Jets Send Three Players Back to Moose Moose Mightier Than the Wild

Winnipeg Free Press https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/manitoba-moose/jets-send-three-players- back-to-moose-469247423.html?k=Sc4PAa Jets send three players back to Moose By: Jeff Hamilton With the Winnipeg Jets beginning a league-mandated five-day break, the team has assigned three players to its American Hockey League affiliate. Goaltender Michael Hutchinson, and forwards Brendan Lemieux and Jack Roslovic have been sent back to the Manitoba Moose, who continue their season with a game this afternoon against the Iowa Wild. It’s not clear at this point if any of the three will be ready to play in the 2 p.m. game. Hutchinson joined the Jets Friday as an emergency call-up after backup goalie Steve Mason fell ill and returned to Winnipeg for further evaluation. Hutchinson has a 14-2-4 record with the Moose this season after being assigned there by the Jets prior to the start of the NHL regular season. He leads the AHL with a .942 save percentage and boasts the third-best goals against average, at 1.94. Lemieux joined the Jets on Jan. 8 and played one game after an injury to forward Shawn Matthias — a 4-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild Saturday night. The 21-year-old has played in eight games with Winnipeg this year and has one goal. Roslovic, 20, was recalled by the Jets on Dec. 31 and played in four games during his stint. He returns to the AHL seventh in league scoring with 35 points (15G, 20A) in 31 games with the Moose. The Moose are first place in the Central Division and second overall in the AHL standings, with a record of 25-8-3-2. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/manitoba-moose/moose-mightier-than-wild- 469305913.html Moose Mightier than the Wild Manitoba holds on to avenge Saturday loss By: Jeff Hamilton It was the kind of game the Manitoba Moose needed after a tough stretch in recent weeks. Riding the momentum of a first-period surge, followed by mostly consistent play down the stretch, the Moose defeated the Iowa Wild 3-2 Sunday afternoon at Bell MTS Place. Perhaps just as important as the two points in the standing was the fact the Moose resembled much of the team that represents their first-place standing in the Central Division and not the club that has struggled to string together victories. "Oh for sure, it was more complete," Moose head coach Pascal Vincent said of the game. "From start to finish, we had good momentum... overall I felt it was a good hockey game." The Moose entered the match with just one win in their past five games (1-2-2), including a 5-4 loss to the Wild Saturday afternoon — a tilt they had to claw their way back into after trailing 4-1 in the third period. Before that, the Moose put together a franchise-record 16 straight games in which they collected points (15-0-1). On Sunday, the Moose wasted little time exacting their revenge, scoring twice in the first five minutes and six seconds, with both goals coming on the power play. Sparked by the return of forwards Brendan Lemieux and Jack Roslovic, both of whom were assigned to the Moose before the game after spending spent the last while in the NHL with the Winnipeg Jets, the Moose improved to 26-8-3-2 on the season. Roslovic, though pointless on the night, had a number of quality chances and didn’t seem fatigued despite playing his third game in four nights. As for Lemieux, he finished with a lone assist, but could have easily recorded two or three more points with better puck luck. "We had some chances to score some goals, myself included. I definitely got to find a way to finish. Lately, I haven’t been scoring as much," said Lemieux, who is still on a point-per-game pace with 25 points in 25 game (nine goals, 16 assists). "As a group, there’s going to be nights like that. We couldn’t get many to fall tonight, but the chances were there, the opportunities were there. A lot of guys had a good jump tonight and it’s not always easy." The Wild, who dropped to 17-13-6-3 with the loss, took a penalty just 19 seconds into the game, with Justin Kloos catching Moose captain Patrice Cormier with a high stick on the opening faceoff. Manitoba wasted little time while up five men to the Wild’s four, scoring just a minute into the man-advantage with a goal from Buddy Robinson. Robinson found himself in the right place at the right time to record his 18th, with the puck deflecting off his body before trickling to the back of the net. The original shot came from Winnipeg native Peter Stoykewich, the puck eventually deflecting