Recap: Moose 3 at Rockford 2 (SO)

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Quick Hits

• Ville Heinola recorded two assists, and scored the shootout winner
• Owen Flores stopped 32 shots in his AHL debut for Rockford
• Parker Ford and Walker Duehr scored for the Moose

Game Story

The Manitoba Moose (17-13-2-0) earned two big points in the standings Saturday night, downing the Rockford IceHogs (13-19-2-2) in the shootout by a 3-2 scoreline. Manitoba was coming off a 7-3 loss to the Milwaukee Admirals at UW-M Panther Arena on Thursday night.

Parker Ford needed just 107 seconds to open the scoring, opting to keep the puck on a two-on-one, ripping Manitoba's first shot of the contest under the bar. Despite the early goal against, Owen Flores made a couple of big saves in the period, stopping a point-blank Fabian Wagner chance and getting a measure of revenge over Ford. Thomas Milic was steady in the first, making five stops, as the Moose outshot the IceHogs 9-5 in the period.

The second was another low-event period. Manitoba outshot their Central Division foes 7-4 in the frame, but it was Rockford drawing level, beating the buzzer by 56 seconds. Former Moose captain Dominic Toninato tied the game with a shorthanded tally. Flores was perfect in the middle 20, turning aside all seven shots he saw, running his streak to 15 consecutive stops. Tyrel Bauer led both sides with three shots on goal through 40 minutes of play.

Rockford claimed their first lead of the contest 2:51 into the third, as Rem Pitlick snuck a shot through Milic on the power play. The Moose thought they had the game tied on what would have been Ford's second goal of the game, but the officials overturned the goal following a conference. Still down by one, Walker Duehr was denied on a breakaway and then again on a chance in tight, but his third chance was the charm. Duehr wound up and blasted a slap shot past Flores, levelling the game at two with a shorthanded marker. Overtime solved nothing, despite six shots on goal for the Moose. The first six shooters were denied in the shootout, but Ville Heinola scored for the Moose, and Milic turned away Jackson Cates, securing a 3-2 Manitoba win.

Quotable

Moose forward Walker Duehr (click for full interview)
"It was a battle. It took everybody. I think everybody had an impact on that game. Every shift, guys were doing anything out there to get the win, and it was fun to see."

Statbook

• Mason Shaw and Samuel Fagemo both played in their 300th AHL game
• Manitoba allowed a season-low 14 shots against
• Ville Heinola's two-point game was his fourth multi-point game of the season
• Thomas Milic has a win in each of his past two starts, allowing only three goals in that span