Moose top Laval, 5-2

WINNIPEG – The Manitoba Moose (11-5-1-1) and Laval Rocket (9-7-2-0) met for the first time ever at Bell MTS Place on Sunday afternoon.  The scoring started just 33 seconds into the game when Michael McCarron hit Yannick Veilleux with a cross-ice pass and Veilleux put it away to give the visitors the early lead.  The Moose pulled even at 14:31 courtesy of Mason Appleton who redirected a Francis Beauvillier centering pass to the back of the net.  Manitoba applied plenty of pressure, posting 15 shots on goal, but coming out of the period tied 1-1.

The second period saw the Moose pull away in the goal column.  Michael Spacek led things off 6:36 into the period as a beneficiary of the puck taking a wild bounce off the glass and in front of the Laval net.  The Rocket tied things up nine minutes into the second on a sweet power play setup starting with Peter Holland, running through McCarron, and Daniel Carr finishing things off.  At the 11 minute mark, Mike Sgarbossa opened up Mason Appleton who rifled home his second goal of the game, this one on the power play, to push the Moose out in front.  Appleton picked up his fourth point of the contest as the second helper on Chase De Leo’s power play goal just over a minute later.  The Moose put a cap on the period as a rush up ice in the dying seconds resulted in a Buddy Robinson goal with 0.7 left on the clock for a 5-2 lead after 40 minutes.

The final frame saw Laval try to push back into the contest, but Michael Hutchinson wasn’t interested.  The Moose goaltender made 16 saves in the period for a full game total of 27.  With the Rocket unable to close the gap, the Moose cruised to their third straight victory and seventh in eight games by a 5-2 score.