off the glove of Iowa goalie Niklas Svedberg before hitting Robinson. Tucker Poolman, who has also spent a lot of time with the Jets this season, earned the second assist. Lemieux set up Jimmy Lodge for a quality chance just minutes later, but Lodge lost control of the puck as it slid past the wide-open net. Lemieux would get rewarded moments later when he helped step up Stoykewich for a goal, who made it 2-0 with his sixth of the year. This time, Stoykewich’s shot beat Svedberg clean, giving the Moose a 2-0 lead just over five minutes into the game. Poolman earned another assist, sliding a pass over to Stoykewich before the goal- scoring shot. "Putting pucks to the net when you have an extra man out there is huge, getting it through the first layer of traffic and we were able to do that," Stoykewich said. "Give the guys a lot of credit for putting on screens. We tried to simplify everything we did today." With the Moose all over the Wild and the game seemingly destined to be a blowout for the home side, Iowa was given some life late in the first period. Sams Anas made it a 2-1 game with 45 seconds left on the clock, converting a breakaway on Moose goalie Eric Comrie for his 14th of the year. The power-play marker was just the third shot for the Wild in the game. Iowa appeared to carry the momentum from the goal into the second period, with Comrie needing to come up big on a number of chances in close. The tide would turn back in favour of Manitoba, which made it 3-1 when Michael Spacek threaded a pass on a 2-on-1 to Francis Beauvillier. Beauvillier made no mistake on the breakaway, hitting twine with a short on his forehand for his first of the season. Up 3-1, and the Moose once again seemingly in the clear, the Wild got within reach with another late-period goal. On one of a few defensive lapses for Manitoba on the night, Zack Mitchell found himself an open lane to the net from the red line. With plenty of time to contemplate his options, Mitchell flashed some creative stick work before beating Comrie with a cheeky shot to the five-hole. Suddenly, it was 3-2 for the Moose heading into the third period, despite Manitoba doubling the Wild in shots through 40 minutes, 24-12. The Moose carried much of the play in the third, limiting the Wild to just two shots until late in the period when Iowa was sent on another power play. The visitors would create a scare with a couple quality chances, but Comrie settled the game down by making some big saves. The Moose finished 6-for-7 on the penalty kill — and 2-for-6 on the PP — and Comrie ended the night with 18 saves, as the Moose outshot the Wild, 36-20. Svedberg capped his night with 33 saves in the loss. Manitoba now has five days off. Winnipeg Sun http://winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets/jets-return-trio-to-moose Jets return trio to Moose By Ken Wiebe With the Winnipeg Jets starting the mandatory five-day break laid out in the collective bargaining agreement, a trio of players were reassigned to the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League on Sunday. Forward Jack Roslovic spent the past four games with the Jets and is taking strides in his quest to become an NHL regular. During this recent stint, Roslovic averaged 10:19 of ice time while recording six shots on goal and no points. Although injured forwards Adam Lowry and Brandon Tanev are close to returning to the lineup, Roslovic is a candidate to be called back up by the Jets later this week. Left-winger Brendan Lemieux suited up in Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild, taking 13 shifts for 9:07 of ice time, recording one hit in what was his eighth NHL game. Goalie Michael Hutchinson served as the backup to Connor Hellebucyk during the past two games but didn’t see any action. However, with the status of goalie Steve Mason up in the air, Hutchinson could be back in the NHL before long. The Jets, who are 26-13-7 and coming off consecutive losses to Central Division opponents, will return to the ice on Friday and face the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Jan. 20. The Moose are in the midst of a six-game homestand. The Hockey News http://www.thehockeynews.com/news/article/five-rookies-who-could-crowd-the-calder-picture-in- the-second-half Five rookies who could crowd the Calder picture in the second half By: Jared Clinton Brock Boeser and Mathew Barzal were the mid-season favorites for the Calder Trophy, but they won't be able to run away with the end-of-season hardware if these five rookies have their say.

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