The Manitoba Moose clinched their first playoff series victory since 2018 with a 2-1 win over the Milwaukee Admirals in Game 3 on Sunday afternoon. Goaltender Domenic DiVincentiis stopped 31 shots to secure the advance to the Central Division semifinals against Grand Rapids. The Moose will now prepare to face the Griffins in the next round.
Manitoba took the lead at 11:43 of the first period when Walker Duehr snapped a shot past Matt Murray from the faceoff circle for his first goal of the series. In the second period, with 4:22 remaining, David Gustafsson fed Samuel Fagemo in front of the net, and Fagemo wired home a shot from the left circle to make it 2-0 just after jumping on the ice from the bench. The Moose had also relied on Gustafsson's late game-winner in Game 2 to force the decider. DiVincentiis, a second-year professional, preserved the lead through heavy third-period pressure from Milwaukee. The Admirals pulled within one when Jake Lucchini tucked in a back-door pass from Jordan Oesterle for his first goal of the series. Over his two starts, DiVincentiis stopped 50 of 52 shots faced. Murray made 28 saves in the loss, allowing five goals on 108 shots across the series for a .954 save percentage. The best-of-five series concluded with Manitoba winning 2-1: Milwaukee took Game 1 4-1 on April 22, Manitoba edged Game 2 2-1 on April 24, and Sunday's result sealed it. This marks Manitoba's first series win since 2018, as first reported by TheAHL.com.
