Moose Playoff Recap: Manitoba 3 at Texas 6

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Quick Hits

• Mavrik Bourque notched four points (2G, 2A) in the Texas win
• Curtis McKenzie tallied three points (1G, 2A) in the victory
• Kyle Capobianco and Ville Heinola each produced two assists for Manitoba

Game Story

The Manitoba Moose (0-1) battled with the Central Division's Texas Stars (1-0) on Tuesday evening at H-E-B Center for Game 1 of the Calder Cup Playoffs First Round.

Manitoba opened the scoring at the 15:54 mark of the first with a goal from Daniel Torgersson. The winger found Mark Liwiski, who took the pass in the slot in the slot and fired a shot on goal. The puck flew in the air and Liwiski, as well as a Stars defender, went airborne, which knocked the disc on top of the net. The puck kept rolling and fell off to the side of Remi Poirier and was knocked into the empty net off the stick of Torgersson. The Stars responded 37 seconds later courtesy of Mavrik Bourque. Emilio Pettersen gained the line and shuffled the puck to Bourque, who launched a quick shot up and under the bar past Thomas Milic. The Moose took a 1-1 tie into the first intermission. Milic ended the frame with 14 stops while Poirier countered with four of his own.

Texas grabbed the lead with a goal from Curtis McKenzie 1:42 into the middle frame. McKenzie fired the shot on goal, which handcuffed Milic. The netminder sprawled out to cover the net, but McKenzie trucked his way to the front and got the final touch to knock the puck over the netminder. The Stars took a 3-1 lead with a tally from Michael Karow at the 8:22 mark. Matej Blumel settled the puck at the line and found Karow, who walked into open space and beat Milic with a shot inside the far post. The Stars added a fourth goal two minutes later with a marker from Christian Kyrou. Bourque drew in a pair of Moose skaters before saucing the puck to Kyrou, who beat Milic off the cross-ice feed. Manitoba got one back late with a power play goal from Nikita Chibrikov. Brad Lambert found Chibrikov at the top of the zone with the pass. The forward leaned into a shot that eluded a screened Poirier. Manitoba was outshot 13-10 in the middle frame and trailed 4-2 heading into the final 20 minutes of play.

Manitoba got themselves within a goal off the stick of Parker Ford 6:19 into the third stanza. Kyle Capobianco floated a shot on net from the point. The rebound bounced to the side of the net and Ford was waiting to fire it home. Texas made it a 5-3 contest with a second goal from Bourque. McKenzie took advantage of a Moose giveaway and threw a shot on Milic. The rebound popped free and Bourque found twine from the top of the crease. With Manitoba down a pair and time ticking, Milic was called to the bench in favour of the extra attacker. Despite subsequent chances and pressure, Matej Blumel tracked down a loose puck and skated it into the empty net. The horn sounded shortly after to as the Moose fell 6-3. Milic was hit with the loss and ended with 30 stops, while Poirier picked up the victory and made 21 stops of his own.

Quotable

Moose Forward Parker Ford (Click for full interview)

“I think we had a job and a couple of things that we wanted to do and we just didn't do them. We didn't execute. That's what playoffs are all about so we have to take a step back and learn from it and stay positive."

Statbook

• Parker Ford and Nikita Chibrikov scored their first AHL playoff goals
• Seven different Moose skaters made their AHL playoff debuts
• Four Moose skaters registered their first AHL playoff point
• Kyle Capobianco notched his first playoff multi-point contest
• Ville Heinola tallied his second career playoff multi-point outing

What's Next?

The Moose rematch with the Stars in the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs First Round series at H-E-B Center. Game 2 of the best-of-three series takes place Thursday, April 25 at 7 p.m. CT.

You can catch the game on CJOB.com/sports the Winnipeg Jets App or AHLTV. Coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. CT.