Moose make miraculous run to playoffs

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This article was published 14/04/2024 (756 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba Moose could breathe easy for the first time in three months.

The American Hockey League club took the ice for Sunday’s regular-season home finale against the Iowa Wild having already secured a playoff berth less than 24 hours earlier.

The Wild, who narrowly escaped with a 4-3 victory following a three-goal surge by the hosts in the final frame, may have spoiled the Moose’s final home game, but Manitoba could rest assured their improbable path to the post-season was complete.

“It means a lot,” said defenceman Ashton Sautner. “We’ve been through a lot. We had a stretch there that none of us wanted to be in but we dug deep as a group and it showed a lot about our team. In my years of playing, I never went through something like that but the way we came out of it and where we’re sitting now is pretty remarkable so you have to be proud of that.

“Tonight wasn’t the result we wanted, but knowing that we’re locked up in the playoffs now… is a huge accomplishment.”

The Moose will battle for the Calder Cup trophy for a third straight year. First up are the Texas Stars in a best-of-three series that begins next week.

With three games remaining, the only thing left to play for is home-ice advantage in the first round. Manitoba will need a win against the Milwaukee Admirals on Wednesday (7 p.m.) in Wisconsin to stay in the running for the fourth seed.

The Moose and Stars play a back-t0-back to close the regular season in Texas on Friday and Saturday.

Sunday’s contest looked to be a runaway for the visitors, who held a four-goal advantage at one point despite being heavily outshot. Steven Fogarty scored a pair of goals after Luke Toporowski and Simon Johansson found the back of the net for the Wild.

Kyle Capobianco and Ville Heinola cut Iowa’s lead in half and CJ Suess made it a one-score game with less than two minutes to go, but the Moose couldn’t beat Peyton Jones again.

Jones stopped 36 shots to earn his first career win in the AHL as the Wild improved to 25-37-4-3. Collin Delia allowed four goals on 15 shots for the Moose, who dropped to 32-34-2-1 on the year.

Winnipeg Jets prospect Colby Barlow made his professional debut, recording one shot. Most of Barlow’s time on ice came while the teams were at full strength, but he did see limited time on the top power play.

Defenceman Dylan Anhorn, a recent college free agent signing from St. Cloud State, also drew in for his first pro start.

“(Barlow) kept it quite simple tonight. I think he was a little nervous there at the start but he settled right in,” assistant coach Nolan Baumgartner said. “Same with Dylan. He actually looked quite poised back there for a defenceman stepping into his first pro game and I thought he did well.”

The outlook looked bleak for the club at the beginning of the calendar year. The Moose sat near the bottom of the standings while enduring a franchise-worst 11-game losing streak. They’ve been in playoff mode ever since and have mustered a 19-11-1-1 record to get themselves into the dance.

“It was a lot of hanging heads,” Saunter said. “It felt like at times through that stretch we just couldn’t seem to figure out a way to win and we almost found ways to lose. It’s one of those things that as a team you go through it and you come out stronger for it and I think we’re a perfect example of that.”

That meant some of the young guns needed to mature quickly.

Brad Lambert, a 2022 first-round pick, has been one of the most impressive rookies in the minor leagues this season and one of the most important players on the Moose during the second half of the campaign. The Finnish-born forward is second among all first-year players with 52 points in 62 games. Russian sniper Nikita Chibrikov, selected in the second round of the 2021 NHL Draft, has chipped in with 17 goals and 28 assists.

Lambert and Chibrikov were honoured as the team’s co-rookies of the year ahead of Sunday’s contest.

Meanwhile, Thomas Milic, the Jets fifth-round pick in last summer’s NHL Draft, has commanded the crease with a 2.71 goals against average and .901 save percentage. The rookie netminder has become the team’s clear No. 1 since being called up in January.

“I just think it was the attitude of our team and the work ethic that goes into every day,” Baumgartner said about what he was most impressed with as the Moose endured the historic losing streak. “There was never any quit.

“All the credit to our players. They did an unbelievable job to get out of it and to get us where we are now.”

A franchise-worst losing streak could prove to be a blessing in disguise for the Moose, who have been in playoff mode since the calendar flipped to 2024. The club has shown it can play with its back against the wall, which could bode well for them when the playoffs begin next week.

“We’ve been fighting for our lives for a while now it seems, so, it’s good that we’re playing at that level and we almost built that standard for ourselves. We had to get here, we had to clinch, but that’s just the style of game that we play now,” Sautner said.

“I think everyone understands that and we have a full-team buy-in to play that way, and that’s what you need when it comes to playoff time. “

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jfreysam