Admirals ice the Griffins, 2-1
MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Mark Van Guilder broke a 1-1 tie with less than five minutes to play to lead the Admirals to a 2-1 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins on Wednesday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
Van Guilder's goal got started by Zach Budish, who went back behind the Grand Rapids net to retrieve a puck. He slid the puck back to the left point where Kevin Henderson put a shot on Grand Rapids goalie Tom McCollum. The Griffins netminder kicked the save out to the slot, where Van Guilder pounced on it and fired a wrister over McCollum's shoulder.
It was the second game-winning goal for Van Guilder in the past three Admirals wins.
Milwaukee held off a late charge by the Griffins to seal the win and snapp Grand Rapids' seven-game winning streak.
Unlike many other games this season, the Admirals got off to a quick start, posting 10 shots on goal before the Griffins had their first. That early pressure paid off when Colton Sissons scored his sixth goal of the season just 1:15 into the game. Filip Forsberg had the puck behind the Milwaukee net and dished it out front where Sissons and Simon Moser banged at it until Sisson was finally able to poke it by McCollum.
As much as the Admirals controlled play in the first, it was the Griffins who did so in the second, outshooting Milwaukee 15-3. It took almost the entire period, but the Griffs finally tied the score on Mitch Callahan's goal with just 89 seconds left to play in the second.
Magnus Hellberg was stellar in net for the Admirals, stopping 28 shots thrown his way, including 14 in the third period.
The Admirals are back in action on Friday night when they host the Chicago Wolves at 7:00 pm at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.