Moose Recap: Manitoba 5 vs. Grand Rapids 1

By: Anthony Fusco | Published: February 20th 2023

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Quick Hits

• Henri Nikkanen recorded three assists in the contest
• Ville Heinola (2A) and Daniel Torgersson (1G, 1A) both tallied two points
• Oskari Salminen picked up the home win with 22 stops

Game Story

The Manitoba Moose (27-16-3-3) rematched with the Grand Rapids Griffins (21-24-2-2) on Monday afternoon at Canada Life Centre. Manitoba was coming off a 5-4 shootout defeat the previous night against the Griffins.

Manitoba opened the scoring 3:25 into the contest. With the Moose on the penalty kill, Henri Nikkanen gained the offensive zone and found Ville Heinola on the wing. The defenceman sent a backdoor feed to Kristian Reichel at the side of the net, before the forward stepped out and slid it past Alex Nedeljkovic. Manitoba added to its lead just past the halfway point of the period. Greg Meireles captured a clearing attempt and centred for Nicholas Jones. Jones kept it moving to Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, who one-timed a blast past Nedeljkovic. Manitoba took a two-goal edge into the first intermission, but was outshot 8-3 over the first 20 minutes of play.

Manitoba added to its lead 3:29 into the middle stanza. Daniel Torgersson gained the zone and slid home an off-speed shot that fooled Nedeljkovic. The Griffins got on the board with a power play tally late in the second. The puck was shot into the crease and a frantic scramble followed. Joel L’Esperance got last touch as the puck bounced its way into the goal. The horn sounded to draw the frame to an end with the Moose ahead 3-1 after outshooting the Griffins 15-9 in the stanza.

Manitoba added some insurance in the third frame. Nikkanen grabbed the disc and sent a pass to the front of the net for Jeff Malott to tip home his team-leading 17th of the season. The Moose capped things off in style, as Tyler Boland finished a gorgeous feed from Torgersson, who made a slick move and dragged the puck past a Griffins defender, to give the antlered ones a 5-1 lead. The goal gave Torgersson two points and pushed Nikkanen to three assists on the day. Oskari Salminen captured the victory and ended the night with 22 stops, while Nedeljkovic was hit with the loss on 23 saves.

Quotable

Moose Forward Jeff Malott (Click for full interview)

“The good feelings were coming from us having depth. We gotta lot of guys that are contributing through the lineup right now and so long as we can keep harnessing that and develop as a team this late in the season,…