Photo by James Carey Lauder
Moose Drop Mid-week Affair in Rockford
The Manitoba Moose played a rare weekday game against the Rockford IceHogs on Wednesday night in Illinois. The team didn't fare well and walked away on the wrong side of a 6-2 final.
Manitoba fell behind 3-0 in the first period, before giving up another three tallies to trail 6-0 before the second period even came to a close.
Despite having Oskari Salminen on the active roster, Collin Delia stayed in the Moose net for the entirety of the game, finishing with just 19 stops on the 25 shots he faced through the full 60.
Manitoba did get back in the game with two markers in the third period, but it was nowhere near enough of a response to even begin thinking about a comeback.
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It was Nikita Chibrikov who scored both goals for the Moose, with his first of the night coming on a man advantage just 2:25 into the third. Brad Lambert and Jeff Malott drew the assists.
His second tally came at even strength near the midway mark, to which Wyatt Bongiovanni and Simon Lundmark collected the helpers.
With the two goals, Chibrikov is up to seven on the season and sits in a tie for sixth league-wide. His 16 points in 14 games lead his team. The first-year Moose forward also has goals in four-straight games (five total goals).
With the loss, Manitoba has fallen to 6-8-0 on the year and sits right in the thick of things within the Central Division. With 12 points, the Moose are just seven points out of first place, and four points out of last.
Next up is the continuation of the six-game road trip for Manitoba, which next sees a weekend series with the Grand Rapids Griffins on Friday and Sunday evenings, before returning home to Canada Life Centre the following weekend.
