AHL CENTRAL DIVISIONAL SEMIFINAL ROUND
Manitoba Moose (35-29-8) vs Grand Rapids Griffins (51-16-5)
***above graphic via MooseHockey.com.***
The Manitoba Moose were able to win their First Round series 2 games to 1 against the Milwaukee Admirals, using a pair of tight defensive 2-1 victories to move on in the AHL Playoffs and overcome dropping the opening contest. The biggest story line to arise from this matchup was the emergence of goaltender Dominic DiVincentiis. A bit of an inconsistent regular season had allowed fellow Winnipeg Jets’ prospect Thomas Milic to take a hold of the starting role for Manitoba, but a shaky performance in Game 1 saw the coaching staff turn to Dom to try and win the next one. And the 22 yr old goalie didn’t let them down, turning aside 48 of 50 shots over the next 2 matches for a .960 save percentage to lead the Moose to their first playoff series win in a while.
However, beating the Admirals is a totally different thing than taking on the Grand Rapids Griffins. The Detroit Red Wings’ farm team were easily among the AHL’s elite this year, earning the 2nd best record in the minors while scoring the 2nd most goals (255 GF) and allowing the least goals against (159 GA). The Moose finished 4th in the Central, 29 pts behind Grand Rapids while scoring at the 30th best rate (185 GF) in the AHL and defending at the 9th (216 GA). The special teams stats show the same thing, with the opposition having advantages on the powerplay (18.7% to 11%) and penalty kill (86% to 82.4%).
The Griffins have a mix of veterans & youth on their roster, though the older players are doing a lot of the heavy lifting offensively. Proven AHL players like John Leonard, Sheldon Dries, & Dominik Shine amassed between 39 and 54 pts on the season, while long-term NHL veteran defenseman Erik Gustafsson also chipped in 37. A couple Wings’ prospects have played a large role for Grand Rapids this year too, as Michael Brandsegg-Vygard (15th overall pick has 44 pts) and Amadeus Lombardi (3rd round pick has 42 pts). Goaltender Sebastian Cossa has also been excellent, as the former 15th overall selection has put up a 2.33 GAA & a .915 save % (3rd straight above .910% in the AHL for the 6’7″ tender). Finally d-man William Wallinder (2nd rounder with 20 pts) also played his part, while the Griffins got a boost when Detroit sent down forward Carter Mazur (3rd rounder with a pt/gm in limited AHL action) and defenseman Axel Sandin-Pellikka (17th overall with 3 pts in 6 gms) after their NHL campaign ended.
The Griffs won the Central Division easily (by 20 pts) and handily took the series against the Moose with a 6-1-1 record in the 8 regular season contests. The good news for Manitoba is that the majority of the games were of the 1 goal variety, so with strong defensive play, a hot goalie, and a bit of scoring luck…..they could pull out an upset. Both clubs will perhaps be a bit rusty, with the mini-Jets having 5 days off since they clinched a Round 1 series win and Grand Rapids waiting a full 2 weeks to get into their first post-season action.
GAME 1 PREVIEW:
Manitoba gets to open up the series with a pair of games at the Canada Life Centre and will hope to sweep the action in Winnipeg before Grand Rapids even plays their first playoff home game of the season. The Moose received some bad news when they were informed that both Elias Salomonsson and Nikita Chibrikov’s seasons were over. The young Swedish defenseman has undergone shoulder surgery with a 5-6 month recovery period that will probably limit his involvement in next year’s Winnipeg Jets training camp. Rough start for the young lad, who broke into the big leagues with his strong play for Manitoba in the past season & a half.
But the Moose will get newly signed d-man Garrett Brown in the line up for his first professional game to fill in for the injured Salomonsson. Donning the jersey number 59, the two-time NCAA Champion will get an early chance to impress the Winnipeg Jets’ & Manitoba Moose staff before taking part in his first training camp next September.
