The Manitoba Moose opened their 2025-26 season this past weekend with a pair of matchups against the Laval Rocket at Canada Life Centre.

The Moose started strong Friday night, defeating Laval 4-1 to earn a 1-0-0-0 record to begin the campaign. Brayden Yager, making his professional debut, scored his first goal after sniping a shot past Rocket goaltender Jacob Fowler. The play developed off a clean passing sequence from Ashton Sautner to Colby Barlow, who fed Yager cutting down the middle, and the rookie made no mistake burying it.

Kevin Conley added another marker with just over six minutes left in the frame, giving the Moose a 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission.

Just over 12 minutes into the second period, Joshua Roy got Laval on the board with a power-play goal. The Moose quickly responded, as Walker Duehr tallied his first goal in a Moose sweater to restore the two-goal cushion.

Danny Zhilkin later extended the lead to 4-1 in the third, while goaltender Domenic DiVincentiis shut the door the rest of the way, finishing with 36 saves in the victory.

“We’ll enjoy the night. Tomorrow we have to get back on the ice and get back to work and make sure that we’re ready to go and well rested for two o’clock on Sunday,” DiVincentiis said postgame.

Fast forward to Sunday, the Moose aimed to sweep the weekend series against the Montreal Canadiens’ AHL affiliate. Laval struck first, with Laurent Dauphin opening the scoring in the first period.

The Rocket added two more in the second, courtesy of Roy and Sean Farrell, to make it 3-0.

Things began to slip away when Owen Beck extended the lead to 4-0 early in the third. But the Moose showed some pushback, as David Gustafsson scored twice in the final 11 minutes to make it 4-2. Laval sealed the win with Roy’s empty-net goal, completing his three-goal weekend and securing a 5-2 final.

The Moose wrapped up their opening weekend with a 1-1-0-0 record. They now head on the road for a back-to-back series against the Grand Rapids Griffins on Friday and Saturday.