MANITOBA FINISHES 2-2-0-0 AGAINST TEXAS THIS REGULAR SEASON
By Christina Caligiuri
The Manitoba Moose improved their perfect shootout record to 6-0 on Saturday night with a 5-4 shootout victory over the visiting Texas Stars in front of 7,416 fans at MTS Centre. Marty Murray netted the game-winner in the shooting draw while Daren Machesney earned his fourth win of the season with 36 of 40 saves.
The night started off with a brawl as Pierre-Cedric Labrie and Francis Wathier dropped their gloves at centre ice. After a lengthy battle, Labrie brought the visiting Star to his knees before both attackers were handed five-minute fighting majors.
Matt Pope’s goaltender interference penalty at 3:58 put the Stars on the first powerplay of the night. Despite bringing their shot count to eight, Texas couldn’t get the puck past Daren Machesney during the two-minute advantage.
By the 10-minute mark of the first period the Stars were leading the Moose in shots 10-1. At 11:23, Warren Peters was put away for holding giving the Moose their opening powerplay. Manitoba was held scoreless during the advantage but did fire four shots on goaltender Todd Ford.
A defensive slip up in the Moose zone allowed Mathieu Beaudoin to go one-on-one with Machesney. The right-winger swept the puck around Machesney’s right goal pad to put his club in a 1-0 lead.
Texas extended their lead 3:34 into the second period. Travis Morin fed the puck to Fabian Brunstrom from behind Machesney’s net. The left-winger, waiting in the slot, fired the bullet into the mesh for a two-goal lead.
Manitoba put themselves within one at 7:54. With help from Evan Oberg and Tommy Maxwell, sniper Sergei Shirokov slipped the puck around a sprawled Ford, 2-1.
The Moose tied the game at 11:48. Evan Oberg’s initial blast from the point was denied by Ford, but Guillaume Desbiens nipped in the rebound to get his club back on even-ground.
Moments later, the antler-squad took their first lead of the night. Michael Grabner muscled the puck from in between the red circles and into the twine for a 3-2 tally.
Five-minutes into the third period Travis Morin slapped the puck into the back door on a two-on-one to knot the game at three goals apiece. With 3:32 left in the game Travis Morin netted his second of the night with a high wrist shot, 4-3.
With 33 seconds left Mike Keane wrapped the puck into Ford’s net to force overtime with a 4-4 tie.
Overtime
The five-minute fourth period was too short to provide a winner and the game headed into a shootout.
Shootout
Manitoba Moose
Marco Rosa – Y
Michael Grabner - N
Mike Keane – N
Sergei Shirokov – N
Marty Murray - Y
Texas Stars
Ivan Vishnevskiy – Y
Fabian Brunstrom – N
Mathieu Beaudoin - N
Greg Rallo - N
Landon Wilson - N
| Scoring | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | T(SO) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Manitoba | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
MTS Centre, Jan 2, 2010
Penalties
Penalties
Penalties
Penalties
| Shots | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 12 | 10 | 16 | 2 | 40 |
| Manitoba | 11 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 29 |
POWER PLAYS:
Texas
0 / 3 | 9 min / 3 inf | 4 G + 8 A = 12 Pts
Manitoba
0 / 2 | 11 min / 4 inf | 5 G + 8 A = 13 Pts
GOALTENDERS:
Texas
Manitoba
ATTENDANCE:
7416
1. MTB - S. Shirokov
2. TEX - T. Morin
3. MTB - M. Grabner
The Moose will host the reigning Calder Cup Champion Hershey Bears next weekend for their first meeting since the finals last year.