Jaffray, Tremblay lead Moose into second round

Jason Jaffray recorded a hat trick and Yannick Tremblay broke a 1-1 tie with 5:51 left in regulation, sending the Manitoba Moose into the North Division Finals with a 4-1 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins in Game 7 at the MTS Centre on Tuesday night.

The Moose will take on Hamilton in the second round, beginning Saturday night in Winnipeg.

Jaffray opened the scoring 5:50 into the game with a power-play goal, and the lead held up until Scott Parse tied things up for Grand Rapids with his first postseason goal at 8:30 of the third, tipping home a shot by defenseman Dan Smith.

Tremblay, who also had two assists on the evening, scored on a shot from the bottom of the right-wing circle to put the Moose ahead for good at 14:09. Jaffray then converted on a 3-on-1 rush with 1:45 remaining, and completed his three-goal night with an empty-netter at the 19:10 mark.

Drew MacIntyre made 21 saves to earn the win for Manitoba. Jimmy Howard took the loss, stopping 31 of 34 shots for the Griffins.

Jaffray’s hat trick comes two days after Ben Walter scored three times in Providence’s Game 7 win over Hartford. There hadn’t been a Game 7 hat trick in the AHL since 1998.


North Division Final – Series "K" (best-of-7)
N1-Manitoba Moose vs. N3-Hamilton Bulldogs

Game 1 – Sat., May 5 – Hamilton at Manitoba, 8:30
Game 2 – Sun., May 6 – Hamilton at Manitoba, 8:30
Game 3 – Tue., May 8 – Manitoba at Hamilton, 7:30
Game 4 – Sat., May 12 – Manitoba at Hamilton, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sun., May 13 – Manitoba at Hamilton, 3:00
*Game 6 – Mon., May 14 – Hamilton at Manitoba, 8:30
*Game 7 – Wed., May 16 – Hamilton at Manitoba, 8:30

*if necessary
All times Eastern