SAN ANTONIO -- Only truth serum would get it out of the appropriate parties, but Manitoba Moose right-winger Lee Goren is a hockey player in a tough spot.

At his best -- like he was in Friday night's 6-1 trouncing of the San Antonio Rampage -- Goren could well be considered too good for the AHL. In the NHL where he has played 67 career games, the 28-year-old Winnipegger has found the challenges more daunting.

"What he can do here he may not be able to do up there because the defenders may be a bit bigger and quicker," said Moose coach Scott Arniel after Goren, just returned from a two-game stint with the Vancouver Canucks deposited a goal and added an assist to a methodical road win.

"But I watched him play the other night (in Vancouver) and I thought he moved pretty good."

Goren is the ultimate power forward in the AHL. He has his A game Friday night at AT&T Center and the Rampage had a night-long migraine trying to get the puck away from him or even contain him in the offensive zone.

"His size and his reach... it's almost like basketball and they let him play that one-on-one, like letting Michael Jordan do his thing," Arniel said. "That's what Lee does. "Now Yannick (Hansen) and Brad (Moran, his linemates) know to kind of get away from him, let him do his thing and try to get open and he does a good job of finding people.

"He's just a big power forward that at this level, he dominates people."

Goren, who has now scored in the last three games he's played for the Moose, has eight goals on the season.

He's apparently unfazed about being sent down, or worried he's underappreciated in Vancouver.

"No, I don't think so," Goren said. "I'm not looking for appreciation. I'm just looking to help the team win and to make it tough on the defence on the other team so that our skilled guys can (duck) and jive and make plays.

"This is just back to work."

The Moose (14-12-3-2) certainly appreciated his arrival Thursday. They've won the first two starts on this four-game road trip to Texas, and have extended a winning streak to a season-high of four.

"Me playing here, playing that way and getting a chance to play makes me confident," Goren said after helping to send the Rampage to 9-18-0-0 on the season. "When I was up there, I think I did the same things I was doing here. Playing with Tyler (Bouck) and (Marc) Chouinard, they gave me the puck in the corners and we made plays when we were given the opportunities. "I love doing it. It's fun for me. The battle aspect of hockey is what I live for."

Even Arniel appears to be unworried about any fragility in Goren's attitude, that it seems to have been so tough for him to break through in the NHL.

"I don't know how it's handled up there or the relationship," Arniel said. "Sometimes goalscorers need to play with goalscorers and the grinders, they play with grinders in the NHL.

"But that (frustration)? I can only control him when he's here but he's been around and he's been up and down a lot, too. I'm sure there is some frustration at times, but when he comes back, he's pretty quick to adjust."

Again.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca