HOGS FORCE OT BUT PETAN NETS WINNER FOR MOOSE

ROCKFORD, Ill. – Luke Johnson forced overtime with 1:58 remaining in the third period, but Nic Petan chipped the game-winning goal past Collin Delia 1:54 into overtime to propel the Manitoba Moose to a 4-3 victory over the Rockford IceHogs at the BMO Harris Bank Center Friday night. The teams treated a crowd of 4,199 to four different lead changes in a back-and-forth affair.

After Brendan Lemieux’s go-ahead goal put the Moose ahead midway through the third period, Johnson streaked down the wing and snuck home the equalizer to force extra time. The forward beat Manitoba’s Eric Comrie with a quick shot between the goaltender’s arm and body.

Both teams traded chances early in OT before Petan struck with the deciding goal. An errant Moose pass gave Tanner Kero a breakaway opportunity, but his missed chance sprung Petan in the other direction for the game-winner.

Including the markers by Lemieux and Johnson, each team scored in each period during the contest. Manitoba opened the scoring 13:06 into the opening stanza as Patrice Cormier wired home his 18^th goal of the year. Four minutes later, Anthony Louis blasted a shot from the right faceoff circle to knot the score at one.

Rockford then took the lead 4:04 into the middle frame with Tyler Sikura depositing a rebound for his 13^th goal of the season, but Jan Kostalek rifled a tying tally from the blue line 11 minutes later.

Delia stopped a professional career-high 46 of 50 shots and remains unbeaten in regulation time in his last seven starts. He has posted a 5-0-1-1 and a .926 save percentage in that span.

Comrie turned aside 36 of 39 pucks at the other end for his third straight win between the pipes.