Preview: Moose at Rockford – Jan. 8

Moose at Rockford – BMO Harris Bank Center – 7 p.m. CT
Broadcast: moosehockey.com/listenlive, AHLTV

After a successful six-game home stand, the Moose open a brief three-game road swing tonight in Rockford. This evening’s clash between division rivals provides opportunity for both sides. The Moose can increase their lead over the IceHogs for the final playoff spot in the Central Division, while Rockford can reclaim a position in the top-four.

Manitoba vaulted itself into the top-half of the division by rolling out a 4-2-0-0 record at Bell MTS Place through the holidays. The stand started with a split against San Antonio, followed by a pair of wins against Rockford and closed with a split against Colorado. It all wrapped up with a dramatic 4-3 overtime victory against the Eagles.

The Moose opened up 2-0 and 3-1 leads on goals from Andrei Chibisov, Brent Pedersen and Kristian Vesalainen. The Eagles would strike back in the third as Michael Joly and Erik Condra pulled the game even. Cameron Schilling nearly won the game early in overtime, pushing past Colorado’s defenders to get a pair of chances that were thwarted by Adam Werner. The Moose regained possession of the puck behind their own net thanks to a battle won behind the goal by Mikhail Berdin, who flipped the puck over to Michael Spacek. The Moose forward launched a pass up the boards for Seth Griffith. The team’s leading goal-scorer got in behind the defence and capitalized on the breakaway for his second overtime winner of the season.

With the win, the Moose finished the day third in the division, before slipping to fourth the following evening. Tonight’s game starts off three straight against divisional opposition chasing the Moose for that spot. A win tonight would give Manitoba a three-point cushion on Rockford for that final spot. Every point against the IceHogs is important right now considering the fact Rockford has three games in hand on the Moose. The trip closes with two games against Grand Rapids who sit four points back of the Moose.

Kristian Vesalainen comes into the matchup red-hot with five points (2G, 3A) in his last three games. The Helsinki, Fin. product racked up three points in Manitoba’s previous dust-up with Rockford. He followed up that performance with a two-point effort on Saturday against Colorado. Playing in his first full season in North America, Vesalainen is tied for fourth on the Moose in scoring with 20 points (8G, 12A) and ranks third on the team in goals.

Andrei Chibisov is right alongside Vesalainen at the 20-point mark. Also in his first North American season, Chibisov has already matched his professional career high set last season with Magnitogorsk in the KHL. The 2018-19 campaign saw the Prokopyevsk, Rus. native post seven goals and 13 assists in 50 games.  Chibisov’s seventh goal of the season on Saturday moved him to match the milestone in just 36 games with the Moose.

The IceHogs have hit a rough patch in their season. Much like in their previous two matchups against the Moose, Rockford is missing a number of players on recall. The latest to head up to the Chicago Blackhawks was goaltender Kevin Lankinen. With the depleted group, the IceHogs have dropped six straight. That said, don’t sleep on Rockford as the Moose wins prior to the New Year each came by one goal. They’re also a club that doesn’t ‘go away’ battling back on Dec. 31 cutting a 4-0 Moose lead to just 4-3.

Coverage of tonight’s game on moosehockey.com/listenlive and AHLTV begins at 6:45, with puck drop at 7:00.