Moose look to build on success

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This article was published 10/02/2025 (270 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The surging Winnipeg Jets are enjoying life in the NHL’s penthouse suite. It’s a much different story for the struggling Manitoba Moose, who find themselves fighting just to stay out of the basement of the AHL standings.

What’s been going wrong on the farm this season?

“I think there’s been times where we’ve had the execution and it hasn’t gone in the net. I think over time, if that continues to be the trend and you’re getting the chances but it doesn’t go in, that can start to fester and carry over,” Moose assistant coach Morgan Klimchuk told the Free Press.

“And confidence, it’s a buzzword in hockey but you really see it.”

In that sense, the rather fragile Moose will be hoping their most recent outing can become a trend, rather than just a blip. A season-best offensive eruption on Sunday afternoon led to a 7-2 rout over the Iowa Wild — their 13th victory in 41 tries this year which has them ranked 31st out of 32 teams.

“A great response. I think for the most part, all the way through the game and all through our lineup you had guys playing the right way, on the right side of the puck, winning foot races and winning battles and executing. A lot of really good plays made out there,” said Klimchuk.

“When you play that way through the lineup and don’t cheat the game and you have the success that we did, it should instill a lot of confidence in our group that we can do that against really anybody. That will be our message going forward.”

It can be difficult to have both your NHL team and AHL team running red-hot at the same time, but the nearly first versus worst situation happening in Winnipeg is also on the extreme side of things.

To be clear, development is the name of the game at the minor-league level, with team success not nearly the priority it is in the NHL. You also want your players — especially young prospects — to be in a positive environment, and all that losing can take a toll.

“It’s a great group of guys to be around them and learn. That’s always a good experience.”– Moose forward Brad Lambert

Just ask forward Brad Lambert, who has been on a bit of an emotional roller-coaster. He’d spent the past couple weeks on recall with the Jets and got into the lineup last Friday night, contributing an assist (the second of his NHL career) in a 4-3 win over the New York Islanders.

That was Winnipeg’s eighth consecutive triumph, trying a franchise high, and left the Jets alone on top of the NHL with a sizzling 39-14-3 record heading into the two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Since Lambert is exempt from waivers, the Jets sent him back to the Moose so he could continue gaining valuable experience. He was in the lineup during Saturday afternoon’s 3-1 loss to the Wild to kick off the two-game weekend series, a game played in front of 3,841 fans (compared to 14,685 the night before) as the Moose fell to 12-26-2.

It was, both literally and figuratively, night and day.

Fortunately, Lambert and his teammates had a little more to celebrate in Sunday’s rematch. The 21-year-old, who was the 30th-overall draft pick in 2022, had three assists and looked like a player brimming with confidence after his latest taste of NHL action.

“For sure. Even bigger than confidence was just being up there, getting comfortable with that, even just watching the games and learning from those guys,” Lambert said of the Jets.

“It’s a great group of guys to be around them and learn. That’s always a good experience.”

With Adam Lowry and Morgan Barron still nursing injuries, there’s a good chance Lambert could be up with the big club prior to their next game on Feb. 22. For now, he’s focused on the remaining four games of this six-game homestand.

“I think finally pucks started going in for us, and we played a good 60 minutes.”– Brad Lambert

“I think we’ve shown that we can play with the best of them when we have everyone and we have our “A” game. I think for us it’s just finding that consistency and doing it night in and night out,” Lambert said of the Moose.

Lambert is now tied for the team scoring lead (19 points) along with fellow Jets recall Parker Ford, who scored his first NHL goal in his first NHL game in Boston and was also sent back to the Moose following Friday’s game. The 24-year-old undrafted college free agent potted two goals on Sunday against Iowa to give him a team-leading 13.

Other key contributors in Sunday’s game include players with NHL experience such as defenceman Dylan Coghlan, who had two goals and an assist; Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, who scored twice; Mason Shaw, who had a goal and an assist; and Dominic Toninato, who had two helpers.

The Moose will need a lot more of that in the second half if they wish to push for a playoff spot.

“I think finally pucks started going in for us, and we played a good 60 minutes,” Lambert said of lighting the lamp early and often and what it might do for the team’s overall confidence.

“It’s huge. We’ve had a lot of chances in games before. I think the difference was we were getting those rebounds, where in some other games they’ve kind of been laying there and no one really gets to them, Just driving that net, getting pucks there and bodies there and creating some chaos.”

Manitoba remains the lowest-scoring team in the AHL, now with 97 goals in 41 games, but perhaps they can build off this eruption.

“We know what we have in the room. We know the type of players we have and what we can do.”– Moose defenceman Dylan Coghlan

“We know what we have in the room. We know the type of players we have and what we can do,” said Coghlan.

It’s worth noting Iowa currently sits 30th in the AHL standings, so it would be premature to hang much on one victory. The next two games against Texas (on Wednesday and Friday night Canada Life Centre) will be a much better test, considering the Stars sit seventh-overall in the AHL at 26-14-3.

“They’re hard to play against with the puck, offensively they’re very gifted, special teams are good,” Klimchuk said of Texas.

“But reflecting on what gave us success (Sunday), both special teams were good, five-on-five throughout the lineup it was consistent, honest hockey for our group. If we play that way it doesn’t really matter who we play against.”

That will be followed by two games against the Milwaukee Admirals on Sunday and Monday afternoon.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg