Admirals rally past Griffins, net 3 goals in final period

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(Courtesy: Milwaukee Admirals)

MILWAUKEE - The Admirals scored three goals in the first 7:47 of the third period to turn a tie game into a three-goal lead as they went on to earn a 4-2 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins on Saturday night, Dec. 2 at Panther Arena.

Egor Afanasyev scored a pair of goals to pace the offense, while Adam Wilsby (1g-1a) and Cal O’Reilly (2a) both chipped in multipoint efforts.

Troy Grosenick stopped 28 of the 30 shots he faced to pick up his fifth consecutive win in net for the Admirals, who earned their 10th victory of the season.

Grand Rapids grabbed an early lead when Elmer Soderblom picked up his second tally of the season with just under five minutes to play in the first period.

The score stayed that way until the 14:42 mark of the second period as Wilsby's shot from the high slot made it through traffic and past a screened Michael Hutchinson for his first of the season.

Milwaukee grabbed its first lead of the game just 1:45 into the final stanza on Joakim Kemell’s fifth of the season. Wilsby had the puck at the left point and fired a shot that Kemell deflected into the net to make the score 2-1.

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Afanasyev scored the next two for the Milwaukee with the first coming at 4:09 after Cal O’Reilly won a face-off that was scooped up by Afanasyev, who then fired a wrister by Hutchinson. That was followed by a fortuitous bounce at 7:47 when he followed up an initial shot by Jasper Weatherby that caused the puck to fly high in the air, bounce off the head of Hutchinson, and trickle slowly into the Griffins net.

The Griffins Carter Mazur scored on the power-play for Grand Rapids to make it 4-2 but that was as close as they would get as Grosenick and the Admirals held on the rest of the way to capture the win.

The Admirals are back in action when they host the San Diego Gulls Wednesday night at 7 p.m.