Cole Kehler made his Manitoba Moose debut Thursday night at Bell MTS Iceplex in Winnipeg.

Kehler stopped eight of the 10 shots he faced in the final 40 minutes as Manitoba defeated the Belleville Senators 8-5.

The 23-year-old Altona product got the nod from Moose head coach Pascal Vincent and replaced starter Mikhail Berdin to begin the second period.

The Winnipeg Jets sixth round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft had allowed three goals in the opening period.

Kehler, who allowed second period goals by Egor Sokolov and Angus Crookshank, faced just three shots in the final frame.

"You get the opportunity to go in the game and you know, it’s exciting," said Kehler when asked about his first American Hockey League win. "It’s something that, we all want to compete, we all want to play and obviously, I think it’s been over 13 months now since I’ve had privilege. It was just fun to be back out there and get a feel for the game and a feel for the pace out there and kind of feel that compete level again. It was awesome. You can’t really ask for a much better effort out of the guys in front of me. They really locked it down and made my job really simple out there. It was an awesome feeling."

Kehler's last game prior to Thursday night was March 6th, 2020 when he made 33 saves for the ECHL's Fort Wayne Komets in a 3-0 loss to the Cincinnati Cyclone at the Heritage Bank Center in Cincinnati.

 
photo courtesy Jonathan Kozub/Manitoba Moose