Recap: Moose Split Weekend Series With Monsters

You could say that the Manitoba Moose were somewhat like a hockey version of Jekyll and Hyde this weekend. After an embarrassing performance Friday night against the AHL's last place ranked Lake Erie Monsters, the Moose came out with an impressive performance on all fronts. After a meeting with his players, head coach Scott Arniel elected to not have a skate and instead instructed his players to go home and mentally prepare for tonight's game.

Looks like it paid off, as instead of the monstrous Mr. Hyde of Friday night, the Moose came off instead looking more like the intelligent Dr. Jekyll Saturday night at the MTS Center, not making the mental errors and mistakes that they were committing the previous night.

After an excellent first period which saw a fight between the #8s on the ice, as Nathan McIver and Cody McLeod dropped the gloves right off the bat. Although a few punches were landed by both combatants, the fight was more of a wrestling match. From that point on, the Moose set the tone, establishing an early physical presence against the Monsters, with defenseman Luc Bourdon looking like a bull in a china shop, hitting anything with a maroon sweater. In a memorable moment, Bourdon plastered David Jones into the boards, and then followed the puck back behind the net and forced a turnover by knocking the second Monsters player over. In an interview during the first intermission, Bourdon said that he wasn't happy with the way he was playing, but was very pleased with himself in his play for the first period.

Colby Genoway scored a goal off the power play, snagging a pass that was meant for Michael Grabner and blasting it past goaltender Mike Wall. All in all, it was as close to a perfect period as you could get for the Moose.

The second frame didn't have much action, although goaltender Corey Schneider, who was limited to just 4 shots in the first period, of which only 1 was a quality scoring chance, was tested several times by Lake Erie and came up strong each time. The Moose failed to capitalize on a 43 second long 5 on 3. During this powerplay opportunity, David Jones again made his presence known, generating a short handed opportunity. Defenseman Jimmy Sharrow interfered with him enough to get a penalty shot against Schneider. Schneider was unable to make the save, however, but one of his best friends, the left post, did, allowing the Moose to retain their lead.

The second period also had a fight between two unlikely combatants. 23 year old Belarus native Vladimir Denisov squared off against 40 year old Moose captain Mike Keane in a tilt where the elder statesman absolutely destroyed his younger opponent. Said CJOB commentator Brian Muntz of the whole affair: "I wonder if Denisov knows that he just fought a three time Stanley Cup champion?" No, Muntzy, the correct question is "I wonder if Denisov knows that he just had his ass handed to him by a three time Stanley Cup champion." Great tilt from the captain!

The final stanza was a rather forgettable affair, aside from a late goal scored by Lake Erie. Johnny Boychuk was able to solve Corey Schneider with about four minutes remaining with a shot that whistled past the rookie's glove. Neither team was able to get anything done with the time remaining, so it went to overtime where the stalemate continued on, resulting in things going to a shootout.

Corey Schneider, the much beleaguered rookie netminder for the Manitoba Moose came up solid for his mates, stopping three of five shots against him, while Colby Genoway, Rick Rypien and Milan Gajic scored for Manitoba, earning the Moose their first win in three games.

Mike Wall earned the first star nomination, while Genoway and Schneider earned second and third stars respectively.

A much better game from Corey Schneider, who looked a little timid to begin the game, but settled in and was looking solid as the night went on. He was absolutely great in the shootout and didn't give the Jones much to shoot at for the penalty shot. Juraj Simek also had a fairly strong game and gave a more or less consistent effort for the time he was out there.

As well, Michael Grabner, a player who has been criticized in the past for supposedly being adverse to physical play, was mucking it up in all the dirty spots tonight and had another strong game, earning a point. No goals, unfortunately, but things have got to turn around soon for the Austrian native.

Milan Gajic didn't look out of place playing with the Moose and again looked decent on his skates.

Luc Bourdon was a pleasant surprise for myself tonight, as he had a really strong game. His hits in the first period were great, and he wasn't shying away from anyone on the Monsters, laying out hits and getting in the faces of opposing players. Did a great job of keeping the crease clear, too. Bourdon seems to play best when he's got a chip on his shoulder, so it was great to see.

The Moose will wrap things up with 2 more games before the holiday break, as they get to do the same thing all over again next weekend with the Hamilton Bulldogs, who were victim to a shellacking against the Syracruse Crunch, losing 9-2. Gotta wonder if they're missing Carey Price right about now.