Game Story

The Manitoba Moose fell 4-2 in Game 3 of their Central Division Semifinals series to the Grand Rapids Griffins on Wednesday night. Grand Rapids leads the best-of-five series 2-1. Game 4 goes on Friday at 6 p.m. CT at Van Andel Arena. 

The Griffins used their home ice edge to open the scoring 11:57 into the contest. Jakub Rychlovský pounced on a rebound with a delayed Moose penalty, slipping his chance past Domenic DiVincentiis. Both sides had some golden chances the rest of the period, but neither could light the lamp again, as the 1-0 scoreline held into the break. 

Grand Rapids moved in front 3-0 with a pair of second-period goals. Erik Gustafsson snuck a shot through DiVincentiis’ pads at 4:41, before Carter Mazur fired a laser into the top corner with three minutes left in the frame. Mason Shaw cut the deficit to 3-1 on his second goal of the series with 38 seconds until the horn, deflecting a Dylan Anhorn point shot past Postava. The Griffins held a 19-10 edge on the shot clock through two periods. 

Manitoba drew within one late in the third as the sides skated four aside. Manitoba called DiVincentiis to the bench and, with the extra attacker on the ice, Samuel Fagemo cut the deficit to just one, ripping a one-timer past Postava to make it 3-2 at 16:48. Manitoba continued to raise the pressure in search of the tying goal as the game shifted to a six-on-five advantage for the Moose. Mazur blocked a shot at the point with a minute on the clock and buried his second of the game into the open cage. The Griffins claimed a 4-2 win and took a 2-1 lead in the series.  

Quotable

Moose forward Mason Shaw (click for full interview)
“We’ve been in this spot before, where we had to win two games. That’s why you use those experiences in the past to lean on. But we haven’t made things easy on ourselves all year. Why would we not go to five games and try and beat these guys?” 

Statbook

• David Gustafsson recorded his team-high fourth point (1G, 3A) of the post-season 
• Brayden Yager moved into a tie for second on the club in playoff scoring with an assist, bringing him to a total of three points (3A) 
• Mason Shaw and Samuel Fagemo joined Parker Ford as Moose to score multiple goals during this post-season run 
• 12 Moose recorded at least one shot on goal, while five picked up multiple.