Michal Postava Earns Shutout in Grand Rapids Win Over Manitoba
Photo Credit: Jonathan Kozub and Darcy Finley/Manitoba Moose
After being shutout in game one of the Central Division Semifinals, the Grand Rapids Griffins turned the tables on the Manitoba Moose, shutting them out 2-0. Goaltender Michal Postava stopped 34 shots en route to his first shutout of the postseason. This was the first shutout by a Griffin in the playoffs since 2018, when Jared Coureau shut out the Moose 3-0 in game 4 of the division semifinals.
In a pregame interview with Bob Kaser, Griffins Play–By–Play announcer, Head Coach Dan Watson discussed how the players' execution was off yesterday afternoon. “Some of our puck touches weren’t very good. The execution of getting passes, the execution of getting pucks off the yellow, which means the bottom of the boards, we missed the net a couple times,’ Coach Watson explained to Kaser. Heading into today’s game, the focus was on executing fundamentals and plays correctly.
The Griffins came out zooming and slightly aggressive (in a good way). The rust was definitely off of their skates. On top of that, their execution of “getting pucks off the yellow” was exponentially better than Saturday. In fact, successfully pulling a puck off the boards led to a goal on the power play.
Michael Brandsegg-Nygard opened the scoring for the Griffins with 2:56 to play in the first period. Everything was set into motion when Brandsegg-Nygard laid a big hit along the boards, immediately getting into a board battle before rolling the puck along the yellow to John Leonard. From there, Leonard was able to play a game of catch with Axel Sandin-Pellikka, before firing off a pass to Sheldon Dries, who was sitting at the top of the crease. Upon receiving the pass, Dries swept the puck to Brandsegg-Nygard, who was all by his lonesome in the near faceoff circle. He proceeded to kneel to the ice and launch a shot past Domenic DiVincentiis whose head was spinning from the chaos unfolding in front of him.
Brandsegg-Nygard was also an important piece of William Wallinder’s third period goal. The Griffins were unleashing a breakout from deep in the defensive zone, starting with moving Brandsegg-Nygard up ice with the puck. Instead of powering through the neutral zone, he opted to pass the puck to Wallinder, who was hanging out along the halfwall. Once the puck made contact with his stick, Wallinder took off along the wall before launching a shot from the perimeter of the faceoff circle. Due to Manitoba defender Garrett Brown getting a piece of the puck, the shot changed trajectory, and DiVincentiis was not set in a way that would allow him to stop the puck from entering the net.
Another thing the Griffins executed well during this game was controlling rebounds. The Moose kept trying to attack the net for second chances, but the Griffins refused to let them do it. If there was an extra whack or move towards the net, the defense came out of nowhere and aggressively pushed Manitoba away, which led to multiple spicy skirmishes.
Grand Rapids’ special teams units did a solid job on the faceoff, especially Amadeus Lombardi and Gabriel Seger. Lombardi’s strong offensive zone faceoff wins on the power play allowed the Griffins to generate offense by setting up beautiful plays along the blue line and down low.
Seger’s faceoffs on the penalty kill were a thing of beauty. If he didn’t have a strong, commanding win on the draw, he tried to barrel through the Moose to get to the puck and turn the momentum in Grand Rapids’ favor.
Now, before this article comes to a close, it’s imperative to give Manitoba defenseman Ashton Sautner his flowers. Sautner was such an asset to the Moose on the penalty kill the past two games, sacrificing his ankles and face to prevent shots from turning into goals.
Manitoba and Grand Rapids meet again on Wednesday, May 6, 2026, at 7pm in Van Andel Arena. Every fan will receive a rally towel upon entry to the game, and the Griffins' popular $2 Hot Dogs, $2 Beer promotion returns for all home playoff games.
