The Manitoba Moose (6-11-0) lost 3-2 in their Sunday afternoon matchup against the Calgary Wranglers (15-5-1). This is the Moose’s second loss to the Wranglers on the season following Friday’s 6-1 loss.
It was a quiet first 40 minutes for both clubs as the Moose and Wranglers went back and forth before finally getting the scoring party started in the third period.
The Moose had plenty of chances within the first two periods to get on the scoreboard, but a red-hot Devin Cooley was the difference-maker the entire night.
Defenseman Dylan Anhorn made a great puck recovery to extend Manitoba’s offensive zone pressure midway through the first. Anhorn got the puck over to his defensive partner Dawson Barteaux who rifled the shot glove side and was shut down by Cooley.
Manitoba would find themselves on the penalty kill for the first of many times in the game as Axel Jonsson-Fjallby broke a pass up with his stick and sent Dominic Toninato on a shorthanded breakaway which Cooley turned aside.
Nearing the end of the first, the Moose cycled the puck on the perimeter and played a successful trap in the offensive zone. Anhorn activated on the left side wall and received a pass from Jaret Anderson-Dolan allowing him to fly into the hash marks and get a clean shot on goal.
At the end of the first 20 minutes, Cooley made 15 saves and Thomas Milic stopped six of his own.
The second period was similar, but Manitoba turned up the pressure and once again found themselves turned aside by Cooley’s strong play and calm presence in the Calgary net.
Anderson-Dolan continued to make great setup passes which led to high-danger scoring chances. Anderson-Dolan opened the second period with a great offensive zone faceoff win which allowed Ashton Sautner to blast a shot from the point. In the following play, Anderson-Dolan got a good pass to Toninato who was barely denied by Cooley on the rush.
From this point on in the second period, it became a battle of special teams as the intensity and physicality ramped up.
Dominic Toninato received a five-minute major and game misconduct for elbowing and many other players from the Moose and Wranglers found themselves penalized.
“The penalty kill did an exceptional job. It’s difficult in those situations because certains are put in a little bit more than others,” Assistant Coach Morgan Klimchuk said about the how effective the penalty kill was in the second period.
“There’s a lot of positives from the series as a whole, I think the penalty kill itself and obviously with it should gain a little bit of momentum from the success they had from that,” Klimchuk added.
Manitoba went five-for-five on the penalty kill against the Calgary Wranglers Sunday afternoon.
In the third period, Samuel Honzek would make a great effort along the left-side wall to keep the puck in Manitoba’s zone. Honzek got the puck up to Martin Frk who rifled it high blocker side on Thomas Milic to give the Wranglers their first lead of the game.
Manitoba answered back less than four minutes later in unusual fashion.
In one sequence, Brad Lambert shot the puck from the mid-point of the left faceoff circle which redirected into the air and caused all players on the ice to lose sight of the puck. The puck came back down and hit Cooley in the back, but didn’t go into the net. In a mad scramble, Cooley tried to get the loose puck but couldn’t, C.J. Suess was shoved into the Wranglers’ net and took the puck with him to tie the game at one goal a piece.
Manitoba would last just 1:07 with a tie game as Dryden Hunt broke free from the pinch on the board to get on a two-on-one break with Rory Kerins. Hunt passed the puck cross-crease to Kerins who beat Milic and restored the Wranglers’ lead.
In another quick scoring sequence, Calgary’s second lead lasted just 1:05 as Dmitry Kuzmin made an amazing recovery from the previous play and rifled the puck low blocker side on Cooley to even the score at 2-2.
However, William Stromgren scored the game-winning goal as chaos ensued in the Manitoba crease and it seemed like the Moose were going to remain at a 2-2 game due to goaltender interference, but the call stood on the ice and Calgary would win the game on this play.
The Manitoba Moose are back in action on Friday, December 6th for a Holiday Game and on Saturday, December 7th for a Teddy Bear Toss & PJ Party weekend set against the Belleville Senators. Friday’s game is scheduled for 7:00 pm CST while Saturday’s game is set for 6:00 pm.
