By Jen Sharpe
www.moosehockey.com
In the first game of 2008, Manitoba defeated Lake Erie 4-2 to sweep the two-game New Year's series vs. the Monsters. Defenceman Maxime Fortunus and rookie Mathieu Melanson scored their first goals of the season, while Cory Schneider stopped 27 of 29 shots for his sixth professional win.
>> Click to view photos of tonight's game.
>> Click here to see official scorer's sheet
First Period
Only four seconds into the contest, Pierre-Cedric Labrie and Chris Stewart finished what they started in the dying moments of yesterday's game, going toe-to-toe at center ice. A minute after the scrap, fellow Moose tough-guy Rick Rypien was dealt a tripping penalty and Lake Erie benefited from the game's first powerplay. But for the seventh time in two consecutive games, the Monsters failed to score on the man-advantage and the game stayed scoreless through the early part of the first.
A second brawl, this time between Luc Bourdon and Dan DaSilva near Cory Schneider's Moose net, proved there's still plenty of aggression between both clubs. Though Manitoba didn't score on that powerplay, a second opportunity two minutes later resulted in Michael Grabner extending his goal-scoring streak to four games with a powerplay one-timer from the slot.
A second Moose powerplay and second Monsters powerplay kept special teams hopping through most of the first. With Rypien serving another two minutes, Jamie Lundmark broke Lake Erie's powerplay drought, slipping the puck under Schneider's crossbar at 17:36 to tie the game at one.
Second Period
Like in the first frame, period-opening face-offs continued to trigger exciting moments for Moose fans. Only 16 seconds into the second period, Manitoba rushed the Lake Erie zone and new Moose Mathieu Melanson stationed himself at the top of Mike Wall's crease. Rypien slipped the puck across to #38 and the rookie redirected it into the net to score his first AHL goal and put the Moose up 2-1.
With just over six minutes left in the middle frame, roughing penalties on both sides and an extra tripping penalty to Lake Erie's Lundmark gave the Moose a four-on-three powerplay. With the club firmly planted in the Monsters zone, Luc Bourdon and DaSilva emerged from the penalty boxes. Bourdon slipped into the play, was fed the puck at the point, and passed it over to fellow d-man Maxime Fortunus, who one-timed it past Wall to give the Moose a two-goal lead.
After 40 minutes of play, the Moose led 3-1 and were up 19-17 in the shot department.
Third Period
Lake Erie cranked the intensity early in the third period, firing eight shots to Manitoba's two through nine minutes of play. The visitor's ninth shot of the period, 26th of the game, put the Monsters within one, as David Jones and Matt Hussey descended on Schneider and Hussey beat the rookie netminder to set the score at 3-2.
The one-goal gap wouldn't last long, however, as Alexandre Bolduc got the puck past Wall 61 seconds later to restore Manitoba's two-goal lead.
In the game's final 90 seconds, the Monsters broke through the 30-shot barrier and pulled Wall from his crease. But Moose defenders would keep the six skaters from registering another shot and Manitoba kicked off 2008 with a 4-2 victory over Lake Erie.
|
Highlights - Moose vs. Monsters - stream
| SCORING |
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| Lake Erie |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| Manitoba |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
Jan 1, 2008 - MTS Centre FIRST PERIOD:1. Manitoba, M. Grabner (11) (G. Classen, M. Gajic) 10:20 PP 2. Lake Erie, J. Lundmark (3) (M. Vernace, J. Boychuk) 17:36 Penalties - C. Stewart Lem (fighting) 0:04, P. Labrie Mtb (fighting) 0:04, R. Rypien Mtb (tripping) 1:04, D. DaSilva Lem (charging, fighting) 7:23, L. Bourdon Mtb (fighting) 7:23, J. Corbin Lem (tripping) 9:40, D. Purinton Lem (hooking) 12:59, R. Rypien Mtb (roughing) 15:34 SECOND PERIOD:3. Manitoba, M. Melanson (1) (R. Rypien, C. Blight) 0:16 4. Manitoba, M. Fortunus (1) (L. Bourdon, D. Groulx) 15:48 PP Penalties - A. Bolduc Mtb (tripping) 0:26, J. Corbin Lem (tripping) 2:50, C. Blight Mtb (slashing) 6:37, D. DaSilva Lem (roughing) 13:32, L. Bourdon Mtb (roughing) 13:32, J. Lundmark Lem (tripping) 13:52 THIRD PERIOD:5. Lake Erie, M. Hussey (7) (M. Vernace, D. Jones) 9:36 6. Manitoba, A. Bolduc (8) 10:33 Penalties - No Penalties
| SHOTS |
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| Lake Erie |
8 |
9 |
13 |
30 |
| Manitoba |
7 |
12 |
10 |
29 |
POWER PLAYS:Lake Erie Monsters 0-4. Manitoba Moose 2-5. GOALTENDERS:Lake Erie Monsters Wall 12-16-4 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 58:40 SV: 25 GA: 4 [L] Manitoba Moose Schneider 21-12-2 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 59:39 SV: 28 GA: 2 [W]
Attendance:
6,394
- MTB - Rick Rypien
- MTB - Alexandre Bolduc
- MTB - Maxime Fortunus
- Manitoba hosts Rochester for the second time this season onFriday and Saturday nights. Saturday night, the club honours Team Canada by donning Moose Team Canada jerseys and the first 1,500 kids in the building will receive a megaphone courtesy of Manitoba Hydro.
|
Updated: Jan. 1, 2008 at 9:58 PM CST
