The Manitoba Moose (37-25-5-4) clashed with the Rockford IceHogs (34-28-5-4) on Saturday evening at BMO Center. Manitoba was coming off a 3-2 loss in Texas on Wednesday night.
Manitoba opened the scoring 5:48 into the contest. Simon Lundmark sent the puck across the blue line to Leon Gawanke, who blasted a one-timer past Arvid Soderblom for his 20th goal of the season. Rockford answered at the 12:31 mark of the frame. Rocco Grimaldi fired a pass to Lukas Reichel back door and the IceHogs forward ripped a shot past a lunging Evan Cormier. Cormier ended the frame with eight stops, as Manitoba took to the first intermission knotted up 1-1.
Rockford pulled ahead with a goal on the power play in the second. The IceHogs attacked with speed, which allowed Reichel to dart in and beat Cormier off another quick one-timer. The Moose fired back and tied the contest. With a Manitoba power play expiring, Alex Limoges sent the pass across the seam to Greg Meireles. The forward clutched and snapped the disc past the glove of Soderblom. The Moose were outshot 16-7 in the middle stanza, but carried a 2-2 tie into the intermission.
Manitoba found the go-ahead tally at the 8:01 mark of the third. Lundmark, who registered an assist in the first frame, threw a shot on net and beat a partially screened Soderblom from distance. Carson Golder, who was making his debut, recorded an assist for his first professional point. With time ticking down and the IceHogs down by a goal, the decision was made to call Soderblom to the bench in favour of the extra attacker. Despite late pressure and chances, the Moose didn’t break as the horn sounded to draw the game to a close. Cormier notched his first win of the season and ended the game with 33 stops, while Soderblom was hit with the loss and made 27 saves of his own.
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