By Tim Campbell
IN Las Vegas, oddsmakers likely would have taken this game off the board near the half-way mark Sunday.
Toronto Marlies defenceman Andy Wozniewski had just floated a shot through Moose goalie Cory Schneider and the first-place visitors suddenly had a 2-1 lead at MTS Centre, just hours after blitzing the bewildered Moose with five unanswered goals on Saturday night for a 5-3 victory.
But these Moose -- their incomplete lineup and all -- are quite the contrarians. They always seem to go against the grain. Expect them to be good and they're flat. Expect them to be in over their heads and they somehow find a way.
With Saturday's aggravating defeat still fresh, the Moose simply gave the Marlies a small dose of their own medicine, rallying with four unanswered goals of their own Sunday to bring down the Marlies 5-2 before 9,802 approving customers.
"It's all about keeping your composure," said Moose defenceman Max Fortunus, who scored a third-period power-play goal in Manitoba's 28th win of the season. "You've got to stay strong, and stay strong mentally. Even if you're down, or up, you've got to keep playing the same game and it's got to be hard."
That was the trouble Saturday. A 3-0 lead led to tactics other than those that brought success. It was happening, too, on Sunday, as a 1-0 first-period advantage evaporated during Zack FitzGerald's second-period major high-sticking infraction.
Rookie defenceman Daniel Rahimi, however, scored to even the game 2-2 within a minute of Wozniewski's softy, and the Moose kept right on going in the third.
"We showed in the first period (Saturday) night, so we knew we had it," said Manitoba winger Jannik Hansen, who delivered the eventual winner at 6:24 of the third. "It was just a matter of bringing that style of play into a 60-minute game instead of just 20 or 40.
"They came back (today), but it was on power plays and we gave them the momentum, they didn't take it from us like they more or less did last night."
The win, Manitoba's first this season in three meetings with Toronto, proved the Marlies aren't bullet-proof even though they're 15 points ahead. It was Toronto's third game in three days on Sunday, but the 35-12-1-4 North Division front-runners dropped two of three on the weekend.
Since well before Christmas, the second-place Moose have been trying to patch together a capable lineup and got a good sign this week as Hansen has been the closest to the impact form they'd been expecting.
He's got four goals in the three games and is converting on his elevation to a line with hot hand Brad Moran -- nine points in four games -- and sniper Jason Jaffray.
"I've had a chance to play with Mo and Jaff before and it's easy to play with those guys because if you find open ice, they'll find you," Hansen said. "It just makes the game easier for me."
He's been limited to just 24 games this season due to two serious injuries, but the way he spoke on Sunday, Hansen expects to play like this.
"With a couple of injuries, it's hard to get a rhythm but as the games go on, it gets better and better," he said. "Free of injures and I've had a dozen games now since I came back, it's nice to be back at it."
Said coach Scott Arniel: "He's looking like he did the last month-and-a-half last year before his call-up in the playoffs. Now he's really skating. He's frustrated by being (so much) in that training room but he's come back determined."
