ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Nothing, not even a bizarre wrinkle from a team with nothing to lose, was going to stop this perfect 10.
The Manitoba Moose overcame an early setback with offence and defence and posted a convincing 4-1 victory over the Rochester Americans at Blue Cross Arena Wednesday night, their 10th straight win to tie a franchise record set in 2000.
The cellar-dwelling Americans employed a very rare strategy by parking a forward at the far blue-line when the puck was in their own zone, and they even sprung him loose for the game's first goal from Tanner Glass.
But a team coming in with nine straight wins shut that down without major damage and had the lead by the end of the first period en route to its eighth straight road win, also a franchise record.
"I've said all year long about thinking the game and the different situations that come up, and it took us three or four minutes to recognize it," Moose coach Scott Arniel said about the odd start to the contest.
"I haven't seen anything like that before. Cunney (Rochester coach Randy Cunneyworth) went into the bag of tricks for that one, but once we started catching on to what they were doing, I think we did a real good job.
"We just gave Bubba (assistant coach Brad Berry) crap for that for not having that in his pre-scout for the morning meeting."
Goals by Greg Classen, who hadn't scored in two months, and hot forward Jannik Hansen put up scores before the period was over and the Moose just went about their business in extending the 10-game streak, which started March 2 at home. Only three home games have been among the 10 wins.
"It almost seems like we forgot about the streak," Classen said after the Moose moved to 42-24-2-3. "When we had won four or five, we were thinking about it more because we had been in the win-loss thing.
"Now we're just kind of playing our game and we're playing with more poise, not taking too many chances, and our system is pretty good for us and we're not giving up many goals. That's our goaltenders, too -- not giving up too much."
During the 10-game streak, Manitoba has scored 32 and given up just 10.
The 10 straight wins, the eight-game road streak and a record of 15-2-0-1 in 18 games have all come during another nasty stretch of injuries and NHL call-ups that have nine regulars missing.
"Guys have just been consistent," said Moose defenceman Shaun Heshka, who pumped in a second-period marker to help Wednesday's cause. "Our top line seems to get goals for us every night. We have guys coming in that are new to the system and they're playing well and contributing. Everybody's just been so solid. And whenever you have two goalies rolling, it's a big benefit to your team."
Arniel said his team has been multifaceted and attentive during the streak.
"A lot of it has happened on the road," he said. "Here, Hershey, Chicago -- some good buildings to win in and it's a real compliment to these guys the way they play. It's attention to detail.
"Winning's fun and we've done a good job of mixing in people and everybody recognizes the importance of this time of year. And the pressure from below, Syracuse, and another team above us (first-place Toronto) has helped us to push hard."
Classen said the team knew it was in for some softer opponents this week -- Lake Erie, which lost to Manitoba Tuesday, and Rochester are far out of playoff contention -- but distractions did not get in the way.
Not even his own 25-game scoring slump.
"I've tried to stop looking at the scoresheets, it's been so long," he said. "I've decided to try to help the team in other ways and I hope I've been doing that a little. Getting the first one tonight against a team like that, they're in the cellar of the division, but those can be scary games, especially after they had those breakaways."
tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca
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