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.

“We just had to keep winning our one-on-one battles, stick to our game plan and eventually it’s going to go in. If it took an overtime, if it took two overtimes, nothing would change for us. There’s no room to be taking chances and trying to cheat for goals in playoff hockey, and we got rewarded for doing good things.”

Linemate Samuel Fagemo made a great play to keep the puck inside the Griffins’ zone shortly before the goal, which came after a nice give-and-go exchange between Brayden Yager and Duehr. A true team effort, if you will.

“They hang in there. It’s kind of the way we play. We’ve played like that all year, one-goal games. Hang in, hang in, until we get a chance (to score),” head coach Mark Morrison said of his opportunistic squad.

“So, we’re used to it. It’s not something that is new to them and they’re good at it.”

Just like that, the Moose have grabbed a 1-0 lead against the Griffins, who finished 29 points ahead of them and were second-overall in the American Hockey League standings.

Game 2 goes Sunday afternoon in downtown Winnipeg before the series shifts to Michigan for the duration.

“We wanted to get out to a good start, we wanted to use the crowd – they were great again for us. It was a big goal. Enjoy it now. And it all doesn’t matter if we aren’t ready to go tomorrow,” said Shaw.

Dom dot com

Look no further than Manitoba’s crease for the reason the season is still going strong.

Domenic DiVincentiis took a back seat to teammate Thomas Milic as the Moose began the playoffs 10 days ago with a 4-1 loss to Milwaukee which immediately put their season in peril.

The 22-year-old has basically put the team on his back in the three starts since. DiVincentiis stopped 50 of 52 shots against the Admirals in the two elimination contests — both 2-1 victories — then took his game to another level Saturday by pitching a 39-save shutout against one of the most potent lineups in the AHL.

“This is the best time of the year,” said DiVincentiis.

“If you can’t get up for these types of games, then I don’t know what you’re doing. So you’ve got to enjoy it, you’ve got to have fun from the morning of the games, through all the lead-up for this. All season long we’ve worked for these moments. These are the ones that are fun and we’re enjoying ourselves out there.”

There were plenty of notable big stops from DiVincentiis, including a great glove grab off Grand Rapids forward Dominik Shine around the midway mark of the third period. He was quick to credit the work of his teammates.

“We worked damn hard today,” he said.

“We were just so resilient out there, blocking shots, we were competing for the full 60 minutes. Just like I said last series, that’s a full, three-period, 60-minute hockey game right there. At the end of the day we’ve got to get them again tomorrow and we’ve got to be ready because they’re going to make a push.”

Morrison has an interesting decision to make: Does he stick with DiVincentiis on a back-to-back situation, especially after a fairly heavy workload, or go back to Milic — who had essentially earned the No. 1 job during the regular-season?

“I don’t know about that one. We’ll have to discuss that with (goalie coach) Drew MacIntyre and the rest of the staff and see how he feels,” said Morrison.

From terrible to timely

On paper, you’d think Manitoba would have a potent power play, with a solid mix of proven veterans and emerging prospects on the roster. But it’s typically been a different story on the ice, with the Moose ranking 32nd — dead last in the league — with the man advantage.

Their first two chances on Saturday were, to put it bluntly, bowling shoe ugly. They generated next to nothing, and even the act of setting up in the offensive zone was a struggle.

Yet, with the game on the line and Griffins defenceman Anton Johansson in the box for a late high-sticking infraction, the Moose found a way — again.

It was eerily similar to Game 2 against Milwaukee, where a terrible power play earlier in the game led to a timely, game-deciding goal with 37 seconds left in regulation as David Gustafsson tipped a Yager shot.

“Well, it’s players making big plays at big times. With a little bit more garbage going into it,” Morrison said. “(Playing) a little harder. Those are big goals in a big moment.”

Could this latest big power play tally build some momentum?

“We certainly hope so,” said Morrison.

“I mean, it’s all about confidence with that. I feel like there’s some guys out there that are making plays. Yager is swinging up top and he’s been involved in both of those goals. I feel like the team is playing as a group and everyone is contributing with something.”

On the flip-side, the Moose penalty kill remains perfect for the playoffs. They went 3-for-3 against the Griffins after going 7-for-7 against the Admirals.

“Playoffs is about defence and special teams,” said Shaw.

“Obviously our penalty kill was excellent and our power play, sure there’s been times we haven’t been happy with it, but we’re finding ways to get timely goals, and I guess that’s the most important part.”

Rest vs. rust

Did the Moose take advantage of a rusty squad?

Grand Rapids hadn’t played in two weeks, the result of a first-round bye that came with winning the division. Manitoba, meanwhile, was already battle-tested.

“You could see the way they were skating, the kind of confidence they have, and you could tell they’ve gone through a series and we haven’t,” said Griffins head coach Dan Watson.

“I’m not going to say we were a step behind, but we were a little bit slow and they were on top of us. It made life a little bit hard for us. Overall, I think our guys were prepared, I thought they were ready. We generated a little bit of offence, need to generate more, but I thought the story of the game was both goaltenders. I thought they played extremely well.”

Grand Rapids opted to give Postava the start over top netminding prospect Sebastian Cossa in a bit of of a curious decision.

“I think Michal, he’s earned it” said Watson. “Since the All Star break he’s been excellent for us. He’s given up opportunities to win every start he has. He’s played some tough opponents with big wins. We just felt he would be the guy to go for us today.”

Grand Rapids went 6-2 against Manitoba during the regular season, outscoring them 32-16. But the playoffs are a different animal.

“I thought they defended the inside really well. They made life hard for us to get to net fronts,” said Watson.

“We saw that through the Milwaukee series, and even throughout the year. They’ve played us hard every game. I just think they skate well, they stay on top of you and they make you earn every inch of ice out there.”

Key play

Shaw’s rebound goal was all the offence Manitoba would need.

Three stars

1. MB G Domenic DiVincentiis: 39 saves

2. GR G Michal Postava: 22 saves

3. MB C Mason Shaw: Game-winning goal

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