The Manitoba Moose defeated the Toronto Roadrunners 4-2 Friday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. The game was the first of the two-game AHL Showcase Series between the two teams with the second game to be played Saturday night at the Gardens.
The first period was very quick with Manitoba having the edge in good scoring chances. Manitoba's Mikko Jokela opened the scoring at 7:06, set up nicely by Jaroslav Obsut. Toronto quickly countered at 8:33 with a goal by Roche, assisted by Dan Tessier. The Moose took the lead at 11:18 on a goal by Chris Nielsen, set up by Jimmy Roy and Alexandre Burrows. Manitoba made it 3-1 at 12:57 when Fedor Fedorov blasted a hard slapshot that beat the Toronto goaltender stickside. Manitoba outshot Toronto 12-10 in the first.
The second period was also fast paced with Toronto having a decided edge in play mainly due to a lot of Moose penalties. But, Manitoba's Brandon Nolan struck early, scoring the best goal of the game, when he knocked in a beautiful pass from Brandon Reid at the 43 second mark to give the Moose a 4-1 lead. Although Toronto outshot Manitoba 17-4 in the period, Moose Goaltender Alex Auld was up to the test and prevented the Roadruners from scoring.
The early going of the third also moved briskly but neither team generated many scoring opportunities in the first seven minutes. Toronto's MichaelHenrich scored anice goal at 8:33to bring the Roadrunners within two, assisted by Dan Tessier. Manitoba took control of the game for the rest of the perioduntil the last minute when Toronto pulled their goaltender. Toronto's Henrich was robbed by Moose netminder Auld point blank at 19:18 and that was the last gasp for the Roadrunners.
The two teams face off again at the Fort William Gardens at 7:30 Saturday night.
The Molson's Three Stars, as selected by Leith Dunick of the Thunder Bay Post, were:
1) Brandon Nolan: Manitoba
2) Brandon Reid: Manitoba
3) Michael Henrich: Toronto