Kyle Connor at Practice Even when you think they've finally figured it out, the Manitoba Moose find a way to lose. After returning home to Canada Life Centre with a 5-4 overtime loss on Friday night for the first home contest in four games, the last-place Moose were looking for a different result on Saturday. The home team actually pulled ahead to a quick 3-0 lead over the same Grand Rapids Griffins team that mounted a two-goal, third period comeback before beating them in extra time the night prior. Manitoba got two first period tallies from Nikita Chibrikov, who scored his 12th of the year less than one minute into Saturday's contest. He then added another less than three minutes later, bringing the home crowd up on its feet once again. Despite putting up the two goals in the opening frame, the cellar-dwellers still somehow managed to be outshot 12-10 in the frame. Thomas Caron potted his second of the season halfway through the middle stanza - a period to which the Moose managed just six shots on goal. Believing things couldn't get much worse, Manitoba fell back to its old ways, fully collapsing in the third. The Moose took just four total shots, and watched as the Griffins put up 13 shots to mount a four-goal comeback and steal the win in enemy territory. Marco Kasper scored just 1:02 into the third, before adding his second of the game six minutes later. From there it was Austin Czarnik, who scored with the extra attacker with just 42 seconds remaining, and appeared to be the player to send the game to overtime. But just 30 seconds later, Zach Aston-Reese scored his sixth of the season, sending shockwaves through the crowd and home team bench, as Grand Rapids picked up both points on Saturday, and four of the possible five offered in the weekend set. Oskari Salminen stood tall in net through 40 minutes, turning aside all 23 shots he faced, before stopping just nine of 13 third period shots and ultimately losing the game. Ville Heinola picked up an assist, but finished the night a -2 with one shot on goal. Jeff Malott, whose brother Mike fell by way of TKO to Neil Magny at UFC 297 on Saturday night, suited up in his 200th career AHL game. The injured Brad Lambert remained out of the lineup for Manitoba, as he works his way back following a heavy check by Tobie Paquette-Bisson last weekend. “Moving forward, it's a regular schedule," said Chibrikov, who led all skaters with five shots on goal. "We need to be ready for every game. it doesn't matter if it's two days or one week between the games. We need to keep working and be ready." The Moose remain dead-last, league-wide with a 12-21-1 record through 34 games played and next host the Chicago Wolves in a Tuesday/Wednesday back-to-back from Canada Life Centre.
