WINNIPEG, Manitoba – In front of the home town crowd, the Manitoba Moose had their backs against the wall with the Lake Erie Monsters in a must-win game five. The Moose were down 3-1 in the series after two big wins by the Monsters. But with the home town crowd to energize the team they played a powerful, controlled game to win. Perhaps the biggest story of the game was the fact that the Moose would be playing without Aaron Valpatti who in game four was heavily penalized, given a five-minute match penalty and a game misconduct was handed a two-game suspension for his charging hit, thus Valpatii would sit game five and now he will also sit game six of the series. Rookie sensation Eddie Lack had the start in net for the Moose, as he sat in gave four, however Lack was given back the starting position and made good with the time given. The first period was very quiet with only one penalty which seen the Moose go on the power play against an amazing Monster PK unit that shut the Moose down and got a shorthanded two on one break. Manitoba’s signature blue collar work tactic was shining through as the outworked and out played the Monsters all period long but both goalies pulled up thier socks and played very controlled games to keep the game scoreless. Early in the second period the Manitoba Moose had a scare when Jason Jaffray took a puck to the face and he did so to keep the puck in play for the Moose so he went to the trainer’s room for a quick check over, but like the hard working player Jaffray is he was out on the ice on his next shift which happened to be a power play. Again the Monsters power play lived up to its name and held the Moose to just one shot on the power play. The second period ended with two goose eggs on the scoreboard but the Moose were up 23-14 in shots. Both Eddie Lack and Monsters goaltender Jason Bacashihua were holding their own in net with both working on the shutout but at 6:35 of the third period Bacashihua was beaten by a great shot by Sergei Shirokov who took a pass from Jaffray in the corner and Shirokov was on the door step to bang it home putting the Moose up 1-0 early in the third period. With roughly two minutes left Lake Erie Head Coach David Quinn pulled Bacashihua and put the Lake Erie Monsters on the 6-5 advantage, and it seemed to work as the Monsters out played the Moose late in the third period, but Eddie Lack held the lead for the Moose. Jason Jaffray was able to get a free goal with 9.7 seconds left in the game and put the Moose up 2-0 and putting the game on ice, As the horn blew in the MTS Centre the Moose would live to play another day and beat the Monsters to take the series back on the road. Interesting piece of information on the Manitoba Moose is Cody Hodgson was on the ice for the Moose as he is up with the Vancouver Canucks and is in Chicago awaiting the start of game six there. So the Moose will head on the road for game six and try to stay alive again.
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