Milwaukee Admirals beat Texas Stars, force must-win Game 5

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(Courtesy: Milwaukee Admirals)

MILWAUKEE - Zach L’Heureux scored a pair of first period goals just 47 seconds apart and Troy Grosenick stopped 24 shots to help guide the Admirals to a 4-1 win over the Texas Stars in game four of the Central Division Semifinals on Friday night at Panther Arena.

The win levels the series at two games apiece and sets the stage for a decisive game five on Sunday afternoon at 5 pm back at Panther Arena. Sunday’s contest is the second straight season that the Ads and Stars have gone the distance in their playoff series and the fourth time in the past three seasons that Milwaukee has needed a winner-take-all game to decide a series.

In addition, tonight’s win improved the Admirals record when facing elimination to 10-3 since Karl Taylor took over behind the team’s bench back in 2018.

An unsportsmanlike conduct call on Texas 5:19 into the game set the stage for L’Heureux’s first tally as he took pass from Juuso Parssinen on the far post and slid it backdoor past Texas goalie Remi Poirier.

Less than a minute later, L’Heureux forced a turnover at the Admirals blueline and then skated in on a breakaway, finishing over Poirier’s right shoulder for his second of the game and third of the post-season at the 7:28 mark for a 2-0 lead.

Texas tied the score on Matej Blumel’s fourth goal of the playoffs at 4:53 of the second, but that was all the Stars could get by Grosenick, who made 20 of his saves in the second and third periods.

Phil Tomasino gave the Ads some breathing room with his second goal in as many nights at 12:22 of the third period and then Parssinen sealed the game with an empty netter with 1:18 to play.

L’Heureux now shows three goals and three assists for six points in the past two games, while Parssinen has five points (1g-4a) in those contests.

Milwaukee’s penalty kill until finished the night a perfect 4-for-4 on the night.