Admirals jump out to big lead and Moose cannot respond; Manitoba down 1-0 in series

The Moose and Admirals had to wait approximately 12 days between the end of the regular season and the start of the “second round” of the playoffs. This is the first round for both these teams but the AHL counts the play-in series as round 1.

While the lineup has been consistent and Declan Chisholm would be ready to go after suffering a high-ankle sprain last month, there was a question mark about Moose goalies Oskari Salminen and Arvid Holm who were both up with the Jets. There was also a question about Axel Jonsson-Fjällby who was eligible to be reassigned to Manitoba.

Reassignment news:

The Jets made the announcement this afternoon once they returned from Vegas that they had reassigned the two netminders back to their AHL affiliate.

Lineup news:

In the end the Moose went with Evan Cormier in net. He’s been practicing with the team and did get two starts on the final regular season road trip. Had he not been hurt before playoffs last season he may have gotten a shot at the Manitoba crease in 2021-22. Tyler Boland took warm-up skate but he didn’t play.

Moose lineup:

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

Chisholm-Gawanke
Heinola-Stewart
Sautner-Lundmark

Cormier
Holm

Notable:

It was a decent crowd on hand which I ballparked around 4000 and turns out that was fairly close (approximately 3700).

It was nice to be back in the building for Moose playoffs after I had to put myself on Covid IR last year during the post-season.

Before the first ten minutes had even elapsed in the opening period the home team found themselves down 3-0. That was it for Evan Cormier who got the hook after giving up three goals on seven shots.

Puck luck wasn’t on the home team’s side as Ville Heinola was deceptive with this shot but couldn’t beat the post.

Despite being down by three goals after 20 the Moose kicked off the middle frame with a fairly early goal by Jansen Harkins off a beauty pass by Dominic Toninato.

The refs called this tripping on Moose goalie Arvid Holm which left the home team down 5 on 3. Milwaukee would score and then score again and again to give themselves a 6-1 lead.

Hang this shot by Jets 2020 2nd rounder David Torgersson in the Louvre.

Not related to the game but pertinent for Jets fans was I spotted Jets 2021 2nd rounder Nikita Chibrikov in the pressbox.

Despite an 18-6 shot edge in the 3rd period Yaroslav Askarov kept making all the stops and the Admirals took game 1 by a final score of 6-2.

Player media availability:

Coach media availability:

Highlights:

Up next:

The Moose are scheduled to practice tomorrow as they attempt to flush their game 1 loss and get ready for game 2.