By Travis Kondratuk
www.moosehockey.com
Matt Ellis killed the Moose for the second straight game as he wristed a shot from the high slot while shorthanded that fooled Drew MacIntyre to the blocker side, giving the Griffins the 2-1 victory in OT. Manitoba now trails the North Division Semi-Final two games to one with Game 4 going Wednesday night in Grand Rapids. The game will be broadcast live on MTS TV channel 99.
>> Click to view photos of tonight's game.
>> Click here to see official scorer's sheet
First Period
The Griffins starting lineup tonight is the same as it was for Game 2 with #23 Matt Ellis at centre, #8 Ben Simon on left wing, and #9 Kip Miller on right wing, while #4 Dan Smith and #28 Derek Meech get the start once again on defence. #33 Jimmy Howard gets the start again in goal for the Griffins as he leads all playoff goaltenders with a 1.01 GAA.
The Moose tinkered with their starting lineup for Game 3 a little as #18 J.J. Hunter, #13 Mike Brown, and former Griffin #26 Brendan Brooks start at forward while #2 Alex Edler, and #27 Maxime Fortunus start once again on defence. #1 Drew MacIntyre gets the call once again in goal for the Moose.
Alexandre Bolduc will see his first post-season action with the Moose this season, as will rookie defenceman Shaun Heshka who is replacing an injured Nathan McIver.
A choppy first few minutes as the teams struggled to create any significant scoring opportunities.
Prestin Ryan took a hooking penalty at 7:53 to give the early advantage to the Griffins. The home side worked the puck around well but failed to threaten. MacIntyre made a blocker save and held on just as the penalty to Ryan expired, as the Moose dodged the first bullet.
Tony Voce took the first penalty of the game for the Griffins as he was also called for hooking at the 12:00 mark to give the Moose their first powerplay chance. The Moose are 1-for-14 in the series with the man-advantage so far.
Manitoba had an early chance when Yannick Tremblay ripped a point shot that Jimmy Howard was able to smother, but that was as close as the Moose would come with the extra attacker.
Alexandre Bolduc and Matt Hussey took coincidental minors, Bolduc for high-sticking and Hussey for hooking, at the 14:39 mark of the period to leave the teams 4-on-4 for 2:00.
The extra ice did nothing to create extra action as the teams skated to another scorless period.
Second Period
Former Griffin Brendan Brooks opened the scoring early in the second period as he pulled the trigger on a snap shot from the right face-off circle that beat Jimmy Howard. The Moose dumped the puck in deep where Mike Brown chased down the loose puck and fished it out to Brooks. It was the first post season point for both players, and was in fact the first assist for Mike Brown all year as he recorded just two goals and no assists during the regular season. The goal came just 0:37 into the second frame. A second assist was later added to Prestin Ryan.
The Griffins didn't wait long to respond as Matt Hussey earned his first goal of the post season at the 3:35 to tie things for the home side. Hussey carried the puck along the boards, where Drew MacIntyre expected the Griffins winger to go around the back of the net. Instead Hussey lost control of the puck and it went in on the short side as MacIntyre had already vacated the near post in anticipation of Hussey going behind the goal.
Every Moose fans favourite Griffin player, Darryl Bootland, picked a fight with Yannick Tremblay who is not exactlty known as a fighter. To the Moose defenceman's credit he dropped the gloves with the Griffins' regular season penalty minute leader. Bootland got the early advantage in the fight before the linesman jumped in. Both players were assessed 5:00 for fighting.
That incident sparked some bad blood that was obviously ready to boil over. Just moments later as another scrum developed Mike Brown, the Moose penalty minute leader in the regular season, grabbed hold of Kip Miller someone also not known as a fighter. Brown bullied the Griffins winger, pushing him about thirty feet and running him into Jimmy Howard at the corner boards. Howard had left his crease to try and avoid the melee and took offence to the contact, throwing a couple of shots at Brown with his blocker. Behind the scenes Prestin Ryan and Ben Simon went at it, Prestin Ryan was harbouring some ill will towards Simon for an incident earlier in the season when Simon was still playing with the Syracuse Crunch. In that game Simon knocked Ryan out of the Moose lineup on a questionable hit that left Ryan with a concussion and forced the Moose defenceman to miss several games.
It took referee Shaun Davis several minutes to sort out all of the penalties, but after all the chaos the Moose came out with the extra penalty, as Mike Brown was given the extra roughing penalty.
The Moose managed to kill off the Griffins' advantage leaving Grand Rapids 0-for-2 on the game. Then Alexandre Bolduc was given a hooking penalty to put the Griffins right back on the powerplay. Once again the Moose came up big on the PK to keep the game tied.
Just before the period ended, Mike Keane and Jan Musak took coincidental minors at 19:21 to put the teams back on a 4-on-4 situation.
The teams ran out the clock on the second period and went into the locker rooms tied at one goal apiece.
Third Period
After a puck ricocheted off a Moose player's shin pad inside Manitoba's blueline, the puck bounced out to centre ice, springing Lee Goren on a breakaway. Goren looked up and tried to go top shelf on Howard, but the Griffins goalie got just enough of the puck to send it up over the glass behind the net.
