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Comebacks on the 24th: Saturday night (March 24th) the Moose made their most dramatic comeback of the season, a 4-3 shootout victory that saw the Moose score three third period goals in the span of 8:43 to tie the game and send it to extra time. Manitoba won the game in the shootout thanks to two goals by Brandon Reid. It was the first time this season that the Moose recovered from a three-goal deficit in the final period to win a game. Earlier in the year, November 24th to be exact, the Moose came back from three-goals-down to the Milwaukee Admirals after one period of play. Manitoba scored five unanswered goals in that game to win 6-4. The other largest comeback of the season came on October 24th versus the Chicago Wolves. The Moose trailed that game 4-2 heading to the third period where the Moose scored five straight goals to pull out the 7-4 victory.
D-Mac poised to break records: After earning his 21st win of the season Friday night Drew MacIntyre is now tied for eighth all-time in Moose franchise history for most wins in a season. MacIntyre is currently tied with Tyler Moss (2002-03) and sits behind six others including Wade Flaherty who is tops on the list with 26 set last season for the Moose. MacIntyre’s current goals against average (2.17) and current save percentage (.923) this season would both set new Moose franchise marks. Wade Flaherty is tops in goals against average setting the bar at 2.33 in 2004-05, while Johan Hedberg currently holds the mark for the best save percentage in a season at 0.922 set in 1997-98.
PK unit continues to click:
Allowing only one powerplay goal (Mar. 20/07 vs. Houston) in four games this past week, the Moose have improved their penalty killing to 90.1% and continue to sit atop of the league’s PK standings, a spot they have held since Feb. 4/07. In 2003-04 and 2004-05, the Moose allowed a team-best 62 powerplay goals, setting a franchise record; with nine games left to play, the current Moose squad has allowed only 37. In the past 22 games, Manitoba has killed 94.3% (99/105) of opponent powerplays en route to a 19-3-0-0 record. Although the Moose hold the best overall penalty-killing and best penalty-killing at home, the team sits second in the league for PK on the road, killing 88.2% of penalties, 0.4% below top-ranked Omaha. The record for best penalty-killing percentage in any season is held by the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at 90.66% set in 2003-04.
Third period lamp-lighting:
The third period has been by far the busiest period this season for the Moose having scored 78 goals in the final frame, however the Moose have also given up the most goals in the closing period with 60 goals allowed in that frame. Manitoba has scored 65 goals in the first period this season while allowing 55, and has scored 64 in the second while surrendering 56. The Moose used their third period scoring prowess in their last game, a 4-3 come-from-behind victory that saw the Moose score three in the final frame, improving their season record when trailing after two periods to 8-14-2-0.
Clinching within grasp:
After two shootout victories over Grand Rapids Mar. 23 & 24/07, the Moose are one step closer to clinching a playoff spot. Due to the new crossover format in the AHL's Western Conference, Manitoba needs to finish better than A) two teams in the North and three teams in the West, or B) three teams in the North in order to clinch a playoff berth. As a result Manitoba's magic number over the Iowa Stars is four (any combination of Iowa losses or Manitoba wins which equals four points), while the Magic number over the Peoria Riverman and Grand Rapids Griffins is five.
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Week 25 was a bit of a reality check for the first place Manitoba Moose as they lost two straight to the Houston Aeros to start the week, before bouncing back with two come-from-behind shootout victories over the Grand Rapids Griffins to finish the week. The Moose with 93 points, have a lead of eight points over the Rochester Americans in the North Division and continue to hold a slim lead in the Western Conference with three more than the Chicago Wolves. Manitoba improved their overall record to 41-19-7-4, six wins shy of the franchise record for most wins in a season set in 1998-99 with 47.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007: Moose 1 Aeros 3 L
The Moose started their four-game homestand with the first of back-to-back games versus the Houston Aeros at the MTS Centre. Manitoba came into the game with an eight-game win streak and nine-game home winning streak on the line facing the Aeros who are last in the West Division. But none of that mattered on the night because a hot goaltender and some bad bounces would bring both streaks to an end for the Moose. Despite peppering the Houston net with a season-high 45 shots, the home side could only get one past goaltender Dieter Kochan who was the first star of the game for the visitors. Houston scored one goal in each period and then held on for the 3-1 victory snapping a 15-game road winless streak for them in the process. ( view game recap / highlights)
Wednesday, March 21, 2007: Moose 0 Aeros 2 L
