MILWAUKEE -- Admirals Goalie Tom McCollum stopped 24 shots against his former team and the Ads picked up goals from five different players as they topped the Grand Rapids Griffins Tuesday night 5-2 at Panther Arena.
The win was the Admirals first over Grand Rapids at home since March 19, 2017, a streak of seven-games, and it moved Milwaukee into a first-place tie with Iowa atop the Central Division.
The Griffins owned a 1-0 lead after the first period, but the Admirals came out buzzing in the second and got on the board just 1:04 into the second on a Nick Baptiste goal.
The turning point of the game may have been at the 6:22 mark of the second period when Tanner Jeannot dominated Dominic Shine in a fight and then six seconds later Brian Cooper found Garret Ross wide open in front of the net for a 2-1 lead. A Griffins power-play goal from Matt Puempel tied things up with just over 10 minutes to play in the second.
However, Emil Pettersson’s fifth goal of the season with 3:24 left in the third broke the tie and proved to be the game-winner in the contest. Connor Brickley and Justin Kirkland scored in the third period for Milwaukee to bring the final score to 5-2. It was the first time that the Admirals had scored more than five goal since November 11.
Baptiste finished the game with three points (1g-2a), while Anthony Richard and Tyler Gaudet each chipped in a pair of assists.