Admirals' comeback bid falls short, Wolves win in OT
(Courtesy: Milwaukee Admirals)
MILWAUKEE - Trailing 5-2 in the third period, the Admirals scored three times in the final seven minutes of regulation to tie the game and earn in a point in a 6-5 overtime loss to the Chicago Wolves on Wednesday night at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
The point they earned moved them back into a first place tie in the Central Division with the Texas Stars at 84 points. Milwaukee has five games to go in the regular season while the Stars have six.
Captain Cole Schneider paced the Admirals offense with a goal and two assists, while Austin Rueschhoff (2a) and Joakim Kemell (1g-1a) also contributed multi-point efforts.
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Down by three with less than seven minutes to go, the Admirals comeback started on Kemell’s third of the season at 13:02 and that was followed by Marc Del Gaizo tally just 57 seconds later to pull the team within one. Anthony Angello got the game-tying goal with 3:06 to play in the third, the fourth straight game he has found the back of the net.
Unfortunately for the Admirals, that’s where their luck ran out. Vasily Ponomarev scored his second goal of the night at the 2:49 mark of the extra session to secure the victory for the Wolves.
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Chicago jumped on the Admirals early, as they grabbed a 1-0 lead just 26 seconds into the game when William Lagesson tallied his ninth of the year. That was followed by goals from MacKenzie MacEachem at 6:24 and Anttoni Honka at 12:14 and Chicago had a 3-0 advantage.
Mathew Santos picked up his first goal as an Admiral to get Milwaukee on the board with 3:35 remaining in the first period. Santos collected an outlet pass from Rueschhoff at the Admirals blueline and raced all the way down ice before firing a wrister from the top of the left circle that beat Chicago goalie Pyotr Kochetkov glove-side.
The Wolves got another quick one to start the second period as they pushed their lead back to three with his ninth of the season at the 1:31 mark of the sandwich frame.
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Schneider scored a power-play marker later in the second period to pull the Admirals back within a pair. Jordan Gross put the puck on net from the right point and Schneider was in the right spot to collect the rebound and slide the puck into the Wolves goal. It was his team-leading 23rd tally of the season.
Ponomarev’s first of the night at 10:01 of the third gave them a 5-2 advantage and that's when the Admirals began their furious comeback.
The Admirals look to get back on the winning track when they begin a home-and-home set against the Rockford IceHogs on Friday night – 7 p.m. at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.