Wolves tipped by Moose 5-4 in a shootout
In a game with major implications in the Central Division postseason race, the Wolves fell to the Manitoba Moose 5-4 in a shootout Saturday in Winnipeg.
Chris Terry and Cavan Fitzgerald each had a goal and an assist and Cole Schneider and Hudson Elynuik also scored as the Wolves rallied from a late two-goal deficit to secure a point with the shootout loss.
Henri Nikkanen scored in the eighth round of the shootout to win it for the Moose, who moved eight points ahead of the Wolves for the fifth and final Central postseason berth.
The Wolves took a 1-0 advantage into the first intermission on Schneider’s goal. The veteran forward broke into the Manitoba zone two-on-one with Cory Conacher and cleaned up his teammate’s shot by banging home a rebound yielded by Moose netminder Thomas Milic for Schneider’s 12th goal of the season.
In the second, Manitoba seized the lead on scores by Dominic Toninato and Brad Lambert, but the Wolves answered late on Terry’s tally.
The Wolves captain took a cross-ice pass from Josh Melnick and rifled a shot from the right circle that beat Milic to the stick side. Melnick and Fitzgerald recorded assists on Terry’s 19th goal of the season.
Jeff Malott found the back of the net midway through the third period to put the Moose out in front 3-2.
Manitoba took a two-goal lead a short time later, but the Wolves wouldn’t go away as they notched a pair of scores 16 seconds apart to tie it.
First, Fitzgerald scored to cut the deficit to 4-3 when the defenseman took a touch pass from Melnick and wired a shot from the high slot that Milic couldn’t handle. Melnick and Terry earned assists on Fitzgerald’s 12th goal of the season.
The Wolves kept coming and knotted it at 4-4 on Elynuik’s third goal of the season. The forward redirected a long shot from Alex Green past Milic and into the net. Green and Max Comtois had assists.
After a scoreless overtime, the game went to a shootout and Nikkanen won it in the eighth round.
Adam Scheel (30 saves) suffered the loss in goal for the Wolves while Milic (22 saves) earned the win for the Moose.
Chicago dropped to 22-32-5-6 on the season, while Manitoba moved to 30-33-2-1.