Griffins edge past Moose, 5-4

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The Manitoba Moose (11-22-1-1) fell 5-4 to the Grand Rapids Griffins (23-12-3-1) on Thursday night. The Moose were coming off a 5-0 loss against Toronto the weekend prior.

Tim Gettinger opened the scoring for the Griffins 1:26 into the first period, giving Grand Rapids an early lead. C.J. Suess tied things up for the Moose in the final two minutes of the frame, tipping in a shot from Simon Lundmark to settle the score at 1-1. The Moose outshot the Griffins 18-5 through the first frame.

Ben King scored just over a minute into the second, establishing a 2-1 lead for Manitoba. Parker Ford added a goal of his own 10 minutes later, pushing the Moose ahead 3-1. Thomas Milic made nine stops in the Manitoba crease to hold the Griffins off the scoresheet, and Ville Husso made 13 stops on 15 shots in net for Grand Rapids.

Joe Snively, Ondrej Becher, and Brogan Rafferty scored a trio of goals for the Griffins, within the first six minutes of the period to power the Griffins to a 4-3 lead. Sheldon Dries netted one four minutes later, making it 5-3 for Grand Rapids. That insurance marker proved important as Parker Ford scored his second goal of the game with 12 seconds remaining, but Manitoba’s comeback push came too late, as the Griffins secured a 5-4 win. Milic finished with 24 saves in net for Manitoba, and Husso wrapped with 39 saves for Grand Rapids.

Quotable

Moose forward Parker Ford (Click for full interview)

“We’re at our best when we’re forechecking hard – we have a lot of good forecheckers on our team. It’s our identity. It’s gotta be something we do consistently every period, and when we move away from it, bad things happen.”

Statbook

  • Ben King (1G) has recorded three points (2G, 1A) in four appearances against the Griffins this season
  • Parker Ford (2G) posted his first multi-goal game of the season, and is the first Moose to record 10 goals on the campaign
  • Dylan Coghlan (1A) recorded his first assist as a member of the Moose
  • Isaak Phillips (1A) recorded his first point as a member of the Moose
  • The Moose recorded a season-high of 43 shots on goal