Fast Facts: Moose at Milwaukee – Division Semifinals Game 5

For the second straight year, the Manitoba Moose and Milwaukee Admirals require a decisive Game 5 to conclude their Central Division Semifinals series. The Admirals forced Game 5 with a 5-3 victory over Manitoba last night. Milwaukee opened up a 4-1 lead through 40 minutes and held off a Moose charge in the third period. Jansen Harkins factored in on all three Moose tallies with a goal and two assists. Milwaukee claimed last year's Game 5 by a 2-1 score.

Coverage of tonight's series finale begins at 5:45 p.m. CT on CJOB.com/sports, the Winnipeg Jets App and AHLTV.com. Puck drop is slated for 6 p.m. CT on 680 CJOB.

Familiar Territory

For the second straight season, the Moose and Admirals will be forced to play Game 5 to decide the winner of their Division Semifinals series. In 2022, it was Manitoba who forced the decisive game after defeating Milwaukee by a score of 7-3 at Canada Life Centre. That set the stage for Game 5, which Milwaukee ended up winning by a score of 2-1. Tommy Novak scored the winning goal in the second. Morgan Barron notched the tally for the Moose, with Ville Heinola recording a primary assist. Out of the eight players who contributed a point for both sides in that contest, only two (Heinola and Milwaukee’s Cole Schneider) are still active for their respective club in the current series.

Three’s a Crowd

Jansen Harkins racked up three points (1G, 2A) in last night’s contest. The forward, a second round choice of the Winnipeg Jets in 2015, has registered at least one point in every playoff contest and has six points (3G, 3A) entering Game 5. The forward’s six points pace the Moose and tie him with both Jordan Gross (2G, 4A) and Kiefer Sherwood (2G, 4A) for the complete series lead. Harkins, who notched 50 points (25G, 25A) in the regular season, put together his first playoff multi-point outing last night and now has 28 total over his Moose career stretched between the regular season and playoffs.

Cole’s Cruisin’

Forward Cole Maier picked up the secondary assist on Wyatt Bongiovanni’s third period marker last night. The helper extended Maier’s point streak to three games. The Pequannock, N.J. product has three points (1G, 2A) during that span, including a last-minute, tying goal in Game 2. The tally was his first career Calder Cup Playoffs goal. More recently, last night’s assist pushed Maier to a new career-high in post-season production. The centre tallied two assists in five games during last year’s series.

Working for the Weekend

Over the course of the 2022-23 regular season, the Moose skated in 19 total games on Saturday and came away with a record of 12-5-2-0 over those contests. When Manitoba, who plays a pivotal Game 5 on the road this evening, was away from Canada Life Centre for those Saturday games, the record ended up as 8-2-1-0. Two of those contests came in Milwaukee against the Admirals, where the Moose registered a 5-2 win and 5-4 overtime defeat. Alex Limoges paced the Moose with 23 points (9G, 14A) in 18 Saturday contests, while the defence corps was led by Declan Chisholm, who pieced together 17 points (4G, 13A) in 17 Saturday games.

Who's Trending?

Greg Meireles notched a first period goal in yesterday’s defeat. The forward, a former sixth round pick of the Florida Panthers, is riding a career-long three-game point streak that has seen him post three points (1G, 2A) over that span. Meireles is one of three Moose skaters in the series to notch a tally on the power play.