The Manitoba Moose once again have their backs against the wall.
The Grand Rapids Griffins jumped out to a three-goal lead in Game 3 of the Central Division Semifinal and hung on for a 4-2 victory over the Moose on Wednesday in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The Griffins now lead the best-of-five series two games to one and can wrap it up with another victory on Friday.
After trailing by three goals early, the Moose battled back to pull within one and had chances to tie it late in the third period before the Griffins scored the empty-netter to secure the win.
“They keep coming back and coming back and trying,” said Moose head coach Mark Morrison. “It’s been tough for us to put the puck in the back of the net, but I thought we did a much better job today of getting to the net and getting in his eyes. There was two or three great looks that just hit him.
“We get a bounce today and we’re right there, but yeah, they’re not going to quit. They’re not going away.”
The Moose have scored just three goals the entire series and were held to just 17 shots in the Game 3 defeat.
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Mason Shaw and Samuel Fagemo had the goals for Manitoba, while Carter Mazur notched a pair including the empty netter for Grand Rapids. Jakub Rychlovský and Erik Gustafsson also found the net.
The Moose already won two elimination games in the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs and now face the prospect of having to win two more to save their season.
“We’ve been in this spot before where we’ve had to win two games,” said Shaw. “That’s why you use those experiences in the past to lean on. But we haven’t made things easy on ourselves all year. We’ve made things hard all year so why would we not go to five games to try and beat these guys.
“When we do things the right way, we can play with these guys. It’s the best team in the league for a reason. They’re really good but at the same time I have a lot of belief in our group, the guys in the locker room, and our backs are against the wall here, so we’re going to give them everything we got.”
The final shots were 32-17 in favour of Grand Rapids as Michal Postava made 15 stops. Domenic DiVincentiis had 28 saves in his second straight loss.
The Moose were 0-for-2 on the power play and are now just 1-for-7 on the man advantage in the series.
The attendance was 7,581 at the Van Andel Arena.
The Chicago Wolves await the winner of the series. Game 4 is Friday once again in Grand Rapids and Game 5, if necessary, will go on Saturday.
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