Admirals ice the Barons, 8-2

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Powered by a hat trick by Juuso Puustinen the Admirals snapped their six game losing streak by defeating the Oklahoma City Barons 8-2 Friday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

Admirals goalie Jeremy Smith turned aside a career high 44 shots, including numerous big saves early while the game was still scoreless, to earn his 14th win of the season.

Despite being outshot 7-1 the Admirals opened the scoring on their second shot of the night. Puustinen fired a slap shot that tucked under the left shoulder of Baron's goalie Olivier Roy at 5:56 of the opening period.

With the beginning of the second period the Admirals ended their streak of 29 power-play opportunities without a conversion when Austin Watson beat Roy from the bottom of the right circle.

While being heavily outshot 32-17 through two periods the Admirals took a 4-0 lead after two periods and managed to chase Olivier Roy from his place in net.

The Barons finally found the net on their 39th shot of the game ending Jeremy Smith's shutout bid, but seemingly giving the Admirals a slight spark. Just 39 seconds later Puustinen got his second of the night when he pucked up a loose puck near the crease and slid it past Tyler Bunz.

With just 3:20 seconds to play Puustinen redirected a puck over the pad of Tyler Bunz for his hat trick, the first by an Admiral since Chris Mueller did it last season

Seven players had multiple points tonight, including newly acquired Brad Winchester who tallied a goal and two assists, pushing his total to 4 points in just two games with the Admirals.

The Admirals hit the road Saturday night in Peoria in their last game before the AHL All-Star Break.