Milic Shines, Moose Close Road Trip With Dominant 5-1 Win Over Marlies

Two points in the AHL standings have rarely felt more expensive, and Thomas Milic just delivered them at a discount. The Manitoba Moose closed their multi-city eastern road trip Tuesday with a 5-1 rout of the Toronto Marlies, a result that matters less for the goals scored than for what it does to the Central Division calculus in the final stretch of the regular season.

After dropping six of their last eight games heading into the eastern swing, Manitoba arrived in Toronto needing proof of concept as much as points. The win pushed the Moose into a tie with the Texas Stars for third place in the Central, pending Texas' later result, and extended Manitoba's buffer over the Milwaukee Admirals in a three-team scramble that will define April. That two-point addition is direct leverage: every point the Moose add widens the gap above the cut line in a division where Milwaukee has been closing.

The architect of the evening was Milic, who stopped 34 of 35 shots for a .971 in-game save percentage on the back half of a grueling road trip. The 22-year-old from Coquitlam, B.C. entered this season as a genuine bounce-back story: his 2.40 GAA and .913 save percentage through 28 games represent a real recalibration after a 2024-25 campaign that cost him his AHL roster spot entirely. Against Toronto, he absorbed a 35-shot workload, held his ground after the Marlies scored first, and then locked the door for 40-plus minutes of game time. Goalies who sustain a .910-plus baseline on the road, in March and April, on the second leg of multi-city trips, are precisely the kind of players who steal standings points. Milic's floor has risen this season, and Tuesday was a reminder of what his ceiling looks like.

The offense operated as supporting cast, not protagonist, which is exactly the profile a playoff team needs from a goaltender. Chase Yoder tied the game 1-1 with his first-ever AHL goal in the first period, giving Manitoba the pivot moment it needed. Jets prospect Nikita Chibrikov put the Moose ahead 2-1 with his sixth of the season in the second and added an assist for a 1G-1A night; Brayden Yager chipped in two helpers. In the third, Phil Di Giuseppe, a Toronto product, converted for his 12th of the year to stretch the lead to 3-1. Walker Duehr followed with his 15th of the season, a shorthanded 2-on-1 finished by captain Mason Shaw, before Jaret Anderson-Dolan's empty-netter completed the 5-1 final.

The road trip is over. Manitoba returns home with renewed standing and a goaltender who just demonstrated he can carry weight when the schedule gets uncomfortable. In a Central race this tight, that combination is worth more than the two points alone.