The Milwaukee Admirals scored three goals in just over five minutes in the middle of the first period and made them stand up in a 3-2 victory over the Oklahoma City Barons on Sunday afternoon at the Bradley Center. Mark Van Guilder, Juuso Puustinen, and Kyle Wilson all lit the lamp for the Admirals, who allowed just four shots through the first two periods and 17 in the game.
Milwaukee had a 14-2 shot advantage in the first, but it was the Barons who scored first via a fluke play just 30 seconds into the game. Oklahoma City defenseman Alex Plante dumped the puck behind the Ads net. Goalie Jeremy Smith went back to play it, but before he could it hit a seam in the glass and ricocheted in front of the goal for an easy tap in for Philippe Cornet.
Milwaukee got that goal back at the 8:33 when Van Guilder crashed the net and took a feed from Ryan Flynn for his second tally of the season.
Just 1:20 later the Admirals took a 2-1 lead on a power-play goal by Puustinen. Ryan Ellis took a shot from the high slot that was stopped by Baron’s netminder David LeNeveu, but the rebound went right to Puustinen, who ripped a slapper past LeNeveu.
Wilson pushed the Admirals lead to 3-1 at the 13:47 mark of the first. He intercepted a pass in the Oklahoma City zone and sent a wrister over LeNeveu’s left shoulder for his fourth tally of the year.
Neither team found the back of the net in the second period as they combined for just six shots.
The third period saw a lot more action as the Barons recorded 13 shots in the final frame. They were able to pull within one with just under five minutes to play in the game when Cornet deflected a shot by Taylor Chorney and past Ads netiminder Jeremy Smith. That was as close as Oklahoma City would get as the Ads held on for their eighth win of the year.
Milwaukee had a balanced offensive attack on the night as seven different players found the scoresheet, but no one was able to manage more than a point on the night. Smith finished the game with 15 saves to earn the win.
The Admirals are now off until next Friday, November 18 when they host the Chicago Wolves at 7:00 pm at the Bradley Center. Fans can purchase tickets by calling Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000 or logging on to milwaukeeadmirals.com. Groups of ten or more people receive at least $2 off the face value of each ticket. For more information or to purchase group tickets fans can call the Admirals office at (414) 227-0550 or visit milwaukeeadmirals.com. Don’t forget to follow the Admirals on Twitter (@mkeadmirals) and on Facebook!