Powerhouse Griffins put Moose down

The effort was certainly there. The execution? Not nearly enough.

And now the end has arrived for the Manitoba Moose, who were eliminated by the Grand Rapids Griffins on Friday night with a 5-2 loss.

“It stings,” veteran defenceman Ashton Sautner said during a post-game Zoom call from outside the visiting locker room at Van Andel Arena.

“I’m very proud of this group. We’ve been through a lot this year. It didn’t matter whether we were going through highs or lows, this group of guys is special. It definitely made it a lot of fun to come to the rink. It’s not easy losing.”

Moose ready for Game 4 showdown against Griffins

Head coach Mark Morrison didn’t go out and name names, and that was clearly by design.

But in the moments after the Manitoba Moose had been pushed to the brink of elimination after a 4-2 loss in Game 3 to the Grand Rapids Griffins, Morrison made it clear he was going to need a little more from a number of players in order to prevent this season from coming to a close.

“They’ve got a real solid D corps back there and we’ve got a couple of lines that are forcing them into turnovers and we need the other two lines to do the same thing,” Morrison said via Zoom from Michigan. “If we can have four lines forcing them, obviously we can tire them out. But we need a couple of lines with a little bit heavier forecheck.”

The Moose trail the Griffins two games to one in this best-of-five Central Division semifinal going into Friday’s elimination game at Van Andel Arena, with puck drop set for just after 6 p.m. CT.

Moose look to punch back on the road in Grand Rapids

The Manitoba Moose recognize they can’t afford to get in a track meet with the Grand Rapids Griffins in order to advance in the Calder Cup playoffs.

So, as this best-of-five series — which is tied 1-1 — resumes on Wednesday at Van Andel Arena, the Moose will be trying to thread the needle between finding a way to generate more offence while not sacrificing anything defensively.

These two teams have combined for just three goals through two games, with each team pitching a shutout so far — 1-0 for the Moose on Saturday and 2-0 for the Griffins on Sunday.

Two of the three goals have come on the power play, while the Griffins have tallied the lone marker at even strength, and that came with just over five minutes to go in Game 2.

Moose rookie Wahlin impresses as he learns pro game

Lucas Wahlin has adopted a simple but smart mindset when it comes to his hockey career.

“That every day is a tryout,” he told the Free Press on Sunday.

So far, so good for the rookie Manitoba Moose forward, who has given head coach Mark Morrison every reason to keep him in the lineup even as the stakes have gotten higher for the hockey club.

“It’s an honour to be playing,” said Wahlin. “There’s so many different guys here and there’s so many different skilled guys here with so many different attributes that they can throw in. You just have to capitalize on every opportunity, and that’s what I’m trying to do day-by-day.”

Griffins blank Moose to even series

Tyrel Bauer had a message for anybody worrying that the Manitoba Moose were simply going to fade quietly into the night.

Even after dropping a 2-0 decision to the Grand Rapids Griffins on Sunday afternoon before a crowd of 5,487 at Canada Life Centre, the Moose believe they’re in strong position to advance in these Calder Cup playoffs.

“We feel good going into Grand Rapids. We thought we made a statement here this weekend,” said Bauer, whose team earned a 1-0 victory in Game 1 on Saturday. “We thought we played two hard games, two solid games. It’s the nature of the playoffs in the AHL. The series are a little shorter, but we’re going to go into Grand Rapids and we’re going to play the same way. We’re going to play hard and we need two of three. It’s very manageable for our group.”

The Griffins may have finished 29 points ahead of the Moose in the standings and taken six of the eight meetings during the regular season, but that hasn’t proven to be much of an advantage in a series that has been hotly contested and tight checking throughout the first six periods.

Moose D stand tall

It wasn’t exactly air tight, but it was pretty darn stout.

When you consider that the Grand Rapids Griffins strolled into Canada Life Centre as the second highest scoring team in the American Hockey League during the regular season, you had to be impressed by the sound defensive effort the Manitoba Moose put forth in a 1-0 victory on Saturday afternoon.

It was just the second time in 73 games that the Griffins had been held without a goal – the other coming back in Feb. 6 against the Charlotte Checkers – and that is a testament to the superb play of goalie Domenic DiVincentiis (who made 39 saves for his first playoff shutout) but also the effort of the players in front of him.

“I just think we’ve been stressing and emphasizing defending as a five-man unit all over the ice,” said Moose defenceman Kale Clague, who moved up onto a pairing with Isaak Phillips that was relied on heavily. “I thought we did a really good job in the D-zone of closing fast and then, also being there for support when there was a loose puck to break it out.”

Dom-ination in the crease

The Manitoba Moose are not for the faint of heart these days. But they are proving to have a flair for the dramatic — with the latest example coming Saturday afternoon.

Captain Mason Shaw broke a scoreless tie with 2:26 left in regulation to power the home team to a 1-0 upset victory over the heavily-favoured Grand Rapids Griffins inside Canada Life Centre as their best-of-five series began with a terrific, hard-fought game.

A crowd of 5,007 erupted as Shaw pounced on a rebound created by a Walker Duehr one-timer with the Moose on a late power play. His shot just eluded a diving Michal Postava, the Griffins’ rookie goaltender who had stopped the first 22 shots that came his way.

