‘Just excited to get the puck dropped’

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.

Morrison recognizes the effort level is there, but in order to beat a Griffins team that is incredibly deep in every position, it’s going to essentially take the best effort from all 12 forwards and six defencemen that are playing in front of goalie Dom DiVincentiis — who has started the past five games of the Calder Cup playoffs.

The Moose have been limited to just three goals this series, with only one of them coming at even strength in the final minute of the second period of Game 3 when captain Mason Shaw redirected a point shot from Dylan Anhorn.

Shaw also delivered the power-play goal late in the series opener that was the game-winner, leaving Samuel Fagemo’s one-timer late in Game 3 as the only other shot to beat Griffins goalie Michal Postava. Fagemo led the Moose during the regular season with 19 goals and the marker on Wednesday night was his second of the post-season.

“When you get (Fagemo) taking a one-timer from there, there’s probably no one better in the league at (doing) that,” Shaw said via Zoom after Game 3. “We’ve got to find a way to keep feeding him.”

The Moose have a number of players on the roster that haven’t been able to hit their offensive stride yet in this series, but it’s not too late for that to happen.

Winnipeg Jets prospect Brayden Yager chipped in his second assist of the series and third point of the playoffs on Wednesday, but none of Brad Lambert (no points in six games), Danny Zhilkin (no points in six games) or Colby Barlow (one assist in six games) have been able to hit the scoresheet in the first three outings of this series.

Barlow is relishing the chance to participate in the playoffs in his first professional season and he’s noticed the uptick in intensity following Game 72.

“It definitely gets harder,” Barlow said in a video posted to the team’s website on Thursday. “The margin for error is very, very small. It’s important to understand that, playing in those pressured situations and to just do well with it.”

Trying to knock off a Griffins team that started the season 29-1-1-1 and cruised to top spot in the Central Division and Western Conference standings — finishing second overall to the Providence Bruins by three points — was always going to be a challenge.

But the Moose have gone toe-to-toe with them so far in this series, going into what will be the 12th meeting of the campaign between the two teams.

“You’re very familiar with the players individually and the systems for the most part, but you never really know, especially with a team that had clinched first (place) so early in the season,” Anhorn said in a video posted to the team’s website on Thursday.

“As a group, we really believe in ourselves. We’re right there against a team that most (observers) believe is the best team in the league, so we feel like we can take them in these tight games and we have the ability to. We’ve got a lot of confidence and we’re just excited to get the puck dropped.”

Some of that confidence stems from already being able to survive a pair of elimination games in the opening round of the playoffs against the Milwaukee Admirals, so the club won’t be overwhelmed by the magnitude of the moment.

“That really showed the resiliency that we have in this room,” said Anhorn. “To be able to dig out of that hole and use this to our advantage because you’re chasing the team that starts to feel a bit more pressure, too. That’s 100 per cent the mindset that we’re going to be taking (into Game 4).”

The Moose clearly understand what will be required to avoid being sent home for the summer.

“You can look back at that a little bit, look at the things we did well,” said Barlow. “How we defended and what got us that win. It’s everybody going and everybody playing for each other. At the end of the day, that’s what we need to do.”

If the Moose are able to execute that game plan, it could set up a winner-takes-all Game 5 on Saturday night.

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