Moose down streaking Rocket

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This article was published 25/03/2021 (1741 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After a 12-day break, it appeared a date with the first-place Laval Rocket on Thursday night at the Bell MTS Iceplex was too much to handle for the Manitoba Moose. 

That is, until the final minute of play. 

Trailing 3-1 late in the third and in need of a spark, the Moose pulled goalie Mikhail Berdin with 3:18 left on the clock. Manitoba ended up making the most of their six-on-five advantage as Kristian Vesalainen had a blast from the point that was deflected by Skyler McKenzie to make it 3-2 at the 31-second mark. Then with two seconds remaining, David Gustaffson proved that college basketball isn’t the place for buzzer-beaters in March as he let a shot rip through traffic that squeezed through Laval goalie and Winnipeg native Michael McNiven’s pads to tie the game right before the final horn sounded.

“I’ve never scored a buzzer-beater before,” Gustaffson, a forward out of Sweden chosen 60th overall in the 2018 NHL Draft, said postgame. “I was pretty sure it went in before the clock (expired). I was just happy. I knew it was a goal.”

Laval had their chances in overtime, but ultimately the game would be decided in a shootout. Vesalainen and Cole Perfetti came up empty, as did all three Laval shooters, but Moose forward Nathan Todd was able to step up and score the game-winner to snap Laval’s six-game win streak. Thursday’s tilt is the first of four straight between the two sides inside the Iceplex. The victory improves the Moose’s record to 8-7-2-0 on the year while the Rocket, who hold the top spot in the AHL’s five-team Canadian Division, dropped to 12-4-1-1.

“A guy like Gus works extremely hard but his main asset is his maturity and his ability to stay in the moment. He’s a guy that’s extremely positive,” said Moose head coach Pascal Vincent on the hero of the night.

“He’s a real good teammate and I truly believe when you do the right things over and over and over, at some point, you’ll get rewarded… For him, I think it’s not only going to build more confidence in his offensive part of the game but what he’s doing on a daily basis. Pushing himself until the final buzzer, that’s what he does all the time.”

Down 3-1 heading into the third, the Moose had their opportunities in the final frame but couldn’t convert. Todd, Vesalainen, and Jeff Malott all had shots ring off the crossbar or post in the third period. Berdin stopped 21 of 24 shots on the night and now boasts a 7-6-2 record in 15 starts.

“We preach that we need to stay in the moment and they’ve earned the right to believe in themselves because I’ve seen them come back more than once and I see them practising every day and I see how hard they work,” said Vincent.

“I know it’s a cliché, but it’s not over till it’s over. With those guys, I truly believe it. They’re going to try till the last second and again, today was a great example.”

Malott continues to have an impressive rookie campaign as the Moose forward opened the scoring with a power-play goal in the first. Now with eight goals, the undrafted product out of Cornell University is in a tie for fifth in the league in goal scoring. 

“It gives us a little bit of confidence moving forward if we ever find ourselves in similar situations,” Malott said.

“It’s hard to score with little time on the clock and six-on-five is definitely an important part of the game. It’s good for our confidence and I think it’s a good start to this home stretch here.”

Thursday’s matchup was their first game action since March 13 when they beat the Stockton Heat 4-2 at home to close out a four-game affair after dropping the first three. The Moose are also adjusting to life without defenceman Ville Heinola and veteran goalie Eric Comrie as the pair was called up to the Winnipeg Jets’ taxi squad last week. The Moose play their next 12 contests at home. 

“The execution wasn’t as good as what we’ve seen and maybe it’s a byproduct of not having Ville Heinola. He plays 20-something minutes when he’s with us, so when he’s on the ice he’s making stuff happen,” Vincent said.

“But I think the execution and the speed of the game and making plays under pressure was fine in the first period… But then in the third, we had some good jump and we had some good legs, so that rest, along with their hard work, I think that paid off in the third period.”

The Moose and Rocket meet again tonight at 6 p.m.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31