AHL Game Recap: Laval Rocket at Manitoba Moose (10/10/2025)

Brayden Yager made his presence felt in his first home game as a pro, scoring his first professional goal as the Manitoba Moose opened their 2025-26 season with a 4-1 win at home.

Ashton Sautner’s pass up the ice to Colby Barlow along the wall forced the Rocket defender to challenge Barlow. He passed the puck up to Yager, who caught both Rocket defenseman out of position, to beat Laval’s goaltender, Cam Fowler, high glove side for the 1-0 lead.

If Winnipeggers want a good look into who could be scoring many goals for the Jets in the not-too-distant future, Yager’s opening goal was a strong look into just what that might look like.

Confidence is key for the youngsters down in Manitoba, and they capitalized on doing just that by adding another goal 11 minutes later.

Kevin Conley, a second-year forward in Manitoba, potted his first of the season as he blazed into the Rocket’s zone and rifled a shot from the point that beat Fowler high blocker side to make it a 2-0 game.

The Moose finished up the first period with a 2-0 lead, and even when they fell back into old habits, they remained in the lead due to DiVincentiis’ big saves. DiVincentiis ended the first period, stopping all 11 shots he faced.

Manitoba got a couple of cracks at the power play, but Laval shifted momentum a little bit by killing off both penalties.

In between Laval’s penalty kills, they got a chance to get back into the game as Tyrel Bauer was hauled off for roughing.

A couple of bad bounces ended DiVincentiis’ shutout bid as Joshua Roy beat him low to make it a 2-1 game.

Laval continued to pounce as they had significant puck possession in Manitoba’s zone, but couldn’t figure out DiVincentiis to tie the game.

Later in the frame, Walker Duehr found the puck on his stick as he jetted up the right wing. His nice fake beat Fowler, but the puck hit the post and bounced off Fowler’s back to restore the two-goal lead.

Heading into the third period, both teams were tied with 23 shots each, but Manitoba had the 3-1 edge and momentum in their favour.

The Moose were limited throughout the first half of the third period as Laval kept them at bay defensively. Elias Salomonsson finally recorded the first shot on goal 8:07 into the third, and with an offensive zone face-off, Manitoba looked to regroup and get back up to their first-period form.

Just when it looked like the Moose were going to have a quieter finish to the game, Danny Zhilkin struck to score his first of the 2025-26 season. Zhilkin’s goal was an interesting one for sure, but a goal is a goal. After bobbling the puck off a defender’s stick and five-hole through Fowler, Zhilkin enjoyed the first goal of his 2025-26 season.

The 4-1 score would hold throughout the remainder of the game, and the Manitoba Moose would start their 2025-26 campaign on a high note, improving to a 1-0-0-0 record. Domenic DiVincentiis stopped 36 of 37 shots faced, and Danny Zhilkin was the lone Moose to record a multi-point game with two points (1G, 1A).