**apologies for the delay in this, as I had most of it written up on Wednesday night but then ran into some computer issues that I just completely sorted out today.**
MOOSE REGULAR SEASON RECAP
The Manitoba Moose are the only club in the True North organization that is still playing hockey, since the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets and ECHL’s Norfolk Admirals both failed to qualify for the post-season. Not that the mini-Jets were a dominant AHL squad this year, only qualifying for the Central’s 4th/5th play in round. Yet they had done enough to lock up a playoff spot with more than a week left in the regular season, so Manitoba was never in any real danger of joining the rest of the players in the organization on the golf course.
The Moose also managed to play meaningful games right down to the end of the season, having a chance to steal 3rd place on the final day. Manitoba did pick up the needed win, but the Texas Stars didn’t play along and won their own match to hold them off. Not only would taking 3rd have allowed Winnipeg’s minor league team to avoid the play in round, they also wouldn’t be set to play the AHL’s 2nd best franchise, the Grand Rapids Griffins, if the Moose manage to win their series against the Milwaukee Admirals.
The Jets’ AHL affiliate had to shuffle their roster continuously throughout the 2025-26 campaign because Winnipeg kept stealing their top players due to injuries at the NHL level. That left Manitoba with only 3 players dressing for all 72 regular season contests: Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Samuel Fagemo, & Phillip Di Giuseppe. Interestingly, that trio ended up 2nd to 4th in Moose scoring with 35 to 36 points on the year. Eight year AHL veteran Mason Shaw was Manitoba’s leading point getter with 44, while David Gustafsson had the best point per game pace with 0.67.
The coaches started the season rotating the goaltenders in the starting role, but over the campaign Thomas Milic has taken a stranglehold on the Moose’s crease. Despite Manitoba’s difficulties spending time in the offensive zone, the tender put up a top 20 Goals Against Average (2.64) and a top 15 Save Percentage (.905%). That helped the Jets’ prospect become his team’s representative at the AHL’s All Star Game, as well as get called up to the big team when Connor Hellebuyck had to have surgery mid-season.
Manitoba ran into similar issues that Winnipeg did this season, struggling to score goals (3rd worst output in the AHL) while being among the top half of the league when it came to goals against (9th least GA in the AHL). As a result, the Jets’ prospects in the minor league put up less than amazing offensive production:
Parker Ford (0.50 pts/gm), Brayden Yager (0.44), Isaak Phillips (0.43), Danny Zhilkin (0.39), Brad Lambert (0.38), Nikita Chibrikov (0.30), Colby Barlow (0.25), and Jacob Julien (0.23)
Recent undrafted free agent signing, Lucas Wahlin, has seen a likewise start to his professional career, putting up 3 points in his first 6 AHL games. I know a lot of fans will be less than blown away with that type of production….so all I can say to those people is that I am beginning to believe it is more a result of the system being used by both the Jets & Moose focusing too much on defense, rather than a comment on the prospects’ NHL chances.
There were some positives in the 2025-26 campaign too, with young Swede Elias Salomonsson developing well enough to get a permanent call up by Winnipeg and the play of another defenseman, Isaak Phillips. His 29 pts on the year gave him a career-high in his 7 AHL seasons, plus he was one of Manitoba’s sturdier defensemen in his own end.
Unfortunately injuries are impacting a lot of the players that have recently joined the Moose after their seasons ended. Both of the Junior prospects ready to start their professional careers, Kieron Walton & Kevin He, were banged up in the OHL playoffs and won’t be healthy enough to join in for the first game of the post-season. Defenseman Alfons Freij has also had to deal with an illness since coming over from Sweden, keeping him out of many regular season games and not giving him any time to adjust to the North American game & Manitoba’s system. The young Swede is back skating with the club, but doesn’t appear to be in the starting line up conversation for Game 1.
MOOSE – ADMIRALS PLAYOFF SERIES PREVIEW
Milwaukee Admirals (32-33-7) at Manitoba Moose (35-29-8)
The Manitoba-Milwaukee match up is a familiar one, since the Moose have lost 2 out of 3 of their last playoff series to the Admirals, as well as playing each other a minimum of 8 times per season. This year, our squad ended up on the wrong side of the season head-to-head play with a 3-4-1 record. More disturbingly, the opposition has outscored our team 33 to 18 in those contests. Yet our guys did end up gaining 7 more points in the standings, so it is difficult to say if either club has an advantage coming in.
The Moose were better at home this year with a 18-15-3 record at the Canada Life Centre and the Admirals were tied for the AHL’s worst record on the road (12-20-4). Since all three games in the series will be played in Winnipeg, that could be helpful in allowing the mini-Jets to win their first playoff series in a while.
