Recap: Manitoba 0 at Rockford 4

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Quick Hits

• Mitch Gillam made 38 saves for the shutout victory in his first AHL start
• Dylan McLaughlin tallied two points (1G, 1A) in the Rockford win

Game Story

The Manitoba Moose (33-19-4-2) battled the Rockford IceHogs (28-23-4-1) Saturday night at BMO Harris Bank Center. The Moose were coming off a 4-3 overtime loss against Chicago the previous evening.

Both clubs battled to a scoreless draw after the first 20 minutes of play. With the end of the frame in sight, the Moose got dinged up for a double minor which resulted in a desperate penalty kill to end the period. The Moose killed off the majority of the penalty, as Arvid Holm made a handful of saves and finished the first with 10 total. Across the rink, Rockford netminder Mitch Gillam made 11 stops of his own.

Rockford opened the scoring a little over three minutes into the middle frame. A Moose defenceman fell and the IceHogs pounced on the opportunity. D.J. Busdeker got the final touch and sent the puck past Holm for the 1-0 lead. Rockford pushed their lead ahead with a goal off the rush from Jakub Pour with seven minutes left in the period. Despite Manitoba outshooting Rockford 25-21 over 40 minutes, the Moose found themselves down 2-0. Gilliam continued his run of solid play and made an additional 14 saves in the middle frame.

Rockford continued their excellent defensive game in the third period. The Moose controlled the pace of play and outshot the IceHogs 13-6 in the final frame and pulled Holm late in favour of the extra attacker. Rockford got the puck and Mike Hardman hit the empty net to push the home side ahead 3-0. Dylan McLaughlin added another tally in the dying seconds as Rockford skated away with a 4-0 victory. Holm ended the contest with 23 saves, while Gilliam finished with 38 and his first AHL shutout in the win.

Statbook

• The Moose penalty kill was a perfect 5/5 in the loss
• Jeff Malott led the way for the Moose with six shots on net
• The Moose finished their season-long road trip 3-2-1-0

What's Next?

The Moose head home for a Canadian clash against the Laval Rocket on Tuesday night. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT. Tickets for Tuesday's Spring Break Stay-cation game, featuring a Moose bucket hat giveaway for the first 3,000 fans in attendance, are available at MooseHockey.com/TICKETS.

You can also catch the game on CJOB.com/sports, the Manitoba Moose App and AHLTV.