Moose power past Rampage

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This article was published 21/12/2017 (2906 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Teams have tried to match skill with the Manitoba Moose and come up on the short end of the stick. The San Antonio Rampage attempted to simply outmuscle the American Hockey League’s top team on Thursday night at Bell MTS Place.

It didn’t work.

The Moose survived a physical onslaught in the opening period, then took over the game in the middle frame en route to a dominating 7-2 victory to extend their franchise-record streak to 15 games without a regulation defeat (14-0-1).

Manitoba players will likely be feeling this one a bit more than usual. There were plenty of hard hits, after-the-whistle scrums and even a few cheap shots as tempers flared pretty much from the opening puck drop. San Antonio, the farm team of the Colorado Avalanche, clearly had a plan to try and wear down the high-flying Moose, especially when it comes to their top-end players.

But all it seemed to do is light a fire under them.

“I think it kinda helped us up, kinda woke us up because we were kind of snoozing there,” said captain Patrice Cormier, who scored his 14th goal of the year — and the seventh in his past five games — as the veteran centre enjoys a resurgent year.

“I think we kind of thrive on teams trying to be physical. And then we start pushing back, start moving our feet and start putting pucks deep.”

Second-year pro Jack Roslovic had a goal and two assists to pull into a tie for the AHL scoring lead.

Nic Petan continued to be red-hot, scoring and adding two helpers Thursday night. He now has 23 points in 23 games since being sent down by the Winnipeg Jets — including 15 (4G, 11A) in his past nine.

“As skilled as we are, as fast as we are, we’re also a tough team. I think they realized that. There’s not much to mess with, I don’t think,” Petan said.

Rookie forward Mason Appleton and rookie defenceman Sami Niku each chipped in with a goal and an assist Thursday. Appleton is now tied for seventh in league scoring, and second among rookies.

Niku is now 4th among all AHL defencemen in scoring, and leads all rookies in that department.

And Michael Hutchinson, who collected more hardware before the game as the AHL’s goalie of the week to add to his goalie of the month award from November, stopped 33 of 35 shots he faced to improve his personal record to 12-1-2.

Add it all up and the Moose continue to crush opponents. They are now 22-5-3 on the year, giving them a healthy cushion on top of the AHL standings and a massive lead in their own division.

“Everything,” head coach Pascal Vincent said following the game when asked what the Moose could be doing better. “We’re still establishing our team identity. I think we have a pretty good idea of who we are as a team. I think we have another gear.”

Manitoba was a bit sloppy off the start, after not playing since last weekend, and some loose coverage in their own end turned into a Rampage goal just over three minutes into the game.

“You don’t like to see that. The first 10 minutes of our game, we weren’t playing the right way or moving right,” Vincent said. “We’re a big heavy team. We welcome a physical game. If that’s the way it’s going to go, actually I kind of like it. It fits exactly what we’re trying to do here and we have the big bodies to play that type of game.”

The top line of Roslovic, Petan and Appleton began to take over as the period progressed, with Appleton tying it up before intermission.

“Big game from them when we needed it,” Cormier said.

The Moose then scored four times in the middle frame — Niku, Roslovic, Petan and then Cormier — to put this one to bed.

San Antonio cut their lead to 5-2 with an early third-period power play goal, but rookie Michael Spacek and veteran Mike Sgarbossa scored 12 seconds apart to make it a rout.

“Pretty average start, I thought. We weren’t moving our feet as much. We came in between periods and gave it to ourselves, coach came in and gave it to us. Second period, third period I thought we played a pretty strong game,” Petan said.

The Moose and Rampage meet again tonight at Bell MTS Place. Puck drop is 7 p.m.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @mikemcintyrewpg