The Manitoba Moose (15-7-1-0) faced off against the Grand Rapids Griffins (9-10-2-1) for their final game of the weekend on Saturday evening. The Moose were coming off a 4-2 comeback win against the Griffins the previous night.
The Moose got the scoring started in the first with a gorgeous goal from Haralds Egle. The forward, who was coming off a two-assist performance in yesterday’s win, grabbed the puck and danced around Calvin Pickard for his first of the season and a 1-0 Moose lead. Under two minutes later, Manitoba struck again. Cole Maier swatted the puck free and onto the tape of Leon Gawanke. The defenceman took an extra stride then wired the disc past Pickard for the 2-0 lead. In the other crease, Mikhail Berdin wasn’t overly busy and ended the first frame with two total saves to his credit.
The Griffins struck near the halfway point of the middle frame. Riley Barber took advantage of a Moose defensive breakdown and fired a shot past Berdin to pull the Griffins within one. Grand Rapids outshot the Moose 11-8 the rest of the period, but Berdin made some spectacular saves to keep the Moose ahead 2-1 as the horn sounded to draw the second to a close.
The Moose fell into penalty trouble midway through the third, but Kristian Reichel came to the rescue with his second shorthanded goal of the season. That gave the Moose some breathing room and a 3-1 lead. A couple minutes later the Moose were granted a power play, but ended up surrendering a shorthanded goal of their own. Turner Elson drew the Griffins within one, but that was as close as the visitors would get. Berdin picked up the victory and ended the night with 19 saves in the Moose net.
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