WINNIPEG, MAN. – After suffering a gut-wrenching loss in Game 1 of the Calder Cup Finals, the Manitoba Moose needed someone to step up and guide them to a victory.
Jason Jaffray answered the call for the Moose, scoring a natural hat trick over the final two periods, including two in the final minute of regulation, to push Manitoba to a 3-1 victory over the Hershey Bears Tuesday night at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg and tying the series at one win each. The scene now shifts to Hershey, Pennsylvania for Games 3, 4 and 5 starting on Saturday.
“Jaff’s been trying to find that scoring touch and he got a typical “Jaff” goal on that first one, crashing the net and getting himself there for the rebound,” Manitoba coach Scott Arniel told Manitoba radio station CJOB. “Obviously he had a huge one late in the third. That line I thought played very well. They were very dangerous all night.”
With Game 1 already in its pocket, Hershey was playing with house money and decided to turn up the physical game. That message was delivered when Bears’ defenseman Greg Amadio lined up Manitoba’s Raymond Sawada for a big hit. Undeterred by Hershey’s efforts, the Moose attempted to launch an attack. For the second time in two games, Bears’ defender Patrick O’Neill was turned past by a speedy forward – this time Matt Pope – only to see Michal Neuvirth save the day.
Down the other end, Manitoba net minder Cory Schneider was looking to rebound from the tough loss on Saturday. Near the end of a Moose power play, Schneider came up big with the glove on a Staffan Kronwall drive at the end of an odd-man rush.
The Bears continued to control the territorial advantage and it finally paid off. Hershey’s top line of Graham Mink, Alexandre Giroux and Keith Aucoin hit the ice and within seconds, Mink found Giroux behind the Manitoba defense. Giroux’s shot at the end of the break-in whistled high over Schneider and the net. The puck ended up back in center ice and amazingly, Mink sent Giroux in alone for a second time. This time, the AHL’s leading scorer didn’t miss, beating Schneider at 12:31 to put his team in front.
The Moose had a tough time developing any offense but when they did, Neuvirth was on top of it. That was the case when Jason Krog found teammate Nolan Baumgartner steaming down the slot. Baumgartner teed the pass up and fired but the Hershey goalie was there to make the save. As the first period ended, the visitors had to feel good, having out shot Manitoba 10-8 and leading on the scoreboard by one.
As the second period opened, the Bears continued where they left off in the first. The rink was still tilted toward the Manitoba end and it almost cost the Moose when Mathieu Perreault turned a turnover into a shot that rang the iron behind Schneider. A little bit later, Andrew Joudrey had a golden scoring opportunity that was denied by a sliding save by Schneider.
The tide finally turned toward the Moose at the 6:12 mark when Hershey’s Dean Arsene went off for a cross-checking penalty. Manitoba had the man advantage and used it well, putting Neuvirth in the middle of some heavy pressure. Some good puck movement down low led to a shot by Michael Grabner that Neuvirth stopped. The rebound got loose and onto the stick of Jaffray who tucked it home at 7:59 to tie the score.
Another Hershey penalty at 8:49 gave the Moose the chance to continue to the assault on the Bears’ defense. Jaffray had a chance for his second of the game but could only shake his head as Neuvirth picked off the shot with his glove. By the time the horn sounding the end of the period went off, Manitoba had put 14 shots on Neuvirth while holding Hershey to just four on Schneider while the scoreboard showed a 1-1 tie.
“I didn’t want us playing scared. Not scared in the fact of intimidation but being scared about making mistakes,” Arniel said. “In the second period I thought we got after them. We started to press the issue. We started to pinch a lot more. We stayed aggressive on pucks and I thought we did a good job handling them for the second and third periods.”
Whatever Coach Bob Woods said to his Hershey team between periods, it seemed to wake the Bears up out of their second period hibernation. Joudrey took a feed from Oskar Osala in the slot and ripped off a drive that Schneider stopped. Moments later, Schneider was down on the ice, forcing defenseman Zack FitzGerald to make a game-saving play behind his net minder. The Bears pushed and pushed and pushed but Schneider never broke. Even during a furious power play by Hershey midway through the period, Schneider held his ground.
“We wanted to try to steal a win. We had a couple of power plays and we had good chances on it,” Woods said. “I thought Schneider made some unbelievable saves during the whole game. I thought both goaltenders played well. We just didn’t get it done. They got a break at the end there. That’s how it goes.”
As time began to wind down, Hershey appeared to start running out of steam. Manitoba saw it and began to push back, starting to turn the territorial advantage around yet again. Finally, with less than a minute remaining, Moose defenseman Maxime Fortunus got the puck to Krog at center ice. Krog turned and fed the disc to Jaffray who drove in and sent a shot between Neuvirth’s legs with 46.9 left on the clock to put Manitoba in front.
The Bears still had time but a penalty with 26 seconds left made things difficult. They pulled Neuvirth but Jaffray had one final nail left, scoring into the open net with 9.9 ticks remaining for the final score.
“I thought it was another great hockey game (with) both teams battling hard,” Woods said. “I think you can see that its starting to get a little more intense, a little more hatred. I think you’re going to see more of that as the series goes. We‘re excited to be going back to our building with a split which was our goal in the first place.”
Game notes…Hershey had won five straight and seven of its last eight dating back to Game 5 of the East Division Finals prior to the loss in Game 2. Last Saturday night’s overtime victory was the 50th post-season win in franchise history…Manitoba goalie Cory Schneider must hate extra work. In regulation playoff games, he holds a 14-1 career record. In overtime games, however, he is 0-7…Nine of the last 10 Calder Cup finals have started with a Game 1 that was decided by one goal…Call him Mr. Game 1: Hershey’s Osala has six goals during the playoffs and including the two he tallied Saturday night, five of those six have come in Game 1 of a series…Giroux’s hat trick in Game 1 was the sixth in a Calder Cup finals game since 1994. The last Bear to turn a trick in the finals was Mike McHugh against Hamilton in Game 2 of the 1997 series…The team that has won Game 1 of the Finals has gone on to win the Calder Cup 55 out of the first 72 series, including 13 of the last 15…The Moose announced on Tuesday that Games 3, 4 and 5 (if necessary) at the Giant Center in Hershey will be televised live on MTS-TV and Shaw Cable…Hershey chartered out right after the game while Winnipeg will wait until Thursday to head south to Hershey.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
Catch all the playoffs at Intotheboards.net
You must be logged in to post a comment.