Manitoba Moose vs Milwaukee Admirals Playoff Series Preview

[bigoljetairliner]

Game 4 Moose Line Up: *Players signed to contracts w/ Manitoba

Malott             Toninato          Harkins
Torgersson        Maier*           Limoges
Jones*            Meireles*          Ford
Bongiovanni    Nikkanen         Boland*

Chisholm          Gawanke
Sautner            Heinola
Oligny*            Stewart*

Salminen
Holm

[bigoljetairliner]

GAME 4 RECAP:

Only line up change was Tyler Boland coming back from injury and ousting Evan Polei.

1st Period:

• The Moose got an early powerplay and after struggling to gain the offensive zone for the first part of the chance, Heinola led a rush up the ice and was tripped by a teammate's skate just inside the Admirals' blueline. This led to a 2 on 1 for Milwaukee that turned into a 3 on 2 due to a great back check by Torgersson. A nice read by Jansen Harkins (playing the role of d) led to an intercepted pass and he quickly spotted a streaking Meireles. The speedy forward had a step on the Admirals' defenseman and released on quick shot from 4 ft out that slipped between Askarov's glove and pad to give Manitoba a 1-0 lead with 15 minutes to play.
• Milwaukee got a great chance to even things up when the Moose took their first penalty of the game, then made things worse by taking another 20 seconds in. Manitoba did a great job of killing off the fairly long 5 on 3, despite the Admirals having o-zone possession for a good chunk of it. Just as it looked they might escape, one last rush led to Milwaukee finding Sanford in the low slot with a pass. He tried to roof the puck and Salminen got a piece of it, the biscuit still found twine to even things up with 12 minutes left in the first.
• Ouch...some tough luck for the Moose. It was tied late in the 1st and Heinola got a slash on his hands skating along the offensive blueline with the puck. With a penalty upcoming, Salminen left the net, but a pass back to the point jumped over Heinola's stick and went down the ice, hitting the post and going in to give the Admirals a 2-1 lead after the opening frame.

2nd Period:

• An early PP for Milwaukee once again ended up costing Manitoba as Kemell 1-timed a shot by a sprawling Salminen. The Admirals took a 3-1 lead just two minutes into the period.
• The home team added to their lead when a defensive breakdown led to a breakaway. Salminen attempted the poke check and missed the puck by the slightest of margins, he flipped around and threw out his arm to try to stop the finish by Sherwood, but a miraculous save was just out of reach. Milwaukee took the 4-1 lead with 4 minutes left and that is how the period ended, with the Admirals outshooting the Moose 20 to 11 thru 2 periods.

3rd Period:

• Manitoba accomplished a needed first step if they were hoping to make a come back on an early Moose PP. Harkins made a nice move to gain the Milwaukee zone and Torgersson won a battle behind the net, getting the puck to Bongiovanni. He passed off to Harkins at the left point and he passed it along the blueline over to Heinola . The Finnish d-man waited until Harkins shifted to the middle of the blueline, then set him up for a 1-timer to beat Askarov. Manitoba made it 4-2 just 2:37 into the 3rd period.
• The 4th line took heart from the goal and after a short cycle, the puck was thrown in front where 4 or 5 players battled for positioning. The Admirals were unable to gain possession of the puck and eventually Bongiovanni slipped into the chaos and slid it under Askarov. The Moose now were down 4-3 with 15:17 to play and Milwaukee took a time out to regain their composure. (Harkins a goal & 2 assists at this point)
• The Moose controlled most of the remaining play, but were hindered by a dumb penalty by Oligny in the last 5 minutes of play. Manitoba managed to kill it off, but it took valuable time away from the attack. With Salminen pulled, the team had a difficult time gaining the o-zone but did get a quality look in the final seconds. Unfortunately, Milwaukee was able to clear the puck by Heinola at the point and he was outraced, allowing the Admirals to seal the 5-3 victory.

Well, a disappointing result and how large that own goal looms now...could have been a 3rd straight OT game. Salminen's save percentage dipped below the .900 mark for the first time in the playoffs, but he really will only regret one of the 3 goals against (was on the bench for 2 of the Milwaukee goals).
For the 2nd straight season, the Manitoba Moose and Milwaukee Admirals will go to a 5th game to decide their opening AHL Playoff series. No time for rest either, as the game is set to start at 6 pm tomorrow.

