WINNIPEG – The homestand finished on a sour note for the Manitoba Moose.
The Iowa Wild handed the Moose a 4-3 loss on Sunday afternoon at Bell MTS Place as the Moose concluded an eight game homestand.
The Moose had two different one goal leads in the game but both times the Wild answered right back. Iowa struck for three straight goals in the second and third periods and while the Moose cut into the lead, they just couldn’t muster the equalizer despite having several strong scoring chances late in the game.
“We know we’re going to play teams like this the rest of the way.” Moose defenceman Peter Stoykewych said.
“Everyone is kind of scrapping and clawing for stuff right now. Got to find a way to come out on top.”
Stoykewych, Sami Niku and Buddy Robinson scored goals in the loss for Manitoba. Robinson’s goal was his team leading 23rd of the season. But once again the Moose failed to play a solid three periods and they’ve been plagued by inconsistent play the last few months.
“If we play a full 60 like we did there in the last half of the third, I’m not afraid of any team in this league.” forward Buddy Robinson said.
“We just need to get things together here as a team and bring it into the next game in Milwaukee here. A full 60 is what we need to focus on.”
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The Wild had goals from Zach Palmquist, Pat Cannone, Zack Mitchell and Ryan White. White, who hails from Brandon, now has five goals in 30 games this season split between the Wild and the San Diego Gulls. Ryan Murphy, Carson Soucy and Kurtis Gabriel each recorded a pair of assists in the victory.
“You look at the goals against, well there’s a 3-on-5 there, but the other goals, it’s just one guy.” head coach Pascal Vincent said. “Missed assignment on all three of them. Just one guy, a missed assignment and the puck is in the back of your net. So it’s just a matter of doing your job, making sure you do it properly, and then taking care of business. But I thought overall, the tempo of the game was good, the intensity was right. I think we can build off this one.”
Eric Comrie stopped 24 of 28 shots for Manitoba while Steve Michalek made 35 saves for Iowa. The Moose finished the game 1-for-5 on the powerplay.
After receiving both a two minute minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct and a 10 minute misconduct in the first period, forward Brendan Lemieux was benched by Vincent for the rest of the game.
The announced attendance was 4,853.
The Moose finished the eight game homestand with four wins and four defeats.
Manitoba kicks off a seven game road trip on Wednesday against the Milwaukee Admirals.
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