The Manitoba Moose (34-24-5-4) hosted the Grand Rapids Griffins (28-32-4-4) on Thursday evening at Canada Life Centre. Manitoba was coming off a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Abbotsford Canucks on Saturday afternoon.
Neither side was able to find twine through the opening 20 minutes of play. Manitoba was granted three chances on the power play, while Grand Rapids claimed a pair of opportunities. Oskari Salminen vacuumed up the only Griffins shot he saw in the frame, while Ryan Bednard made 10 saves as the horn sounded to draw the frame to a close.
Grand Rapids opened the scoring 1:02 into the middle frame on the power play. Jared McIsaac sauced the puck to Danny O’Regan, who fired a shot past a screened Salminen. Manitoba struck back at the 2:24 mark of the frame with a power play marker as Daniel Torgersson cleaned up a Jansen Harkins rebound. The Moose penalty kill came up with a key stop midway through the period as the Griffins had two five-on-three power plays, but were unable to cash in. Manitoba pushed ahead with its second power play goal in the frame. A bouncing puck floated out to Greg Meireles, who lifted it past the outstretched glove of Bednard. Manitoba was outshot 19-11 in the second stanza, but carried a 2-1 lead into the final 20 minutes of play.
Grand Rapids tied the contest 22 seconds into the third. Carter Mazur took the pass from Tyler Spezia and wired it past Salminen on the short side. The Griffins found a go-ahead marker at the 5:18 mark, as Seth Barton’s shot squeaked past the pad of Salminen. Grand Rapids added some insurance with a goal off the rush from Jasper Weatherby, as he slid the puck past the pad of Salminen. With the Moose trailing late, the decision was made to call Salminen to the bench in favour of the extra attacker. The disc eventually wound up on the stick of Mazur, who potted his second of the night into the empty net. Salminen was hit with the loss and ended with 27 stops, while Bednard picked up the road win and made 29 saves of his own.
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