The Winnipeg Jets’ minor league franchise began their 72 game American Hockey League season this evening when they visited the Wells Fargo Arena. The Manitoba Moose were locking horns with their Central Division rivals, the Iowa Wild, on Saturday and were hoping to start the year off on the right foot.
The Moose were missing some players that are still with the big league squad (Dylan Coghlan, Haydn Fleury, & Jaret Anderson-Dolan) and former 1st round draft pick Chaz Lucius, but they still had plenty of talent on the ice (will discuss those players later on).
Projected Lines
I missed the start of the game due to some broadcast issues by FloHockey, but once the stream came up I was impressed by the quality of the video/audio. As a result, I missed the first Manitoba Moose goal of the season when Ben King banged home a rebound. The rest of the opening frame was pretty choppy and it wasn’t until the 2nd period that the offense came out to shine. Nikita Chibrikov was good all night and played a role in the next two Moose goals, which included rookie defenseman Elias Salomonsson’s first AHL goal. Thomas Milic wasn’t at his best and probably would have liked a couple of the pucks that got by him back, but he did make a couple highlight saves at key times in the contest.
A great intercept on the penalty kill saw Parker Ford score a SH goal, but then a puck over the glass penalty by Tyrel Bauer when Manitoba was already down a man let the Iowa Wild back into the game with 2 PP markers. Both squads tightened up in the 3rd period, but eventually the Moose took the lead for good when Salomonsson pinched in from the blueline. The young Swede circled the back of the net before finding his defensive partner Simon Lundmark at the point for the game winning goal. The fiesty Russian Chibrikov picked off a pass in the defensive zone when the Wild were attacking with the goalie pulled and calmly skated down the ice to seal the game.
Here is the official scoring summary, courtesy of TheAHL.com.
With the 6 to 4 victory in hand, the Manitoba Moose will try to sweep the weekend series when the two franchises square up in an afternoon clash. That should give us the first chance to see Dominic DiVincentiis don the goalpads in a professional game.
MOOSE DROPPINGS:
- The official 1st star of the match was Nikita Chibrikov, who led Manitoba with 3 points (goal, 2 assts) in the opener. The 21 yr old winger was prominent all evening whether it was carrying the puck up the ice to start the offense, setting up his linemates with crisp passes, or occasionally mixing it up physically. A great start to Chibby’s sophomore campaign with the Moose.
- The 2nd star of the night was someone I would have given long consideration for the top spot, as Elias Salomonsson very much impressed me in his rookie debut. While his offensive contributions were much needed (goal, asst), it was his calm and efficient play in other areas that caught my eye. The 20 year old defenseman was even playing on his non-natural left side, yet still seemed to always make the correct read when a forechecker was bearing down on him. Sometimes it was a quick pass up the ice to start a rush, other times he just tapped the puck to an open partner while using his body position to hold up the forechecker’s pursuit. So often you see Winnipeg Jets’ defensemen put too much on their short outlet passes, either giving it up directly to their opponents or at best creating an unnecessary race for a loose puck. Salomonsson actually hit his mark with those passes. The young Swede also kept his gaps tight in the neutral zone, killing a couple stretch passes by stepping up into the passing lane or the opposing Wild player. By the amount I wrote, I guess you can tell I was quite happy with the 2nd round pick of the 2022 draft.
- A couple other forwards who really impressed me were Parker Ford and Danny Zhilkin. The 24 yr old Ford was very much involved offensively (goal, asst), but his forecheck and penalty killing (short-hand marker) make him valuable all over the ice. Parker also was tied for the Moose lead in shots on net (3). The 20 yr old Zhilkin was bumped into the 2nd center position and did not look out of place on a Manitoba team that won 54% of face-offs in the game. The young Russian-Canadian appeared to be much quicker with his foot speed and that led to him being involved a lot more offensively than in his rookie campaign.
- Brad Lambert didn’t impress me much through the first 2 periods, as he seemed determined to try and take on one or more Iowa defenders at a time or send some prayer pass across the middle of the ice. Something snapped in the 3rd period, as the 20 yr old suddenly was creating offense with his skates & his passing in combination. His ability to gain the offensive zone by driving a lane and dishing off to an uncovered teammate is so valuable. A sublime diagonal cross-ice dish to Axel Jonsson-Fjallby at the side of the Wild net was shockingly denied by Iowa’s goalie, but Lambo still ended up with 2 helpers…which isn’t bad when you weren’t effective for the full 60.
The Manitoba Moose and Iowa Wild will be back at it again on Sunday at 3 pm CST, which means there will be a slight overlap with the Winnipeg Jets hosting the Minnesota Wild at 5 pm CST.
