Game Story

The Manitoba Moose (28-21-5-1) rebounded with a 4-2 win over the Calgary Wranglers (20-25-10-4) at Scotiabank Saddledome on Sunday afternoon. They were coming off a 7-2 loss to the Wranglers on Friday.

Nearly 15 minutes of the first period went by without a goal, but the final five provided plenty of offence. Isaak Phillips broke the deadlock with his eighth goal of the season at 14:47, ripping a shot into the net from the point. Justin Kirkland stayed with a loose puck and forced it past Thomas Milic for a power play goal with 33 seconds to play. The late tally sent the sides into the rooms tied 1-1.

The Moose outshot the Wranglers 13-10 in the middle stanza, getting the lone goal to take a 2-1 lead. A beautiful pass from Danny Zhilkin hit Jaret Anderson-Dolan’s stick and deflected into the back of the goal. Colby Barlow picked up the secondary helper. Milic was stellar in the second, turning away all 10 Wranglers’ offerings.

Alex Gallant tied the game at 2-2 on a deflection in the slot five minutes into the third. Calgary controlled much of the play in the final period, outshooting the Moose 22-11. Milic was superb in the Moose net, not surrendering another goal the rest of the way. His play allowed Manitoba to take a 3-2 lead courtesy of Dylan Anhorn, who finished off a Parker Ford pass. With Arsenii Sergeev vacating the Calgary goal, David Gustafsson iced the game with an empty netter, as the Moose picked up a 4-2 victory to close out their road trip.

Quotable

Moose forward Danny Zhilkin (click for full interview)
“Obviously, a tough game last game; they’re a skilled team, and we knew what we had to do going into this game. It was a good response, a good win.”

Statbook

• Brayden Yager recorded his fourth point (1G, 3A) in his past four games
• Isaak Phillips reclaimed the lead among Moose defencemen with 23 points (8G, 15A)
• Jaret Anderson-Dolan recorded his 50th career AHL goal
• David Gustafsson has a point in each of his two games since returning from injury (1G, 1A)