WINNIPEG – The Manitoba Moose battled back to overcome a late two goal deficit only to lose in overtime anyway.
The Moose scored twice in the final three minutes of regulation to force overtime but ended up settling for a single point in a 3-2 OT loss to the Grand Rapids Griffins on Monday at Bell MTS Place.
Filip Hronek scored 3:21 into the extra frame to give the Griffins the two points but it was the second time in the last three games the Moose came back from two goals down in the final five minutes.
“Being able to come back and shows a lot of character in the team.” Moose defenseman Cameron Schilling said. “Obviously it’s not the outcome we’d like but I thought all game we had some chances. We just didn’t have the bounces go our way.”
Trailing by two goals in the late stages of the third period the Moose pulled their goalie for the extra attacker and Schilling’s fifth goal of the season with just 2:37 remaining brought the Moose within a single goal. Just 36 seconds later Nic Petan deflected in a shot to extend his point streak to 10 games and help the Moose gain at least a point for the fourth straight contest.
“Let’s not kid ourselves, I think it wasn’t a good performance at all.” Moose captain Patrice Cormier said. “It seems like we were kind of flat, no jump.”
“The first two periods we were waiting for the puck to get on the right side.” head coach Pascal Vincent said. “You can’t do that. Doesn’t matter who you play against, once you start doing that, the result is not going to be good.”
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Former Winnipeg Jets forward Eric Tangradi scored his 11th goal of the season in the win. Matthew Ford had the only other goal for the defending Calder Cup champions.
After a slow start the Moose ended up outshooting Grand Rapids 35-33 with goalie Tom McCollum making 33 saves.
Moose goaltender Michael Hutchinson made 30 stops as he suffered a second consecutive overtime loss.
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Moose defenseman Tucker Poolman recorded one assist after being re-assigned by the Winnipeg Jets earlier in the day. He hadn’t appeared in a game since December 31 and it was his first game with the Moose since November 17.
Manitoba remains in first place in the AHL’s overall standings with 55 points in 36 games this season.
The Moose played the game with only 11 healthy forwards after Brendan Lemieux was called up to the Jets earlier on Monday. Vincent dressed seven defenseman instead to fill out his roster.
The announced attendance was 3,045 for a rare Monday night contest. Manitoba continues their six game homestand on Wednesday with the rematch against the Griffins starting at 7:00 pm at Bell MTS Place.
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