Both netminders put on a goaltending clinic as the teams went end to end, creating some dangerous chances. MacIntyre stopped Darryl Bootland in close and then stoned Eric Himelfarb on the doorstep off the rebound. While Jimy Howard made an acrobatic save on a scramble in the Griffins crease.
Matt Ellis took a tripping penalty at 8:46 of the third period, giving the Moose their third man-advantage of the game. Manitoba could not get much going with the extra attacker as the Griffins looked just as dangerous shorthanded.
Shortly after Darryl Bootland tripped Mason Raymond to give the Moose another chance to capitalize on the powerplay. Once again the Moose failed to take advantage leaving them 0-for-4 on the game.
Alexandre Bolduc took a high-sticking penalty with just 0:41 left in regulation, giving the Griffins the man-advantage to end the third period.
Manitoba killed off the remainder of the period, and will have 1:19 left to kill off at the start of the overtime.
For the first time in this series the Moose and Griffins will need extra time to determine a winner. The teams went beyond regulation four of the eight times they played in the regular season, with all four going to a shootout. The Moose finished 3-1 in those shootouts which doesn't mean much as these games won't be going to a shootout if it takes all night.
The Griffins lead 30-20 in shots after regulation time.
Overtime
Lee Goren demonstrated why he is one of the premier power forwards in the AHL as he shielded the puck from several Griffins players in the Grand Rapids zone before Matt Ellis finally hooked him to the ice. The Moose failed to make use of the man-advantage once again and gave up the best chance to the Griffins shorthanded as Derek Meech fired a tricky shot on Drew MacIntyre from the left-wing boards.
Before the penalty to Ellis expired Eric Himelfarb interecepted a pass at the Moose blueline and came in on a shorthanded breakaway. Max Fortunus hooked Himelfarb to the ice from behind, and referee Shaun Davis pointed to centre ice for the penalty shot.
D-Mac stoned the Griffins winger as he tried to shoot high to the glove-side, but the Moose goalie read it all the way.
Then Brad Norton took a slashing penalty to give the Moose a glorious opportunity to finish off the Griffins in overtime.
However Matt Ellis had other ideas, as he took the puck end-to-end on the penalty kill and fired a wrist shot from the high slot that fooled the Moose netminder, beating MacIntyre just inside the right post. The shorthanded game-winner came at 12:39 of overtime and was Ellis' fourth goal of the series and his second game-winner in as many games. The Griffins now take a 2-1 lead in the North Division Semi-Final with Game 4 going on Wednesday night.
Moose scratches: Wade Flaherty, Julien Ellis, Daniel Rahimi, Nathan McIver, Brandon Reid, Michael Grabner, Jannik Hansen, Nathan Smith, Tyler Bouck, Patrick Coulombe
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| SCORING |
1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| Manitoba |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Grand Rapids |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
Apr 23, 2007 - Van Andel Arena FIRST PERIOD:No Scoring Penalties - P. Ryan Mtb (hooking) 7:53, T. Voce Gra (hooking) 12:00, A. Bolduc Mtb (high-sticking) 14:39, M. Hussey Gra (hooking) 14:39 SECOND PERIOD:1. Manitoba, B. Brooks (1) (M. Brown, P. Ryan) 0:37 2. Grand Rapids, M. Hussey (1) (J. Kindl) 3:35 Penalties - K. Miller Gra (holding) 9:20, Y. Tremblay Mtb (fighting) 11:39, D. Bootland Gra (fighting) 11:39, B. Brooks Mtb (roughing, roughing) 11:42, M. Brown Mtb (roughing, roughing) 11:42, P. Ryan Mtb (fighting) 11:42, J. Howard Gra (roughing) 11:42, B. Norton Gra (roughing, roughing) 11:42, B. Simon Gra (fighting) 11:42, A. Bolduc Mtb (hooking) 14:00, M. Keane Mtb (boarding) 19:21, J. Mursak Gra (holding) 19:21 THIRD PERIOD:No Scoring Penalties - M. Ellis Gra (tripping) 8:46, D. Bootland Gra (tripping) 11:39, A. Bolduc Mtb (high-sticking) 19:19 OT PERIOD:3. Grand Rapids, M. Ellis (4) 12:39 SH Penalties - M. Ellis Gra (holding) 9:39, B. Norton Gra (slashing) 12:18
| SHOTS |
1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| Manitoba |
6 |
8 |
6 |
5 |
25 |
| Grand Rapids |
10 |
9 |
11 |
5 |
35 |
POWER PLAYS:Manitoba Moose 0-6. Grand Rapids Griffins 0-4. GOALTENDERS:Manitoba Moose MacIntyre 4-6-0 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 72:34 SV: 33 GA: 2 [L] Grand Rapids Griffins Howard 3-4-0 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 72:39 SV: 24 GA: 1 [W]
Attendance:
2754
- GRA- #23 Matt Ellis
- GRA- #33 Jimmy Howard
- MTB- #1 Drew MacIntyre
- Game 4 of the North Division Semi-Final goes in Grand Rapids on Wednesday, April 25th at 6:00PM CDT. The game will be broadcast live on MTS TV from Grand Rapids.
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Updated: Apr. 23, 2007 at 9:31 PM CDT
