Since it's Monday, let's have a little quiz.
The Peoria Rivermen were outshooting the Manitoba Moose 20-1 with 13 minutes remaining in the second period yesterday afternoon at MTS Centre.
Who went on to win?
If you said Peoria, you would be wrong.
Moose netminder Drew MacIntyre stopped all 33 shots he faced to single-handedly guide Manitoba to a 3-0 win over Peoria in front of 7,539 spectators.
The Moose mustered only 12 shots, but got two of them past Rivermen netminder Chris Beckford-Tseu and added an empty-netter to sweep the two-game homestand against Peoria and get back to .500 at 12-12-3-2.
The Moose leave today for a four-game swing through Texas -- thanks to MacIntyre on a positive note.
"I was putting a little too much pressure on myself to win at the start of the year. I can't control that," MacIntyre said. "All I can worry about is the next shot. I kind of changed my mentality a little the last couple games, and felt a lot better."
It's a good thing MacIntyre is mentally strong these days, because it was him against the Rivermen in the first period while his teammates basically watched. Peoria outshot Manitoba 16-1 in the opening 20 minutes, but it was 0-0 going into the second.
MacIntyre's highlight-reel stop was a cross-crease, sliding save on David Backes late in the frame.
Peoria pushed its shot advantage to 20-1 early in the middle stanza, but Manitoba's Jason Jaffray buried a Brad Moran feed on a two-man advantage at 7:46.
It was only Manitoba's second shot of the game, yet they had a 1-0 lead.
Nathan Smith, who returned after missing six games due to a foot injury, potted his sixth of the season eight minutes into the third on another pass from Moran, and J.J. Hunter fed the empty net with four seconds left.
Who said you need shots to win a hockey game?
"He definitely got the two points for us tonight," said Jaffray, who has a team-leading 16 goals. "We came in at the end of the second period and we said 'We gotta win this one for this kid.' I mean, holy man. He's standing on his head and making stop after stop."
Moose coach Scott Arniel didn't rip his skaters too much, though. He noted the bulk of Peoria's shots were from the perimeter, while most of Manitoba's were solid scoring chances.
"Sometimes you just gotta capitalize on what you do get," Arniel said.
