Former Phantoms goaltender Maxime Ouellet made 31 saves and Jozef Balej scored his 12th goal of the season to lead Manitoba to a 3-1 win over Philadelphia at the Wachovia Spectrum in a Wednesday matinee.
Meanwhile in Bridgeport, rookie Eric Fehr scored twice in the third period as Hershey recorded a 4-1 victory over the Sound Tigers in another morning start.
With their win, the Moose temporarily moved into first place in the North Division, one point ahead of Grand Rapids. They fell back to second after the Griffins’ win over Hamilton later Wednesday night.
The Bears’ victory puts them seven points behind Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for the lead in the East Division.
Ouellet, who began the season with Hershey before being acquired by the Vancouver Canucks and assigned to Manitoba last week, stopped 11 shots in the first period, 11 more in the second and 10 in the third. He is 2-0-0 in his two starts with the Moose, stopping 55 of 57 shots altogether.
Jason Jaffray recorded a goal and an assist for Manitoba.
Pat Kavanagh, who spent three seasons with the Moose from 2001-04, scored his team-leading 12th goal of the season for the Phantoms.
Lawrence Nycholat and Joey Tenute each had a goal and an assist and Frederic Cassivi made 29 saves for the Bears in their win, as Hershey improved to 15-4-2-4 on the season.
GRAND RAPIDS 4, HAMILTON 3
Kent McDonell scored early in the third period to lift Grand Rapids to a 4-3 win over visiting Hamilton.
Donald MacLean scored twice and Nate DiCasmirro added a goal and an assist for the Griffins, who maintained control of first place in the North Division.
Marc-Antoine Pouliot had a goal and an assist for the Bulldogs, who were outshot 41-17 for the game.
SPRINGFIELD 3, LOWELL 0
Gerald Coleman made 33 saves as Springfield posted a 3-0 win in Lowell.
The Falcons, who had not recorded a shutout since Feb. 6, 2004, have gotten two from Coleman in the last five days.
It was an all-around effort for Springfield, which saw nine different players record a point and 14 receive at least a plus-1 rating.
Kevin Nastiuk made 30 saves in defeat for the Lock Monsters.
NORFOLK 4, ALBANY 3
Nathan Barrett and James Wisniewski had a goal and an assist each to lead Norfolk to a 4-3 win over visiting Albany.
Michal Barinka and Martin St. Pierre also scored for the Admirals, Mark Cullen recorded three assists and Adam Munro made 17 saves.
Frank Doyle stopped 33 shots for the River Rats.
OMAHA 3, PEORIA 2
Carsen Germyn‘s goal 7:08 into the third period gave Omaha a 3-2 victory over Peoria at Carver Arena.
The Knights improved to 7-1-0-2 in their last 10 games, and moved to within two points of the Rivermen for second place in the West Division.
Cam Severson scored twice for Omaha and Curtis McElhinney made 34 saves.
Jon DiSalvatore and Trent Whitfield had a goal and an assist apiece for Peoria.
