PREVIEW: A Bone to Pick with the Barracuda

Coming out of the break the Manitoba Moose are ready to get back on the ice, today, against San Jose. It was over a week ago that Manitoba beat San Antonio on back to back nights 7-2, and 3-1 respectively pushing their record streaks to 16 straight games with a point and 13 games at home with a point. The Barracuda meanwhile have not only played the Moose this season, but are the last team to beat Manitoba in regulation, back on Nov. 12th. You can still get your tickets at moosehockey.com/tickets/ and be sure to get there early to get your Patrice Cormier mini-bobblehead.

HAPPY AT HOME 
Mason Appleton has enjoyed plenty of production at Bell MTS Place this season.  The rookie leads the Moose with 18 points (8G, 10A) in 14 games at home.  He has eight points (5G, 3A) in his last six outings in friendly territory.  Appleton's points on home ice account for 58% of his total production during the campaign.  The only Moose player with a higher portion of his points at home is Kirill Gotovets who has four of his five assists at Bell MTS Place.

NEW CAREER HIGH
It only took Brendan Lemieux 20 games to surpass his point totals amassed in 61-games high a season ago.  Lemieux's first period goal against San Antonio on Dec. 22 was his 20th point (9G, 11A) of the season.  His 11 assists are well past his total of seven from last season and he needs just three goals to match his goal numbers from the previous campaign.  Lemieux is one of four Moose players rolling at a point-per-game or better pace this season.

TERRIFIC TRIO
The line of Jack Roslovic, Nic Petan and Mason Appleton has been red-hot of late.  The trio has combined for six goals and 20 points in their last five games.  Petan and Appleton are both on five-game point streaks while Roslovic has points in three straight.  The line has earned its fair share of recognition this season with Appleton and Petan both taking home player of the week honours earlier in the campaign and Roslovic was named the league's player of the month in November.

OUT OF THE BREAK
Last season saw the Moose come out of the holiday break with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Charlotte Checkers. The Moose have points in both of their games coming out of the break since returning to Winnipeg.  The Moose are 10-7-1-3 all-time coming off of the holiday break.

WHAT'S NEXT?
The Moose will play the Barracuda for the second day in a row on New Year’s Eve. The 2pm start is also the “Shutout Hunger” Food Drive presented by Red River Co-op in support of Winnipeg Harvest and the Manitoba Association of Food Banks, so make sure you bring down a non-perishable food item to the game. You can still get tickets to start off your New Year’s Eve festivities with some hockey, just go to moosehockey.com/tickets/.