WINNIPEG – Consecutive shutouts by Toronto Marlies goaltender Matt Murray snapped a five-game winning streak for the Manitoba Moose.
Murray was named the first star for both games while Jacob Quillan got second and third in consecutive games.
Heading into the weekend, Manitoba seemed ready to take on a Toronto team fighting for position in the standings—however, a lack of goalscoring in the game before this series wasn’t promising.
Manitoba would find themselves down just 5:33 into the first game as Matthew Barbolini scored the weekend’s first of eight goals. Quillan added a shorthanded marker six minutes later.
The Moose and Marlies went scoreless in the second period, but Manitoba took advantage with a hot start in the third period and got stopped by Matt Murray who was the story of the weekend.
Manitoba got goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen off in the final minutes for the extra attacker, but Toronto’s Ryan Tverberg scored on the empty net to seal Toronto’s first win of the weekend over Manitoba with a score of 3-0.
With game two not being held up by a blizzard prior to the puck drop, things got off to a quick start as Alex Nylander opened the scoring for Toronto with a great top-shelf goal.
Similar to the first game, neither team scored during the second period or generated much offence for momentum.
The third period wasn’t any better for the Moose as Toronto scored four goals. Quillan netted the insurance marker on Toronto’s first power-play goal of the game. Marshal Rifai scored just two minutes later to put the Marlies up 3-0 and further push the game out of reach. Barbolini scored his second of the series two minutes after Rifai’s goal to extend the Marlies lead to 4-0.
Scoring the eighth and final goal of the weekend was Cedric Pare for the Marlies’ second power-play goal of the weekend set.
The return of defenseman Dylan Coghlan and the debut of Isaak Phillips didn’t go as planned for the Moose.
Murray’s 54 saves across both games were just one of the daggers that stung for the Moose.
With the wheels falling off in these two games, Manitoba will look to rebound later this week.
At surface level, these two games are one of many performances that the Manitoba Moose have had in the 2024-25 season. However, the five-game winning streak leading up to the series against Toronto was thought to be a tone-setter for the remainder of the year.
“It’s not up to our standard,” said Moose defenseman Ashton Sautner. “We had our struggles before the road trip and I thought we took some steps on that road trip and started to find a bit of an identity,” Sautner added.
Sautner, an alternate captain and veteran of the team made it known with his comments that the team has a standard that they are trying to constantly meet.
“Ultimately, we come home and put up two performances that were nowhere near the same as where we were on the road,” Sautner continued.
Add in some questionable decisions before both games and you just have to wonder what’s next for the Moose.
Manitoba is back in action on Thursday, January 23rd when they face the Grand Rapids Griffins at the Canada Life Centre for a 7:00 pm CST puck drop.
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