Admirals roll to 5-0 victory over Griffins

MILWAUKEE -- The Admirals punched their ticket to the 2019 Calder Cup Playoffs with a 5-0 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins that was coupled with a Manitoba Moose loss to Chicago.

The victory puts the Admirals back in the post-season after missing last year for just the third time in 18-seasons of playing in the American Hockey League.

While the Admirals know they will be playing for in the post-season, their seed and opponent is yet to be determined. If the Ads beat Rockford Sunday afternoon in the regular season finale they will finish in second and play Iowa in the first round. If they fall to the IceHogs then Milwaukee will be the fourth seed and battle Chicago in the first round.

The win over Grand Rapids extended the Admirals point streak to 13 straight (10-0-2-1) and inched them closer to a berth in the 2019 Calder Cup Playoffs.

Adam Helewka finished the night with two goals and an assist, while Yakov Trenin pumped in a pair of tallies to pace the Admirals offense while Troy Grosenick and Tom McCollum combined for a 24-save shutout.

The floodgates opened early for Milwaukee as Trenin scored his 13th of the season just 14 seconds into the game for a 1-0 lead. It was the quickest goal to start a game for the Admirals since Josh Langfeld did it just 13 seconds in on December 21, 2007.

Just 40 seconds later Adam Helewka gathered a rebound and put it past Grand Rapids goalie Patrik Rybar and that was followed by at Eeli Tolvanen cannon from the left circle for a power-play tally at 1:48 to give Milwaukee a 3-0 lead and chase Rybar from the net.

The Admirals wouldn’t score the rest of the first but started the second with a bang as Trenin got his second of the night just 36 into the sandwich frame and that was followed by Helewka’s second of the evening courtesy of some impressive stickhandling and the Ads had a five-goal advantage.

The Admirals and IceHogs will play the final game in the AHL season tomorrow evening at 6 pm.

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