WINNIPEG - Scoring a shootout winner is a fairly tough task on its own, but Tanya Morgan did one better for the Calgary Dinos on Friday night, scoring twice in the penalty-shot challenge to help her team take three points over the host Manitoba Bisons.
BOX SCORE
Before the official game began on Friday, both teams had unfinished business to settle, as they aimed to complete a game from November 14th.
The aforementioned match ended in controversial fashion when a Bisons goal in the shootout was allowed that should not have counted. A Calgary protest was upheld by Canada West, thus calling for a re-do of the shootout period, which the Dinos took care of on Friday night.
Coming in as the sixth official shooter for Calgary, Morgan converted on Tara Lacquette, trickling a shot over the line. Manitoba could not answer, giving Calgary the official November 14th victory.
Shortly thereafter, the puck was dropped for the regularly scheduled match, which fittingly went the distance as well.
Both teams came out fighting, as the Dinos were aggressively looking to pick up their second consecutive victory. Likewise, the Bisons were looking to immediately avenge their loss.
Manitoba would get the first opportunity to put one up early on, after the Dinos' Shannon Davidson would sit for two for roughing after the whistle. The Bisons couldn't convert on the power play however, and soon found themselves serving time in the sin bin which would ultimately lead to a wrap-around power play goal by Rebecca Niehaus to put Calgary up 1-0.
The Dinos would serve two more penalties before the end of the first, but Manitoba just couldn't seem to get their special teams working, going 0/3 on the power play as the first period drew to a close.
Manitoba continued to drive their power play conversion numbers into the ground all throughout the second period, as Calgary would take penalty after penalty with no response from the Bisons. The Herd went to 0/7 on the power play before Shannon Davidson would take a body checking penalty late in the period, allowing Caitlin MacDonald to finally get Manitoba on the board with a terrific backhand shot that soared into Calgary's open net with less than a minute on the clock, ungluing the crowd and tying the game at 1-1.
The Dinos growing list of penalties would get bigger still before the end of the second, as Casey Irving would sit for two off an interference call, with 35 seconds left in the period. With the Bisons currently 1/8 on the power play, they would be looking to pick up a quick goal to kick off the third.
Calgary's penalty expired with no change in score to kick off the third period, as the two teams got set to go to war for another 20. The Dinos had barely found themselves out of the box before they were right back in again, this time for roughing. This gave Manitoba their tenth power play of the game, but as the story of the game would attest, they once again couldn't find the back of the net.
With neither team keen on shouldering the stress of two shootouts in one evening, the pace took a furious spike in the waning moments of the match. In what looked like it could be a game-ender, Calgary would sit for two yet again with 51 seconds left to play; a power play opportunity Manitoba would be well-advised to convert upon. It was not to be however, as the sound of the buzzer notified a ten minute overtime period, and a(nother) shootout if necessary.
The Bisons couldn't get the winner starting the overtime period with a 4-on-3 advantage, but they would get another two full minutes of it moments later as the Dinos picked up their 12th penalty of the game. Manitoba got multiple shots on net, but couldn't find a goal as Calgary returned to full-strength.
The back-and-forth action would continue until, with 1:35 left in overtime, the Dinos would be penalized for hooking. With 23 seconds left in the overtime period, Calgary's Melissa Zubick would turtle on top of the puck, netting one more penalty for her team. But there was too little time left to get it done, and, amazingly, the game would be decided in a second consecutive shootout.
In a feat that will most likely never happen again for the third year forward, Calgary's Morgan got her second shootout winner of the night with a missile past Tara Lacquette. Her second clincher of the night marks the three point night for the Dinos, who now can clinch a home-playoff date with one point on Saturday night against the Bisons.
The two teams will face off once again tomorrow evening, Saturday, February 5 at the Max Bell Centre, puck drop at 7 p.m. CT.
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