“Playoff hockey, right. A game of inches all over the ice,” said Shaw, who led Manitoba in points during the regular season with 44.

Manitoba Moose feeling confident in playoff clash against division-title winning Griffins

It was the type of moment Brayden Yager yearns to have his fingerprints all over.

The Manitoba Moose centre was on the ice for a late power play in an elimination game that was tied 1-1 when he identified that David Gustafsson had inside position in front of Milwaukee Admirals goalie Matthew Murray.

Yager had the puck on his stick and had to ensure the shot from the point got through, so that Gustafsson could get a chance to deflect it for a season-saving goal, propelling the Moose to a victory that extended the season.

Another 2-1 victory in the series finale allowed the Moose to advance to face the Grand Rapids Griffins in a best-of-five series that opens on Saturday afternoon at Canada Life Centre.

Bauer no longer one-trick pugilistic pony

A funny thing happened along the way as Winnipeg Jets prospect Tyrel Bauer began to establish himself as a true heavyweight and one of the toughest customers in the American Hockey League.

“The one thing Tyrel has brought to his game now is he’s a good hockey player,” his head coach Mark Morrison said Thursday.

“You know, we used to not care so much if Tyrel missed five minutes for a fight. Now we do. We need him on the ice. He’s brought a whole different element to his game. He can’t just fly off the handle and sit in the penalty box.”

While Morrison’s words may strike some as a backhanded compliment, that’s not the case: It’s high praise for a player who has become a fixture on the Manitoba Moose blue line — and perhaps on the cusp of an NHL debut.

‘Next man up’ mentality for battle-tested Moose

The road to a Calder Cup championship just got a lot bumpier for the Manitoba Moose.

Top defenceman Elias Salomonsson will miss the remainder of the playoffs after suffering a serious shoulder injury last weekend. The 21-year-old underwent surgery on Thursday.

“That’s a big loss. A big loss,” said teammate Tyrel Bauer. “You know what Sal brings to us. We saw what he brought at the next level. He’s a great player and a great human being that helps us win a lot of hockey games.”

Salomonsson’s recovery time is estimated at five to six months, meaning he might not be ready at the start of the 2026-27 season for the Winnipeg Jets. The smooth-skating Swede had carved out a role with the NHL club over the past few months and is expected to get an even bigger opportunity next season.

All aboard the Gus Bus: Moose Game 2 hero heating up in the post-season

A cursory look at his Hockey DB page suggests that the development of the Gus Bus might have stalled this season.

After all, it was the first time in six seasons that David Gustafsson didn’t get into a single game for the Winnipeg Jets, the team that chose him in the second round (60th overall) of the 2018 draft.

After the shock of being sent down unexpectedly, Gustafsson found himself at a fork in the road as it pertains to his professional hockey career.

The Swedish centre could either spend his time lamenting what could have been or adopting a woe-is-me attitude about his lot in life — or he could embrace the role that helped him get to the NHL in the first place with the Manitoba Moose.

DiVincentiis steps up in Moose playoff victories

Drew MacIntyre had a feeling Domenic DiVincentiis would be up for the challenge.

Based on what he had seen from the Winnipeg Jets goalie prospect during the course of the past several seasons, MacIntyre — who is the goalie coach for the Manitoba Moose — knew that DiVincentiis would be ready to come out of the bullpen and wouldn’t be overwhelmed by the moment.

Even though the Moose were facing elimination after dropping the series opener against the Milwaukee Admirals on Wednesday, MacIntyre had watched DiVincentiis battle through a rough stretch late in the season, only to rebound to win his final two starts of the regular season.

By turning aside 50 of 52 shots on goal, DiVincentiis was one of the big reasons the Moose posted consecutive 2-1 victories over the Admirals to advance to a best-of-five series with the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Moose beat Admirals, move on to second round

No margin for error? No problem for the Manitoba Moose, who it turns out are quite comfortable being pushed to the brink.

The farm team of the Winnipeg Jets staved off elimination for a second straight game Sunday, skating away with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the Milwaukee Admirals inside Canada Life Centre that sends them into the second round of the American Hockey League playoffs.

It’s the first Moose playoff series win since the spring of 2018.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” said goaltender Dom DiVincentiis, who played a huge role by stopping 31 of 32 shots.

Moose leave it till late, but stay alive

The Manitoba Moose have kept their season alive in dramatic fashion.

David Gustafsson’s perfect tip of a Brayden Yager shot with 43 seconds left in regulation was the difference Friday night as the farm club of the Winnipeg Jets rallied for a 2-1 victory over the Milwaukee Admirals at Canada Life Centre.

That evens the best-of-three play-in series 1-1, with a winner-take-all showdown now set for Sunday afternoon at the downtown rink.

“That’s the thing you dream of,” said Gustafsson, who has played 149 NHL games with the Jets but didn’t get a sniff with the big club this season. Instead, the 26-year-old Swede was a solid mentor to some of the organization’s young prospects while showing he can still bring plenty on the ice.

Newly-signed defenceman Brown brings confidence to Moose roster

Garrett Brown is ready for the next exam, even if this one won’t take place in the classroom.