Moose in familiar territory

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This article was published 01/12/2016 (2695 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They’ve spent much of the past month on the road under often trying circumstances. But you can’t blame the Manitoba Moose if they wouldn’t have minded extending their stay away from home.

The Moose just completed a three-game sweep away from the MTS Centre this past week — against strong division rivals in league-leading Milwaukee, along with Chicago and Rockford.

“We played well. Certainly we were facing tough opponents. Three different looks. We played some good hockey,” head coach Pascal Vincent said Friday. “It was a combination of good individual efforts and good team efforts.”

Manitoba is 10-7-2 on the season at exactly the one-quarter mark of their 76-game schedule. It’s quite the leap for a team that didn’t win its 10th game last season until Jan. 5, when they “improved” to a record of 10-17-4 through 31 games en route to just 26 wins overall.

The Moose look to continue their strong play when they open a four-game homestand this afternoon against Texas, the top affiliate of the Dallas Stars, at 2 p.m. Texas comes into the game with an identical record to Manitoba. They’ll meet again Sunday afternoon before Cleveland comes to town Friday and Saturday.

Vincent praised the work of his goaltenders, saying they gave performances “way above average” on the road. Eric Comrie has started six of the past seven games after splitting the first dozen with Ondrej Pavelec, the former Winnipeg Jets starter who was demoted to the American Hockey League at the start of this season.

“I’m really confident in my game right now, really happy with how it’s going. But it’s about playing it one puck at a time. I can’t get ahead of myself and start focusing on what’s coming up in the future,” Comrie said Friday.

Pavelec struggled to start this season, but had a strong showing last Sunday, stopping 26 of 27 shots in backing his team to a 2-1 win over Chicago.

The Moose played most of November without top offensive threats Marko Dano, Nic Petan and Andrew Copp, who remain up with the injury-riddled Jets.

Quinton Howden and Chase De Leo also missed several games on recall. As well, Scott Kosmachuk and Anthony Peluso have missed extended time with injuries.

Manitoba also played seven of its 11 November games on the road. It would have been eight of 12, but a game in Tucson was postponed when Tucson’s Craig Cunningham collapsed on the ice just as the puck was about to drop. He remains hospitalized.

The Moose kept their heads above water during the month by going 6-4-1.

“We expected a tough month, being on the road quite a bit. We didn’t expect what happened in Tucson, obviously. It was a month where we really grew as a team, getting to know each other and getting to create that team identity,” said Vincent.

“As a team, I saw it as a month where we could grow — and we did. Getting to know each other, getting to support each other. Facing some adversity, that’s when you really grow. I thought, overall, that month was very positive for our team.”

Perhaps no one has excelled more than rookie Jack Roslovic.

The 19-year-old is leading the Moose in scoring with six goals and nine assists through his first 19 pro games.

Dan DeSalvo, called up from the East Coast Hockey League, has also been terrific with five goals and six assists in just nine games for the Moose.

There could also be some reinforcements on the way soon, as both the Jets and Moose appear to be getting healthier by the day.

“What I see is a young team that we have that is really looking to improve,” said Vincent. “As a team, as an organization, we’re creating something special.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca