Fast Facts: Moose at Calgary – Feb. 14

There's no love lost between the Manitoba Moose and Calgary Wranglers as they match up for their sixth meeting of the season tonight (8 p.m. CT) at Scotiabank Saddledome. The Wranglers pulled off a 4-2 win last night as captain Brett Sutter scored twice, including the game-winner. Brad Lambert and Jeffrey Viel each tallied for Manitoba in defeat. Coverage of tonight's game begins at 7:45 p.m. CT on CJOB.com/sports, the Winnipeg Jets App and AHLTV. Puck drop is slated for 8 p.m. CT.

Moving Up the List

Ville Heinola chipped in a pair of secondary assists in Manitoba’s defeat last night. With the assists, the Honkajoki, Finland native moved past Sami Niku for 10th in franchise history in points by a defenceman with 82 points (16G, 66A) over the course of 124 contests. The 2019 Winnipeg Jets first round selection has points in consecutive games for the second time this season and has tallied three points (1G, 2A) in that span. Heinola’s two helpers represented his first multi-point outing of the campaign and 20th total of his AHL career.

The Bus is Back

The Winnipeg Jets loaned David Gustafsson to the Moose this week for conditioning purposes. Last night marked Gustafsson’s first game with the AHL club since May 15/22 in Game 5 of the 2022 Central Division Semi-Finals. In the intervening time, the Tingsryd, Sweden product appeared in 73 games for the Winnipeg Jets, including his 100th NHL outing on Dec. 20/23. Gustafsson recorded 10 points (2G, 8A) in those NHL contests. During his time in the AHL, Gustafsson has played 83 games while totaling 56 points (24G, 32A).

Roster Moves

Manitoba announced that the team reassigned forward Mark Liwiski to the ECHL’s Norfolk Admirals. Liwiski, 22, made his AHL debut on Feb. 3/24 in Rockford against the IceHogs and recorded two penalty minutes. The forward has also tallied 16 points (7G, 9A) along with 193 penalty minutes in 36 games with the Admirals this season. The Dauphin, Man. product has 33 career points (17G, 16A) in 103 ECHL contests split between Wichita and Norfolk.

End of the Road

Tonight’s contest in Calgary marks the end of nine consecutive road games split over two trips. Over that span, which began on Jan. 27/24 and ends tonight, the team faced Rockford three times, Grand Rapids twice, Calgary twice and both Milwaukee and Chicago once each. Through eight games of the stretch, the club produced a record of 5-2-0-1. Netminder Thomas Milic, a 2023 Winnipeg Jets fifth round pick, has been between the pipes for six of the eight contests, including the past four games while going 2-1-1 with a 2.66 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage in the consecutive starts. On the skaters side, Kristian Reichel recorded eight points (4G, 4A) through the first eight contests. The Moose hold a 12-11-0-1 record overall this season when playing away from Canada Life Centre.

Who's Trending?

Brad Lambert scored a goal against Calgary last night. The forward, a 2022 Winnipeg Jets first round pick, has found the back of the net in consecutive contests. Lambert now leads the Moose with 15 goals and is the third member of the squad to reach the 30-point plateau. The Lahti, Finland product currently ranks fourth overall among AHL rookies in goal-scoring.