Here are the predicted line ups for Saturday afternoon’s 2 pm game at the CLC:
MOOSE
Mason Shaw / David Gustafsson / Walker Duehr
Jaret Anderson-Dolan/ Danny Zhilkin / Samuel Fagemo
Brad Lambert / Brayden Yager / Lucas Wahlin
Colby Barlow / Parker Ford / Phillip DiGiuseppe
Ashton Sautner / Tyrel Bauer
Isaak Phillips / Kale Clague
Dylan Anhorn / Garrett Brown
Dominic Di Vincentiis
*****
GRIFFINS
John Leonard / Sheldon Dries / Dominik Shine
Carter Mazur / Amadeus Lombardi / Michael Brandsegg-Nygard
Eduards Tralmaks / Wojciech Stachowiak / Jakub Rychlovsky
Eddie Genborg / Gabriel Seger / Austin Watson
Erik Gustafsson / Antii Tuomisto
William Lageson / Axel Sandin-Pellikka
William Wallinder / Anton Johansson
Michal Postava
*****
GAME 1 RECAP:
Period 1: With a smidge over 5,000 fans in attendance at the Canada Life Centre, both Manitoba & Grand Rapids came out of the gates flying to start the game. The hometown Moose got the better of the early scoring chances, but a failure to hit the net let the Griffins’ Michal Postava (with back-to-back games, they opted to go with their backup today) get away without having to make the stops. The fans were treated to some high paced action early on, but the defenses were able to keep most of the action to the perimeter of the rink.
The shot clock was fairly even until a Tyrel Bauer holding penalty gave the Griffins their first opportunity with a man advantage. The Moose did well keeping the deadly PP at bay until late in the kill, when a cross slot pass got through, forcing Dominic DiVincentiis to make a huge sliding pad save. Not done there, the 22 yr old tender immediately hopped up and was erect & square to the puck for the next two rebound chances. Grand Rapids smelt blood in the water and they really tilted the ice towards Manitoba’s zone for the rest of the frame, ending the period with a 14-5 advantage on the shot clock. Yet the squads entered the first intermission deadlocked at 0-0.
Period 2: Manitoba re-grouped in the dressing room and were able to return to the balanced play that the fans saw early in the 1st. In fact, the Moose once again were able to create the most looks early on in the middle frame, assisted by their first PP of the contest. Still, neither club was getting to the high danger areas often and that resulted in them both deciding to open things up to see if a goal could be found. This saw Manitoba & Grand Rapids get a couple shots off rushes, yet the defenders did very well to make odd man rushes hard to come by.
A very questionable call on David Gustafsson for interference near the midway point of the period (especially after a couple blantant trips by the Griffins were ignored) allowed the visitors to take control of the flow of play for a while, even though they couldn’t get any looks with the extra skater. The post-PP push saw Grand Rapids end with a slight 14-10 shot advantage in the 2nd, with the scoreboard still showing 0-0.
Period 3: Once again Manitoba starts a period out strongly and when Brad Lambert takes a hit at the opponent’s blue line to make a pass, it springs rookie Brayden Yager on a breakaway. The 21 yr old did a bit of a shimmy before trying to beat Postava’s glove, but the game remained scoreless. The Moose then took an unnecessary too many men penalty to kill their momentum and gave a dangerous PP unit yet another chance. Fortunately, some good work on the PK saw a rush towards the Grand Rapids end, forcing one of their players to take an interference penalty to stop it from becoming a 3 on 2. Manitoba controlled the puck at 4 on 4 and came close to breaking the scoreless tie with a Lambert 1 timer from the right face off circle. The tender was out of position, but a timely block by Erik Gustafsson saved the day for the Griffins. Unfortunately, their 1 minute man advantage was a letdown & just saw a bunch of denied zone entries.
With 10 minutes left in the 3rd, some nice work by Colby Barlow on the forecheck saw him set up Parker Ford for a glorious chance from the low slot. Once again….the goalies weren’t having any of it, as Postava made a fantastic reaction save. Then Moose veteran Mason Shaw had a good scoring opportunity off the rush, which set up a long cycle shift that resulted in another good look by Danny Zhilkin. The midpoint of the contest saw Grand Rapids up 31-21 on the shot clock, but Manitoba was leading in the period 6-5 at that point. The Griffins responded with some pressure of their own and a good shift saw them test DiVincentiis with a 1 timer blast from the right side. The refs miss another trip when Lucas Wahlin was pulled down to stop a rush up the ice, then the miscarriage of justice was compounded when the offending club got another chance that was only denied by a glorious glove save by Dom.
The scoreboard now said 7:00 and Manitoba had a couple opportunities to break the goose egg, including a shot off the rush by Jaret Anderson-Dolan and a failed connection on a 2 on 1 between Lambert and Walker Duehr. The officials finally flagged Grand Rapids when one of their players high-sticked a Moose during a puck battle, giving Manitoba’s anemic powerplay a huge opportunity with 4 minutes to play. The 3rd worst PP during the regular season hasn’t been improved in the playoffs, as it entered the man advantage with around a 11% success rate. After winning the draw so cleanly the puck went out of the offensive zone, the Moose once again had difficulties regaining it. They finally managed that late in the PP and eventually were able to work the puck down low to Shaw, at the right side of the goalie but behind the goal line. He spotted that Duehr had a bit of space in the bumper spot and tried to slip him a pass…..only for it to be broken up. Yet fortune smiled on Manitoba, as the puck bounced right back to Shaw, who had by then stepped above the goal line. With Postava out to challenge the shot from the bumper position, that allowed the veteran to slip the puck into the yawning cage.
