The Manitoba Moose were knocked out of the Calder Cup Playoffs Thursday night after getting shutout in an elimination game.
The Moose did everything but score a goal as they suffered a 2-0 Game 2 loss to the Texas Stars on the road to get swept out of the playoffs in two straight games.
The Moose had nearly twice as many shots on goal as they outshot the Stars 41-22, but they just could not solve Stars goalie Remi Poirier.
“We threw everything we had at them,” said forward Dominic Toninato after their elimination. “I thought we played a great game tonight. Sometimes you got to tip your cap. Obviously, it would have been nice to have that kinda game in Game 1. Obviously, falling behind doesn’t help, but I liked our effort today and like I said, you got to tip your cap to them.”
Fredrik Karlström scored both goals for Texas in the victory.
The Stars took the lead midway through the opening period and the one goal upper-hand stood up into the third when Texas scored a second goal on the man advantage as they finished 2-for-3 on the power play. The Moose were 0-for-3 on the night.
Manitoba outshot Texas 14-6 in the first and had a heavy advantage in shots in all three periods.
The Stars were awarded a penalty shot in the final frame but league MVP Mavrik Bourque missed the net on his attempt.
The Moose made two roster changes after a 6-3 Game 1 loss, inserting Tyrel Bauer and Nicholas Jones into the lineup.
Thomas Milic stopped 20 of 22 shots in the loss.
Manitoba had won all four of their games in Texas this season entering the playoffs. The Moose suffered through an 11-game losing skid in January and were in the AHL’s basement, but they went 20-10-1-1 afterwards to get into the playoffs.
“Very proud,” Toninato said. “This team’s been through a lot. A lot of ups and downs. We were down there at the bottom and then clawed our way back out of that. I just felt like we fought all year just to get into this position and guys really bought into their roles and I thought the team really came together. We were peaking at the right time and just came up short.”
The Moose haven’t won a playoff series since 2018.
The Stars advance to face the Milwaukee Admirals in the best-of-five Central Division semifinals.
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