Fast Facts: Moose vs. Toronto – April 3

The Moose try for two in a row over the Marlies before a projected sellout crowd at Canada Life Centre. Manitoba took the first contest in the two-game set by a 5-0 score on the strength of a couple goals from Evan Polei and a 20-save shutout from Evan Cormier. It's Follow Your Dreams Day and the Moose will wear specialty jerseys for the occasion. Click here for more details on Follow Your Dreams Day. Limited tickets are available at MooseHockey.com/TICKETS. Coverage of today's 2 p.m. matinee on CJOB.com/sports, AHLTV and the Manitoba Moose App begins at 1:45 p.m. CT.

Ahead By A Century

Mikey Eyssimont’s 15 points (7G, 8A) in his past 14 games pushed the Moose forward to a new milestone. Eyssimont tallied two points (1G, 1A). The assist on David Gustafsson’s goal was the 100th AHL point of Eyssimont’s career. Late in that same frame the forward tacked on a goal to give himself 101 points (46G, 55A). Eyssimont reached the milestone in 211 games. The Littleton, Col. native has six points (2G, 4A) his past five games and leads the Moose in scoring with 35 points (15G, 20A) in 49 games this season. All of those numbers represent career highs for the forward who is in his first season in antlers.

Blueline Offence

The Moose blueline has contributed an impressive 40 goals to Manitoba’s efforts this season. Johnathan Kovacevic is responsible for a quarter of those tallies. Kovacevic tallied his 10th goal of the season in Friday’s win. The tally makes him the first Moose defenceman to hit the 10-goal mark since Sami Niku reached double-digits in the 2017-18 campaign. The Grimsby, Ont. product has 26 points (10G, 16A) in 52 games this season. The goals, assists and points are all new career high numbers and the 10 goals tie Kovacevic for fourth overall among AHL defencemen.

First in Antlers

Evan Cormier continues to rack up wins when called to the Moose crease. The goaltender has a record of 7-1-3 this season with a 2.38 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage. The netminder finished Friday’s contest with 20 saves for his first shutout of the season, and first with the Moose. The clean sheet was his second in the AHL, with his first coming in 2018-19 when the Bowmanville, Ont. product was a member of the Binghampton Devils. Cormier made 35 saves on Jan. 9/19 against the Syracuse Crunch. Moose goaltenders have combined for five shutouts this season, the most since
2018-19. Coming into today’s contest against the Marlies, Mikhail Berdin is scheduled make his return to the net for Manitoba for the first time since March 11.

Lock it Down

A strength of the Moose this season has been the team’s penalty kill. Over the past four games, the Moose have been shorthanded a total of 14 total times. Manitoba has killed off every single opportunity that their opponents have had, including five on March 26 and five on March 30. Manitoba has a 82.1% penalty kill rate on the season with their rate on the road jumping up to an impressive 85.9%. Manitoba has also netted four goals when shorthanded this season.

Who's Trending?

Evan Polei recorded two goals in Friday night’s win over the Marlies. His goal in the first also stood up as the game-winning tally which is his second of the season. It was also the second multi-goal game of the season for the forward. Polei has now recorded 17 points (8G, 9A) in 52 games in his first season in antlers. He’s tied for eighth on the team in goals.