Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
It’s been seemingly one test after another for the Manitoba Moose of late.
Go back to Mar. 11. The Moose held the Central Division’s third-place spot, two points ahead of fourth-place Texas. In the Central, third means a bye into the division semifinals, fourth means an unpredictable first-round series.
Manitoba finished the season 8-10-0-2 in their last 20 games. They were overtaken by the Stars and had to take on Milwaukee in a best-of-three last week.
Then they dropped Game 1 to the Admirals, 4-1. And Game 2 was tied late, effectively putting the Moose one goal away from elimination.
But David Gustafsson’s goal with 42.6 seconds left in regulation gave them a chance – and nothing more than that – to try to save their season again in Game 3.
And on Sunday, the Moose did not stumble. Walker Duehr got them a first-period goal, Samuel Fagemo added another tally in the second period and then they held on for a 2-1 win to knock out the Admirals. Second-year goaltender Domenic DiVincentiis, who had stepped in for AHL All-Star Thomas Milic after Game 1, turned in 31 saves.
Now it gets even tougher.
Next on the list are the Grand Rapids Griffins, who fashioned a breathtaking 29-1-1-1 record through the opening three months of the regular season, who established and challenged league records throughout the season, and who have had nearly two weeks to heal up and fine-tune.
Game 1 of the teams’ Central Division semifinal series is Saturday afternoon in Winnipeg.
The Griffins inflicted part of the Moose’s late-season pain during a two-game trip to town April 3-4, in which they outscored Manitoba 13-5 in a pair of wins. And no matter what, to take this series the Moose will have to win at least once at Van Andel Arena, where they dropped three of their four visits this season.
With the Winnipeg Jets’ season over, these Moose will have the full attention of the parent team’s management, and it comes at a challenging time for the organization as well. After winning the President’s Trophy last season as the NHL’s top regular-season team, the Jets stumbled badly this winter, missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs for only the second time since 2017.
And that means considerable pressure for the Jets going into the offseason. Through the years, the franchise has relied heavily on developing high-end talent at the AHL level. Forwards Kyle Connor, Adam Lowry, Cole Perfetti and Mark Scheifele all came through the AHL as Winnipeg prospects. So did defensemen Josh Morrissey, Elias Salomonsson and Dylan Samberg. Of course, Olympic gold-medalist, three-time Vezina Trophy winner and former AHL All-Star Connor Hellebuyck leads the way in net.
So the Jets know what the AHL can mean for an NHL organization. Something that could assuage some of that pain at the NHL level this season would be a strong postseason performance for the Moose, especially if the prospects drive some considerable portion of that success. The Moose have first-round picks Colby Barlow (18th overall in 2023), Brad Lambert (30th in 2022) and Brayden Yager (14th in 2023) on hand for the Calder Cup Playoffs. Defenseman Garrett Brown, a 2022 fourth-round pick who won his second national title at the University of Denver, is also an option for head coach Mark Morrison on the blue line.
However, two more obstacles came the Moose’s way this week, as Morrison revealed that Salomonsson and forward Nikita Chibrikov will both miss the playoffs following surgeries.
An extremely difficult task is ahead of the Moose – albeit it a quite straightforward one.
“We’re going to have to defend better than we’ve ever defended,” Morrison said. “We know what our game plan is.”
And as far as the extra scrutiny with the NHL team brass giving their full attention to the Moose, Morrison thinks it will bring out the best in his club.
“They even practice harder because those guys are here,” he said.
“That’s what it’s all about, right? Showing up under high-pressure situations and playoff games.”
