The Milwaukee Admirals surrendered four unanswered goals that turned a 3-2 lead in a 6-3 loss to the Chicago Wolves on Saturday night at the Bradley Center. Admirals forward Michael Latta had his first professional two-goal game, but the Ads still lost for the first time in four tries this season against their Amtrak Rival.
The Admirals got on the board first when Scott Ford tallied his first goal of the season at 12:27 of the opening stanza. Gabriel Bourque chipped the puck from the slot over to Ford on the right circle and the team’s captain ripped a shot that snuck through traffic and past Chicago netminder Matt Climie.
Chicago tied the score at 15:39 when Kevin Connauton got behind the Ads defense after his hooking penalty expired. The Wolves d-man swooped in on Milwaukee netminder Jeremy Smith and beat him five-hole for his third goal of the year.
A wild second period saw five total goals, starting with Connauton’s second of the game at the 3:32 mark, which came off a one-timer on the power-play and gave the Wolves a 2-1 lead.
However, a few minutes later Latta scored his two goals just 27 seconds apart to put Milwaukee back up 3-2. The first came at 6:46 off a coast-to-coast rush by defenseman Roman Josi, who fed Latta in the slot for the goal, and the second came at 7:13 on assists by Zack Stortini and Ben Ryan.
Milwaukee’s lead was short-lived as Chicago took advantage of pair of turnovers by the Admirals to take recover the lead. Nathan Longpre got the first one at the 10:49 mark when he intercepted a pass from Josi in the Ads’ zone and then played a quick game of give-and-go with Darren Haydar. Then with 2:35 to go in the frame Mark Mancari picked up a misplayed puck and converted on a breakaway for his third goal of the year and a 4-3 Wolves’ advantage.
The Ads were able to apply pressure on the Wolves in the third period, including a power-play opportunity, but they couldn’t find the equalizer. Chicago scored a pair of what were essentially empty net goals in the final 90 seconds of the game to complete the scoring.
With his two goals Latta was the only Admirals player to register more than a point on the night, however the team did have seven different players find their way onto the scoresheet.
The Admirals get right back it Sunday afternoon when they host the Oklahoma City Barons at 5:00 pm at the Bradley Center.