The Manitoba Moose (4-8-0-0) fell 3-2 to the Rockford IceHogs (4-7-0-0) in Friday night’s action. The Moose were coming off a 5-4 shootout win against the Milwaukee Admirals on Wednesday afternoon.
Frank Nazar opened the scoring for the IceHogs, capitalizing off of a 5-on-3 opportunity to sneak one past Moose goaltender Thomas Milic and give Rockford the early lead. The Moose were held off the scoresheet through the first period, despite some good scoring chances. Milic made some excellent saves in net for the Moose, stopping 10 of 11 pucks sent his way, and Mitchell Weeks made five saves on five shots for Rockford.
Manitoba came out strong in the middle frame, matching their first period shot total after three minutes of play. Tyson Empey scored the lone goal of the frame with five minutes remaining, off a quick play by Mark Liwiski to tie things up 1-1. Milic was able to keep his crease clear, making some huge saves to shut down the IceHogs and keep the Moose in the game. Milic made nine saves on nine shots, and Weeks went eight for nine in the Rockford net.
Empey struck again just over two minutes into the third to give the Moose a 2-1 lead, and record his first AHL multi-goal game. Cole Guttman was able to tie things up for the IceHogs seven minutes later. Gerry Mayhew put Rockford back in front for good, deflecting a Brett Seney shot with seven minutes left in the game. Milic made 24 saves on 27 shots for Manitoba, and Weeks saved 22 of 24 for Rockford.
