Manitoba Moose

MANITOBA DROPS 3-2 DECISION TO HERSHEY AT MTS CENTRE

By Christina Caligiuri

The Manitoba Moose failed to get revenge on the reigning Calder Cup Champion Hershey Bears on Saturday night dropping a 3-2 decision in front of 7,784 on home turf. Marco Rosa and Sergei Shirokov both notched goals for Manitoba while Cory Schneider made 23 of 26 saves.

Hershey’s Karl Alzner was handed the first penalty of the night when he was called out for tripping at 4:06. The Moose had a rocky start to their powerplay allowing one opposing shot and then failing to get the puck out of their own zone. Manitoba didn’t fire once on the two-minute advantage and went zero-for-one on the PP.

Near the 10-minute mark of the opening frame, Andrew Gordon descended from the right side and shelved the puck over Schneider to take the first lead of the night.

Keith Aucoin’s hooking penalty at 19:58 gave the Moose a man-up to start the second period. Despite bringing their shot count to 11 on the man-advantage, the antler crew couldn’t beat goaltender Braden Holtby.

Back-to-back penalties to Sergei Shirokov and Mario Bliznak gave the reigning Calder Cup Champions a two-attacker advantage. Strong penalty killing and key saves by starting goaltender Cory Schneider allowed the Moose to kill-off their first penalty awarded to Shirokov. On his way out of the penalty box, the European sniper stormed down the ice on a shorthanded breakaway and slide the bullet in between Holtby’s five-hole to knot the game at one.  After the goal, Manitoba’s penalty kill unit continued their strong play and play resumed to even-strength. 

At 15:24 the Moose took the lead. With a sleek backhanded pass, courtesy of Guillaume Debsiens, Marco Rosa tipped the puck over the 6’1” goaltender for his eighth of the season and a 2- 1 tally.

The Bears got back on even ground a mere 1:20 into the final frame. With an across the net pass from Mathieu Perrault, Chris Bourque topped the puck over a sprawled Schneider, 2-2.

With 3:20 left in the match, a defensive slip up in the Moose zone allowed Kyle Wilson to break in and squeeze the puck between Schneider and his right goal post to confirm the game, 3-2.