For the second night in-a-row Houston netminder Dieter Kochan was the difference as he earned his first shutout of the season by blanking the Moose 2-0. The shutout loss tied the Moose franchise record for shutouts against in a season at seven. Julien Ellis was in net trying to post his first win in a Moose uniform, but for the third straight time with Ellis in net, the Moose failed to score a single goal, leaving the young goaltender winless on the season. Manitoba finished their season-series versus the Aeros with a 1-3-0-0 record, and lost consecutive games for the first time since the end of January. ( view game recap / highlights)
Friday, March 23, 2007: Moose 3 Griffins 2 SOW
The Moose finished up their season-series with the Grand Rapids Griffins with back-to-backs at the MTS Centre. Matt Ellis, just returned to the Griffins from the Red Wings, scored the first two goals of the game for the visitors staking them to a 2-0 lead. However, Manitoba would battle back getting a goal from Lee Goren before the end of the second and then one more late in the third when Mason Raymond would score his first goal in his first game as a member of the Moose, sending the game to extra time. Drew MacIntyre was the difference in the final moments of overtime and the shootout as he made several terrific saves to earn his 21st win of the year and get the Moose back in the win column. Yannick Tremblay scored the game-winner in the shootout, which happened to be his first shootout attempt of the season. Manitoba earned their 40th win of the year, tying the team record for fastest 40 wins. ( view game recap / highlights)
Saturday, March 24, 2007: Moose 4 Griffins 3 SOW
Julien Ellis was once again looking for his first win of the season, and things did not look good early for the young goaltender as the Moose dug themselves a 3-0 hole to climb out of after two periods of play. The Moose would make their most dramatic comeback of the season, scoring three unanswered goals in the third period to send the game to overtime. The extra period solved nothing, sending the teams to a shootout for the second night in-a-row and the fourth time this season. Brandon Reid took over in the shootout for the Moose as he beat Jimmy Howard twice with two fantastic moves to pull out the extra point for Manitoba and earn Ellis his first win as a member of the Moose. The victory improved Manitoba's record to 6-1-0-1 versus Grand Rapids on the season, however all but one of those games were decided by a single goal. The win also tied a Moose franchise record for wins at home in a season with 24 set in 1998-99 as well as 2005-06. ( view game recap / highlights)
The Moose now head out on their last and longest road trip of the season, a seven-gamer that will take them to five different West Division cities. The trip starts Tuesday in Milwaukee, a game that can be seen for free on MTS TV. Then the team heads to Chicago to face the Wolves for the final time this season on Wednesday night. That game will be broadcast live on Shaw cable channel 9. The Moose will play in Omaha on Saturday and then Iowa on Sunday to close out week 26.
 Manitoba plays their final game of the season versus the Admirals at Milwaukee Bradley Center on Tuesday night. The last time the Moose visited Milwaukee back on Oct. 20/06 Manitoba was shutout 2-0 by Admirals netminder Scott Reid. The last time these teams faced eachother was at the MTS Centre on Nov. 25/06 when the Moose battled back late in the third to send the game to overtime, only to allow the game winner with just 0:44 left in the extra frame losing 2-1. Manitoba's record versus Milwaukee this season is 1-1-1-0.
 The Moose will play their final game of the season versus the Chicago Wolves at Allstate Arena on Wednesday night. The Moose are 2-0-1-0 so far this season versus the Wolves, including a come-from-behind 7-4 victory at Chicago on Oct. 24/06. Jason Jaffray had four goals in that game for the Moose enroute to player of the week honours. More recently the Moose took three-of-four points from the Wolves at the MTS Centre on Feb. 2 and 3/07, a 3-2 OTL and a 4-3 victory.
 Manitoba will play Omaha for the third time this season, but for the first time at the Omaha Civic Auditorium on Saturday evening. The Moose swept the only two games of the season versus the Knights back on Feb. 12 and 14/07 at the MTS Centre. Manitoba is 3-2-1-0 all time versus Omaha and are 1-0-1-0 at the Civic Auditorium.
 Manitoba will also play their third game of the season versus the Iowa Stars this Sunday, April 1st at the Wells Fargo Arena. The Moose defeated the Iowa Stars in the only two games they played against each other this season at the Mts Centre on Mar. 9 and 10/07. by scores of 4-1 and 3-1. The Moose are 5-1-0-0 all time versus the Stars, with the lone loss coming at the Wells Fargo Arena.
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 Rookie Jannik Hansen earns his first nomination as Moose player of the week this week after scoring two goals and earning an assist in four games…He appeared in all four games for the Moose this week when they went 2-2-0-0 after losses to Houston and then victories over Grand Rapids...Hansen scored Manitoba's only goal in Tuesday's 3-1 loss to the Aeros and then was key in Saturday's 4-3 come-from-behind shootout win over the Griffins as he set up Manitoba's first goal of the game in the third, and then scored the tying goal with 4:03 to play in the third...Hansen also fired 15 shots on net in total this week and finished -2...He is now seventh in team scoring with 11 goals and 21 assists 32 points and ranks 34th in the league in rookie scoring. |
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