ROSEMONT, Ill.---The Chicago Wolves and Manitoba Moose battled through 65 minutes of scoreless hockey before a shootout cracked the tie to give the Manitoba Moose a 1-0 win in Head Coach Don Lever's debut at the Allstate Arena Friday night.
Right wing Tim Stapleton tallied the only goal for Chicago (1-5-0-1) in the shootout, while Mike Keane and Matt Pettinger dented the net to give Manitoba the win.
"We have a lot of work to do, but at least we competed hard," said Lever. "Manny was great in net, and Cheli was fabulous. He was beating those young kids up the ice a couple of times."
Chris Chelios led a Chicago defense that held the Moose scoreless through regulation and overtime in his Wolves debut. Prior to Friday's 1-0 battle, Chicago had allowed 13 goals in its previous three outings.
"It was a good team effort but in the end we came up a little short," Chelios said. "I thought we played pretty well defensively and for the most part played a pretty good game."
Netminders Manny Legace (1-1-1) and Cory Schneider (6-3-0) held fast between the pipes in what would come down to a duel of the goaltenders, with neither team able to crack the scoreboard during regulation or overtime.
Legace kicked out 30 Moose shots for Chicago, while Schneider thwarted 24 shots for Manitoba (7-4-0-0).
The Wolves welcome the Abbotsford Head to the Allstate Arena on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Manitoba 0 0 0 0 (1) -- 1 SO
Chicago 0 0 0 0 -- 0
First Period---None. Penalties---Pettinger, Manitoba (goaltender interference), 6:48; McIver, Manitoba (interference), 9:24; Kulda, Chicago (hooking), 20:00.
Second Period---None. Penalties---McCarthy, Chicago (holding), 9:20; Kaip, Chicago (cross-checking), 13:57; Anderson, Chicago (holding), 19:18.
Third Period---None. Penalties---Lewis, Chicago (holding), 5:38; Labrie, Manitoba (intereference), 8:20.
Overtime---None. Penalties---None.
Shootout---Manitoba: Pope, miss; Shirokov, miss; Keane, made; Desbiens, miss; Pettinger, made. Chicago: Doell, miss; Krog, miss; Stapleton, made; Kozek, miss; Pohl, miss.
Shots on goal---Manitoba: 5-9-13-3--30. Chicago: 11-6-3-4--24. Power plays---Manitoba: 0-5. Chicago: 0-3. Goalies---Manitoba, Schneider (22-22). Chicago, Legace (30-31). A---5,023. Referee---Nygel Pelletier. Linesmen---Brian Oliver and Dan Dineen.
