Winnipeg Sun
Sunday, December 2, 2001
By Ken Wiebe -- Winnipeg Sun

SAINT JOHN, N.B. -- Brad Leeb may be the one sporting a shiner, but he was delivering the punishing blows last night.

And they came from his trusty shot, rather than his fists.

Leeb, who was openly perturbed in the series opener and engaged in a fight with Burke Henry, notched two goals -- including the game-winner -- as the Manitoba Moose came through with a 3-2 victory over the Saint John Flames before 4,679 at Harbour Station to cap a weekend sweep.

STEP UP PLAY

"I can't think of any reason why, but whenever the game is on the line you want to step up your play," said Leeb, who has three game winners on the season. "Sometimes, those game-winners are luck, I've been fortunate."

Manitoba (12-8-0-2) continues their seven-game road trip in Quebec City with contests tomorrow and Wednesday at the Pepsi Colisee against the Citadelles.

The triumph extends Manitoba's winning streak to four, tying their season-high, and evens their road record at 5-5.

It was the first time this season that the Moose posted consecutive victories away from home.

"We talk about so much and a lot of times when you talk about it so much, you don't go out there and do it," said Moose head coach Stan Smyl. "But we did something about it, which is nice to see. It shows the depth we have on our team."

Leeb converted a pretty one-handed pass from Andre Savage for a short-handed goal at 3:54 of the second period to give the Moose their first lead of the contest and added the game-winner 3:37 later by roofing a wrist shot to the glove side on an odd-man rush.

It was the seventh short-handed marker of the season for Manitoba, who trail only the Manchester Monarchs (eight) in that category.

"Short-handed goals always give you a boost, that gave us some jump and proved to be a good momentum change," said Leeb, who was up with the Vancouver Canucks twice during the past two weeks. "We are fairly aggressive on our penalty kill, we have a lot of skilled guys that can turn the puck over and work the transition game. That was working tonight."

The Flames (6-9-5-1) are now winless in six and have scored two or fewer goals in each of those games.

The first period of the game featured a furious pace, plenty of bone-jarring hits and an abundance of intensity.

Skilled centre Blair Betts opened the scoring for Saint John at 2:21, but right-winger Justin Morrison -- who was a healthy scratch one night earlier -- replied for Manitoba with a beautiful tip-in at 8:59.

Moose left-winger Jimmy Roy gained the blue-line with speed, put on the brakes and slid the puck across to defenceman Regan Darby, who found Morrison all alone in front for the nifty redirection.

Forward Jason Morgan blasted home a one-timer home at 3:11 of the third, but that was as close as the Flames would come.

Moose tracks: Moose centre Josh Holden sat out last night with a forearm injury he suffered in Friday's game with the Flames. Last night marked the sixth of eight meetings between the two clubs, who will not meet again until March 17 at Winnipeg Arena.



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