By Tim Campbell

PEORIA, Ill. -- No disrespect to any of Max Fortunus, Shaun Heshka, Jimmy Sharrow, Daniel Rahimi and Matt Kelly, but as a pro defence group, they might not have attracted a bid from an eBay bargain hunter.

There is value in being underestimated, however. The five young Manitoba Moose blue-liners did everything that was asked of them and more -- contributing two goals -- to lift the Moose to a tidy 4-1 road victory over the Peoria Rivermen before 2,869 fans at Carver Arena on Tuesday night.

"I talked to them before the game about having five D and our forwards having to do a lot of the work but I thought it was just a yeoman's effort from our defence," said Moose coach Scott Arniel. "People like Daniel Rahimi and Matt Kelly and our regulars Sharrow, Fortunus and Heshka did a great job and when you get mileage from those five guys, it certainly helps you out a lot.

"And our forwards helped in the process."

Arniel rolled four lines through much of the game and it really paid off when the Moose extended a 1-0 first-period lead into 3-0 in the second.

"I think we just stuck with it and for once, we scored first," said Moose centre Brad Moran of Rahimi's first-period marker. "I think they're hurting, they're sick and we thought we could jump on them and keep going."

The Rivermen have a flu bug going through their locker-room and had three players called up from the former UHL, plus a local goalie to sit as a backup.

The Moose, meanwhile, had seven scratches, including four of their defencemen playing for the NHL's Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night.

The victory gave Manitoba its first win against a West Division team in nine games. It was also the team's biggest offensive output in more than a month, since scoring five against Rochester on Jan. 4.

It all came back to rallying around the five defencemen, two of whom (Rahimi and Kelly) have played more in the ECHL this year than for the Moose.

"Big deal they were in the ECHL," said Moose goalie Drew MacIntyre, who had only 25 shots to deal with. "That's how I feel. They can play at this level and they showed it tonight."

MacIntyre, who recorded his 17th win, said decisiveness was his team's key.

"Now it's all about us doing it every night," he said. "They played with confidence and I think that's sometimes what we've been lacking. We've second-guessed ourselves and been scared to make mistakes. You can't play like that.

"They did everything hard tonight. They were poised tonight. It's what we've been telling everybody."

Moran and Alex Bolduc added the second-period markers that clearly gave the Moose a shot of confidence.

"Our D played great," Moran said. "They did what they had to do and they kept it simple and when you've got 12 forwards, you have to try to get back and help them out.

"They made the simple plays, got it out and got it in."

The road trip, which should have been a fairly easy travel week but got off to a bad start on a flight-delayed Monday, continues up the road two hours with a game Thursday in Rockford, Ill. It's rescheduled, due to a concert, from Saturday night this week.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca