Manitoba Moose Defeat Hershey Bears 3-1 for Season-High Sixth Straight Victory

Monday

17Mar2008

Monday, March 17, 2008 at 01:44PM

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com – HERSHEY, PA. -- Riding high from a 5-0 blowout over the Hershey Bears Saturday night, the Manitoba Moose earned a 3-1 win in Sunday’s matinee rematch. The victory extended the club’s winning streak to a season-high six games, concluded a perfect five-game road trip, and marked rookie goalie Cory Schneider’s eighth consecutive win.

Only 41 seconds into the game, Mike Brown and Louis Robitaille scrapped behind Schneider's net, proving there's still plenty of tension left over from Saturday night's game. The pair of fighting majors maintained even-strength play for three more minutes until Bears defenceman Tyler Sloan took a cross-checking penalty to offer the Moose the game's first powerplay.

Manitoba was unable to score on the man-advantage, however, and veteran forward Greg Classen was called for holding minutes later to give the home team their first powerplay. Although Mike Keane and Jason Jaffray created a shorthanded two-on-one, neither club registered a goal during the penalty and the game remained scoreless through the period's midway point.

Excellent scoring opportunities at both ends of the ice concluded with equally excellent saves by Schneider and Hershey's Daren Machesney. With just under four minutes left on the clock, the Bears and Moose traded back-to-back powerplays, but neither team had managed a man-advantage marker by the time the buzzer sounded. The Moose carried 51 seconds of their powerplay and an 11-9 shot lead into the second period.

Manitoba kept pressure on Machesney in the early minutes of the middle frame, but the Bears backstopper stopped all four official shots. A holding penalty to rookie defender Daniel Rahimi offered the Bears their third powerplay, but Manitoba got another two minutes closer to registering their eighth straight game of perfect penalty killing.

Although the Bears dropped to 0-for-3 on the man-advantage, the Moose wouldn't let their third opportunity go without a goal. At 7:32, Jason Morgan took two minutes for tripping and Manitoba set up in the Hershey zone. After striving up the slot, Jaffray was denied by Machesney but pounced on his own rebound to score the first goal of the game and put the Moose up 1-0 on the powerplay.

A second consecutive Bears penalty gave the Moose a chance to extend their lead, and the club didn't disappoint. With Scott Barney in the penalty box, Jaffray plugged away at the puck at the top of the crease and freed it for Jannik Hansen, who snapped it behind Machesney to put the Moose up 2-0.

Though Barney contributed to his club's two-goal deficit, the winger redeemed himself by becoming the first Bear to beat Schneider in 50 attempts over two games. As part of a three-on-two, Barney cut across the Moose crease at tapped the puck around Schneider to put the home team within one and set the score at 2-1 to close out the second period.

2:27 into the third period, Robitaille bowled over Jaffray near the blue line and Moose veteran Danny Groulx tackled the winger. Groulx took an extra two minutes for roughing, and the Bears received their fourth powerplay opportunity. But Schneider and his penalty killers maintained Manitoba's one-goal lead through the man-advantage, and the club's powerplay unit took to the ice as Chaz Johnson took a hooking penalty. Although they were unable to tally a third powerplay goal, the visitors used the five-on-four to crack the 30-shot mark.

A handful of highlight-worthy saves by Schneider in the dying minutes of the game kept his club up by one and his hopes for an eighth straight win alive. Colby Genoway helped the cause. With Machesney on the bench and the Bears icing six skaters for the final minute, Genoway back-handed an empty-netter to renew Manitoba's two-goal cushion.

The Moose carried their 3-1 lead to the final buzzer to register their sixth straight win, sweep their five-game road trip, and carry 81 points and sole possession of second place in the North Division back to Winnipeg.