The Moose turned things around on their four-game road trip which saw them lose their first couple of games, which meant they had lost four straight with back-t0-back wins, including a big 5-1 victory to conclude things in Toronto on Tuesday.
They woke up today two points back of the Stars for 3rd in the Central and three points up on the Admirals who sit in 5th spot. By way of refresher it is huge to get to 3rd place in the division as you avoid the best-of-three play-in series that takes place between 4 and 5. Texas has eight games left while Manitoba and Milwaukee both have nine to go. What will make it very interesting during this six-game homestand for the Moose is they face both the Stars and Admirals in two game sets.
We will get our first look at college free agent signee Lucas Wahlin who inked his first pro contract eight days back. We could also see (or at least get updates on) David Gustafsson (inj) and Alfons Freij (illness).
College signings:
Manitoba announced a pair of players that were signed to PTOs for the remainder of this season and will be on AHL deals next year in Ohio State University Buckeyes captain Davis Burnside and Boston College Eagles captain Lukas Gustafsson.
Folks at Eliteprospects describe them as follows:
Burnside – An enthusiastic, intelligent forechecker, Burnside launches himself at opponents on offensive zone puck retrievals, making second and third efforts to pry pucks loose from defencemen. The winger tracks well, backchecks diligently, and supports his defenders during sustained in-zone pressure.
Gustafsson – An activator, Gustafsson seeks to improve the quality of every shot, pass, and opportunity by joining the rush and moving off the point. With the puck, he outraces defenders and occasionally fakes an attack in one direction before sprinting in the other. Without it, he jumps into space on the weak side, sneaks to the far post, and becomes the trailer. In top form, Gustafsson makes high-end reads, showcasing mechanical ability and skill. Those flashes often take the form of tricky retrievals into dekes around incoming forecheckers, before cutting inside for a scoring chance.
IR skate:
Four injured or ill guys David Gustafsson, Alfons Freij, Tyson Empey & Ethan Frisch skated earlier.
Skate news:
It was like being back at training camp with so many new faces on the ice for Manitoba. The new guys skated and were wearing new numbers including: Lukas Gustafsson (5), Davis Burnside (10) and Lucas Wahlin (33). No changes expected for tomorrow’s game.
Projected lines & D pairs:
Shaw-JAD-Di Giuseppe
Fagemo-Wagner-Duehr
Yoder-Yager-Chibrikov
Vitelli-Julien-Barlow
Burnside-Wahlin-Dureau
Phillips-Clague
Sautner-Bauer
Anhorn-Barteaux
L.Gustafsson-Larochelle
Milic & DiVincentiis
Player media:
Up next:
The Moose welcome the Griffins to Winnipeg where they will face them in back-t0-back matinees starting on Friday with a game at 2 PM CT.
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