De Leo scores hat trick but Moose fall to Admirals

By: Chris White | Published: December 19th 2015

It was a shootout.

Not the kind of shootout after overtime but the Moose and Admirals had an offence explosion at the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Saturday night.

In their four previous meetings the two teams averaged a combined 5.5 goals per game. Tonight there were 12 total goals scored, only problem being that in the end the Admirals had a couple more than the Moose.

The game featured two lead changes along with the Moose battling back to tie the game on four different occasions, but a go-ahead Milwaukee goal with just 33 seconds remaining in the third period was the back breaker. Milwaukee added an empty netter to seal a 7-5 win.

The Moose showed a ton of determination in this game led by Chase De Leo who recorded his first career AHL hat trick. De Leo now finds himself 11th in AHL rookie scoring with seven goals and nine assists for 16 points in 26 games.

Nic Petan also had a three point game with three assists. Since being assigned to the Moose, Petan has played 13 games and is averaging 0.77 points per game, which is the highest of any player on Manitoba with at least 10 games played.

The only player with a high points per game average for the Moose is Adam Lowry.

Lowry recorded an assist in his third consecutive game for Manitoba since joining the team this past Wednesday from the Winnipeg Jets.

The Moose also had multi-point games from Ryan Olsen (1G, 1A) and Austen Brassard (1G, 1A). For Olsen it was his third goal in his last four games as he continues his hot streak.

Manitoba scored a powerplay goal for the third consecutive game going 1/2 with the man advantage.

Eric Comrie made 24 saves as the Moose were outshot 31-27.

Despite the loss the Moose still hold a 3-1-0-1 advantage in the season series against the Admirals. The two teams will meet again on Feb. 20 in Milwaukee.

The Moose will travel to play the Chicago Wolves on Monday, Dec. 21 in their final game before the holiday break.

The next Moose home games will be on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day when they host the Iowa Wild at the MTS Centre.

Photo courtesy: Scott Paulus/Milwaukee Admirals