The Manitoba Moose are back at it with the Iowa Wild on Saturday, meeting for the second straight day after Manitoba handled business in Friday’s game with a power-play surge.
Puck drop at Casey’s Center is set for 6 p.m. CDT, with coverage beginning at 5:45 p.m. CDT on CJOB.com, the Winnipeg Jets App and AHLTV on FloHockey.
Friday night belonged to the Moose on the man advantage. Manitoba scored three power-play goals in Iowa, matching a mark that sits tied for the third-most power-play goals in a single game across the league this season.
The Moose needed just six chances to get there, and their power play continues to set the pace in the AHL at 37.9 percent. Manitoba is 6-0-0-0 when it scores a power-play goal, and it has produced multiple power-play goals in four of its first eight games.
Seven different Moose have scored on the power play, and three of them have done it more than once.
The scoring from the back end has also been a major storyline over Manitoba’s last four games. Moose defencemen have chipped in 12 points in that span, along with two goals - one from Alfons Freij and another from Henry Thrun.
Thrun and Isaak Phillips are both riding four-game point streaks. Five of Manitoba’s seven defencemen who have appeared in a game have recorded at least one point, including Elias Salomonsson, who picked up his first point of the season in his second game on Wednesday.
Salomonsson is also on a six-game point streak, with three goals and six assists.
In goal, Thomas Milic was outstanding in Friday’s win, stopping 42 shots to earn his fourth straight victory to begin the season. The Coquitlam, B.C. native owns a .922 save percentage and has turned aside 118 of 128 shots.
He shares the Moose crease with Domenic DiVincentiis, who has been just as sharp to start the year. DiVincentiis has faced at least 30 shots in three of his four starts, owns a .926 save percentage and has one shutout.
Among goaltenders with four or more appearances, DiVincentiis and Milic rank seventh and eighth, respectively, in goals-against average.
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