Moose Recap: Manitoba 8 at Texas 3

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Quick Hits

• Ville Heinola notched five points (1G, 4A) in the Manitoba win
• Kristian Reichel (2G, 1A) and Jeff Malott (1G, 2A) each posted three- point outings
• Colby Barlow scored his first AHL goal and tallied two points in the victory

Game Story

The Manitoba Moose (33-35-2-1) battled with the Central Division's Texas Stars (33-32-4-2) on Friday evening at H-E-B Center. Manitoba was coming off a 6-4 loss against Milwaukee on Wednesday.

Texas opened the scoring 4:02 into the contest with a goal from Emilio Pettersen. Curtis McKenzie grabbed the disc at the line and sent the shot on target. Pettersen got free behind a pair of Moose defenders and quickly shuffled the puck past the outstretched pad of Oskari Salminen. Texas went ahead by two with a power play goal from Matej Blumel. The Moose attacked down the ice on a shorthanded rush. The shot missed and the Stars took off the other way on an odd-man rush of their own. Pettersen found Blumel, who beat Salminen with a one-timer from the right side. Salminen exited the contest a few minutes later, which brought Thomas Milic off the bench and into the game. Manitoba got on the board with 44 seconds left in the period off the stick of Kristian Reichel. A good shift of Moose pressure got the puck to Ville Heinola, who fired a shot from the point. The puck popped out to the left side and Reichel lifted a backhand over Remi Poirier. The Moose were down 2-1 after the first 20 minutes of play and were outshot by a count of 12-7.

Manitoba tied the contest three minutes into the middle stanza with a goal from Jeff Malott. Ville Heinola broke in alone and his shot rode up and over the stick of Poirier. The puck popped in the air behind the goaltender and Malott knocked it out of the air and into the empty net. Manitoba took a 3-2 lead 46 seconds later with the second of the contest from Reichel. The forward burned down the ice on an odd-man rush and beat Poirier with a top corner shot. Manitoba pushed ahead by two with a power play tally courtesy of Parker Ford. Axel Jonsson-Fjallby slipped a check and sent the pass to Ford off his backhand. The forward made a quick move to open a lane before beating Poirier. Manitoba made it 5-2 with a four-on-three power play goal from Colby Barlow. Heinola sauced the puck across the seam and Barlow hammered a one-timer into twine for his first AHL goal. Manitoba ended the period outshooting Texas by a count of 14-8 and took a 5-2 lead into the final 20 minutes of play.

The Moose continued to pour it on 3:08 into the final frame with a power play tally from Dominic Toninato. Reichel found Toninato, who unleashed a far shot that eluded a screened Poirier. The Moose made it a 7-2 contest with a power play goal from Heinola. The defenceman took the pass and walked to the middle of the circle before sniping into the top corner. The Moose scored a fifth power play goal to make it 8-2 off the stick of Simon Lundmark. Barlow floated a backhand, cross-seam pass to Lundmark, who took a knee and fired it home. The Stars got one back with 56 seconds left as Fredrik Karlstrom tipped a puck to the back of the net. The horn sounded not long after to call an end to the contest with Manitoba winning 8-3. Milic picked up the road victory and made 17 stops, while Poirier was hit with the home loss and ended with 27 saves of his own.

Quotable

Moose Forward Colby Barlow (Click for full interview)

“We never gave up. We stuck to the game plan through three full periods. Guys buried their opportunities. Guys were playing the right way, which was good to see and that got us the win."

Statbook

• Ville Heinola tallied his first five-point (1G, 4A) contest, the 12th in Moose history
• Heinola notched his 100th career AHL point
• Colby Barlow registered his first career AHL goal and multi-point game
• Jeff Malott posted his 30th assist and 50th point of the season for the first time in his AHL career
• Connor Levis made his AHL debut
• Kristian Reichel has points in two straight games with four points (2G, 2A)
• Kyle Capobianco notched his 13th multi-point game with two assists
• Simon Lundmark matched a career-high with his 17th point
• Manitoba matched a franchise road record with eight goals

What's Next?

The Moose end the regular season with a rematch against the Texas Stars on Saturday, April 20. Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m. CT.

You can catch the game on CJOB.com/sports the Winnipeg Jets App or AHLTV.