The Manitoba Moose (15-23-1-0) skirmished with the Rockford IceHogs (16-19-3-1) on Tuesday evening at BMO Center for a weekday road contest. Manitoba was coming off a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Wolves on Sunday afternoon.
Manitoba opened the scoring 53 seconds into the contest courtesy of Brad Lambert. Nikita Chibrikov gained the line and fired a shot on target. Mitchell Weeks, making the start for Rockford, kicked the rebound out to the side. Lambert was pushing hard to the net and fired the disc home. The Moose pushed ahead 2-0 at the three-minute mark with a goal from Dawson Barteaux. Kristian Reichel sent the pass to the point and Barteaux stepped into a shot that eluded a screened Weeks. Rockford cut the Manitoba lead in half just past the six-minute mark of the period with a goal from Anders Bjork. Ethan Del Mastro’s shot hit a body in front and Bjork cashed in on the rebound with a quick snap shot. The Moose ended the period ahead by a score of 2-1. Milic, who was making his second straight appearance, headed down the tunnel with five saves, while Weeks countered with eight of his own.
Manitoba built a 3-1 lead 3:15 into the middle stanza with a tally from Jeffrey Viel. The forward spun and fired a shot from the corner. The puck caromed off an IceHogs stick, hit a skate in front and bounced past Weeks. The goal was the lone scoring play of the middle frame. Manitoba outshot Rockford by a count of 12-9 in the period and carried a 3-1 lead into the final 20 minutes of action.
The Moose added some insurance at the 3:35 mark of the final stanza with the second tally of the night from Barteaux. Chibrikov cut across the high slot and fed Barteaux, who whipped a shot past Weeks from the dot. With time dwindling, the IceHogs attempted to mount an offensive push, but were turned away by the Moose, who secured the 4-1 victory. Milic captured the road win and ended with 22 stops, while Weeks suffered the loss while making 25 saves of his own.
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