Moose Recap: Manitoba 5 at Iowa 3

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Quick Hits

• Cole Maier recorded three points (2G, 1A) in the victory
• Adam Beckman recorded two points (1G, 1A) in the loss for Iowa
• Three Moose skaters tallied multi-point outings in the win\

Game Story

The Manitoba Moose (15-7-2-1) clashed with the Iowa Wild (11-12-2-2) Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Arena. It was the first of two weekday contests between the two sides. Manitoba was coming off a 3-2 overtime victory against Belleville on Sunday.

Manitoba and Iowa duelled to a goalless draw after the first 20 minutes of play. The only chance on the man advantage came against the Moose, but Oskari Salminen held the fort and finished the frame with nine total saves. The Moose directed eight pucks of their own towards Zane McIntyre, who held firm in the Iowa crease as time expired.

The Moose opened the scoring just past the four-minute mark of the second frame. Ashton Sautner sent the puck to the point where Cole Maier received it. The pivot fired a heavy wrister through traffic that beat McIntyre from distance for his fifth of the season. The Moose added to their lead around the halfway point of the period. The puck bounced off the back boards and found Maier in front, who roofed it over the shoulder of McIntyre. Iowa cut into the Moose lead with a power play goal later in the frame. Adam Beckman finished off a pretty passing play for his eighth of the season. Manitoba outshot Iowa 11-8 in the middle stanza and took a 2-1 lead into the second intermission.

Manitoba added some insurance 58 seconds into the third period. Nicholas Jones pushed the puck free in front of the net and Evan Polei poked it past McIntyre in the ensuing scramble. The Moose pulled ahead 4-1 with a power play goal from Dominic Toninato. Jeff Malott found Toninato with the pass to the slot and the forward beat McIntyre. Iowa cut into the Moose lead as Mike O’Leary converted a two-on-one opportunity. The Moose restored the three-goal edge with their second power play goal of the frame. Alex Limoges put the puck on net and Jeff Malott deflected it past McIntyre as he cruised past the top of the crease. The Wild went looking for offence and pulled McIntyre in favour of the extra attacker with just over three minutes to go. The gambit paid off as the Wild cut the Moose lead to 5-3 with a tally from the side of the net courtesy of Sammy Walker. Despite late pressure, Iowa wasn’t able to claw its way back into the contest as the horn sounded to draw the game to a close with the 5-3 Moose lead intact. Salminen posted the victory with 27 stops, while McIntyre was tagged with the loss and made 25 saves of his own.

Quotable

Moose Forward Cole Maier (Click for full interview)

“I'd say things have been going pretty well for us recently.We talked about making the most of these two prior to the break and how important these points are. To keep stringing wins together, we want to stay away from that win one, lose one situation.

Statbook

• Nicholas Jones has recorded an assist in three straight games
• Evan Polei has five points (2G, 3A) in his past three contests
• Cole Maier's three-point outing is his first of the season
• Jeff Malott has tallied eight points (6G, 2A) over his past five games
• Ashton Sautner has registered three points (1G, 2A) his past two contests

What's Next?

Manitoba rematches with the Iowa Wild at Wells Fargo Arena on Friday, Dec. 23. Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m. CT. You can catch the game on CJOB.com/sports, the new Winnipeg Jets App, and AHLTV.

Tickets to all upcoming Moose home games are available at MooseHockey.com/TICKETS.