Admirals get by Moose in wild affair, 7-5

MILWAUKEE -- The Admirals Pontus Aberg broke a 5-5 tie with 33 seconds left in the game to lead the team to a 7-5 win over the Manitoba Moose Saturday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

With the tie knotted and under a minute to play Adam Payerl carried the puck into the Manitoba zone and waited until he was just above the goal line before firing a pass cross ice to a crashing Aberg on the left post and he had an open net.

It was the third goal in his last four games and gave him a team-best eight goals on the season.
Things got off to a quick start and never let up as the two teams combined for three goals in the first 5:20 of the game.

The first came off the stick of Ads forward Max Gortz just 61 seconds after puck drop. Gortz came streaking down the right wing and caught a rink-wide pass from Kevin Fiala before beating Manitoba goalie Eric Comrie high-glove side.

The Admirals lead would not last long as the Moose scored a pair of goals just 1:20 apart to grab a 2-1 lead. The first came from Chase De Leo at the four minute mark and then Ryen Olsen beat Ads netminder Juuse Saros with a wrist shot at 5:20.

The second period provided the same level of fireworks as the first as Gortz got things going again when he evened the score for the Ads with a power-play blast at just less than four minutes into the period.

Then Milwaukee grabbed the lead at 3-2 at 7:15 of the second on a shorthanded goal by Felix Girard. Petter Granberg chipped the puck up the boards to Girard, which sprung him and Max Reinhart on a 2-on-1 and resulted in Girard's third of the year and second shorty.

However, before the fans were sat back down the Moose had tied it up on an Aaron Brassard power-play tally.
Jimmy Oligny would put the Ads back up a goal when he gathered a loose puck in front of the Manitoba net and roofed a backhand for his second goal of the season at 10:55 of the second. Zac Larraza assisted on the play, his first point as an Admiral in his second game.

Once again Manitoba managed to tie the score as De Leo garnered his second of the night after corralling a rebound and beating Sarros stick side from the right dot.

The two teams traded goals again with the Ads Kristian Nakyva getting his first of the year while De Leo completed the hat trick for the Moose, tying the score at five and setting the stage for Aberg's heroics.

The Admirals finish out their pre-Christmas portion of their schedule on Monday night when they head to Rockford to take on the IceHogs at 7 pm.