Moose set for weekend series with Marlies
By: Manitoba Moose Staff | Published: October 22nd 2016
Coming off their first win on home ice Thursday night, the Manitoba Moose take their 2-1-0-1 record on the road for a two-game set with the Toronto Marlies (2-1-0-0) this weekend.
Thursday’s game against the Bakersfield Condors had just about everything for the Manitoba Moose – a come from behind win featuring a powerplay goal, timely saves from Ondrej Pavelec and a Moose rookie scoring the game winner. It was tough in the early going for Manitoba as Bakersfield struck first blood when Joey Benik scored his second goal of the season just over six minutes into the first. Three minutes later the Moose were able to tie things up with a seeing eye shot from Jan Kostalek finding its way past Condors netminder, Nick Ellis.
Jumping to the third, Manitoba trailed Bakersfield 3-2 setting the stage for the comeback. Jack Roslovic got the train rolling with a top corner snipe on the powerplay. That set the stage for first year Moose forward, Brendan Lemieux. With Manitoba cycling the puck, Lemieux positioned himself in traffic and was able to tip in a Julian Melchiori point shot at 10:16. Late in the game, Nic Petan added an empty netter and the Condors managed to score with one second left on the clock, for a 5-4 Manitoba victory.
Toronto’s Stat Leaders
It’s been all feast for two of Toronto’s top youngsters, Brendan Leipsic and Kasperi Kapanen. So far in this young season they’re tied for the league lead in points with six each. Between the pipes, Garrett Sparks (1-1-0, 3.06 GAA, 0.878 SV%) and Antoine Bibeau (1-0-0, 2.00 GAA, 0.905 SV%) shared the load through the first few games.
Flash Back
Last season’s head-to-head record with Toronto was not ideal for Manitoba. The Moose ended the 2015-16 season with a 1-6-0-1 record against the Marlies, with their only win being a 6-5 overtime victory on Feb. 6. While the record against Toronto was one to forget, JC Lipon and Nic Petan had solid offensive numbers in the season series. Lipon registered 7 points (3G, 4A) while Petan tallied 4 points (2G, 2A) in eight and six games respectively.
After tonight’s matchup, the Moose will be right back on the ice at Ricoh Coliseum for a 2:00 p.m. tilt with the Marlies on Sunday afternoon (Oct. 23). Make sure to tune into the broadcast with Mitch Peacock at moosehockey.com/listenlive. Today's broadcast gets going at 3:45 p.m. CT.
