The Manitoba Moose are out of the American Hockey League's Calder Cup Playoffs thanks to a last-minute game-winner from the Milwaukee Admirals in Game 5 of their opening round postseason matchup.
The Moose began and finished the 2022-23 season the same way: with surprise and disappointment.
Entering the year already knowing the club wouldn't have goaltender Eric Comrie - the franchise's all-time winningest netminder - at its expense, Manitoba was dealt another blow, as fellow Jets draft pick Mikhail Berdin was put on leave from the team as he entered the NHL's Substance Abuse and Behavioural Health Program. He did end up playing professionally this season, but he did so closer to home, with HK Sochi of Russia's KHL.
So, the disappointment of losing both star goaltenders from the past handful of seasons, paired with early injury recalls by the Jets, led Manitoba to a difficult start.
The team did end up faring alright, as it finished third in the Central with a 37-25-6-4 record, to which it squared off with the second-place Admirals in the best-of-five series.
Opting to hosting the final three games with home-ice advantage, Milwaukee began the postseason on the road, and shocked Manitoba 6-2 in the playoff opener.
The Moose rebounded nicely with a 3-2 overtime win in Game 2 - which just so happened to be the final professional hockey game played at Canada Life Centre until September - before heading south for a shot at pulling ahead in the first of three games in Milwaukee.
Manitoba did just that, grabbing the 2-1 series lead with a second-straight overtime win. Things did not come as easily for the Moose in Games 4 and 5, however, as the visitors fell 5-3 on Friday night in what was a dominant game by the Admirals.
Trailing 4-1 heading into the third period, Manitoba got two goals past Yaroslav Askarov in the first five minutes in its bid for a comeback. But the home team sealed the series-tying game with a last-minute empty-netter.
“We talked about doing a better job of not getting dragged into the stuff they try to drag you into," defenceman Ashton Sautner said. "Obviously, penalties and whatnot are part of the game and in the playoffs it’s more important to stay disciplined. We’ll be better and get ready for tomorrow."
Saturday's Game 5 provided the Milwaukee faithful another reason to cheer, as its Admirals came out on top 2-1, securing the win with just 27 seconds left in the game.
Scoring the game-opener midway through the second period, Milwaukee coughed up its 1-0 lead with just 1:57 to play, as Jansen Harkins' fourth goal of the postseason tied the game for the Moose.
But it was all for naught, as Spencer Stastney potted the winner at the 19:33 mark, finishing off a shocked Manitoba squad.
Moose defenceman Dean Stewart collided with forward Cole Maier in the neutral zone, where former Jets forward Zach Sanford collected the puck and carried it up-ice, before dishing to Stastney for the game-winner.
“Seems like we’ve seen this before, it’s getting old," Moose captain Jimmy Oligny said of the series loss. "I already have no words, it’s just really disappointing. When you just tie a game, you can’t allow a goal right after. It doesn’t matter when, even if it was in the second period. You just can’t allow a goal right after you scored. I think they were tight games that could have gone either way."
After being outshot 28-19 on Friday, Saturday's Game 5 also saw the Moose give up far more shots than it took (33-21). Oskari Salminen did play well for Manitoba, but it wasn't enough to top his Russian counterpart.
Harkins finished the postseason with four goals and seven points in his five games played, after putting up 25 goals and 50 points in 44 games since being demoted from Winnipeg.
Milwaukee will now travel to Texas for the Central Division Final, while Manitoba will head home for summer.