Manitoba Moose

MANITOBA EXTENDS LOSING STREAK TO THREE GAMES

By Christina Caligiuri

The Manitoba Moose extended their losing streak to three straight games after dropping a 4-1 decision to the Houston Aeros on Thursday night at the Toyota Centre. Marco Rosa broke his 10-game pointless streak with Manitoba’s only goal while goaltender Daren Machesney stopped 30 of 34 shots in his sixth consecutive straight. Maxime Noreau and Danny Irmen both notched two goals in the win.

The Moose received the first powerplay of the game when Clayton Stoner was charged for tripping at 5:53. Despite skating with an extra-attacker, the Moose were unable to fire a shot on goaltender Anton Khudobin and the Aeros assumed the shot lead, 3-0.

In his first game with the Moose this season, Darryl Bootland solidified his tough-guy status when he picked a fight with Houston’s Matt Kassian. After a few punches were thrown, Bootland pulled the left-winger to the ice before both players were handed five-minute fighting majors. 

On their seventh shot of the night, the Aeros hit the scoreboard. Clayton Stoner broke his way through the neutral zone and fed the puck to Danny Irmen. The right-winger closed the play with a solid wrister that hit the top of Machesney’s net to open the scoring.  

With 1:33 left in the opening frame, Marco Rosa broke his 10-game pointless streak when he beat Khudobin inside the far post to knot the game at one.

Houston didn’t lose any momentum during the first intermission, as they came out soaring and scored two-minutes into the second stanza. Danny Irmen snapped the puck off Machesney’s doorstep and into the net to put his club on top with his second marker of the night. 

Houston and Manitoba exchanged penalties in the ladder half of the middle frame, but neither team capitalized on their respective man-advantages. With less than a minute left in the second period, Maxime Noreau extended his clubs lead when his shot deflected off of a Moose defender and over Machesney’s glove, 3-1.

Heading into the third period, the Aeros were ahead by two goals and leading the shot clock, 23-9.

At 4:52 of the final frame, the Aeros earned some cushion room. With traffic in front of Machesney’s net, Maxime Noreau earned his second of the night to put the Aeros on top, 4-1.

Back-and-forth play consumed the final 20 minutes and the Aeros cracked the 30 shot mark. Leading the Moose 34-15, the Aeros  extended the visitors losing streak to three games with a 4-1 loss at the Toyota Centre.