Manitoba Moose

Mike Keane was quick to put things in perspective when asked about falling behind in the Calder Cup final.

Keane was more than happy to remind his teammates -- and members of the media -- that the best-of- 7 series is not a race to one.

"At this stage of the game, it's a real mental thing," Keane said after the Moose and Bears hit the ice at the Gateway Recreation Centre yesterday morning. "It's important for us to stay in the now. We're not panicking and we're not worried.

Upbeat

"We just have to simplify our game a little bit."

Game 2 goes tonight at 7:35 p.m. and as of late yesterday afternoon, the Moose announced that roughly 13,000 tickets had been sold.

Moose centre Jason Krog was also upbeat when assessing the situation going into Game 2.

"We started well, but let that one slip away from us," said Krog, who leads the Moose with 20 points in 17 games this spring. "They're explosive obviously. Don't count them out ever. They could be down one, two or three goals and they can put goals on the board in a hurry.

"We'd rather be up 1-0, but the main thing for is in to get back on track and focus on each play."

Moose head coach Scott Arniel believes his team will be able to make some important adjustments after seeing the Bears live rather than just on video prior to the series.

"Some of the things we talked about (coming into the series) was their speed and their physicality," said Arniel. "(On Saturday) we really figured out that they're a big hockey team, they're going to finish (their checks) and they're going to finish hard. You forewarn them about these things, but until they're going shoulder to shoulder and hit for hit, it's something they have to experience.

"This is a lot like the Toronto series, with a lot of smash-mouth hockey from both teams, but with Hershey having a better skill package. It's not going to get any easier. If anything, it's going to get more physical as these guys start to dislike each other."

Arniel held a video session with his team yesterday that he felt would be beneficial heading into Game 2.

"It's good for our players to see themselves against Hershey after watching Providence versus Hershey and Wilkes-Barre versus Hershey," said Arniel, referring to the video watched of Hershey's last two opponents before the series opened. "You get to see how we managed the game, how we played on specialty teams and 5-on-5. We seem to be able to get it a little bit better when it's us on the ice or us up on the big screen as the one's being critiqued."

And the tape doesn't lie.

"We can't be turning pucks over like we did last game," said Moose defenceman Nolan Baumgartner. "We watched some video on that and it's more glaring when you watch it a second time. When you're playing, sometimes you don't realize that you're doing it.

"We've got to play like we did in the first (period) and not stop what we were doing. That's where the game got away from us."

Baumgartner ran into some hard luck in the series opener as two pucks bounced off him and into the net behind Cory Schneider during regulation.

Then he was in the penalty box serving a minor penalty for an inadvertent high stick that led to the game-winning goal from Alexandre Giroux.

"You can't worry about those things, you just have to look forward to the next game," said Baumgartner. "Two goals went in off me that were not even going on the net. Sometimes over a seven-game series, those things even themselves out.

"If you work hard, you're going to get bounces yourself."

Breakaway blues -- Missed penalty shot haunts Moose forward

Matt Pope had the outcome of the game riding on the blade of his stick.

With the Manitoba Moose leading the Hershey Bears during the second period in the first game of the Calder Cup final, Pope used his speed to create a clear-cut breakaway.

Just as Pope was getting ready to shoot, Bears defenceman Staffan Kronwall showed tremendous hustle and extended fully, causing Pope to fall to the ice.

Crowd went nuts

The roar of the crowd told Pope all he needed to know.

"I didn't even look at the ref, I was still down on the ice and I heard the crowd go nuts," said Pope, a 24-year-old rookie winger who spent most of the season with the Bakersfield Condors of the ECHL. "I came to the bench and I was heaving. I didn't even know the rules. I was wondering if I had to (take the shot)."

Indeed, referee Kyle Rehman blew his whistle and pointed to centre ice, awarding a penalty shot.

The anticipation was building, but there was a problem: Pope was already at the end of a shift and was dog tired. He went to the Moose bench to buy a little more time and catch his breath.

When he finally skated to centre ice, Pope's mind was racing.

"There couldn't have been more pressure," said Pope, who had two goals and five points in eight games after joining the Moose on Mar. 17 and added three goals and six points in eight post-season games while playing mostly on the top line with Jason Krog and Jason Jaffray. "It's Game 1 of the Calder Cup finals, there are 15,000 people and everyone is looking at me.

"Honestly, it's been so long that I can't even remember the last time I had a penalty shot. The only thing close would be shootouts and I think I had six this year. I would rather have the breakaway than the penalty shot. I hate penalty shots. The goalie has nothing else to worry about except making the one save and you have too much time to worry about what you're going to do."

To make matters worse, as Pope started skating in from the blue line to at least the top of the circle, the puck began to bounce and it took considerable time before he could settle it down.

Pope was forced to try for a deke and when he tried to slip the puck through the five-hole of Bears goalie Michal Neuvirth, the pads closed quickly and the attempt was denied.

"I should have shot, I don't know why I tried to deke," said Pope. "Obviously, the last thing you want when you're crossing the blue line is to have the puck flip up. It's just unfortunate it didn't stay flat the whole time.

