WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Forward C.J. Suess scored 1:32 into overtime to give the Moose a 4-3 victory over the Wolves on Sunday afternoon at Bell MTS Place.
Center Patrick Brown and defenseman Jake Bischoff scored short-handed goals 35 seconds apart in the second period, and rookie forward Lucas Elvenes also scored for the Wolves (26-25-5-2), who led 3-1 midway through the game.
Seth Griffith scored one goal and assisted on the other three for the Moose (26-32-1-0), who won back-to-back games against the Wolves.
The standings point moved the Wolves into a three-way tie with the Griffins and IceHogs for fourth place in the Central Division at 59 points. The Rampage are third with 60 points, the Wild are second with 78 and the Admirals lead the division — and the AHL — with 84.
Griffith, the Moose’s leading scorer, gave his team a 1-0 lead 7:32 into the game. He skipped a wrister past goalie Garret Sparks while Suess hovered over Sparks at the edge of the crease.
The Wolves pulled even with 40 seconds left in the first as Brown’s persistent forecheck forced a turnover. Defenseman Brayden Pachal claimed the Moose’s errant pass at the right point and winged a wrister toward the goal that Elvenes redirected past goalie Eric Comrie.
The Wolves made their move offensively immediately after Pachal was sent to the box for interference. Brown scored his second short-handed goal of the season at 8:56 of the second as he and Curtis McKenzie outbattled four Moose players. McKenzie claimed the puck behind the net, then found Brown open just outside the crease to make it 2-1.
Thirty-five seconds later, the Wolves enjoyed an odd-man rush, and forward Tye McGinn set up Bischoff for a wrister from the left circle to push the lead to 3-1.
Six seconds after the Wolves killed a power play, the Moose’s Kristian Vesalainen fired a one-timer from the right faceoff dot to slice the margin to 3-2.
The Moose took advantage of a four-on-three power play to knot the game at 8:40. Griffith set up defenseman Leon Gawanke for a one-time blast from the left circle.
Comrie stopped 16 shots, while Sparks rejected 26.
The Wolves open a six-game homestand Thursday against the Roadrunners.