Both coaching staffs are keeping their starting line ups close to their chests, as theAHL.com doesn’t have any updates less than 30 minutes before puck drop at the CLC. Based on the practice report over at Illegal Curve, I am guessing this will be the starting unit for the Moose:
Manitoba Moose Starting Line Up
Shaw / Gustafsson / Duehr
Anderson-Dolan / Zhilkin / Fagemo
Barlow / Ford / DiGiuseppe
Lambert / Yager / Wahlin
Sautner / Bauer
Phillips / Clague
Anhorn / Barteaux
Milic
Unfortunately both Elias Salomonsson & Nikita Chibrikov were banged up when playing with the Jets, so neither could be sent down to join the AHL playoffs yet. Today’s practice also was the first time recent NCAA Champion Garrett Brown has joined the defensive corps since signing his entry level contract.
So Manitoba with have to rely on the boost received from the return of Brayden Yager & Brad Lambert from Winnipeg, as well as getting David Gustafsson back from injury. I believe the Gus Bus is still not 100%, but the Moose do seem to play better when he is centering one of the top six lines. Speaking of that, I wouldn’t be too concerned about Lambo & Yager being listed as 4th liners, as the usage rarely lines up with the pre-game info.
I actually don’t mind the forward depth displayed above and think they should be able to cause the Admirals some problems while limiting chance on their own goalies. My biggest pre-game concerns revolve around the defensemen, where Salomonsson and/or Ville Heinola would have upped my confidence.
*****
GAME 1 RECAP:
The Canada Life Centre had a pretty dismal paying crowd of just over 3,000 to watch the Manitoba Moose open up the post-season. That sort of took the home ice advantage the mini-Jets had and the Milwaukee Admirals were able to use their strong forecheck to fluster the Moose’s defense early in the 1st period. Despite the pressure forcing Manitoba to make mistakes, they were able to take a 5-1 lead in shots…though most from the home club came from farther out. Finally, the errors caught up with the Moose around the middle of the frame, when during 4 on 4 play, both Isaak Phillips & Kale Clague went into the corner after the same Admiral forward. That resulted in Milwaukee’s Reid Schaeffer being left wide open in front to beat Thomas Milic when the puck eluded both defenders. Shortly after, the same defensive duo made a mistake in coverage on an Admiral rush, allowing newly turned pro Brady Martin to go in alone on Milic to give the visitors a 2-0 lead. Manitoba tried to push back and with the help of a 2 to 1 advantage in power plays, they were able to outshoot the opposition 10-7 before the intermission came.
The 2nd period saw the Moose take more control of the puck, outshooting the Admirals 17-11 in the middle frame. Yet it was another mistake that allowed Milwaukee’s Kevin Gravel to put them up 3-0 before the midway point. After that, our club really turned it on and started to create numerous quality scoring chances…yet the goalie, Matt Murray (not the one who played for the Penguins), was having none of it, making a couple 10 bell stops to keep the Moose shutout as the entered the 2nd intermission.
Fully going for it, Manitoba outplayed & outshot (16-6) Milwaukee in the 3rd period and eventually were able to break the goose egg when Colby Barlow & Parker Ford combined for the latter’s goal 4 minutes in. The Moose did continue to push for more, but the Admirals defense and goaltending was too much to overcome. A late empty netter saw the final horn seal a 4-1 loss in the opener of the best of 3 play in series, but other than the opening 10 minutes, Manitoba could make a good argument that they were the better team. Final shots were 43-24 for the Moose with both teams getting one PP chance.
MILWAUKEE ADMIRALS 4 MANITOBA MOOSE 1
All 4 of our club’s forward lines had their opportunities throughout the game, with the David Gustafsson trio putting 9 shots on net, the Danny Zhilkin unit sending 6, the Parker Ford line firing 10, and the Brayden Yager trio shooting 8. Recent signing from the NCAA, Lucas Wahlin, seemed to click with Brad Lambert & Yager since he was set up often and ended tied for the team lead with 5. The Gus Bus was the other Moose in the lead for shots, while veteran Phillip Di Giuseppe was one away with 4 scoring opportunities.
Our team will have to regroup and get prepared for a quick start when the series resumes on Friday night. A 7 pm Central start just before the weekend should hopefully see the stands a bit more packed and maybe that energy can spark the Manitoba Moose to that 2 game winning streak that they will need to finish off the series. If the mini-Jets can pick up a win tonight to extend things, the final & deciding match will take place on Sunday afternoon (2 pm).
GAME 2 PREVIEW:
The good news for the Manitoba Moose is that defenseman Elias Salomonsson is healthy and expected to be back in the line up tonight along side his regular partner Isaak Phillips. Another line up change sees the coaches go with Dominic Di Vincentiis between the pipes.
Manitoba Moose Starting Line Up
Shaw / Gustafsson / Duehr
Anderson-Dolan / Zhilkin / Fagemo
Barlow / Ford / DiGiuseppe
Lambert / Yager / Wahlin
Phillips / Salomonsson
Sautner / Bauer
Anhorn / Clague
Di Vincentiis
*****
GAME 2 RECAP:
The Canada Life Centre did see an uptick in fans, as about 6,000 people came to cheer on our Manitoba Moose as they face elimination for the 3rd straight time when playing the Milwaukee Admirals in the playoffs. Possibly that helped our club start playing with energy right from the opening face-off, as this AHL Playoff game ended up turning into an entertaining one.
