Admirals downed by the IceHogs, 3-1

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- The Admirals three-game winning streak came to a halt Saturday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center after suffering a 3-1 loss to the rival Rockford IceHogs.

The visitors outgunned the Ads in shots, 36-21, and received goals from Adam Clendening, Ben Smith, and Klas Dahlbeck. The Ads managed to deny a shutout to the vistors in the third period when Juuso Puustinen popped home a juicy rebound for his fifteenth goal of the season.

The loss now places the Admirals ninth in the Western Conference standings, two points back of eighth place Rockford. However, the Ads still have four games remaining while the Hogs play just two more.

This game opened up with some fireworks when Ads forward Mike Liambas got into a scrap with Garret Ross at 4:21 of the first period. There was a false start on the scrum when Ross threw his equipment off before the draw and grabbed Liambas. The officials called no penalties on the tussle.

The resulting faceoff saw the two duke it out, with Liambas sent to the box, and Ross to the training room to be tended to. A lengthy clean up was needed, including a fresh jersey for Liambas due to the remnants of the fight on his sweater. He swapped out his messy #8 for a nameless and clean #19 for a full two periods before the stains were removed from his jersey in the third period.

The IceHogs would open up the scoring with a PP goal in the second period. Adam Clendening’s shot from the blue line knuckled along the ice after deflecting off of Ryan Ellis’ stick. The skipping puck made it through net-front traffic and Magnus Hellberg to give Rockford a 1-0 lead.

After a Brad Winchester roughing call and a crosschecking call against Scott Valentine, the IceHogs added yet another PP goal just after the brief 5-on-3 chance was killed off. The initial shot on goal was pushed aside by Magnus Hellberg, but the IceHogs beared down on the net to crash in their second goal on the man advantage courtesy of Ben Smith.

The second frame was a dominant one for the visiting IceHogs. The Ads didn’t register a shot on goal until midway through the period and were outshot by a grand total of 17-6 by Rockford. Milwaukee did manage to heat up towards the end of the period which was riddled with six Admiral penalties.

Rockford extended their lead at 12:47 of the third period. Klas Dahlbeck’s shot from Brandon Svendsen and Ben Smith flew through traffic and the wickets of Hellberg to push their lead to a hefty 3-0.

The Admirals denied the Rockford shutout at 15:00 of the final frame. Patrick Cehlin’s slap shot took a wicked tip from Paul Crowder and the puck was spilled off of Carter Hutton in net and out to Juuso Puustinen. The flying Fin managed to smack the loose puck past Hutton for his fifteenth goal of the season and made this game 3-1.

The game finished 3-1 to Rockford who finished the game in complete control of the shots department, 36-21. This was also a contest dominated by penalties. The two combined for 21 infractions for a total of 54 penalty minutes. The resulting onslaught of penalties lead to numerous chances on the power-play for both sides. Rockford went 2-10 on the man-advantage and the Ads went 0-5.

The Ads will look for a quick turn-around when they play Tuesday at the BMO Harris Bradley Center against the Chicago Wolves for a 7:00pm faceoff.