Admirals crush the wild at home, 9-1

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- The return of Pekka Rinne to the BMO Harris Bradley Center Friday night sparked the Admirals on an offensive scoring spree as they posted a season-high nine goals in a 9-1 win over the Iowa Wild.

Rinne stopped 16 of 17 shots thrown his way in his first game action since October and his first game with the Admirals since April 23, 2008. It was his 82nd all-time win as an Admiral.

The first period opened with a wristshot from Colton Sissons on the powerplay at 7:16, assisted by Vinny Saponari and Patrick Cehlin, and the scoring avalanche was on.

Just over two minutes later, 9:29 into the game, Joonas Jarvinen gave the Admirals a two-goal lead with his slapper from the high slot. Austin Watson fed Taylor Beck from behind the net who passed it to a crashing Jarvinen for the goal.

With 7:18 left in the first, Bryan Rodney widened the gap on the Wild, making it a 3-0 game with his one-timer that snuck past Toivonen. Patrick Cehlin and Miikka Salomaki were credited with the assists.

The Ads reached a season high for goals in a single period when Austin Watson scored the fourth goal of the period, putting the Admirals up 4-0 with 2:43 remaining. From behind the net, Beck found Salomaki who fired one at Toivonen only for Watson to bang one in off the rebound.

The Admirals offensive output caused Rinne to have a light workload in the first, as he stopped all five shots he saw.

The second period opened with the same energy as the first and the Admirals secured a 5-0 lead just 46 seconds into the stanza. Colton Sissons won the draw back to Piskula, who walked the puck along the blueline before firing a wrister that got by a screened Toivonen.

Nearly five minutes in, Jarvinen recorded his second goal of the night. Assisted by Salomaki and Piskula, his backhander lifted the Admirals to a 6-0 lead.

Midway through the second, Scott Valentine scored his first goal of the season, sniping one past Toivonen from the top of the right circle, making it 7-0 Milwaukee. Kevin Henderson and Mark Van Guilder earned the assists on the goal.

Mark Van Guilder's tenth goal of the season would push the Ads lead to 8-0 at 17:51 of the second. Saponari sent a pass to Sissons in the slot, who left it on the doorstep for Van Guilder and he cleaned it up.

The Admirals scored on four of their ten second period shots.

Johan Gustafsson replaced Toivonen at the start of the third and held off the Admirals until late in the game when Joonas Rask scored shorthanded with 6:25 to play. Charles Roussel found Rask coming hot off the bench and fed him in stride for a break-away that beat Gustafsson giving the Admirals a 9-0 lead.

With just 4:25 left in the game, Zach Miskovic prevented a Wild shutout as he scored for the first time since being traded to Iowa earlier in the week.

The Admirals look to carry over their momentum into Sunday's game verse the Rochester Americans at 3 pm on home ice.