Third periods and the Manitoba Moose haven’t gone well together this season, and that was the case against the Texas Stars Friday night.
After winning the first game 4-2, Manitoba opened up the second game with a similar 2-0 lead and Texas crawled back to tie the game later.
“We put ourselves in a good position early,” Moose defender Ashton Sautner said about Friday’s contest. “We just let it slip away and we need to recognize that,” Sautner added.
Manitoba played their best bit of hockey in the opening 40 minutes, but Texas pulled ahead in the final 20 minutes off simple mistakes.
Looking to have a similar run to Wednesday’s contest against the Stars, the script was flipped as Texas pulled ahead late.
Manitoba’s head coach has emphasized execution and as the Moose into the stretch run of the 2024-25 season, they will need to execute a full 60-minute game.
After the Moose wrap up their current homestand with a two-game set against the Milwaukee Admirals, they will face two tough opponents in the Laval Rocket and the Toronto Marlies.
“It is a lot of hockey and that’s a good thing,” Sautner said about the upcoming hockey. “There’s a belief that when we play the right way, we can beat teams and it doesn’t matter where they are in the standings,” Sautner continued.
Recently acquired Isaak Phillips has found himself paired with Dylan Coghlan, a strong defensive pairing lately. Phillips recorded one assist on Ben King’s opening goal on Friday. His connecting pass to Coghlan was a smart perimeter puck-moving play that kept Texas’ defenders at bay.
Notable Statistics
Out of the two-game set, there were quite the individual and collective performances against Texas.
- Dylan Coghlan and Ben King notched three points (2G, 1A)
- Dylan Coghlan led all Moose players in shots on goal with 11
- Dominic DiVincentiis stopped 30 of 32 shots faced in Wednesday’s win
- Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 28 of 31 shots faced in Friday’s loss
- Dylan Coghlan has six points (4G, 2A) in his past three games
What’s On Deck?
The Manitoba Moose wrap up their homestand with a two-game set on Sunday, Feb 16th and Monday, Feb 17th against the Milwaukee Admirals. Both games are set for 2:00 pm CST at the Canada Life Centre.
After the Moose’s set against Milwaukee, they will hit the road to face the Laval Rocket, Toronto Marlies and Belleville Senators before returning home in March.
ITR 26: 2 Nations Fighting – Inside The Rink
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