Admirals battle back to earn point in shoot-out loss
LOVELAND, Colo. - For a second straight night, Jayson Megna scored a shootout-winning goal to lift the Colorado Eagles to a 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Admirals.
Trailing 3-2 at the 6:27 mark of the third period, the Admirals benefitted from a 5-minute major boarding penalty against Colorado's Dalton Smith. Cole Schneider scored his team-leading 13th goal of the season near the end of the extended power play to tie the game at 3-3. Schneider's goal (11:28) was a rebound off an initial shot by Rocco Grimaldi and was his fifth power play goal of the season.
In the shootout, David Farrance scored in the second round to give the Admirals the lead, but Jordan Gross tied it in the bottom of the third. Megna scored the winner in the bottom of the next round.
Grimaldi had a goal and an assist for the Admirals, and Egor Afanasyev notched a pair of assists. The Admirals were 2-for-6 on the power play and outshot the Eagles 42-39. Devin Cooley made 36 saves for Milwaukee.
Following a 1-1 first period, the Eagles netted the first two of the second. Nearly six minutes into the period, a Shane Bowers wrist shot from the left circle got past a diving Cooley inside the far post to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead. A 5-on-3 man advantage later in the second allowed the Eagles to extend the lead to two goals, when Megna ripped a one-time shot past Cooley at the 12:24 mark to extend the lead to 3-1.
Five seconds after the Eagles killed the Admirals' third power play chance, Josh Healey hit Grant Mismash in stride on a rink-wide stretch pass, and Mismash's hard wrist shot from the left circle beat Annunen high to cut the lead to 3-2 with 2:58 left in the second period.
Sampo Raanta got the scoring started at 11:10 of the first period, when he was able to score the rebound off his own initial shot, knocking in a puck that ricocheted off of Cooley's stick and straight up into the air. Six minutes later, Grimaldi gave the Admirals a power play goal for the second straight game, when Afanasyev played a neat pass from the left circle to the right, and Grimaldi sent his wrist shot over the glove of Annunen to tie the game at 1-1 at 17:09.
The Admirals continue their three-game roadtrip on Monday afternoon, when they visit the Iowa Wild for a 2 p.m. CT face off.
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