HERSHEY, PA – Hershey Bears goaltender Michal Neuvirth made 28 saves for his league -eading fourth shutout of the playoffs en route to the 3-0 win over the Manitoba Moose in Game 3 of the 2009 Calder Cup finals. Hershey now leads the series 2-1 and will have Games 4 and 5 Sunday and Tuesday nights at home. Graham Mink started the scoring at 6:22 of the first period, eight seconds into the Bears first power play opportunity of the game thanks to Shaun Heska’s slashing penalty. Steffan Kronwall, who was at the left face-off circle, shot the puck towards the Manitoba net and Mink tipped the puck between the legs of goaltender Cory Schnieder for the 1-0 lead.
That would be all that Neuvirth would need on the night. Manitoba came up with their best chance to score in the second period when they had a five-on-three power play for 50 seconds. Neuvirth made his best save with a nice leg stop on Maxime Fotunus to keep Manitoba off the scoreboard.
Alexandre Giroux made the Moose pay for not scoring when he shot a one-timer past Schneider off of a nice cross-ice pass from Chris Bourque. Giroux’s blast just barely went over Schneider’s left shoulder and went off of the crossbar, fell down to Schneider’s shoulder and bounced into the net for a 2-0 Bears lead.
With the goaltender pulled and a man in the box for Hershey, Manitoba threw everything but the kitchen sink at Neuvirth while again on another two-man advantage, but time and again Neuvirth denied the Moose of a goal. Quintin Laing finished the scoring with a shorthanded empty-net goal with 44 seconds remaining in the game.
”Your best penalty killer is your goaltender,” said Hershey Head Coach Bob Woods. ”He’s dialed in.”
Needless to say Neuvirth was named player of the game and is currently, along with Giroux, considered the favorites to win the playoff MVP award should Hershey win the series. Giroux leads all scorers with 14 goals and 25 points. He led the league in goals during the regular season with 60 and was named the league’s regular season MVP.
”We just want to give him a chance,” said Laing. ”He’s usually going to stop the ones he has a chance on.”
If he keeps stopping the puck every chance he gets from here on out, not only will Neuvirth win the playoff MVP award, but the Bears will win their championship.
Notes: The Bears are now at 8-1 at the Giant Center this post-season. Giroux will bring an 11-game scoring streak into Sundays game. In Calder Cup Finals history, when a series is tied at 1-1, the winner of Game 3 has gone on to win the championship on 22 of the last 31 occasions.
Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com
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