Guillaume Desbiens insists it was just an equipment problem.
When the Manitoba Moose power forward went crashing into the end boards in the first period on Friday, it looked like he might be done for the game or perhaps the series.
He seemed to be favouring his shoulder as he left the ice and went straight to the Moose locker room, but Desbiens was adamant he only lost his breath on the play.
“My shoulder pad kind of ripped apart when I fell and I had to fix that and then I came back and it was good,” Desbiens said when grilled about the possibility of a shoulder injury. “No, I was just trying to catch my breath and when I got back to the bench I saw it was ripped so Jason (McMaster, the Moose equipment manager) had to come back and sew it.”
During the playoffs, sometimes players and coaches aren’t completely honest for fear of putting an injured player in danger, but during the query Desbiens answered with a straight face and there were no ice bags in sight.
Desbiens only ended up missing one shift and provided two insurance markers in the third period after the Bulldogs made it 3-2 and started to put the pressure on.
“That’s what we’ve come to expect from him, he’s been to two consecutive Calder Cup finals and we look to guys like him to come up with big plays in the playoffs,” said goalie Cory Schneider. “He’s done that in spades this series.”
Desbiens leads the Moose in playoff scoring with five goals and eight points in five games.
THE GOAL: There have been times when some have wondered how much forward Peter Olvecky brings to the table, but the Slovakian came up with his best effort in antlers on Friday.
Olvecky, who went into the game with one assist in four games, parked in the slot and scored a power play marker on a deft backhand in the first period. Then he turned heads with an eye-popping shot from the slot after a beautiful feed from Dan Sexton.
“That was a great play by Sexton, who really took his time and put the puck in the right spot and that was a big-league shot (by Olvecky),” said head coach Scott Arniel.
DOGS NOT DOWN: The Bulldogs made a push in the third period and despite giving up two late goals, plan to try to build on their comeback attempt in Game 6.
“There’s no reason not to (feel confident). We were desperate in the third and we saw what happened there,” said forward David Desharnais, who has two goals and six points in this series. “We need to come out like we did in the third when we get back to Hamilton. We need to get back to our structure to give up (fewer) goals, for sure.”
OUT OF TOWN: The Moose weren’t the only North Division team to stay alive.
The Abbotsford Heat earned a 3-1 victory over the Rochester Americans in the late game Friday to force a sixth game at Blue Cross Arena on Sunday.
Former Moose forward Jason Jaffray, who has been out with a groin injury, played his first playoff game on Friday but didn’t record a point.
