PREVIEW: Friday Night Lights
By: Manitoba Moose Staff | Published: March 16th 2018
The Manitoba Moose (37-17-4-4) road trip continues tonight, in San Antonio where they’ll play the Rampage (29-25-9-0). The second part of the stretch, four games in the state of Texas, opened Wednesday with a 6-3 win over the Stars. The Moose and Rampage met in Winnipeg on back-to-back nights earlier this season, with Manitoba pulling off 7-2 and 3-1 wins. Jack Roslovic and Mason Appleton powered the Moose attack in those games, combining for nine points (4G, 5A) between them. Tonight’s puck drop is at 7:30 p.m. (CT) on TSN 1290 and moosehockey.com/listenlive/.
THAT'S 20
Moose Captain Patrice Cormier tucked away his 20th goal of the season on Wednesday. It's the first time the veteran forward has reached the plateau in his AHL career. Cormier is the second Moose player to score 20 goals this season, and it's the first time the franchise has had multiple 20-goal scorers since the 2013-14 season when the St. John's IceCaps had five of them.
ON THE BOARD
Two players tallied their first goal of the season against Texas. Kirill Gotovets nabbed his first tally of the season and first with the organization. Gotovets’s last AHL goal was 776 days ago (01/05/2016) against Rockford when he was playing for the Chicago Wolves. The defenceman spent the 2016-17 season playing in the KHL, with Dinamo Minsk. Brett Welychka also scored on Wednesday, recording the first goal of his AHL career. Welychka recently joined the Moose after three seasons with the Carleton University Ravens.
LIKE CLOCKWORK
JC Lipon tallied his third three-point (1G, 2A) game of the season on Wednesday to reach the 30-point plateau for the third straight season and fourth time in five campaigns. The Regina, SK native has matched his total from last season in 17 fewer games, but is still 11 points shy of his 41-point rookie campaign in 2013-14.
GOALIE CAROUSEL
WThe Moose goaltending crew shuffled again on Wednesday as Eric Comrie got the call to join the Winnipeg Jets. Comrie had started six of the last seven games for Manitoba before his recall. Jamie Phillips started against Texas, making 22 saves for the win. The Moose recalled Colton Phinney from the Indy Fuel to join Phillips. Phinney has played in 22 ECHL games this season, posting a 5-8-2 record with a 3.25 GAA and 0.886 SV%.
SPREADING AROUND THE OFFENCE
With JC Lipon and Michael Spacek hitting 30 points this week, the Moose now feature 10 skaters with 30 or more points on the season. Manitoba now has more players who have reached that mark than any other AHL team so far this season. Three Moose are still within striking distance of the mark with Cameron Schilling (29), Chase De Leo (27) and Peter Stoykewych (26) all closing in.
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Moose will head right back to Austin for game six of the seven game road trip tomorrow night against the Texas Stars. Catch Mitch Peacock and the pregame show on TSN 1290 or moosehockey.com/listenlive/ starting at 6:45 p.m. (CT).
