Moose get stronger as series gets longer

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/04/2010 (5707 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

We know this for sure as the AHL’s North Division semifinal series heads back to Hamilton for Game 6 on Sunday night.

The underdog in the series has gotten better as it’s progressed.

The Moose were a tactical and confident mess for Games 1 and 2 at Copps Coliseum.

Generated little, scored about as much.

An embarrassing 8-2 defeat in Game 2 seems to have shocked them onto the right track.

If Friday night’s 5-2 win at the MTS Centre, bringing the series to 3-2 for favoured Hamilton, is any indication, things will get even more interesting before one team moves on to the second round.

The genesis of this toehold the Moose have gained came, quite obviously, in Monday’s Game 3 here.

The platitudes were flying from the Bulldogs about how the Moose would come back with their best effort once they got to Winnipeg.

But platitudes don’t score power-play goals or make key defensive plays, and they’re no basis for inspirational speeches.

Besides, the Moose didn’t have much time between last Saturday and Monday to listen to patronizing comments. They were too busy figuring out their strategy tweaks and how to eliminate errors.

Cutting back on dumb penalties was a good start, and a power play that wasn’t much to look at all season long caught fire at just the right time for four goals.

If you’re trying to put doubt in an opponent, a wicked power play will usually do the trick. Just ask the Vancouver Canucks.

Of course, that didn’t earn the Moose anything except moving to the brink of elimination on Wednesday, largely because this franchise just can’t seem to win an overtime game lately.

There was little wrong with the Moose effort and performance in Game 4’s 5-4 double-overtime loss, aside from not shooting enough in the extra time.

It just proved Game 3’s point, just in a different way.

"I think we’ve showed in the last two games, not only can we beat them, but we can hang with them pretty good in any game," Moose right-winger Guillaume Desbiens said Friday morning, before scoring twice to help the Moose gain victory in the evening. "Last game was ours to win and I think we blew it, and as bad as it may sound, it proves to us that we’ve done some things right and we just have to adjust those little mistakes."

It went true to that form again Friday. The Moose got in their power-play conversion. That they got it early provided some confidence that got them through some rough shifts later in the first and early in the second.

But they played pretty well with their heads, rode Cory Schneider’s normal goaltending and were rewarded as they picked up their skating as the second period wore on.

They received almost nothing in the way of breaks from the officiating crew last night. but didn’t panic. Eventually, they caught Hamilton cheating as they pressed to tie the game, and put it away with a pair of late goals.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca