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.”

Manitoba knew it was facing long odds against a Central Division rival that finished 29 points ahead of it in the regular-season standings. Near-perfection was going to be required in the best-of-five series.

Hope turned into belief after the Moose opened with a 1-0 victory in Game 1 last weekend. But that momentum quickly disappeared as they dropped the next three games by a combined score of 11-4 (two of the goals against were into empty nets).

“When we got that win, we had belief in ourselves to start, but that sparked a different level. It obviously didn’t go our way the rest of the series, but we’re all brothers in there and we never gave up on each other,” said forward Parker Ford.

“It’s very emotional, seeing everyone in the locker room after that loss. The thing with pro hockey is you never know what the team is going to look like next year. You never know when you’re going to play with those guys again. It’s emotional. Every year it just ends so suddenly unless you go all the way. There’s no real good words about it.”

Although they defended well against an elite, high-scoring opponent, Manitoba simply couldn’t generate enough offence — a season-long issue that ultimately proved to be its undoing.

Defenceman Dylan Anhorn and forward Phil Di Giuseppe scored on Friday night for the visitors.

“It’s always an empty feeling when you’re with a group of guys for the whole season and it ends so abruptly. It’s hard for everybody,” said head coach Mark Morrison.

“But I’m proud of them. This group, there was no quit in them. And they became close. They became a tight-knit team and good teammates to each other. And as I told them at the end of it, they created a great environment for us all to work in, including the staff and the players, the young players. They were a good group.”

Grand Rapids will meet Chicago in the next round.

Crease change

Goaltender Thomas Milic was the Moose MVP during the regular-season, but he essentially lost his No. 1 job after the first game against Milwaukee — a 4-1 loss. Domenic DiVincentiis took over the following game, stopping 50 of 52 shots in a pair of 2-1 wins over the Admirals.

DiVincentiis then started the first three games of this series and was again rock-solid. Yet he was parked on the bench in Friday’s must-win in favour of Milic.

What gives?

“We weren’t just giving out ribbons there. He’s bounced back all year. He’s had great games bouncing back,” Morrison said.

“His back-to-backs haven’t been great, but his initial game coming back has been very good. And we thought we needed both guys. If we won (Friday night) we thought we’d go back with Dom for Game 5.”

You can’t blame Milic entirely for this loss, but he was beaten four times on 21 shots. DiVincentiis had given up five goals on 104 shots in his three games.

Manitoba made two other lineup changes, with forward Tyson Empey and defenceman Dawson Barteaux drawing in for Lucas Wahlin (lower-body injury) and Kale Clague (happy personal news, per the team).

Special teams

Manitoba’s power play has been putrid for most of the season, so it was no great surprise to see it go 0-for-2 on the night.

“It comes down a little bit there to personnel. I don’t feel like we had the right personnel,” said Morrison.

“I’m not going to go into specifics of it. We worked hard, but the special play at certain times was lacking. It was a work in progress for the entire season, for sure.”

However, the normally reliable penalty kill sprung a leak at the worst possible time. Grand Rapids scored three times on four opportunities Friday night — the difference in the game.

“Disappointing for sure. It’s been a backbone of our team all year and it’s won us a lot of hockey games,” said Sautner.

Going cold

To be fair, Grand Rapids didn’t make it easy and goaltender Michal Postava was brilliant in this series, stopping 86 of 91 shots.

But there are a lot of Moose forwards who were squeezing their sticks and now have an entire off-season to think about their scoring slumps.

At the top of the list are two players who spent time with the Jets this season in Brad Lambert and Danny Zhilkin. Neither managed to register a point in seven playoff games.

Veteran Jaret Anderson-Dolan, who scored a playoff goal for the Jets a year ago, had one helper in seven games. Colby Barlow (two assists, including one on Friday), Di Giuseppe (one assist prior to his goal Friday), Samuel Fagemo and captain Mason Shaw (two goals, no assists) were others who really found the going to be tough.

David Gustafsson and Brayden Yager led the team in playoff scoring with four points each, while Ford and Walker Duehr had three apiece. Anhorn led the way for defencemen with a goal and two assists.

“We were a very confident group in the style of game that we played,” said Sautner.

“Obviously we could score more goals, but at the other end we defend as well as anybody, and take a lot of pride in that.”

Key play

Michael Brandsegg-Nygård’s goal 97 seconds into the third period gave the Griffins a 3-1 lead and put them in full control.

THREE STARS

1. GR RW Carter Mazur: 2 goals, 1 assist
2. GR C Amadeus Lombardi: 2 assists
3. GR D Erik Gustafsson: 2 assists

Looking ahead

With the parent Winnipeg Jets not even making the playoffs, full attention will now turn to what should be a thorough autopsy of the entire organization, including the development side.

“For some of those young guys that haven’t been in pro hockey playoffs, I think just the whole thing (is valuable) — from the preparation and the high rate of play, just the intense level of play and the speed of the game changes,” said Morrison.

“These four games against Grand Rapids, that pace might have been some of the fastest pace I’ve coached in the American League. So it’s a wakeup call for a lot of those guys, and it’ll help them down the road, knowing how they have to prepare and what level they have to get to to compete in playoffs.”

Seven Moose playoff games will also have provided some valuable insight as to where several top prospects stand and how close they might be to making the jump to full-time NHL work.

“We have a handful of guys that are younger and Jets prospects that this experience in this playoff run is only going to do them wonders down the road, being in those high pressured situations,” said Sautner.

“A lot of these guys are going to have long careers, for sure.”

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