By Travis Kondratuk
www.moosehockey.com
Manitoba battled back for the second straight game from one goal down to earn the 3-2 victory over the Hamilton Bulldogs, tying the North Division Final at two games apiece. On the strength of two more special teams goals, one shorthanded by J.J. Hunter and one on the powerplay by Lee Goren, the Moose have got themselves back on level terms in the series. Game 5 will go tomorrow afternoon at Copps Coliseum, a 2:00PM CDT start before heading back to Winnipeg for Game 6 on Monday night at the MTS Centre.
>> Click to view photos of tonight's game.
>> Click here to see official scorer's sheet
First Period
Wade Flaherty will start in goal once again for the Moose after coming on in Game 3 and getting the victory. Corey Price remains the starter for the Bulldogs tonight.
Mikhail Grabovski came close to opening the scoring for the Bulldogs, but Wade Flaherty stopped Grabovski on a wraparound and then stayed strong to the post stopping the initial rebound as well. The puck did bounce out to the top of the crease where Matt D'Agostini fired the puck over the goal to end the threat.
The Bulldogs tried to get Flaherty off his game as Jonathan Ferland gave the Moose goaltender a lovetap on the mask after the whistle had blown, but the referee did not call a penalty on the play.
On the subsequent face-off Wade Flaherty had to come up big once again as he robbed Ajay Baines out front on a nice set up from Ferland in the corner. The rebound went into the corener where Yannick Tremblay was called for holding the stick. As the whistle blew, Dan Jancevski and Lee Goren took coincidental roughing minors, but Manitoba still ended up with the extra minor to Tremblay. The penalties came at 4:08 of the opening period.
Manitoba's penalty kill looked great as they killed off the minor to Tremblay allowing only one long shot that Flaherty easily blockered to the corner.
Kyle Chipchura gave the Moose their first powerplay opportunity when he hit Alex Edler from behind in the Moose zone. Chipchura received 2:00 for boarding on the play.
Manitoba initially had trouble gaining the Hamilton zone and when they finally did they took a enalty of their own to cut their man-advantage short. Yannick Tremblay blasted a point shot and Mason Raymond and Brad Moran crashed the net running into Carey Price. Moran was given 2:00 for goaltender interference.
Zack Stortini took another boarding call when he bumped Mason Raymond from behind along the boards. Bulldogs coach Don Lever was upset because he felt Raymond turned away from the hit which mae it look worse than it actually was, but it was called a penalty none the less.
The Bulldogs did a good job of killing off the penalty to Stortini as they did not allow a single shot on goal by the Moose. However, just as the penalty to Stortini expired the Bulldogs were called for too many men on the ice to put the Moose back on the powerplay.
Once again the Bulldogs did a good job on the penalty kill as they actually outshot the Moose with two shorthanded shots on goal to Manitoba's one shot on the powerplay.
As the horn sounded to end the period Kyle Chipchura bumped Colby Genoway along the boards, but Colby also threw the elbow out on Chipchura as he tried to hit him. Both players wer given minor penalties and will start the second period in the box.
Hamilton outshot the Moose 12-7 after one period of play as the teams skated through a scorless 20:00.
Second Period
The teams started the second period 4-on-4 after the minor altercation to end the first period.
Mike Keane was sent to the box with a major penalty for elbowing to give the Bulldogs a huge chance to take the lead in the game. Mike Keane tried to chase down his own dump in down low in the Bulldogs zone, as he tried to jump past Mathieu Biron behind the net he clipped him with his elbow in the back of the head sending the big defenceman to the ice. Referee Dean Morton deemed the elbow to be deliberate sending the Moose Captain to the box for 5:00.
The Bulldogs would capitalize early as Danny Groulx scored his third of the post-season off a big rebound to give the home side the lead. Corey Locke chipped the puck out front where Jonathan Ferland got the initial shot on goal that Flaherty stopped with his right pad. The puck was swept out to the slot where Groulx blasted it past Flaherty at 2:49 of the second period. It was just the third powerplay marker the Moose have surrendered all playoffs, and the second to the Bulldogs in the series.
Hamilton stayed on the powerplay as there was still 3:38 left in Keane's major penalty.
However, J.J. Hunter got the Moose back in it with a fantastic individual effort. Hunter picked off a pass at the Moose blueline and broke in all alone on Carey Price. Hunter made a beautiful forehand-to-backhand move where he roofed the puck behind the young Hamilton goaltender to tie the game just 0:57 after the Bulldogs had jumped out to the lead. It was the fourth shorthanded goal of the playoffs for the Moose and Hunter's first of the post-season. Manitoba continues to outscore their opponents while shorthanded in the playoffs (4SHG for vs 3PPG against).
Manitoba drew some energy from the shorthanded marker as they killed off the rest of the major penalty to Keane and looked to have more jump in their step.
Mathieu Biron took a holding penalty at 9:25 of the period to give the Moose their fourth chance with the man-advantage.
This time they would capitalize as Lee Goren scored his fourth of the playoffs to put the Moose in front. Yannick Tremblay fired a hard point shot as Goren was creating chaos in front of Carey Price. The puck deflected off of Goren in front past Price with just 0:02 left in the penalty to Biron. Maxime Fortunus drew the second assist on the go-ahead goal for Manitoba at 11:23.
Hamilton continue to outshoot Manitoba 23-14 in the game although Manitoba now holds the one goal lead heading to the third.
Third Period
Kyle Chipchura, at the end of a long shift, wristed a long shot on goal from just inside the Moose blue line. The puck deflected off the glove of Wade Flaherty and in to tie the game at two goals apiece just 2:31 into the third period.
Manitoba didn't wait long to respond as Prestin Ryan scored his second goal of the playoffs on a delayed penalty call to the Bulldogs. The Moose had the puck down low where Mike Brown backhanded it out front from the side of the goal. The puck came to J.J. Hunter in the slot and he layed it off to Ryan at the point where he blasted it past Price to give the Moose the lead right back. Brown and Hunter assisted on the goal just under 2:00 after the Bulldogs had tied it.
The Bulldogs came close to tying the game up when Zack Stortini missed a wide open cage in front of the Moose goal, with Manitoba scrambling in their own zone.
The Bulldogs pulled Carey Price with just under 1:00 to play. Manitoba looked frantic as they managed to clear the puck into the benches.
The Bulldogs called their timeout at that point to talk over how they might get the game-tying goal. They won the face-off and continued to try and get shots through to the Moose net, but Manitoba blocked several shots before they could make it to the goal, in particular J.J. Hunter who laid down in front of two shots as the buzzer sounded to end the game.
Manitoba has now tied the North Division Final at two games apiece, guaranteeing a Game 6 back in Winnipeg on Monday.
Moose scratches: Dov Grumet-Morris, Julien Ellis, Daniel Rahimi, Nathan McIver, Marc Chouinard, Jesse Schultz, Brendan Brooks, Tyler Bouck, Patrick Coulombe, Shaun Heshka, Alexandre Bolduc
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| SCORING |
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| Manitoba |
0 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
| Hamilton |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
May 12, 2007 - Copps Coliseum FIRST PERIOD:No Scoring Penalties - L. Goren Mtb (roughing) 4:08, Y. Tremblay Mtb (holding the stick) 4:08, D. Jancevski Ham (roughing) 4:08, K. Chipchura Ham (boarding) 8:39, B. Moran Mtb (goaltender interference) 10:26, Z. Stortini Ham (boarding) 14:03, Served by F. Lemieux Ham (bench minor - too many men) 16:20, C. Genoway Mtb (elbowing) 20:00, K. Chipchura Ham (roughing) 20:00 SECOND PERIOD:1. Hamilton, D. Groulx (3) (J. Ferland, C. Locke) 2:49 PP 2. Manitoba, J. Hunter (1) 3:46 SH 3. Manitoba, L. Goren (4) (Y. Tremblay, M. Fortunus) 11:23 PP Penalties - M. Keane Mtb (major - elbowing) 1:27, M. Biron Ham (holding) 9:25 THIRD PERIOD:4. Hamilton, K. Chipchura (2) (A. Baines, J. Ferland) 2:31 5. Manitoba, P. Ryan (2) (J. Hunter, M. Brown) 4:30 Penalties - No Penalties
| SHOTS |
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| Manitoba |
7 |
7 |
9 |
23 |
| Hamilton |
12 |
11 |
6 |
29 |
POWER PLAYS:Manitoba Moose 1-4. Hamilton Bulldogs 1-4. GOALTENDERS:Manitoba Moose Flaherty 2-1-0 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 60:00 SV: 27 GA: 2 [W] Hamilton Bulldogs Price 15-6-0 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 59:10 SV: 20 GA: 3 [L]
Attendance:
3270
- MTB - #18 J.J. Hunter
- HAM - #17 Kyle Chipchura
- MTB - #37 Lee Goren
- The Moose play Game 5 in Hamilton tomorrow at Copps Coliseum with a 2:00PM CDT face-off time.
- Game 6 will be on Monday, May 14th at 7:30pm back at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.
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Updated: May. 12, 2007 at 8:40 PM CDT
