WINNIPEG – If only all 76 regular season games were against the Milwaukee Admirals. The Manitoba Moose didn’t get the win they were hoping for but settled for a single point in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Admirals on Sunday at MTS Centre. The Moose took three of a possible four points from the weekend series and are now 3-0-1 in four games against Milwaukee this season, meaning a full seven of their 15 points have come against one team.
Josh Morrissey, Ryan Olsen and Jay Harrison found the net for the Moose while Pontus Aberg, Frederick Gaudreau and Adam Payerl answered back for the Admirals. Eric Comrie started in the Moose net for the second day in a row and made 34 saves.
The Admirals scored a shorthanded goal to break a 2-2 deadlock in the third period but Harrison scored with just 2:26 left to send the game to overtime.
“We came back, we outshot them in the 3rd period.” Moose head coach Keith McCambridge said. “We didn’t sit back and hang our heads so those are some good things, but a missed opportunity at four points. But three out of the possible four set we can live with against a very good team Milwaukee.”
After playing each other less than 24 hours before, the bad blood must have carried over as the gloves came off just 70 seconds into the game. Payerl challenged Patrice Cormier and Cormier obliged as the two squared off near the Moose bench. Payerl received an extra two minute minor penalty.
Midway through the opening period the Admirals went to work on a powerplay and Trevor Murphy put it in the wheelhouse for a one timer from Aberg and he squeezed in the blast short side on Comrie for his sixth goal of the season. The powerplay marker gave the Admirals the lead.
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But only minutes later the Moose evened it up. The Moose raced in on a 2-on-1 and John Albert made a nifty play to get the puck across to Morrissey and he beat Admirals goalie Juuse Saros for his first AHL regular season goal. Joel Armia drew the other assist and it was 1-1.
The Admirals had an early man advantage in the second frame and Max Gortz came flying in on a breakaway but Comrie made a nice pad save to keep it tied.
Just moments after the penalty expired Olsen buried a pass from Austen Brassard for his second goal of the season. Darren Kramer picked up the other assist and the Moose took their first lead.
With only 10.5 seconds left in the period Gaudreau shovelled in a loose puck behind Comrie and it was all square after 40 minutes.
The Moose had three powerplay opportunities in the first half of the final frame and not only did they fail to capitalize, but they surrendered a shorthanded goal. On a 2-on-1 Victor Bartley sent it across to Payerl and he had the wide open side to make the deposit for his fifth goal of the season.
With another loss looming Harrison scored on a wrist shot from the blueline that appeared to surprise Saros with just over two minutes remaining.
There were no goals in the five minute, 3-on-3 overtime period. All five Moose shooters were denied in the shootout. Comrie stopped the first four shots he faced but Vinny Saponari beat him to give the Admirals the extra point.
“We shot ourselves in the foot a couple times.” Morrissey said. “Obviously anytime you give up a shorthanded goal it’s a killer but I thought this weekend we did a lot of good things. We were able to earn three out of four points and obviously you would have liked to get the four out of four but we’ll take what we got and move forward.”
“We obviously had a lead there and we let them stick around.” Moose captain John Albert said. “I think we got away from what made us successful at some points during the game and it came back to bite us in the ass.”
The Admirals out shot the Moose 38-28 including 5-3 in the extra period.
The Moose four game homestand continues on Wednesday with the first of games in back to back nights against the San Antonio Rampage.
WATCH: Highlights of the Admirals 4-3 shootout win over Manitoba.
WATCH: Head coach Keith McCambridge and players react following a shootout loss to Milwaukee.
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