Manitoba Moose

In streetfighting parlance, the Manitoba Moose are on one knee and they'd better get up and land a shot of their own in a hurry.

The Moose find themselves down 1-0 to the Hershey Bears in this best-of-seven Calder Cup Final with Game 2 set for the MTS Centre tonight. A second loss wouldn't finish Manitoba but heading down to Hershey for the next three scheduled games in the series trailing 2-0 is not a scenario anyone in Mooseland wants to entertain.

A win, however, puts the Moose right back in the scrap and that has to be the focus for the home side heading into tonight's action.

"We don't want to have to go down there for three games being down 2-0," said Moose head coach Scott Arniel, after he put his club through a skate and video session at Gateway Recreational Complex on Monday morning. "We looked at the tape and there were lots of good things. We didn't take care of the little things and play what we call Moose hockey. If we can go out and be ourselves and get back to our game, things should work out."

Anything short of facing elimination, something the Moose have yet to do in these playoffs, is difficult to call a must-win. But this certainly smells, feels and tastes like such a situation. Arniel says fans can expect this game to have heightened tension.

"The nastiness will be there. Guys started to chirp a bit at the end of the last game. There were some big hits and some in-your-face stuff," said Arniel. "Our team plays better with an edge and we'd like to bring the physical stuff to them. Especially their key guys. This is going to be a long, physical series with lots of smashmouth hockey."

The Moose will likely get a boost from forward Alex Bolduc as he appears ready to return to the lineup.

"He's a big guy that has (Michael) Grabner-like speed. He's important to us because he plays in all kinds of situations. He's physical and has some bite to his game and is one of our core guys," said Arniel.

Over in the Bears' den, the talk on Monday was of keeping the Moose in trouble and not breathing any life into their Calder hopes.

"We'd like to get to four wins as quickly as possible," said Hershey coach Bob Woods. "If they (Manitoba) win Game 2, it brings a whole new look to the series."

Moose goalie Cory Schneider allowed five goals in Game 1 and while he says he'd like better results in Game 2, he didn't buy into the theory that his game was a little off.

"You don't ever want to let in five goals, but a lot of that was bad bounces. There's nothing I can do about that and I don't really know if there's much I'd change about my approach right now," said Schneider. "I feel pretty good about how I'm playing. It's all about matchups at this time of year and you want to be better than the other team's goalie. I'm just going to focus on Game 2 and giving our team a chance to win."

Bears captain Bryan Helmer, a former Moose defenceman, said his club will need to hang on for the first 20 minutes of tonight's game and hopefully live to fight for the rest of the night.

"They'll be desperate. It'll be a big crowd and they'll come out hard. You know they don't want to go down 2-0," said Helmer. "We came here wanting the split, but now that we won the first game we'd sure like to get them both. The first period is huge for us. We haven't had a good start to a game in a while and this would be a real good time for a strong start."

Calder Cup flash

Chemistry set: Forward Alex Bolduc (lower body) took part in practice on Monday skating on a line with Mark Cullen and Cody Hodgson. That moved Michael Grabner up with centre Jason Krog and winger Jason Jaffray. Rookie Matt Pope will drop out of the lineup.

Bear patrol: Hershey defenceman Karl Alzner is back in Pennsylvania but has resumed skating and is listed as probable for Game 3 at the Giant Center.

P.C. gets close: Moose winger P.C. Labrie is also a possible addition for the Moose in Game 2. He's missed the last five playoff games with an upper-body injury but had been effective prior to getting hurt. Labrie is physical and plays with a little grease in his game.

Get your tickets: Game 1 was a sellout and the same is expected for tonight. The Moose announced late Monday they'd already sold more than 13,000 tickets for Game 2, leaving less than 2,000 available.

Game keys

GAME 2 will be huge. A Moose win gets them back in the series at 1-1 while a Bears victory puts the visitors up 2-0 with the next three games scheduled for their building.

Here are the keys for both teams:

MOOSE

1. Stop the puck: Moose goalie Cory Schneider got some bad bounces in Game 1 but the bottom line is he let a two-goal, third-period lead evaporate, allowing three goals in the third and the winner in OT. He's got to be better.
2. 60 minutes of Moose hockey: Manitoba was strong early in Game 1 but the coaching staff said 30 turnovers was the main cause of their troubles. That's not Moose hockey. Get a lead and continue to pound.
3. Ground Giroux: Hershey's Alexandre Giroux had three goals including the OT winner in Game 1. It's safe to say putting him in a box is a difficult task, but the Calder Cup is on the line and letting one player kill you is unacceptable.

BEARS

1. Stay out of the box: Hershey found itself on the wrong end of three 5-on-3 power plays in Game 1 and the Moose scored on two of those. The Bears are just average on the penalty kill and can't give Manitoba that many opportunities.
2. Hang in there: Game 2 will likely have a second straight sellout of 15,003 at the MTS Centre and both the crowd and the Moose should be roaring early. Getting through the first 10 minutes without too much damage is Job 1 for the Bears. The longer this game goes with the outcome in doubt is a plus to the visitors.
3. Keep shooting: Hershey's best tactic in Game 1 was to shoot from all angles and then swat at rebounds. Manitoba's defence was sloppy in its own zone and the Bears would do well to keep that pressure on the Moose.