The Manitoba Moose (35-20-4-2) faced off with the Toronto Marlies (32-24-3-1) Friday night at Canada Life Centre. The Moose were coming off a 4-2 loss victory against Laval on Wednesday night.
Manitoba opened the scoring 2:13 into the first period. Leon Gawanke fired a shot from the point on net. The puck was tipped from the high slot by the stick of Cole Maier, then redirected off Evan Polei and into the net to give the Moose a 1-0 lead. The rest of the period wore on with the Moose controlling the pace of play, but neither side was able to muster any further offence. Evan Cormier ended the frame with seven stops while Billy Christopoulos finished with 10 saves of his own after the first 20 minutes.
The Moose added to their lead in the second. Jeff Malott found David Gustafsson who zipped a shot past Christopoulos to push the Moose lead ahead 2-0. Manitoba added to their lead 95 seconds later with a tally from Johnathan Kovacevic. The defenceman fired a snap shot from the point that found twine and pushed Manitoba ahead 3-0. Manitoba kept the pressure on and were rewarded with a 4-0 lead. Bobby Lynch dropped the puck to Evan Polei. The forward walked in and wired a wicked shot into the top corner for his second of the evening. Mikey Eyssimont finished off another passing play and pushed Manitoba ahead 5-0 as the frame continued on. The Moose took a 5-0 lead into the second intermission and were ahead 25-14 in shots.
Third frame saw the Marlies make a goaltending change, as Andrew D’Agostini made his way between the pipes. Manitoba outshot Toronto 10-5 in the third frame but both D’Agostini and Cormier held the line and didn’t allow any more offence. The horn sounded to end the contest with the Moose skating away with a 5-0 win. Cormier finished with 20 saves for his first shutout in antlers. Christopoulos was tagged with the loss and ended with 20 saves of his own.