With a 1-0 lead and only 2:26 left on the scoreboard, the Moose were closing in on upsetting the AHL Central’s leading team. Bracing myself for the inevitable defensive shell, I tensed up waiting to deal with 2 plus minutes of Grand Rapids’ dominance with the goalie on the bench. However….that wasn’t how things went down. Instead, Manitoba’s Gustafsson line took the play to the Griffins with a fierce forecheck and the following lines that hopped over the boards were able to keep Postava in between the pipes until the final 20 seconds. And that wasn’t enough time to find a way to get a shot on net, let alone figure out how to slip a puck past DiVincentiis.
Manitoba 1 Grand Rapids 0
Shots: 39-23 GR
PP: MB 1 for 3 / GR 0 for 3
*****
There is absolutely no doubt who was the #1 Star in this one, as Dominic DiVincentiis delivered another fantastic playoff performance reminiscent of the ones he had in the OHL Playoffs. The tender stopped all 39 shots against Grand Rapids, bumping up his total for the post-season to 87 of 89 (.978 sv%). The 2nd Star of the Game went to Griffins’ goalie Michal Postava with a .957 sv%, while the lone goal scorer Mason Shaw was awarded the 3rd Star.
A huge victory for the Manitoba Moose as they take a 1-0 lead in the best of 5 series. Another shot tomorrow in Winnipeg before they head south of the border and it will be interesting to see what the coaching staff does about the starter in net in back-to-back situation. Typically in the regular season, they would switch things up and that would mean Thomas Milic would get his 2nd start in the playoffs. But it is going to be very hard to go away from a goaltender playing as well as Dom is right now.
Oh….almost forgot about Garrett Brown’s AHL debut. I was very impressed with the 22 yr old’s poise on the ice. Saw him make plays in both ends of the ice and honestly was surprised how willing he was to pinch in when the Moose had the puck in the o-zone. Great first impression as far as I’m concerned.
*****
GAME 2 PREVIEW:
The Central Division’s 4th place Manitoba Moose were able to win a goaltending duel against the 1st place Grand Rapids Griffins in the series opener and now will be looking to go up 2-0 in the series with another win at the Canada Life Centre.
What a streak goalie Dominic DiVincentiis is on in the post-season, posting a ridiculous save percentage through his 3 starts. I do not doubt that the Moose coaching staff has faith in Thomas Milic to get the job done in a back-to-back situation….but I would have a very hard time not tapping Dom for another start. Ride the hot hand, so to speak, is how I would go for Game 2.
I think Manitoba will need the best tending they can get against a Grand Rapids’ club that average over 3.5 goals per game. Since the Moose rarely put 4 or more tallies on the scoreboard in a game, they will have to rely on their stout defensive game to give them a chance at winning. With the Griffins also being one of the AHL’s most stingiest teams in terms of goals against, every single goal in this series is going to be very important. Would be great if Manitoba could manage to score an early goal in this one….but in truth they will be best served playing within their system instead of cheating for offense.
Another key aspect of our team’s success in the playoffs has been with their special team play. The 30th ranked PP in the regular season (11%) have improved their play with a pair of timely goals in the playoffs (18.2%) to sit in a tie for 8th best. The penalty killers have also stepped up their play, going from the 11th best rate in the regular season (82.4%) to the top of the playoff ranks with a perfect 100% rating (10 for 10).
I didn’t pick up any injuries to the Moose players during Saturday’s contest, so am not expecting any line up changes for the skaters. It is possible they switch things up in net like the Griffins are expected to do. No word on how Winnipeg Jets’ prospects Kieron Walton & Kevin He are doing with their injuries at this point….but since all the main forwards are currently healthy & playing well, it might be difficult to pull any of them to give the unproven rookies a shot.
