The Manitoba Moose (37-21-5-2) clashed with the Chicago Wolves (43-13-5-5) Saturday evening at Allstate Arena. The Moose were coming off a 7-2 loss against the Milwaukee Admirals on Friday night.
Manitoba controlled the pace of play in the first period. The visiting Moose outshot the Wolves by a count of 11-5 but were unable to solve Wolves netminder Pyotr Kochetkov. The goalie ended with 11 stops through 20 minutes of play. Mikhail Berdin wasn’t as busy, but solid when called upon and provided five saves of his own. The Moose took a scoreless draw into their dressing room.
The defensive deadlock continued into the middle frame. Despite Manitoba outshooting Chicago 8-4 in the second period, both Berdin and Kochetkov were solid and neither netminder allowed a goal. The Moose had the advantage with numerous chances on the power play, but were unable to find twine. The horn sounded to send both teams to their respective dressing rooms still awaiting the first goal of the contest.
Chicago broke the deadlock in the third. With the Moose on the power play, the Wolves counterattacked down the ice. After some quick passes, Spencer Smallman tapped it home to give the Wolves a 1-0 lead. Manitoba tied the contest with under three to play. C.J. Suess grabbed the puck in the offensive zone and sent it back to Leon Gawanke. The defenceman fired the bouncing disc past Kochetkov to knot the contest 1-1. The horn sounded to send the contest into overtime. Less than a minute into the extra frame, Jesper Sellgren scored the winner and sent the Wolves away with a 2-1 win. By virtue of making it to overtime, the Moose clinched their spot in the 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs.
