Preview: St. Patrick’s Day
By: Manitoba Moose Staff | Published: March 17th 2019
March 17, 2019 vs San Diego Gulls
The Manitoba Moose (30-26-4-2) welcome a Pacific Division opponent to Bell MTS Place for the first time in 2019 when they host the San Diego Gulls (31-20-3-3) for a 2 p.m. CT matchup. Be one of the first 3,000 fans through the doors at today's St. Patrick's Day game and receive a pack of Upper Deck hockey cards and voucher for a free Shamrock Shake. Tickets are available at moosehockey.com/tickets.
Manitoba has points in six of its last seven games, continuing the push for a playoff spot in the Central Division. The most recent of those points came in an overtime loss on Friday night to the Texas Stars, the team currently occupying fourth place.
The Moose fell behind 3-0 in the first, and were trailing 4-1 after two periods, but the momentum changed in the third. Manitoba scored three straight goals, pushing the game into extra time where the Stars took the bonus point.
After the game, head coach Pascal Vincent was asked what happened on the bench that sparked the turnaround.
“I’d like to tell you that I said something magical, but it’s really not the case... it’s the players. They’re on the bench and they’re supporting each other. I’m hearing, ‘We’ve got this. We can comeback. We’re right there. One goal and we’re back in.’ It’s all them, it’s all the players.”
There were a lot of positives to take from the game on Friday, but the Moose have to be ready to welcome in a new opponent tonight in the Gulls.
Vincent was asked if the message changes as the team continues to fight towards a playoff spot.
“It’s going to be the same, just one day at a time and we’ll get ready for the next one. We’ll look at this one and see what we can do better. There’s always room for improvement, obviously. We’ll look at it and try to make some adjustments.”
San Diego and Manitoba split two games back in November on the Moose trip through California. Manitoba’s Logan Shaw lead the series in points after scoring a hat trick against his former team in the first meeting.
The biggest Moose advantage will be Bell MTS Place. Manitoba is 15-1-1-1 at home since Dec. 30 and will need to maximize that advantage with only six home games left in the regular season.
Marko Dano enters the action after a three-point night (1G, 2A) against Texas. Dano has seven points over his last five appearances (3G, 4A). He was asked about the home-ice advantage.
“It’s hard to play against us in this building especially. I don’t know what it is about it. It’s a hard building to play in and we can see it. We’ve just got to regroup, take the positives from this game and be ready for the next couple of games coming up.”
Tune in to Mitch Peacock and the pre-game show at 1:45 p.m. CT on TSN 1290, moosehockey.com/listenlive/, the Moose App, and streamed live on AHLTV. Looking forward, the Moose and Diego Gulls do it again Tuesday night at 7 p.m. For tickets, visit moosehockey.com/tickets.
