins' last place powerplay, as they killed off the man-advantage without incident.
Nathan McIver took the second straight penalty for the Moose as he took exception to a hit and was called for slashing in retaliation. The penalty came at 12:13 of the first. Manitoba killed off that minor as well with limited opportunities for the Griffins.
The Moose came close to taking the lead as Brandon Reid, Jannik Hansen and Marc Chouinard broke in on a 3-on-2. Reid fired a hard shot on goal that Liv left a juicy rebound on, but neither Hansen nor Chouinard could get their sticks on the loose puck as they stormed the net.
Kip Miller took a late slashing penalty at 18:22 to give the Moose their first powerplay opportunity of the game.
The Moose couldn't get much going with the man-advantage, and as the penalty expired the team allowed a shorthanded chance where Colby Genoway took a penalty of his own, ending the powerplay for Manitoba.
Manitoba has a slim 7-6 lead in shots through 20:00 as the period was very evenly contested.
Second Period
The Moose started the period by killing off the abbreviated man-advantage that the Griffins had thanks to Colby Genoway's last second holding penalty in the second period.
Just a few minutes later the Moose got their second powerplay chance of the game as Eric Himelfarb took a holding penalty at 3:26. The Moose had good possession in the Griffins zone and were able to go 6-on-4 as the referee had his arm up for a delayed penalty. Dustin Wood at the Griffins blueline fed a pass down low to Lee Goren who in turn fed Jason Jaffray in the slot. Jaffray one-timed his team-leading 33rd of the season home, glove-side on Stephan Liv to put the Moose back in front. Manitoba stayed on the powerplay thanks to Kyle Quincey's delayed slashing penalty.
The Moose were able to capitalize with the man-advantage once again as Lee Goren notched his 22nd goal of the season. Brad Moran was clipped with a high-stick by Griffins' defenceman Jon Insana behind the Grand Rapids net and the ref had his arm up once again for the delayed penalty call. Moran kept possession and fed a pass out front to Lee Goren who blasted home the third goal of the game for Manitoba. The Moose would stay on the powerplay once again as referee Nygel Pelletier sent Insana to the box for the high-stick on Moran.
Manitoba could not put another powerplay marker on the board as the Griffins killed off the fourth man-advantage for the Moose, leaving Manitoba 2-for-4 on the night.
Insana would atone for his earlier stick-work as he scored his second goal of the season for the Griffins and his second versus the Moose to get the home side within a goal. Insana stepped into a slapshot from the point that beat Drew MacIntyre. Kip Miller and Dan Smith drew the assists on the goal at 12:51 of the second.
J.J. Hunter took a late hooking penalty at 18:22 to give the Griffins a chance to tie the game, but the Moose were able to kill off the penalty and take a 3-2 lead into the locker room for the third period.
Third Period
Dan Smith took the first penalty of the third period sending the Moose to their fifth powerplay of the game. Even though the Moose had a few shots with the man-advantage the Griffins were able to kill off the penalty and stay within a goal of the visiting Moose.
Shortly after the penalty to Smith expired Dustin Wood took a roughing penalty to put the Griffins on their powerplay at 12:30 of the third period.
Drew MacIntyre made a nice pad save at the right post with just a few seconds left in the man-advantage to kill off the remainder of the penalty and leave the Griffins 0-for-5 on the night.
With 3:56 left in the game Ben Simon tripped Alex Edler in the Moose zone to put the Griffins down a man late in the game, hurting their chances of making a comeback.
The Moose almost salted the game away as Colby Genoway found Alex Edler streaking in back-door, but the Moose defenceman could not beat Stephan Liv on the play and the Griffins were able to kill off the rest of the penalty.
The Griffins cranked up the pressure in the final 90 seconds as they tried to net the game-tying goal. The puck was in the Moose zone for almost all of the waining seconds of the game, but it was too-little-too-late for the Griffins as the Moose held on for their seventh straight victory.
Drew MacIntyre made 24 saves for his 20th win of the season, and the Moose will need more of the same from the young goaltender the rest of the season as the Moose wait to find out the results on Wade Flaherty's injured knee.
Moose scratches: Prestin Ryan, Mike Keane, Brendan Brooks, Tyler Bouck, Wade Flaherty, Patrick Coulombe
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| SCORING |
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| Manitoba |
1 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
| Grand Rapids |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
Mar 17, 2007 - Van Andel Arena FIRST PERIOD:1. Manitoba, J. Jaffray (32) (L. Goren, B. Moran) 3:47 2. Grand Rapids, K. Miller (22) (B. Simon, K. Quincey) 7:50 Penalties - B. Moran Mtb (slashing) 9:20, N. McIver Mtb (slashing) 12:13, K. Miller Gra (slashing) 18:22, C. Genoway Mtb (hooking) 20:00 SECOND PERIOD:3. Manitoba, J. Jaffray (33) (L. Goren, D. Wood) 5:15 PP 4. Manitoba, L. Goren (22) (B. Moran, J. Jaffray) 7:07 PP 5. Grand Rapids, J. Insana (2) (K. Miller, D. Smith) 12:51 Penalties - E. Himelfarb Gra (holding) 3:26, K. Quincey Gra (slashing) 5:15, J. Insana Gra (high-sticking) 7:07, J. Hunter Mtb (hooking) 18:22 THIRD PERIOD:No Scoring Penalties - D. Smith Gra (interference) 10:10, D. Wood Mtb (roughing) 12:30, B. Simon Gra (tripping) 16:56
| SHOTS |
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| Manitoba |
7 |
12 |
10 |
29 |
| Grand Rapids |
6 |
12 |
8 |
26 |
POWER PLAYS:Manitoba Moose 2-6. Grand Rapids Griffins 0-5. GOALTENDERS:Manitoba Moose MacIntyre 24-12-2 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 60:00 SV: 24 GA: 2 [W] Grand Rapids Griffins Liv 15-15-2 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 59:13 SV: 26 GA: 3 [L]
Attendance:
10,500
- MTB- #15 Jason Jaffray
- MTB- #37 Lee Goren
- GRA- #18 Jon Insana
- The Moose now travel to Peoria on Sunday to finish their three-games-in-three-nights road trip.
- Manitoba won't have long to rest as they play host to the Houston Aeros on Tuesday, March 20th and Wednesday, March 21st at the MTS Centre
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Updated: Mar. 17, 2007 at 9:17 PM CDT
