The Manitoba Moose (8-5-2-0) grappled with the Grand Rapids Griffins (8-8-1-0) Friday evening at Van Andel Arena. It was the fourth contest of a five-game road swing for the Moose. Manitoba was coming off a 5-1 loss at the hands of Milwaukee on Tuesday night.
Grand Rapids opened the scoring with just under four minutes to play in the first. After Manitoba failed to clear the puck, Kyle Criscuolo took advantage of a kicked out rebound and swept it past Arvid Holm. The marker brought on an avalanche of teddy bears courtesy of the fans in Grand Rapids. With under five minutes to play in the frame, the decision was made to play the rest of the stanza after the intermission. The period later resumed and the final few minutes were ticked off. Jussi Olkinuora, making the start for Grand Rapids, stopped all six Moose shots that he faced in the first frame. Holm finished the first with 11 saves of his own in the books.
The Griffins added to their lead in the middle frame with a tally from Pontus Andreasson. The forward followed his own rebound off a hard shot and beat Holm with a diving swipe that found the top corner. The Griffins goal was the only one of the frame. Holm was the busier of the two netminders and made 16 saves as the horn sounded and the stanza came to a close.
The final period saw the Moose push and try to generate offence. With a few minutes left in the frame, Manitoba pulled Holm in favour of the extra attacker. Grand Rapids eventually converted an outlet pass and iced the contest with an empty net tally from Joel L’Esperance. It was the first time the Moose have been shut out this season. Holm notched the loss and finished the game with 31 saves, while Olkinuora picked up the win and made 26 saves for the shutout.
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