By Ken Wiebe /

Another solid regular season was nice, but this is the time of the year when Jason Krog really earns his large salary.

Krog, the prized off-season acquisition of the Manitoba Moose, wrapped up another solid campaign with 30 goals and 86 points.

But after leading the Chicago Wolves to the Calder Cup last spring, Krog is expected to play a key role as the Moose pursue their first championship in franchise history.

“What makes the playoffs fun? The intensity and pressure is stepped up to another level,” said Krog, who registered 10 goals and 36 points in 24 post-season games with the Wolves to win Calder Cup Playoff MVP. “There’s that do-or-die attitude and laying it all on the line.

“I enjoy the pressure and I’m sure the crowd is going to be crazy here (at the MTS Centre). We want to make a good run in the ·playoffs here.”

It took awhile for Krog to adjust to his new home, but as the season wore on, the slick centre found his groove and the numbers started to pile up.

“Maybe it took some time to get comfortable here, get settled and familiarized with new linemates,” said Krog, who had spent the previous two seasons with the Wolves. “It was getting bounces too. Early in the year, with everything I shot, either the goalie saved it or it went wide or hit a post or whatever. Now it seems like I’m getting the bounces.

“I’ve known from playing that it can just get streaky. Sometimes it goes in and sometimes it doesn’t. As long as the chances were there, I knew eventually that good stuff ·would happen.”

Krog, who signed a one-way deal with the Vancouver Canucks for US $605,000 last summer, is quick to give credit to those around him for helping him succeed, but there is no mistaking who drives the offensive bus for ·the Moose.

“This is the player that everyone expected and he’s delivered every step of the way,” said Moose goalie Cory Schneider. “He’s not the flashiest player, but he always seems to be in the right spot and always seems to make the right play.

“If anybody is going to put [the puck] on your stick, it’s him. He’s the type of guy that, if the team isn’t going well, he can put it on his shoulders and get something going, maybe manufacture something. He’s a proven ·playoff performer.”

Despite a relatively slow start, at least for his levels, Krog recorded at least 80 points for the third time in as many seasons.

“We were always talking about [not seeing] Krog-like numbers in the first half and him not being satisfied with where he was at,” said Moose head coach Scott Arniel. “But in the second half, he’s been on a tear and if you watch him closely you see the reason why he was the MVP of the league and of the playoffs last year.”

And it’s not like Krog is the kind of player who shows flash one game and then disappears when the going gets tough.

“He’s been one of our most consistent players all year,” said Moose forward Guillaume Desbiens, who was also a teammate of Krog’s the past two seasons in Chicago. “In the playoffs, he’s definitely going to elevate his game a bit. Last year, he was just unbelievable in the playoffs and I’m sure this year will be ·the same.”

Moose Notes:

The Moose finished the regular season with a record of 50-23-1-6 and 107 points, which left them first in the North Division, Western Conference and the overall standings.
Manitoba set franchise records for wins (50) and road wins (25).

Schneider, who set a franchise record for victories by a goalie in a single season, was a first-team AHL all-star and captured the Baz Bastien Memorial Award as the top goalie in the AHL.

Schneider was 28-10-1 with a 2.04 goals-against average and .928 save percentage.

The Moose also won the Harry (Hap) Holmes award for allowing the fewest goals (188) during the regular season.

Krog was a second-team AHL all-star and tied for the team lead in goals with Michael Grabner, who established a new career high by potting 30. Defenceman Taylor Ellington, a graduate of the Everett Silvertips program and second-round draft pick (33rd overall) of the Vancouver Canucks in the 2007 NHL Draft, scored a goal in his first professional game with the Moose on Apr 11.

The Moose roster got a boost for the playoffs when defenceman Mark Fistric was assigned by the Dallas Stars.