SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- It's one thing to be brave and successful on home ice and quite another to be that way on the road.
In the case of the AHL first-round playoff series between the Manitoba Moose and Syracuse Crunch, bringing that kind of game into the Onondaga County War Memorial was the winning difference for the Moose.
In the little downtown bandbox, where the fans are so close to the action the players swear they can smell the toxic breath of the diehards drinking their suds and eating those jalepeno nachos up in the 10th row, the Moose stared down adversity and came up with an overtime winner for the second straight game, bouncing the Crunch 3-2 in Game 6 for a 4-2 triumph in the series.
Manitoba moves forward to meet the Grand Rapids Griffins, probably starting Friday in the Michigan city. The first team to four victories will advance to the AHL semifinal round.
Four wins in a row in the first round did the trick for the Moose. Three of them came in Winnipeg in the friendly confines of MTS Centre, but then came last night, in a rink where the Moose had dropped the first two of the series, both by one goal.
But the Moose never trailed in Game 6, though they were under considerable pressure in the third period and early in overtime. Dan Fritsche tied the game with 18.1 seconds left in regulation time, but Moose defenceman Prestin Ryan, the former Crunch skater, provided the series clincher at 9:50 of the extra period.
"We had to get over our disappointment," Ryan said in the jubilant Moose locker-room. "We were less than 30 seconds away from winning the game and we came back in here with a shot in the gut. We just had to get over it and start over again, and that's what we did."
 | Moose win best-of-seven series 4-2.
* Game 1 of North Division final is likely Friday in Grand Rapids.
* Key stat: Both teams stayed out of the penalty box last night. Only two power plays per side were awarded.
* Defenceman Prestin Ryan, who had 11 goals during the regular season, got credit for last night's overtime winner at 9:50 of the fourth period.
* Moose, since joining the AHL in 2001, are 14-6 in one-goal playoff decisions.
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At the decisive moment, Ryan darted in from his point position when he saw the puck just lying outside the crease, with bodies strewn all around. He smashed it once and it came back to him. He whacked it a second time and it flipped way up in the air and landed in the net.
"I saw the puck was sitting there and I had to go down there," Ryan said, near tears he was so happy. "There were all those bodies and the puck was there and I had to try to put it in. I shoved it at the net, it came back to me and I shoved it again and it went up in the air and went in.
"Kinger (Jason King) said it hit his foot. It should be his goal, but I don't care. They can do whatever they want. We scored."
After a college career, Ryan played his first pro season for the Crunch last year. There were disparaging whispers here about his play before this series, so putting the finishing touch on it pleased him all the more.
"That felt good for me here, (bleep) yeah," he said.
The Moose looked quite content to try winning the game 2-1, taking little forward action in the third period. That's when the Crunch started to skate better and bring more offence.
"We were in a great situation in overtime. One goal and we move on," Moose coach Alain Vigneault said, preferring to look past the emotion of the late tying goal by the Crunch.
Vigneault said the Moose didn't intend to sit on their 2-1 first-period lead, but a skating first period turned into a tight second.
Crunch coach Gary Agnew said he was feeling very good about his team as last night's game rumbled on. "I thought when we finally tied it late that we had the momentum, that we had them on the ropes so to speak.
"We almost had one, they almost had one (in overtime), and then it wasn't a typical overtime goal. It flops around and goes in."
