The Manitoba Moose held off a late charge to start off the homestand on a winning note.
Seth Griffith had a four-point night as the Moose defeated their old IHL rival Chicago Wolves 5-4 to start a four-game homestand on Friday at Bell MTS Place.
After being outshot 13-3 in the opening period, the Moose came alive with a three-goal second period enroute to their third straight victory.
“I thought we did a good job on our special teams,” Moose head coach Pascal Vincent said. “We did a good job in general to keep the momentum. What you need to do when there’s a lack of momentum like this on the ice is to keep your bench alive and guys were alive on the bench.”
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The Moose had a 3-2 lead after two periods and added two more goals early in the third period to extend their lead to three goals. The Wolves first pulled their goalie with 10 minutes left and scored twice to get within a single goal, but they couldn’t muster the equalizer.
Griffith, Mason Appleton, C.J. Suess, Michael Spacek and Luke Green all scored in the win. Suess and Appleton remain tied for the team lead in goals with six apiece. Green’s goal was his first as a professional and he also recorded an assist.
“It feels awesome,” Green said. “First to get back in the lineup and then get a goal in my first few games. Yeah, it feels really good.”
Cameron Schilling had a pair of helpers for the Moose.
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The Moose played without several key players including Sami Niku and Kristian Vesalainen. Vesalainen is out with an upper-body injury while Niku was a healthy scratch after violating a team rule. After the game, Vincent wouldn’t say much other than Niku would be back in the lineup on Saturday.
“That’s old news already,” Vincent said.
“It’s part of the process of learning to become a pro. We have team rules and it’s for everyone and if any of our players don’t do what is part of the team rules — it’s gonna be the same for everyone.”
Winnipeg’s Brooks Macek scored in the loss for the Wolves. Gage Quinney, Daniel Carr and Nic Hague had their other markers.
The Wolves outshot Manitoba 36-20 as Mikhail Berdin made 32 saves in goal for Manitoba in earning his third straight victory.
Both teams scored a pair of power-play markers.
The rematch is set for Saturday at 6 p.m. at Bell MTS Place.