Moose Recap: Manitoba 3 vs. Rockford 2 OT

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Quick Hits

• Jeff Malott scored the overtime-winning goal
• Thomas Milic made 25 stops in the Moose road victory
• Filip Roos posted a pair of assists for Rockford

Game Story

The Manitoba Moose (16-24-1-0) battled with the Rockford IceHogs (16-19-4-2) on Saturday evening at BMO Center to end a five-game road trip. Manitoba was coming off a 5-3 defeat against Milwaukee last night.

Rockford opened the scoring halfway through the opening period with a power play goal from Ryder Rolston. Filip Roos sent a pass to the top of the dot, where Rolston was waiting to one-time it past Thomas Milic. The Moose were assessed a four-minute double minor moments later, but the penalty kill was able to neutralize the Rockford opportunity. The Moose ended the first frame down 1-0. Milic finished the stanza with 10 stops, Rockford’s Jaxson Stauber countered with three of his own.

Manitoba tied the contest 56 seconds into the middle frame. C.J. Suess freed the puck off the wall and worked a shot in front. The rebound popped out to Nicholas Jones, who stuffed the disc past Stauber from the top of the crease. Manitoba took the lead with a power play goal two minutes later off the stick of Kristian Reichel. Parker Ford grabbed the puck and ripped down the ice into the offensive zone. The winger spied the trailing Reichel and fed the backdoor pass across the seam, which Reichel tapped into the back of the net. The IceHogs pulled even again with a power play tally from Brett Seney. Filip Roos hit Seney with a breakaway pass that sent him in alone on Milic, where beat the netminder with a quick shot. Manitoba outshot Rockford by a count of 15-9 in the stanza and took a 2-2 tie into the final 20 minutes of action.

Neither side was able to find the go-ahead marker in the frame. Manitoba was outshot 6-5 by Rockford in frame. Both teams were granted a pair of power play chances in the period. The Moose claimed the win in the extra frame with a goal from Jeff Malott. The puck took a hop off the sideboards and allowed the Moose to attack down the ice three-on-one. Malott displayed great patience before sniping the disc past Stauber to secure the 3-2 victory. Milic picked up the road victory on the strength of 25 saves, while Satuber was hit with the loss and made 22 stops of his own.

Quotable

Moose Forward Jeff Malott (Click for full interview)

“Leading into this last game of the road trip, we’ve played a lot of games on this one. I think we wanted to just keep it simple. Play north-south hockey. We’ve really been focusing on playing detailed. Making sure we’re not compounding mistakes, making sure we’re bailing each other out. I think we’re really shaping up a nice identity rolling into the break here."

Statbook

• Kristian Reichel has points in six straight games with six points (4G, 2A)
• Nicholas Jones has goals in consecutive contests
• Jeffrey Viel has points in three straight games with three points (1G, 2A)
• Jeff Malott's goal was the 70th of his Moose career, which ties him for eighth all-time in franchise history
• Malott's overtime winner was the 13th game-winning goal of his career, which ties him in sixth with current Winnipeg Jet Mason Appleton
• Mark Liwiski made his AHL debut

What's Next?

The Moose head back on the road with a contest against the Grand Rapids Griffins at Van Andel Arena on Friday, Feb. 9. Puck drop is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT.

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

Tickets to all upcoming Moose home games are available at MooseHockey.com/TICKETS.