Admirals beat Moose, Afanasyev scores twice in third
(Courtesy: Milwaukee Admirals)
MILWAUKEE - Egor Afanasyev scored twice and added two assists all in the third period to lead the Milwaukee Admirals to a 6-4 win over the Manitoba Moose on Wednesday night at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
The four-point night set a new career-best for Afanasyev and tied a team-high for the season for points in a game.
Zach L’Heureux scored the game-winning goal in the third period and added an assist, while Phil Tomasino and Juuso Parssinen also added a goal and an assist in the contest to pace the Admirals offense. Ozzy Wiesblatt chipped in with a pair of assists as well.
Yarsoslav Askarov stopped 37 shots, including 29 in the first two periods alone, to pick up his 29th win of the season, which is second in the AHL.
The win improved the Admirals, who clinched the Central Division Title last Saturday night, to 46-22-1-1 on the season, good for 94 points. It’s the most wins in one year during the five years that Karl Taylor has been behind the Admirals' bench and the most in one campaign for the team since recording 48 in 2015-16 during a 76-game schedule.
Tomasino started the scoring for the Admirals with his 11th of the season and his fourth in his past four games just 1:41 into the game. However, Henri Nikkanen responded for Manitoba at 5:32 to tie the game at one after one.
Both teams scored one again in the second as Navrin Mutter potted his first of the season on a wrister under the left arm of Manitoba goalie Thomas Milic. However, that was matched by the Moose with just 23 seconds to go in the second on a power-play marker from Parker Ford.
The third period saw a combined six goals from the two teams as Parssinen and Afanasyev put the Admirals up 4-2 in the first 3:11 of the final frame. However, just like in the first two periods, the Moose responded with goals from Axel Jonsson-Fjalby at 13:22 and Ford again at 14:02 to knot the game at four.
That set the stage for L’Heureux, who was positioned on the far post and took a cross-ice pass from Afanasyev to pot him his 19th goal of the year with only 53 seconds remaining in the game. Afanasyev sealed the win with an empty-netter with 11 seconds left.
The Admirals wrap-up the home portion of their schedule on Saturday, April 20 at 6 p.m. against the Rockford IceHogs.