Preview: Moose vs. San Antonio – Nov. 17

Moose vs. San Antonio Rampage – Bell MTS Place – 2 p.m. CT
Tickets: moosehockey.com/tickets
Broadcast: moosehockey.com/listenlive, AHLTV

The Moose look to sweep through a four-game home stand and push their record one game above .500 when they host the San Antonio Rampage. Puck drop is slated for 2 p.m. at Bell MTS Place. Manitoba rides a five-game winning streak into the contest have victories in seven of its last eight.

Mikhail Berdin was brilliant yet again as the Moose outlasted the Rampage for a 2-1 overtime win on Friday. The Moose goaltender made a career-high 45 saves in the victory. That mark included 20 in the first period. The Ufa, Russia native has stopped 180 of 183 shots during Manitoba's streak.

Berdin's play helped Manitoba get through a start that saw the Moose outshot by a 27-8 margin running into the second period. After that point, the shots evened out considerably going 19-18 the final 25 minutes of the contest. The Moose held the balance of play for a significant chunk of the third, outshooting San Antonio 10-4 across the mid-point of the period. It was a credit to both Berdin and Ville Husso that the game made it to overtime after the pair made some key stops in the late stages. The Moose controlled the play for most of the overtime period. After Kristian Vesalainen drew a penalty, Seth Griffith fired home the winner on the man advantage.

"I think we kept it a little more simple," Griffith said of his line with Jansen Harkins and Andrei Chibisov following Friday's contest. "The past two games against Texas we struggled a little bit. I think we were overthinking the game a little too much. Today we kept it simple and got chances out of it."

With the win, the Moose reached an even record of 8-8-0-0 on the season. It's an accomplishment for the team after a difficult 1-7-0-0 start to the season. Manitoba ranks fifth in the Central Division, one point back of San Antonio for the final playoff spot. The Moose are also tied for the second-most wins in the division.

Today's game is an important one for the Moose as they put the wraps on this home stand. The team is facing a stretch of playing 12 of its next 14 games on the road. The Moose will range from Eastern Canada, to the Mid-West US and down to Texas over the next month. The Moose will only spend six days at home from Nov. 19 to Dec. 19. So the time is now for the Moose to make good on their final home game before that long stretch.

Puck drop for this afternoon's game is at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at moosehockey.com/tickets and you can listen in on moosehockey.com/listenlive starting at 1:45 p.m.