The Manitoba Moose welcomed the Milwaukee Admirals back to the Canada Life Centre for the second game of a two-game series. The Admirals took the game on Saturday, February 17th, by a score of 4-0. Monday’s contest was redemption for the Moose, but the Admirals boast an impressive 15-0 record in 2024 heading into this game.
Pre-Game Notes
Nicholas Jones and Henri Nikkanen came out for Wyatt Bongiovanni and Danny Zhilkin and found themselves on the fourth line joining C.J. Suess. On defense, the Moose switched Dean Stewart for Tyrel Bauer. Stewart joins Ashton Sautner on the third defense pair. Collin Delia got the nod to start in net against the Admirals, Milic backs him up. For the Admirals, there were no changes to their lineup. Yaroslav Askarov got the nod to start in net. Kyle Capobianco skated in his 200th American Hockey League game.
Red Hot First Period, Tied After 20
The Milwaukee Admirals came into this game as a defensively superior team, and they showed just that in today’s game in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Milwaukee ran 11-7 throughout the entire game, but it proved disastrous as two forwards left the game with injuries and did not return. This cut them down to 14 total players, certainly a tough position to be in with over half the game left.
Milwaukee quieted the Manitoban crowd with an early goal after a bad touch by Axel Jonsson-Fjallby. The Moose weren’t going to hide anytime soon and answered back quickly. Parker Ford recorded his ninth of the season to tie the game at one goal each.
Later on in the frame, Tye Felhaber took a run at Moose forward Nikita Chibrikov. This wasn’t going to go easy for the Admirals forward as Moose defenseman Dean Stewart jumped right into the frame to defend his teammate. Felhaber received five minutes for kneeing and fighting and game misconduct for his knee on Chibrikov. Stewart received two minutes for instigating, five minutes for fighting, and misconduct for the play. Chibrikov would return to the game just moments later.
The Moose would blunder the three minutes of power play opportunity that they had recording just two shots on goal. A nice play later on in the period would lead to another Moose power play, and Axel Jonsson-Fjallby would reclaim his earlier mistake with a beautiful touch-and-go play leading to Simon Lundmark’s second goal of the season. In the dying minutes of the period, Marc Del Gaizo answered back with a clean look on net to tie the game and keep Milwaukee in reach.
Second Period Battle, Remains Tied After 40
Manitoba opened the second period by killing off the remaining 40 seconds of Jeffrey Viel’s penalty for tripping late in the first period. Manitoba would also be hit with a bench minor for too many men, another big penalty kill they needed if they wanted to make their way through the game.
The Admirals weren’t easy to beat either, they kept Manitoba firmly to the perimeter and continued to chip away at many opportunities Manitoba had. A few incomplete passes by the Moose and a couple of bad giveaways later, Manitoba would cough up the puck leading to an Admirals turnover. Kristian Reichel found the loose puck and with Jeffrey Viel and Parker Ford alongside him, he would bury the go-ahead goal early in the second from a nice tic-tac-toe play.
Milwaukee wasn’t going to make the game for the Moose, the bench minor assessed to Manitoba was a must-kill. In the dying seconds of the Milwaukee power play, Jordan Gross and Phil Tomasino found themselves safely moving the puck around. Gross took a shot on Delia which led to a rebound that Juuso Parssinen would clean up and score his second goal of the season and the game.
Tied three goals each, both teams played solid defensively for the remainder of the second period. With some pushing and shoving, neither team gave an inch to their opponent to build upon. Manitoba was firmly in the game and posed a threat to the 16-game win streak that Milwaukee had accumulated.
Close Third Period, Milwaukee Extends Winning Streak to 17 Games
The third period was close, and both teams had multiple great chances to do something to break the tie. The Admirals were in the middle of a line change when Spencer Stastney dumped the puck into Manitoba’s zone, Joakim Kemell and Liam Foudy were fresh on the ice when they chased down the puck. A quick pass from Kemell to Foudy found itself in the back of the net and the Admirals had a 4-3 lead over the Moose.
It wasn’t the way that the Moose wanted the game to turn out, especially during their second sellout of the season. Super Hero Day was spoiled in Manitoba as Milwaukee extended their winning streak to 17 games. Milwaukee remains undefeated in 2024 and will travel to Chicago to face the Chicago Wolves for a matinee 11:00 am game with their winning streak on the line.
Manitoba stays put at home as they welcome the Calgary Wranglers to Winnipeg on Friday for a back-to-back faceoff. Friday’s contest at the Canada Life Centre starts at 7:00 pm and Saturday’s rematch starts at 6:00 pm.
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