Moose Recap: Manitoba 5 at Chicago 2

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Quick Hits

• Wyatt Bongiovanni and Henri Nikkanen scored their first AHL goals in the victory
• Cole Maier tallied two assists in the win
• Oskari Salminen finished with 17 saves for his second consecutive victory

Game Story

The Manitoba Moose (2-0-1-0) began their first road swing of the season when they took on the Chicago Wolves (0-2-0-0) Friday evening at Allstate Arena. It was the first of three games in three nights against Central Division foes.

Manitoba opened the scoring in the first. Cole Maier stole the puck in the offensive zone. Finding room, he sauced a pass across to Wyatt Bongiovanni who buried the disc behind Pyotr Kochetkov for a 1-0 Moose lead. Manitoba cashed in again just over two minutes later. Mikey Eyssimont took a pass from Ville Heinola and floated a shot through a screen that eluded Kochetkov and pushed Manitoba ahead 2-0. With under 10 to play in the frame, the Moose found themselves on a lengthy double minor penalty, but were able to kill off the extended Wolves chance and hold their lead. Oskari Salminen was solid for Manitoba and stopped all seven shots he faced in the opening frame, while Kochetkov smothered 10 pucks of his own after the first period ran its course.

Manitoba struck first in the middle stanza. Alex Limoges worked the puck free behind the net and sent a pass out front from his backhand. Jansen Harkins was waiting and roofed the puck in tight to push Manitoba ahead 3-0. The Wolves answered a few minutes later, as Anttoni Honka’s toe-drag and shot beat Salminen up high to get Chicago on the board and make it a 3-1 contest. Manitoba took the two-goal lead and a 20-15 shot advantage into their dressing room after 40 minutes.

The Moose kept the pressure on in the third and converted a shorthanded tally. Maier sent Jones in alone to find twine and give the Moose a 4-1 lead. Looking for late offence, the Wolves pulled Kochetkov in favour of the extra attacker. Henri Nikkanen was able to block a shot, then send it all the way down the ice and into the open net. His first AHL marker gave the Moose a 5-1 lead. With under a minute to play, the Wolves converted off the stick of Mackenzie MacEachern to push the score to 5-2. The horn sounded shortly after with the Moose taking the contest for their first road win of the season. Salminen made 17 saves for his second win of the season, while Kochetkov was hit with the loss and ended with 22 stops of his own.

Quotable

Moose Forward Wyatt Bongiovanni (Click for full interview)

"It was a good team effort all around. I thought our forecheck was relentless. I thought their defence had a hard time breaking out with our pressure and we put the puck in the net so that always helps. Obviously when you put up that many goals it's hard to lose that way."

Statbook

• Jansen Harkins has goals in consecutive games
• Manitoba has scored shorthanded goals in two straight games
• Declan Chisholm has three assists his past two games
• Cole Maier has three assists his past two games
• Simon Lundmark has two assists his past two games
• Ville Heinola has assists in two straight games

What's Next?

The Moose continue their swing Saturday, Oct. 22 against the Milwaukee Admirals at UWM-Panther Arena. Catch the game on CJOB.com/sports, the new Winnipeg Jets App, and AHLTV.

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