No morning skate so here are the predicted line ups for Sunday afternoon’s 2 pm game at the CLC:
MOOSE
Mason Shaw / David Gustafsson / Walker Duehr
Jaret Anderson-Dolan/ Danny Zhilkin / Samuel Fagemo
Brad Lambert / Brayden Yager / Lucas Wahlin
Colby Barlow / Parker Ford / Phillip DiGiuseppe
Ashton Sautner / Tyrel Bauer
Isaak Phillips / Kale Clague
Dylan Anhorn / Garrett Brown
Dominic Di Vincentiis
*****
GRIFFINS
John Leonard / Sheldon Dries / Dominik Shine
Carter Mazur / Amadeus Lombardi / Michael Brandsegg-Nygard
Eduards Tralmaks / Wojciech Stachowiak / Jakub Rychlovsky
Eddie Genborg / Gabriel Seger / Austin Watson
Erik Gustafsson / Antii Tuomisto
William Lageson / Axel Sandin-Pellikka
William Wallinder / Anton Johansson
Michal Postava
*****
GAME 2 RECAP:
Period 1: Canada Life Centre was filled with 5,500 fans to cheer on the Manitoba Moose as they took on the Grand Rapids Griffins in Game 2 of the Divisional Semi Finals. The visitors came out of the gate hungry and didn’t give the mini-Jets a chance for their usual early period dominance. The home club was able to withstand the push from the Griffins and an early man-advantage helped them take control of the puck. Manitoba did have a nice look on the PP, with Brad Lambert being denied on a quick shot from just in front of Grand Rapids’ Michal Postava. Shortly after that, Manitoba had a kill of their own and their strong PK units ended up getting the best scoring chance of the game to that point when Mason Shaw was sprung on a breakaway. The AHL veteran tried to open up the wickets with a late move, but the Griffs’ goalie was able to slam the opening shut. With the play fairly even now, the squads traded opportunities with Parker Ford released a dangerous shot off a rush and then Dominic DiVincentiis had to make a nice glove save after a good cycle set up a 1 timer.
Grand Rapids came very close to breaking the scoreless tie when Carter Mazur was left all alone out front of the net, but his quick move to the backhand saw the puck ding the post instead of finding the top corner. Manitoba was leading the high danger look count 3-2 at that point, but then Walker Duehr took a stupid tripping penalty after he was knocked to the ice. Once again the Moose penalty kill looked very effective, but when the Griffins were finally able to get set up late in the period a cross crease pass found an uncovered player for an easy tap in. After 11 straight kills in the playoffs, Manitoba finally gave up a powerplay marker. The visitors were inspired by their first lead of the series and threw everything at the Moose for the next few minutes, but our team was able to limit the chances they got despite this. A post-horn scrum before the intermission saw Manitoba take another penalty, as Shaw ended up getting over zealous with a cross check.
Period 2: Our boys were able to kill off the early PP and even got it to end early when Grand Rapids was forced to take one of their own. The short period of 4 on 4 play saw the clubs exchange opportunities before a very ineffective Manitoba PP got their shot. The game entered a very cautious period of hockey, with neither squad allowing clean movement through the neutral zone and it resulted in not much happening as the minutes ticked by.
The Moose did have a few looks over the remainder of the 2nd frame, especially a nice set up of Samuel Fagemo and a failed connection between Isaak Phillips & Brad Lambert on a 2 on 1. Still, nobody could solve the Griffs’ tender in the middle period and Dominic DiVincentiis made a big save on a deflection to keep the score close. Grand Rapids ended up winning on the shot clock 11-8, making the game total 23-22 for the Griffins as we entered the 2nd intermission.
Period 3: With 20 minutes left to find the equalizer, Manitoba had a difficult task as the AHL’s best defensive team in the regular season tightened things up and were ready to protect the Grand Rapids’ slim lead. That resulted in a lot of not very exciting hockey, as both squads had problems finding a way to create speed through the middle of the ice, making it a cycle of dump in & chases on either end of the arena.
The Moose managed to create a couple sort of dangerous looks in the final frame, including a shot from the right face-off circle from Brayden Yager and a Brad Lambert deflection from right in front of the opposing net. Neither could get that red light to go on. With about 5 minutes later, an innocent looking rush saw a Griffins’ player let a shot go from the left wing….but the puck quickly deflected off rookie defenseman Garrett Brown’s stick and eluded DiVincentiis’ glove. Manitoba really could break through Grand Rapids’ system for the remaining time and they will have to be happy to be heading on the road with a series split.
Grand Rapids 2 Manitoba 0
Shots: 34-30 GR
PP: MB 0 for 2 / GR 1 for 3
*****
Have updated the video link to show the Game 2 Recap, so feel free to click the play button on the article’s photo to check that out.
GO MOOSE GO!!!
