Manitoba’s grip on first slipping

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This article was published 28/03/2018 (3042 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE grip on first place in the Central Division got a bit weaker Wednesday for the Manitoba Moose, who dropped their third straight game with a 4-3 defeat to the Rockford IceHogs at Bell MTS Place.

The Moose are now 39-22-4-4 on the season and just one point up on the Chicago Wolves for top spot in the division. The Wolves, who have a game in hand on the Moose, entered the night three points back but a 3-1 home win over the Iowa Wild now has them within striking distance.

Chase De Leo opened the scoring for the home side, putting the Moose up 1-0 with his first goal in more than a month. But the IceHogs, who defeated the Moose 4-2 on Monday, answered with goals from Tyler Sikura, Tanner Kero and Adam Clendening to take a 3-1 lead after the first period.

Chris DiDomenico made it 4-1 minutes into the second period and it looked to stay that way through 40 minutes. That is, until a nice feed from Brendan Lemieux to Cameron Schilling, who ripped a shot top shelf, cutting the lead to 4-2 with 79 seconds left in the second frame.

Manitoba pressed hard for the final 20 minutes, cutting the deficit to just one after a goal from Brody Sutter with just more than three minutes left in the final frame.

Moose goaltender Michael Hutchinson made 24 saves, three more than the IceHogs’ Jeff Glass.

The Moose return to action Friday against the league-leading Toronto Marlies. The two teams will play again Saturday at 2 p.m., and the Moose will conclude the eight-game home stand with games April 6 and April 8 against the Bakersfield Condors.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @jeffkhamilton