Manitoba Stymies Texas' Comeback Bid for 7-3 Final

 

(Credit: Manitoba Moose)

Two late goals from Mark Rassell weren't enough to stem to tide against the Moose this afternoon in Winnipeg as the home team broke a 3-3 tie in the third and went on to pile up a few empty netters to yield a gaudy-looking 7-3 final.

It's been a busy few weeks here at 100 Degree Hockey headquarters, so this was not a game we were able to watch live. With that said, here's the release below.

It's notable that some of the bottom-six players are contributing for Texas. Mark Rassell has scored five now for Texas, including two this afternoon. His contributions will need to continue and be multiplied by the efforts of others. Logan Stankoven appears unlikely to ever return, as most expected, once he earned his first recall. The same can be said for Mavrik Bourque as soon as he gets the call.

Texas will need more from their group with those two gone. They would also love to see some of their forwards come back from injury.

The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, were defeated 7-3 by the Manitoba Moose on Saturday afternoon at Canada Life Centre.

Kristian Reichel opened the scoring 3:13 into the first period in Manitoba’s favor when he snapped in a one-timer past Matt Murray that was fed to the high slot by Parker Ford. Mavrik Bourque tied the game 1-1 at 4:21 after he received a saucer pass from Fredrik Karlstrom and beat Thomas Milic in alone with a shot inside the right post. The Moose reclaimed a 2-1 lead at 16:50 when Kyle Capobianco fired a shot past Murray into the low-right corner from the top of the zone.

The second period saw Henry Nikkanen tap in an insurance marker passed to the front of the net by Nicholas Jones at 17:30 to put the Moose up 3-1.

In the third period, Mark Rassell scored a pair of goals 1:20 apart to tie the game 3-3 for the Stars. Rassell first cut the deficit to one at 5:53 by intercepting a breakout pass and simultaneously firing it past Milic. Then Rassell tied it by scoring his fifth goal of the season at 7:13 through traffic during a net front scramble. However, Ford put the Moose back in front 4-3 at 7:59 by scoring while Murray was down in the crease following a collision. Manitoba’s Reichel and Brad Lambert then scored empty-net goals before Nikita Chibrikov buried a third one with less than three minutes remaining in regulation, which locked in a 7-3 victory for the Moose.

Earning the win in goal for Manitoba, Milic made saves on 22 of the 25 shots he faced to improve to 6-5-1 on the campaign. For the Stars, Murray came down with the loss to fall to 12-11-2 after making 27 stops.

Injuries, scratches and notes

Stankoven (callup)

Kyrou (scratch)

Bayreuther (out - ankle)

Berard, Reedy, Caamano (out - upper body)

McKenzie (injury, lower body out until late March/early April)

Today's attendance was 2,958.

AHL Gamesheet - Texas at Manitoba - March 2 2024