"I'd like to have it over again, for sure."

Nobody was pinning the loss on Pope, since the Moose had several other chances to get the score to 4-1, but that didn't help the right-winger from Langley, B.C. get much sleep on Saturday night.

"I've got high expectations too. I should score there," said Pope. "I got about two hours sleep. It was haunting me."

The significance of the save by Neuvirth wasn't lost on the Bears.

"I thought that was the turning point in the game," said Bears head coach Bob Woods. "If they score there, it's 4-1 and it's probably a little different situation. Keeping it within a two-goal reach was big. It changed the game."

Moose head coach Scott Arniel was asked if Pope not scoring on the penalty shot was a bit deflating.

"I don't know about deflating," said Arniel. "But we could have put them away there and we had a chance right after. You get it to 4-1 and it changes the whole game.

"In saying that, Pope was exhausted and then the puck started bouncing on him. I don't think he ever got comfortable going in on the goalie."

Special teams the key

When teams are evenly matched, often it's special teams play that can make the difference.

That was certainly the case in Game 1 of the Calder Cup final as the Hershey Bears earned a 5-4 overtime victory over the Manitoba Moose.

The Bears got a pair of power play goals -- including the game-winner at 13:33 of the first overtime -- and a short-handed marker from AHL MVP Alexandre Giroux.

The Moose scored two goals during 5-on-3 advantages, but the power play was 2-for-10 in the game and also surrendered a short-handed goal by Giroux.

"It was average at best," said Moose centre Jason Krog, who set up both power-play markers. "We managed to find a way to score a couple goals, but I don't think we generated enough chances and quality chances that we'd like to. We didn't move the puck and make plays like we could have."

The Bears were last in the AHL on the penalty kill during the regular season, a statistic which is a bit baffling to Bears head coach Bob Woods.

"It's an area that we've been so good at in years past and for whatever reason, we've struggled on it a little bit now," said Woods. "I don't care how good your penalty kill is, when you give up three 5-on-3s good teams are going to score against you and that was the case (Saturday) night and it nearly cost us the game."

The short-handed goal by Giroux was the third allowed by the Moose during the playoffs, which ties them for the most allowed (Providence Bruins also gave up three in 16 games).

THE CHANGE: Moose head coach Scott Arniel admits his team needs to take on more of a road mentality in Game 2.

"That's kind of the type of hockey we need to play," said Arniel. "Obviously, they can skate and they have some people that can create offence. We've been stingy all year, why change it now. We don't want to get into a wide-open game. We've got to get back to our old selves and make it difficult for the other team to try to get to the net and make it difficult for them because we have the puck and we're making good decisions with it. When we're at our best, we do a good job with puck possession and we have it most of the game."

Bolduc inches closer to returning to action

Alexandre Bolduc wasn't making any firm commitments about suiting up for Game 2 of the Calder Cup final, he spoke only of progress.

Having said that, the Manitoba Moose remain hopeful he'll be back in uniform when they host the Hershey Bears at the MTS Centre.

"Every day is getting a little bit better," said Bolduc, who has five goals and nine points in 10 post-season games this spring. "It's a possibility, yeah. We'll see how I feel in the morning. It's day-to-day right now."

With three more days between Games 2 and 3, there is a better chance Bolduc could return tonight but there are no guarantees.

"It's starting to eat me up, but there's no point coming back too early and then not being able to finish the series," said Bolduc, who had 12 goals and 33 points in 63 AHL games during the regular season. "We're expecting a long series and I want to be in those later games. There's no sense rushing it right now.

"I thought I've been playing good and I've brought a lot of things to the table when I play. It's frustrating not to be able to help the team out right now. Everyone wants to win so bad, but injuries happen and hopefully I'll be back soon."

The Moose trail the best-of-7 series 1-0 and Bolduc's skill set could provide his team with a boost heading into Game 2.

"He's still probable," said Moose head coach Scott Arniel. "He certainly is a guy that we miss from our lineup when he's not there. He has the (Michael) Grabner-like speed and he has a physical presence to him too. We use him in a lot of different situations and he's a guy that's become one of our core players because of the amount of ice time that he gets.

"When he's been in our lineup, he's been a big factor. It's unfortunate that he's had some injuries here to disrupt a real good playoff. We'll take it day-to-day here and hopefully, he'll be good to go for Tuesday."

Bolduc might not be the only player returning from injury tonight.

Left-winger Pierre-Cedric Labrie was skating on the fourth unit with Ray Sawada and Greg Rallo yesterday and could be back in action for the first time since suffering an "upper-body" injury in Game 3 of the North Division final against the Grand Rapids Griffins.

"His recovery has been quick here and he's a big-bodied element," said Arniel. "If he's available, it's going to fit in nicely in this series. He was a huge factor in the Toronto (Marlies) series. They didn't want anything to do with him.

"He created space for himself and for his teammates. He probably played some of the best hockey of this season in that series."