Manitoba Moose

WINNIPEG - Having emerged from their first lengthy road swing of the season with a winning record, the Manitoba Moose are encouraged by the promising news that doesn’t seem far away.

The AHL team — 3-2-1 on the six-game excursion that ended Saturday night in Milwaukee with an overtime loss — has seen its forward ranks depleted by the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks.

The Canucks have recalled Michael Grabner, Alexandre Bolduc and Sergei Shirokov in the last two weeks.

It’s unknown whether the Canucks have any good news for the Moose this week but Manitoba assistant coach Keith McCambridge said after this morning’s hour-long workout at MTS Centre that front-line defenceman Lawrence Nycholat is recovering well from a shoulder separation and knee injury suffered Oct. 10 and is on schedule to return to the lineup soon.

When Nycholat was hurt against Chicago, the team said he’d be missing about three weeks, so it seems reasonable to expect that the veteran defenceman could be back on the ice next week some time.

The Moose, 7-4-1 through their first 12 games are home for four games in this stand, starting Thursday night against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Right-winger Matt Pope missed this morning’s practice with a sore ankle, which will be evaluated by the team’s medical staff this week.

This morning’s forward lines:


Matt Pettinger-Marty Murray-Eric Walsky

Derek LeBlanc-Marco Rosa-Guillaume Desbiens

P.C. Labrie-Mario Bliznak-Mike Keane

Matt McCue-Dusty Collins-Tommy Maxwell