Moose Recap: Manitoba 4 at Iowa 3

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Quick Hits

• Declan Chisholm recorded three assists in the victory
• Manitoba's power play tallied a pair of goals
• Arvid Holm picked up the win on the strength of 35 stops

Game Story

The Manitoba Moose (16-7-2-1) rematched with the Iowa Wild (11-13-2-2) Friday night at Wells Fargo Arena. It was the second of two weekday contests between the two sides before the holiday break. Manitoba was coming off a 5-3 victory against Iowa on Wednesday.

Manitoba and Iowa duelled to a goalless draw after the first 20 minutes of play. Both sides were granted a chance on the man advantage, but Arvid Holm and Jesper Wallstedt were both solid and prevented either squad from finding the back of the net. Holm stopped seven shots for the visiting Moose, while Wallestadt notched six of his own as the horn drew the frame to a close.

Iowa opened the scoring 1:08 in the middle frame. Nic Petan sent the puck across the seam and found Andrej Sustr who tapped it past Holm. Manitoba tied the contest on the man advantage six minutes into the period. Declan Chisholm sent the puck to Leon Gawanke at the dot, who one-timed a hard shot past Wallstedt. Iowa reclaimed its lead 22 seconds later as Ty Ronning converted a quick wraparound to push Iowa ahead 2-1. Manitoba tied the contest once again midway through the frame. Chisholm whipped the puck ahead to Henri Nikkanen, who pounced and beat Wallstedt under the bar for his fourth of the year. Manitoba was outshot 16-12 in the middle segment, but took a 2-2 tie into the intermission.

Manitoba gained its first lead of the contest late in the third. With the Moose on the man-advantage, Chisholm fired the puck to the side of the net where Jeff Malott redirected the disc past Wallstedt for a 3-2 Moose lead. The Wild pulled Wallstedt in favour of the extra attacker, but the Moose remained patient and converted into the empty net. Evan Polei sent the puck to Cole Maier, who pushed the Moose ahead by a pair. On the ensuring play, Iowa pulled Wallstedt once again and this time found the back of the net off a Dakota Mermis shot through traffic. With 31 seconds left, the Moose held strong defensively to stem the Wild attack and secure the victory. Holm captured the win and finished with 35 saves, while Wallstedt was hit with the loss and made 22 stops of his own.

Quotable

Moose Defenceman Declan Chisholm (Click for full interview)

“It was huge, especially in the standings. It’s really tight up at the top and we wanted to get into second place there. Four points were huge. We’ve been trying to string together back-to-back wins for a while now and it’s kind of rolling now with last weekend rolling into this week. It was definitely huge."

Statbook

• Alex Limoges has tallied two power play assists his past two games
• Evan Polei has six points (2G, 4A) in his past four contests
• It is the second time in four contests that Declan Chisholm has recorded three assists in a single game
• Cole Maier has recorded four points (3G, 1A) his past two games
• Jeff Malott has tallied nine points (7G, 2A) over his past six games
• Dominic Toninato has two points (1G, 1A) his past two contests

What's Next?

Manitoba returns home to clash with the Abbotsford Canucks at Canada Life Centre on Friday, Dec. 30. 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.