The Manitoba Moose (13-16-2-0) finished up 2018 with a 4-1 win over the Colorado Eagles (15-12-3-1) at Bell MTS Place Monday evening. After closing out the scoring 
yesterday, Brent Pedersen got things going 4:54 into the contest as his wrister from the circle found its way through a crowd in front and past Pavel Francouz. Kristian Reichel nearly gave Manitoba a 2-0 advantage before the mid-point of the frame, but he was thwarted by the post. Eric Comrie turned aside all eight shots he faced as the Moose skated out of the first period with a 1-0 lead.
Despite opening the second period on the penalty kill, Manitoba added some insurance courtesy of Felix Girard setting up Alexis D’Aoust for a shorthanded tally 30 seconds into the frame. Marko Dano nabbed his first of the season by putting away his own rebound to give the Moose a 3-0 edge at 6:43 of the second. The Eagles finally solved Comrie after 97:52 of shutout hockey by the Manitoba goaltender as former Moose Scott Kosmachuk got the visitors on the board. Manitoba nearly added to its 3-1 lead at the end of the period, but the horn sounded a fraction of a second before JC Lipon could put the puck to the back of the net.
The Moose penalty kill came up with a pair of key stops in the opening five minutes of the final frame, turning aside back-to-back Eagles power plays. Comrie put the wall back up in the period, making 10 saves to keep the Moose lead at two goals. Lipon tacked on a final tally into an empty net to give Manitoba the 4-1 victory.
Quick Hits
- The Moose have won nine straight New Year’s Eve games in Winnipeg.
- Eric Comrie stopped 69 of 70 shots faced during the two-game set.
- Alexis D’Aoust’s marker was Manitoba’s first shorthanded goal of the season.
- Brent Pedersen has goals in back-to-back games.
- Today’s attendance was announced at 8,336.
- Moose fans donated over 2,800 lbs of food to the Manitoba Association of Food Banks through the Shutout Hunger food drive presented by Red River Co-op.
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