HAMILTON — It’s no secret the Manitoba Moose are looking for little extras from everybody after falling behind 2-0 to the Hamilton Bulldogs in the AHL North Division final.
Moose centre Nathan Smith, just back from a three-week stay with the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks but pointless in this series, said this morning he’s focused on being part of that trend.
Smith, 25, is in a slightly different situation than some of his teammates.
After four playoff appearances for the Canucks before they were bounced from the Stanley Cup tournament, he’s had to scramble to get back into the groove with his Moose teammates.
“Well, the positives are that I was playing at the highest level in the world,” Smith said after this morning’s skate at Copps Coliseum. Game 3 goes tonight at 6:30 p.m. CT (CJOB, MTS-TV). “The pace is higher and the players quicker and you are always ready for everything because they happen fast.
“The negative, of course, is I wasn’t playing in the same situations as I was here, power plays, four-on-four. So sometimes when you don’t do something for a length of time, well, you don’t necessarily forget how to do it but it takes a bit to get back to being at the right spot or doing the right thing at the right time.
“It’s like when you’re injured and you come back. You can practise and work out all you want but when you’re ready to come back, you’re still not in game shape.”
Smith, however, tendered no excuses in this morning’s conversation.
“I felt pretty good the first couple of games in the series,” he said.
Analyzing his adjustment, he added, was not something he’s spent a lot of time doing.
“My goal is to play as well as I can,” he said. “Even talking about it, it really seems like it’s just picking everything apart. I don’t do those kinds of things, normally. I just go out and try to play as well as I possibly can.
“If something was off, Arnie (Moose coach Scott Arniel) would be talking to me about it.”
Generally, Arniel has talked to his team about improving on its scoring chances for tonight’s game. Not that he thinks they could do a whole lot better in terms of their numbers — Manitoba had 43 shots in Game 2’s 3-2 loss — but he said after examining video, there are ways in which the Moose could improve their chances of scoring more.
“They’re offensive things, because we have no five-on-five goals in this series yet,” he said.
Arniel will have Wade Flaherty dressed as the back-up goalie tonight, but Drew MacIntyre will be the Moose starter, without a doubt.
It’s the first time Flaherty has been available for game action since injuring his knee on March 16.
tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca
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