The Manitoba Moose are back in a playoff position.
The Moose knocked off the Pacific Division leading Bakersfield Condors 3-1 on Tuesday at Bell MTS Place. The victory moved the Moose into a tie for fourth place in the Central Division to hold down the final playoff spot.
Seth Griffith led the way with a goal and an assist. Logan Shaw scored his team-leading 26th goal of the season, and Mason Appleton sealed the deal with an empty net goal in the game’s final minute.
“The message was really from this morning, that if we didn’t have a good start, we were probably going to get pounded tonight by them,” forward Ryan White said.
“So a little bit of fear, I think got us going tonight. We just wanted to make sure we were ready to go. We know they’re a good team. They beat us twice the last time we were out there, and we had to be ready.”
All three Moose goals came on the powerplay.
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The Moose took a two-goal lead to the third period, and withstood a strong push from the first place Condors, as they outshot Manitoba 15-9 in the final stanza.
“We started on time for sure. We were moving right,” Moose head coach Pascal Vincent said. “And then I felt that we started to slow a bit the game down. And that’s when they took advantage of our mistakes. But we started on time, and we need to get back to that.”
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Mikhail Berdin stopped 40 shots as he made a fifth straight start in goal for Manitoba.
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Braden Christoffer scored the lone goal for Bakersfield. Shane Starrett finished the night with 18 saves.
The Moose, Milwaukee Admirals, and Texas Stars now all have 77 points in the race for the final playoff spot in the Central Division.
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Shaw’s 26 goals this season is the most by any Moose player in a single season since the Moose returned to Manitoba four years ago.
The Moose played without Tucker Poolman and JC Lipon who are both out week-to-week with injuries.
The two teams meet again in the rematch on Wednesday at Bell MTS Place.