PREVIEW: Back at it with the Barracuda
By: Manitoba Moose Staff | Published: December 31st 2017
For the first time since Nov. 12, the Manitoba Moose are coming into today’s game off a regulation loss. They fell 3-2 to the Barracuda yesterday in what was only their second regulation loss at Bell MTS Place of the season. Today’s New Year’s Eve game is also the Shutout Hunger food drive presented by Red River Co-op in support of the Manitoba Association of Food Banks and Winnipeg Harvest, so make sure you bring a non-perishable food item to the game. Limited tickets are still available at moosehockey.com/tickets/.
SO ENDS THE STREAK
Manitoba's run of 16 games without a loss came to an end yesterday with the team's 3-2 loss to San Jose. During the run, the Moose posted a record of 15-0-0-1 and set two franchise records. The first, for the overall streak, topping the previous high of 13 straight with a point. The second, consecutive games at home with a point, reaching 12 before yesterday's contest. Within the streak, Manitoba posted a nine-game win streak and a six-game run.
THE SPECIALIST
Defenceman Sami Niku is tied for fifth among AHL defencemen and leads rookie defenders with 21 points (5G, 16A) in 32 games. A large part of Niku's offensive success has come on the power play where he has 13 points to lead the Moose. All five of Niku's goals have come on the man advantage, tying him for the team lead in that department.
GENERATING OFFENCE
The Moose have used a productive offence to pick up wins over their past 20 games. Manitoba has scored three or more goals in all but four of those outings while amassing a 17-2-0-1 record. During that period, Manitoba averaged 4.3 goals per game. The Moose split the four games they didn't post at least three goals with a 2-2-0-0 record.
CENTURY MARK
Moose defenceman Kirill Gotovets played his 100th career AHL game yesterday. The Minsk, Belarus product made his AHL debut with the Milwaukee Admirals on April 13, 2014. He played the bulk of his games with the Rockford IceHogs (2014-16), appearing in 74 contests. In his first 100 games, Gotovets posted 23 points (3G, 20A) along with 61 penalty minutes and a plus-15 rating.
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Moose start off 2018 with a two-game road trip against divisional opponents on back-to-back nights, with stops in Chicago (Jan. 5) and Iowa (Jan. 6). Catch all the coverage for those games on moosehockey.com/listenlive/.