[bigoljetairliner]

Game 5 Moose Line Up: *Players signed to contracts w/ Manitoba

Malott            Toninato          Harkins
Bongiovanni     Maier*          Limoges
Jones*           Meireles*          Ford
Polei*            Nikkanen       Torgersson

Chisholm          Gawanke
Oligny*            Stewart*
Sautner           Lundmark

         Salminen
           Holm


Heinola out with an injury and Lundmark gets back in the lineup after being banged up for the past 2 games.   Polei comes back in on the 4th line, taking out Boland.

[bigoljetairliner]

GAME 5 RECAP:

As the Manitoba Moose and Milwaukee get set to play the deciding game of their AHL playoff series, the two squads must be getting a bit tired of each other. If you include the past two seasons, the Moose & Admirals have locked horns an amazing 30 times!! 20 regular season games and 10 playoff.
Manitoba took a hit when Heinola couldn't go tonight, but at least Lundmark was ready to fill his spot. For the fourth straight game, Salminen (.917 save %) and Askarov (.908 save %) are facing off between the pipes.

Period 1:
A rather quiet period to open up the game with limited scoring chances in the first 18 minutes of play. Both squads had one quality look during that span, but it was mainly filled with tight checking & physical play. The refs did seem to stem the post-whistle scrums by handing out penalties when it happened the first time, but the ensuing 4 on 4 period produced the Moose's best scoring chance.
With just under 2 minutes to play, Toninato was called for a slash, sending Milwaukee's dangerous PP to the ice (5 of 14 for 37.5%) . Prior to the penalty, the shots were even at 8, however the man-advantage helped the Admirals finish the period with a 12-8 lead in shots. Salminen was called upon to make a couple big saves to keep it scoreless. SCORE: Manitoba 0 Milwaukee 0

Period 2:
The Admirals came out flying in the 2nd, putting Manitoba on their heels for the opening 5 minutes, then the game evened up a bit with neither team getting scoring chances. Milwaukee was able to break through when a missed coverage in the neutral zone led to a breakaway by Jankowski. He made a nice move to open up Salminen's pads and slipped it 5-hole to give his team the lead 1-0 with 8:37 to play.
Manitoba was given two straight powerplay opportunities in the final half of the period, but really had a problem breaking through Milwaukee's PK. Shots at the end of the 2nd were 25-15 for the Admirals. SCORE: Milwaukee 1 Manitoba 0

Period 3:
Manitoba got another PP early in the 3rd, but failed to manage a shot on net. The goalies were seeing very little action in the period, as Milwaukee was satisfied to mainly play defense and clog up the middle of the ice. Torgersson had the best chance on a deflection of a Gawanke shot, but Askarov was there to make the save. Another man-advantage for the Moose with 7 minutes to play, but again they couldn't get a shot on the goalie. With 3 plus minutes to play, Coach Morrison opted to pull Salminen and Manitoba was finally able to gain the o-zone with possession. A little more than a minute later, Chisholm set up Harkins for a 1-timer in the high slot and he blasted it by Askarov to tie the game 1-1.
With just under 2 minutes to play in the 3rd, Milwaukee started to push back and Salminen made a huge save to keep the game even. The Moose held on and with just over 30 seconds left they started a breakout but Maier & teammate Stewart collide near center. The Admirals pounced on the puck and had a 2 on 1 and sealed their 2nd straight playoff victory over the Moose with a quick 1-timer. Milwaukee easily won on the shot counter: 32-20 FINAL SCORE: Milwaukee 2 Manitoba 1

Frustrating finish to yet another Moose playoff series. Last year was very similar when Manitoba tied the game with less than a minute to play in the deciding match, but then allowed Milwaukee to score the winner before overtime. Oskari Salminen did all he could, stopping 31 of 33 shots against (.923% for the series). Manitoba's PP likely holds the blame for not winning the series, going 0 for 4 tonight and 3 for 16 (15%) in all 5 games.
Heartbreaking loss after coming back to tie the game and having a 2-0 record in OT in the series.

[Ric O.]

Gave it a good shot guys. No reason for your coach or fans to be disgusted with your effort!

Salminen might be a keeper, no pun intended...seem like maybe Jets have a couple of good goalie prospects to take over the from the (seems like) soon to be gone Helle.

Harkins would look great in a Kraken uni...I think he'd fit right in with their style of play. He has a potential Haula quality to him.