The Manitoba Moose (12-6-2-1) took on the Calgary Wranglers (15-7-1-0) Tuesday evening at Scotiabank Saddledome. It was the first of two weekday games for the Moose against the Wranglers. Manitoba was coming off a 2-1 win against Abbotsford on Saturday evening.
The Wranglers opened the scoring with 2:38 left on the clock in the opening frame. Jakob Pelletier worked the give-and-go passing play with Cole Schwindt with the latter finding twine behind Arvid Holm with a quick shot. The Calgary goal was the only scoring through the first period of play. Holm took to the Moose dressing room with seven total stops, while Dustin Wolf ended the period with nine of his own for the home-side Wranglers.
Manitoba tied the contest early in the middle stanza with a power play goal. Leon Gawanke unloaded a shot that was kicked free by Wolf. The rebound was lightly tapped home by Jeff Malott, who was waiting unchecked above the crease. Manitoba pulled ahead with under five go in the frame. With the Moose shorthanded, Dominic Toninato finished a rebound off a Kristian Reichel shot to give the Moose the edge. Manitoba outshot Calgary 21-10 in the middle stanza and took a 2-1 lead into the final 20 minutes of play.
The Moose added some insurance with under 10 to play in the third. Toninato stole the puck at the top of the Wranglers zone. The forward deked and couldn’t find the back of the net, but Malott was following the play and banged in the loose puck for his second of the evening. The Wranglers were searching for offence and pulled Wolf in favour of the extra attacker. With offensive zone pressure, the Wranglers accidentally skipped the puck out of the zone and down into the empty net. The tally, which gave the Moose a 4-1 lead, was credited to Leon Gawanke. The horn sounded to draw the game to a close shortly after. Holm picked up his second win in a row on the strength of 34 stops, while Wolf was tagged with the loss and ended with 35 stops of his own.
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