WINNIPEG, MB – Usually, when the Manitoba Moose score the final two goals of a hockey game, they win.

That didn’t happen on Wednesday night.

Cameron Schilling and Brody Sutter scored the final two goals of the game against the Rockford IceHogs in front of 4,204 at Bell MTS Place, but all it did was turn a 4-1 Rockford lead into a 4-3 Rockford victory.

It was a tough one for the Moose who have now lost three straight – and three straight at home – as they try to get to their winning ways during an eight-game homestand. With the Moose loss and Chicago’s 3-1 win over Iowa on Wednesday night, the Moose are now 39-22-4-4 on the season, just one point ahead of the second-place Wolves in the American Association’s Central Division. The Wolves also have a game in hand.

Chase De Leo opened the scoring at 8:51 of the first period with his 11th of the season from Kirill Gotovets and Cam Maclise, but Rockford then scored four straight goals – Tyler Sikura on the power play, Tanner Kero, Adam Clendinning and Chris DiDomenico. That gave the IceHogs a 4-1 lead by the 4:31 mark of the second period.

Schilling scored at 18:31 of the second to make 4-2 after 40 minutes and then Sutter scored the only goal of the third to make it a 4-3 final.

Once again, special teams had a lot to do with the outcome The Moose went zero-for-two on the power play while the IceHogs were one-for-six. That’s a lot of time shorthanded for the Moose.

Rockford outshot Manitoba 28-24. Jeff Glass made 21 saves for Rockford while Michael Hutchinson made 24 stops in the Moose net.

The Moose have four more at home and then will finish the AHL schedule on the road at Cleveland and Chicago. The Moose play again on Friday night at 7 p.m. at Bell MTS Place against Adam Brooks, Calvin Pickard and the high-flying, playoff-bound Toronto Marlies, the No. 1 team in the AHL.

Photos by James Carey Lauder