CHICAGO - Cole Schneider and Jimmy Huntington scored goals for the Milwaukee Admirals, but it wasn’t enough as they dropped a 6-2 decision to the Chicago Wolves in Game 1 of their best-of-five Central Division Final series.
It didn’t take long for Chicago to grab a 1-0 advantage in the game as Jack Drury finished off a 2-on-2 just 32 seconds into the game, beating Ads goalie Connor Ingram over the shoulder.
The Admirals dominated the rest of the first period, outshooting the Wolves 13-5 and getting the period’s only power-plays, however it was Chicago who held the 1-0 advantage after 20 minutes.
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Milwaukee continued to apply pressure and tied the game 91 seconds into the sandwich frame on Captain Cole Schneider’s second of the post-season. The play started when Jeremy Davies dumped the puck behind the Chicago net. Joseph LaBate collected the puck and dished out in front to Schneider, who went bardown to level the score.
However, Chicago would score the next three goals to finish off the sandwich frame with a 4-1 lead. They retook the lead at the 9:30 mark of the second period on a goal from Josh Leivo and then pushed the advantage to two courtesy of Jamieson Rees’ first of the playoffs with 3:57 to play. Finally, Andrew Poturalski’s slapper from the high slot with less than two seconds left in the frame gave the Wolves a three-goal lead.
Jimmy Huntington would cut into the Wolves lead with a power-play goal at 2:29 of the third period when he took a cross-ice pass from Brayden Burke and beat Chicago goalie Alex Lyon short-side.
It took the Wolves just 34 seconds to respond as Stelio Mattheos notched his second of the playoffs. Jack Drury added an empty netter with 3:20 to play to push the score to 6-2.
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The Admirals finished the night 1-for-3 on the power-play, and they killed off their Wolves only man-advantage.
The two teams get right back at it with Game 2 on Sunday afternoon, May 22 at 3 p.m. Game 3 is set for Wednesday, May 25 back home at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
Tickets for Game 3 are on sale now with prices starting at just $10. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the Admirals' website.