Recap: Grand Rapids 4 at Moose 1
By: Daniel Fink | Published: December 21st 2018
Manitoba Moose (11-15-2-0) vs. Grand Rapids (16-11-2-2)
Friday, December 21, 2018 - Bell MTS Place, Winnipeg, Man.
| Scoring Summary | 1 | 2 | 3 | F |
| Grand Rapids Griffins | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Manitoba Moose | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Shots By Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | F |
| Grand Rapids Griffins | 8 | 12 | 8 | 28 |
| Manitoba Moose | 5 | 5 | 18 | 28 |
| Special Teams | PP | PK | PIM |
| Grand Rapids Griffins | 0/5 | 2/2 | 6 |
| Manitoba Moose | 0/2 | 5/5 | 12 |
| Goaltender Summary | Goaltender | MIN | SA | SV |
| Grand Rapids Griffins | Harri Sateri | 60:00 | 28 | 27 |
| Manitoba Moose | Eric Comrie | 60:00 | 28 | 24 |
Goal Summary
| P | TIME | TEAM | GOAL | ASSIST | ASSIST | STR | SCORE |
| 1 | 14:09 | GR | M. Puempel (13) | D. McIlrath (3) | C. Terry (12) | ES | 1-0 GR |
| 1 | 19:17 | MB | A. Carroll (1) | F. Girard (5) | C. Schilling (7) | ES | 1-1 |
| 3 | 5:42 | GR | D. Turgeon (3) | D. Shine (4) | B. Lashoff (5) | ES | 2-1 GR |
| 3 | 6:21 | GR | M. Ford (6) | ES | 3-1 GR | ||
| 3 | 7:55 | GR | C. Terry (19) | C. Camper (16) | ES | 4-1 GR |
Game Story
The Manitoba Moose (11-15-2-0) came up short in a 4-1 loss to the Grand Rapids Griffins (16-11-2-2) Friday night at Bell MTS Place. Eric Comrie was forced to make a couple big saves early in the contest to keep the Griffins off the board. Things calmed down for the Moose netminder from there as the teams struggled through a defensive battle. Grand Rapids opened the scoring with 5:51 left in the frame as Matt Puempel redirected a Dylan McIlrath shot past Comrie. The Moose tied the game 1-1 with just 43 seconds remaining in the period when Felix Girard set up Austin Carroll with a no-look feed, and Carroll took care of the rest with a backhand finish.
The 1-1 stalemate continued through the second period. Comrie held the line, making 12 saves in the frame. Alexis D'Aoust nearly pushed the Moose into the lead at the tail-end of a power play, but his wrister rang off the post. The Manitoba penalty kill got some work in the period, killing three power plays, including 5:24 of consecutive Grand Rapids power play time. The Griffins carried 30 seconds of their power play into the third.
The Moose took care of business and finished off the remaining penalty time, and went on to kill all five power plays faced. The game got away from Manitoba in a span of 2:13 in the final frame. Dominik Shine set up Dominic Turgeon on the back door 5:42 into the period to give the Griffins the lead. Just 39 seconds later, Matthew Ford stole the puck in the Moose zone and cashed in on the breakaway. Chris Terry finished off a pass from Carter Camper at 7:55 of the third to cap off the three-goal outburst. Manitoba poured shots toward Harri Sateri the rest of the way, but the Griffins netminder made 18 saves in the period to hold the score at 4-1.
Quick Hits
- Michael Spacek played his 100th AHL game.
- Austin Carroll scored his first goal with the Moose.
- Six Moose skaters recorded three shots each.
Quotable
Head Coach Pascal Vincent on the penalty kill - "I thought we were aggressive when we had to. We were protecting the blue line pretty well, our forecheck was good, defending the entry was good. We managed to force Grand Rapids to move the puck where we wanted. And again, being in the shooting lanes when we had to, and being aggressive when we had to."
Forward Austin Carroll - "It's frustrating. You battle all game to get the win, and I thought we did a pretty good job of making it a close contest. Just to see it slip away that quick... yeah it's tough, but we have to learn from it."
Linked Up
Game Summary: https://mbmoo.se/2EE7ip8
Highlights and Post-Game Coverage: moosehockey.com/moosetv
Photo Gallery: https://mbmoo.se/2R7gpW7
What's Next?
Part two of this back-to-back set goes Saturday afternoon (2 p.m. CT) for the Moose Holiday Game, featuring a snowglobe giveaway for the first 3,000 fans at Bell MTS Place and photos with Santa on the concourse. Head to moosehockey.com/tickets/ for tickets.
