By Tim Campbell
SHOULD the first-half performance of the Manitoba Moose be judged against the team they want to have on the ice or the paper-thin one they've been icing lately?
Luongo, you will have heard, has been granted leave from the Canucks between Jan. 24-31 -- including surprisingly taking a pass on the NHL all-star game in Atlanta on Jan. 27 -- to be with his pregnant wife in Florida.
Through 40 AHL games, the Moose are 21-16-2-1 and in a reasonably good position in second spot on the North Division despite their farcical last-second 3-2 loss to the San Antonio Rampage Tuesday night at the AT&T Center.
Inconsistency, however, has plagued the Moose throughout much of the first half.
Again with nine regulars missing due to call-up, injury or suspension, they battled fairly well Tuesday night only to have a short-handed gift goal at 19:59 of the third sink them.
One indication of the instability the Moose have experienced in their lineup is that they've used 36 players so far this season. Only 19 may dress in any one game.
Six current Moose players have played for the Canucks this season, and four more Rick Rypien, Nathan McIver, Mike Brown and Alex Edler are still there.
Sadly, it was MacIntyre's gaffe on the final play of the game Tuesday night that led to the team's fourth straight regulation loss on this trip. That's their worst road trip of three games or more in almost three years since February, 2005.
A second straight losing road trip has also left the Moose below .500 away from MTS Centre, at 9-10-1.
Among the other items that have marked the first half were slow starts. Manitoba has surrendered the first goal of the game 23 times so far.
But coming from behind, at least earlier, was not a terribly big hurdle for the Moose. Though they lost both games here -- despite leading one and being tied in the other after 40 minutes -- third periods have been good to the Moose with a mark of 16-3-1-1 when in that situation.
A high-water mark of nine games above .500 was reached before this trip began but the short-term view based on the current holes in their lineup is that it's going to take a lot of work to rebound to that number.
Nevertheless, when some of the roster issues are reduced, the team has shown it has some tools with which to work.
Centre Brad Moran and winger Jason Jaffray, just returned from the Vancouver Canucks, clearly have their good chemistry intact. Colby Genoway, who remains injured, was having an eye-catching rebound season. When the majority of the Moose lineup was intact earlier, the consensus was that expectations were not only being exceeded but that they should be revised higher.
A pause might be in order for such optimism, but the development of several rookies leave room for higher hopes.
Those include right-winger Michael Grabner, who leads the team in goals at the halfway point with 14. Speedy freshman Mason Raymond, if he sticks around for any time at all, is already a proven dangerous commodity and Pierre-Cedric Labrie, after a swoon about a month ago, is finding his legs again and may yet prove to be a viable power forward.
Finally, the second half leaves no outstanding scheduling obstacles. Manitoba has played a perfect split of 20-20 road and home games so far and has no ridiculous road trips remaining.
Ten of the Moose's next 14 games will be played at MTS Centre, starting Thursday night against Peoria.
San Antonio 3 / Moose 2
FIRST PERIOD
All power-play goals, for practical purposes, in the first. San Antonio's Matt Murley takes advantage, also of a terrible Moose penalty-kill change, then Bill Thomas scores later on a deflection. Juraj Simek gets the Moose on the board with a rebound shot, just his second goal since Nov. 9, exactly two minutes after Joey Tenute's interference minor is called.
San Antonio 2 / Moose 1
SECOND PERIOD
San Antonio 2 / Moose 2
Third Period
Moose get a power play with 37.6 seconds to go after another serious kneeing incident. San Antonio's Josh Gratton is the culprit. Rampage clear the zone with less than five seconds left in regulation but the dump down hops around the boards and over the stick of Moose goalie Drew MacIntyre and Chris Durno is there to tuck it in the vacated cage with one-tenth of a second left, maybe two-tenths. "Stupid mistake by me," MacIntyre admits later after at least one deserved point goes out the window.
San Antonio 3 / Moose 2
ICE CHIPS
Game-breaker
Durno scores a short-handed goal that's the winner for the second straight game. This one's a tough pill to swallow for the Moose because they played rather well for 59 minutes 59.5 seconds.
He's forgiven
Moose coach Scott Arniel refused to utter even one word of criticism towards MacIntyre and said he's already forgiven. "What am I going to do?" Arniel said. "We played a whale of a game. I thought we were pretty good. I'm sure everyone was thinking if we didn't score there, we'd have the 4-on-3 in overtime. It's a crappy bounce... those are the things that happen when you're in a funk like we're in. You don't see that stuff when you're winning."
S is for...
Sitting. Moose defenceman Zack FitzGerald was ordered to miss a second game but there's still no explanation as to why the league has yet to decide on the length of his suspension after incurring a match penalty last Saturday in Houston. If the league is on such a campaign to eliminate blows to the head, it might do well to investigate the head-snapping, from-behind cross-check to the head by San Antonio's Travis Roche on Moose forward Brad Moran during Tuesday's first period. It was a foul more dirty than FitzGerald's on every count but many of these types of checks simply wind up as good JumboTron entertainment in American markets.
Also sitting
On the sidelines Tuesday night was Moose rookie Michael Grabner, who leads the team in goals with 14. Coach Scott Arniel said Grabner's play has tailed off considerably in the last two weeks and pointed out that he has other players in his locker-room suffering from the same malaise who could also be benched if the team's lineup was deeper.
Next
Peoria at Moose, Thursday at MTS Centre, 7:30 p.m. (CJOB).
