Game Story

The Manitoba Moose (3-1-0-0) claimed their third win over the Chicago Wolves (0-3-0-0) by a 6-1 scoreline at Allstate Arena on Saturday night. Manitoba was coming off a 2-1 loss to the Grand Rapids Griffins at Van Andel Arena on Friday night.

The Moose opened a 3-0 gap over Chicago in the first period for the second time in as many meetings. Noah Gregor fired a laser beam into the back of the net after Danny Zhilkin fed him a pass right in his wheelhouse, to make it 1-0 at 11:09. Just 51 seconds later, Jacob Julien deflected a Lukas Gustafsson point shot past Cayden Primeau to make it 2-0 Moose. Kevin He got into the action at 16:02, also finishing off a nice Zhilkin pass, this time on a five-on-three man advantage. Thomas Milic stopped all six shots he faced, while Primeau stopped 10 Moose attempts.

Manitoba owned a 12-7 edge on the shot clock in the second, but Primeau ensured they couldn’t extend the lead. Davis Burnside set up Tyson Empey for what could have been a play of the week candidate, but Primeau robbed Empey at the back door to keep it 3-0. Chase Wheatcroft then cut the Moose lead to 3-1 at 13:47, beating Milic at the near post. Both sides had a series of chances to add to their total, but neither netminder could be beaten ahead of the intermission.

The Moose reclaimed the momentum early in the third. Parker Ford blocked a shot, and skated away on a shorthanded break. Ford beat Primeau with a wrister to make it 4-1 on his first goal of the season. The power play struck again when Nikita Chibrikov found a puck laying loose in the crease, and jammed it into the goal to make it 5-1 at 7:27. Chase Yoder capped off the scoring by deflecting a shot from Davis Burnside into the cage, putting the finishing touches on a 6-1 victory. Milic made 21 stops in his second win of the young season.

Statbook

• Parker Ford, Nikita Chibrikov, Chase Yoder and Jacob Julien all scored their first goal of the season
• Yoder led all skaters with five shots on goal
• Ford scored Manitoba’s first shorthanded goal of the season
• Danny Zhilkin and Noah Gregor each recorded their second multi-point games of the season
• Gregor finished the game tied for the AHL lead with seven points (4G, 3A)
• A total of 12 Moose skaters have recorded at least a goal through four games

Quotable

Moose forward Danny Zhilkin (click for full interview)
“I think our start was great. I think we didn’t have the best start in GR, so we had a mindset of doing our best in the 1st period, kinda slow their home opener down, that worked great.”

What’s Coming Up

The Moose are next on home ice Friday, Oct. 16 (7 p.m.) and Sunday, Oct. 18 (2 p.m.) when they host the Texas Stars. Get your tickets and find promotion information at moosehockey.com/tickets.