WINNIPEG, MB -- Goalie Juuse Saros stopped 23 shots and the Milwaukee Admirals came back from a two-goal deficit to defeat the Manitoba Moose 4-3 in a shootout Saturday at BellMTS Place.
The win snapped Milwaukee’s three-game winless skid (0-2-1-0). It also snapped Manitoba’s nine-game winning streak.
Saros got stronger as the game wore on. He stopped all 17 shots he saw in the last two periods and overtime and two-of-three in the shootout. Saros is 6-0 in AHL shootouts in his career and has allowed just two goals in 19 shots. In the waning seconds of overtime, Saros stopped a breakaway with a blocker save on a Mason Appleton chance.
The Moose led 3-1 after one period. Manitoba grabbed an early lead when Cameron Schilling’s shot from the left point found the back of the net at 6:15 of the first period.
The Admirals answered just :23 later. Derek Army entered the Moose zone on the left wing. He fed a pass to Tyler Moy in the right circle and Moy found Phil Lane in the slot for a deflected goal. It was Lane’s first with Milwaukee.
The Moose scored two more to close out the first frame. First, Cam Maclise scored his third goal of the season at 13:33 with a wrist shot from the slot. Then, Mason Appleton deflected a Kirill Gotovets shot from the left corner for his ninth of the campaign at 15:52.
Milwaukee defenseman Jimmy Oligny put his team within a goal at 1:08 of the second period. Bobby Butler received a pass from Jack Dougherty and skated across the Moose line on the right. He slid a pass to Oligny in the slot and he snapped the puck over the left shoulder of the netminder for his first goal of the season.
Tyler Kelleher scored on the power play with 6:00 remaining in regulation. Anthony Richard’s shot from the right circle was deflected and bounced in front of the goal. Justin Kirkland was able to poke the loose puck away to Kelleher who slammed the puck into the goal for his sixth of the year and third on the power play.
Manitoba’s first shooter, Mike Sgarbossa scored in the shootout. The next two Moose shooters, Nic Petan and Brendan Lemieux, were unable to score. The Ads scored goals with the first two shooters sent to the ice, Justin Kirkland and Trevor Smith, to emerge victorious.
The Admirals remain in Winnipeg for an afternoon game Sun., Dec. 10. Milwaukee returns home Fri., Dec. 15 to host the Iowa Wild at Panther Arena.
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