Quick Hits

• Phil Di Giuseppe scored the overtime winner while shorthanded
• Thomas Milic made 25 stops on 27 saves for the win
• Two of Manitoba’s three goals came unassisted

Game Story

The Manitoba Moose (24-18-4-1) stunned the Grand Rapids Griffins (40-8-3-1) with a shorthanded winner in overtime, claiming a 3-2 victory at Van Andel Arena on Wednesday night. They were coming off a 5-1 loss to the Iowa Wild on Sunday.

With seven Moose regulars out of the lineup, Manitoba enjoyed the stronger first period between these two Central Division foes. The visitors outshot Grand Rapids 14-6, scoring the game’s first goal at 12:32. Samuel Fagemo and Jaret Anderson-Dolan exchanged a couple of passes on a two-on-oh breakaway before the Swedish forward gave his side a 1-0 lead with his 14th goal of the season. Milic, though not busy, made a 10-bell save in the early going of the period to keep Grand Rapids goalless through 20 minutes.

The Moose continued to pepper Cossa with rubber in the second, turning 16 more shots on goal. Michael Bradsegg-Nygård tied the game under four minutes into the frame after a Moose defender collided with Milic. Near the midway mark of the second, Isaak Phillips jammed his fifth of the campaign into the net to restore Manitoba’s one-goal lead. Brandsegg-Nygård tied the game for a second time on the power play about three minutes later, as the two sides went into the locker rooms deadlocked at 2-2.

Neither side had much in the way of quality chances in the third, but Milic was the busier netminder, stopping nine shots compared to seven for Cossa. Without a third-period goal, the game headed to overtime. Those Moose took a too-many-men penalty just over a minute into the sudden-death period, sending the Grand Rapids power play to work. Phil Di Giuseppe jumped on a loose puck in the neutral zone and sprinted the other way. Di Giuseppe slid his breakaway chance through the legs of Cossa, tallying Manitoba’s league-leading ninth shorthanded goal of the campaign, and claiming a 3-2 victory for the visitors. 

Quotable

Moose forward Phil Di Giuseppe (click for full interview)
“Coming to the rink, there was a great belief. After those two Iowa games, we knew we had to respond, and I think, as a whole, we did a good job of that tonight. “

Statbook

• Dylan Moulton played in his first career AHL game for the Moose
• Phil Di Giuseppe is tied for third in the AHL with three shorthanded goals
• Samuel Fagemo has two points (1G, 1A) in his past three games
• Isaak Phillips has two goals over his past three games
• Thomas Milic is 3-1-1 in his past five contests