The Admirals were also interested in sealing a quick series win, so the action in the 1st period was played at a high tempo. However, both clubs did well to stick within their defensive structures and limited the scoring chances to about 3 each. Brad Lambert did a good job to win a puck battle in the corner, before he stepped out and found Lucas Wahlin for a 1 time attempt from the low slot. But once again, Milwaukee goalie Matt Murray appeared to be on his game as he calmly directed the rebound to the corner. The Admirals’ Joakim Kemell also had a great chance early in the game and I’m fairly sure the puck hit two posts but never did cross the line, at least the refs agreed with that after a review. While Manitoba did win the shot count 11 to 9 in the opening frame, once again too many were from long out or cleanly viewed by the Ads’ goalie. Dominic Di Vincentiis looked calm in the net and helped the Moose avoid the forecheck on dump ins by coming out to play the puck on numerous occasions.
So a scoreless game going into the 2nd already on the powerplay due to a late Milwaukee penalty, Manitoba got a shot 5 on 3 when a PKer ended up going to the box for tripping. The Moose did really press for the first goal of the game and got a couple good looks with the extra open ice….but ended up forgetting about the guy coming out of the box to make it a 5 on 4. Just before the penalty expired, a bad puck decision by Kale Clague created a turnover in the o-zone. Unfortunately, it turned into a SH breakaway as Ryan Ufko received a pass at center before going in on the Manitoba net. It looked like Di Vincentiis stopped the chance, but either the puck’s momentum or the contact between the Milwaukee player and the back checking Moose caused it to cross the line. Down by 1, our team didn’t pout or sag, continuing to be the better club in the 2nd (shots 12-5) and it only took 2 minutes before the fans at the CLC had a reason to cheer. A shot from the point by Elias Salomonsson started things, causing Murray to dive out in attempt to cover the puck to the left of the crease. The Moose players saw that the ref, who had a great view, didn’t whistle the play and when Walker Duehr drove hard to the net, he was able to pop the puck out into the low slot. Fortunately, Parker Ford was right there and able to fire his 2nd playoff goal of the season into a wide open net. Manitoba had another 2 powerplays in the middle frame as well…and while they did better in creating chances, they still walked away with an 0 for 4 going into the intermission.
With their season on the line, the Moose and Admirals played a fairly even period for the first half….which was pretty fortunate considering Manitoba took 3 straight penalties, allowing one of the AHL’s most deadly powerplays plenty of time. Kudos to the penalty killers, because they did an excellent job making it hard for Milwaukee to gain the offense zone and when they finally did, it was usually one shot & out. As the minutes ticked away, the Moose were getting more desperate to find that winner and that helped them tilt the ice towards the Admirals’ zone. During yet another offensive cycle for our team, the defenders crossed the line with an elbow, giving Manitoba a fifth PP with 1:52 left in the 3rd period. A face off win by David Gustafsson allowed the Moose to start in the o-zone, but Milwaukee did a good job forcing the puck along the blue line. Brayden Yager noticed the pressure by the PKers and moved to join the defensemen, allowing them more passing options to avoid the aggressive Admirals. The 3 Moose players up high ended up creating some room in the middle for Yager….and once he got the puck, he looked up and saw the Gus Bus standing in front of the goalie. Wasting no time, the rookie fired shot about a foot off the ice and heading straight for Murray, who not only couldn’t really get a good sightline on the puck…..but then had to deal with a late tip by Gustafsson, sending the puck bouncing between his legs and putting the Manitoba Moose up 2-1 with only 45 seconds to play. What a time for Manitoba’s first PPG of the post-season (worst in AHL in reg. season). Instead of causing the fans some anxious seconds, tenacious puck pursuit by Mason Shaw ended up helping our team keep Milwaukee from entering the offensive zone until the dying seconds. Which became interesting, as DiVincentiis made a glove save at the horn before a line brawl erupted. The young goalie even got involved in the action, throwing a couple blockers. No real fights happened though and every one walked away with a 2 minute minor for their troubles.
MANITOBA MOOSE 2 MILWAUKEE ADMIRALS 1
*****
The Moose deliver and keep the series alive for Game 3, which will occur on Sunday afternoon at the Canada Life Centre. I thought they were the better team once again, this time outshooting the Admirals 35-20 in the contest and getting the results on the scoreboard too.
Elias Salomonsson’s return was big defensively for Manitoba….and the young Swede played a part in the game tying goal as well as having another great scoring chance late in the 3rd. Brad Lambert was way more noticeable, with a couple really nice moves to beat defenders and some nice set ups. Still needs to shoot more often, but once again that line played well. Brayden Yager is another Winnipeg Jets’ prospect that made his mark on the game, playing a strong 2 way game and making smart decisions to aid in helping defend or create offense. Great recognition to help out his defensemen on the PP to help Manitoba avoid the puck being cleared early on…..then sending a very deflectable shot towards the net once he recognized the Moose finally got some traffic in front of Murray.
The whole squad, which is quite young overall, looked a lot more comfortable out there in Game 2. Hopefully they can build on this and come out flying on Sunday. Go Moose!!!
***will link the highlights to the title photo once they are up on YouTube.***