Moose take second half of set with Cleveland

WINNIPEG – The Manitoba Moose and the Cleveland Monsters clash in the second half of a double header at MTS Centre after the Moose played Monster slayers on Thursday with a 7-3 victory.

This game started a bit sloppy with neither team getting traction. The Monsters tallied first with Oliver Bjorkstrand potting a juicy rebound past a diving Ondrej Pavelec at the 7:44 mark to take the lead. Silvert_Moose_SecondaryCrest

The Moose started to get their game legs and while on the power play, Scott Glennie potted his first of the season into a wide open cage as Monsters’ goaltender Joones Korpisalo was caught out of position. Assists went to Chase de Leo and Jack Roslovic.

Brendan Lemieux put the Moose ahead on a brilliant rush and banked the puck off the leg of Korpisalo from behind the goal. Assist goes to Roslovic at the 15:21 mark. Then Glennie got his second of the game (and season) at 16:57 off some great cycling work by the Moose down low in the Cleveland zone.  With assists from Kevin Czuczman and JC Lipon 16:57 into the period, the Moose took a 3-1 lead to the intermission. Shots were 17-11 in favor of the Moose.

The Moose continued the pressure on Cleveland to open the middle fame and JC Lipon outraced Monsters defenceman Blake Siebenaler to deposit the breakaway high glove side on Korpisalo to extend the Moose lead to 4-1. The assists went to Quinton Howden and Scott Glennie 4:04 into the period.

The Monsters narrowed the gap to 4-2 with a power play goal by captain Ryan Craig in close on a scramble in front of Pavelec.

The Moose got that one back on a power play of their own with Howden’s rush down the left wing. Howden’s pass to the slot deflected off a defender’s skate and eluded the goalie to make it 5-2 for the Moose. That was it for Korpisalo as he was replaced by Anton Forsberg. Shots were even at 28 after the second.

The third period opened with a 5 minute flurry of pressure from the Monsters who threw everything but the kitchen sink at Pavelec, but couldn’t narrow the gap on the Moose. Tempers started to flare and reached a boiling point when the Moose’ Jimmy Lodge and Jordan Maletta of the Monsters dropped the mitts halfway through the period.

The tilt failed to spark any offence either way, however with the Moose content to protect their 3 goal lead.

The scoreless period ended with the Moose prevailing in the 5-2 victory, sweeping the series with the Monsters.

All well deserved win for the home side who outshot Cleveland 40-36.

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