Preview: Staying Classy in San Diego

Nov. 30, 2018 at SAN DIEGO GULLS

After a 5-1 victory on Wednesday (Nov. 28), the Manitoba Moose (10-9-1-0) take on the San Diego Gulls (7-7-1-1) in the rematch tonight at 9 p.m. CT. Tune in on TSN 1290, the Moose App, mMoose App, moosehockey.com/listenlive, or stream the action live on AHLTV with the pre-game show starting 15 minutes before puck drop.

There’s no doubt about who had the best night in the first meeting with former Gull, Logan Shaw doing damage against his old team to the tune of his first AHL hat trick.

“For some reason I’ve had some good luck doing that. My first game against Anaheim last year, I scored. My first game against Florida I scored. I don’t know if it’s just motivation or not, but it was definitely good luck.”

Since joining the Moose seven games ago, Shaw has two multi-goal games, three multi-point games, and is currently on a four-game point streak. In total Shaw has 10 points (6G, 4A) across his seven appearances in antlers.

All three of Shaw’s goals against San Diego came on the power play which ran at 75% (3/4) on the night. That broke a streak of nine games without a goal on the man advantage. Shaw explained where the special teams explosion came from.

“We started the first period on the right foot. We forced them to call a timeout early in the game, and it’s because we were just bringing our game the way it was supposed to be brought. When we got our first power play and we scored obviously it’s momentum just going, and going, and building. That led into another power play goal and you get confidence . You make sure you’re playing the right way five-on-five and it’s going to come on the power play.”

Eric Comrie made Moose history, becoming the first goaltender in franchise history to make 149 career starts. In the win on Wednesday, Comrie stopped 31 of 32 San Diego shots and was crucial in shutting down the Gulls offense throughout the game.

According to forward Kristian Reichel, the key to Manitoba playing over 59 minutes of shutout hockey (the Gulls goal came with 18 seconds left in regulation) was thinking the game properly.

“We were just playing simple hockey. We didn’t turn the puck over too often. We just chip it out, chip it in and go after their defence. Just play smart. Don’t do bad things, do the smart things. So that’s the recipe for that.”

Heading into tonight’s rematch, the Moose will hope to cook up a similar performance and get their second ever win in San Diego.

You can follow the Moose as they trek through California on social media or moosehockey.com.