Game Story

The Manitoba Moose (11-5-0-0) fell to the Texas Stars (4-8-1-2) by a 2-1 score on Wednesday night at H-E-B Center. They were coming off a 3-2 shootout win over Texas on Tuesday night.

The Stars paraded to the sin bin in the first, serving five penalties. Manitoba had 10 shots in the period, and Nikita Chibrikov ripped another off the post, but they couldn’t solve Brandon Halverson. The teams headed to the intermission knotted at 0-0, with the Moose having another 1:03 on their fifth man-advantage. Chibrikov, Henry Thrun, and Brad Lambert led the Moose with a pair of shots, while Texas’ Kyle Looft matched that mark.

Manitoba broke the deadlock at 9:04 in the second. Danny Zhilkin was credited with the goal after a Texas player won a faceoff, bouncing the puck off a teammate’s skate and past an unsuspecting Halverson. Texas tied the game 1:40 later. Jack Becker went bar-down after a cross-ice pass from Dylan Hrycowian, tying the game 1-1. Artem Shlaine scored a weird goal of his own at 14:09, batting a puck out of mid-air after Matthew Seminoff ripped a shot off the end glass to make it 2-1. Milic made 10 stops in the frame, while Halverson made nine saves.

Manitoba pushed for an equalizer in the third. They were held to six shots in the stanza, but had a couple of good scoring chances. Chibrikov and Lambert clanged iron, and a loose puck trickled through the slot untouched in the final seconds, as the Stars held on for a 2-1 win, snapping Manitoba’s four-game win streak.

Statbook

• Brad Lambert led the Moose with five shots on goal
• Thomas Milic made 27 stops in the loss
• Danny Zhilkin has eight points (3G, 5A) over his past five contests

Quotable

Moose forward Mikey Milne (click for full interview)
“Thought it was kinda a back-and-forth game, a lot of special teams. Just came out on the short side of it tonight, but I thought we had a good effort.”

What’s Coming Up

The Moose have their second clash of the season with the Rockford IceHogs on Saturday evening at BMO Center. Coverage starts at 7:45 p.m. CDT on CJOB.com, the Winnipeg Jets App and AHLTV on FloHockey.

The Moose return home on Friday, Nov. 20, to battle the Rockford IceHogs on Soirée Francophone, featuring live music performed by Douzie throughout the game. Tickets are available at moosehockey.com/tickets.