Milwaukee Admirals win season opener against Chicago Wolves

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ROSEMONT, Ill. - Devin Cooley stopped 28 shots in goal, helping the Milwaukee Admirals to a season-opening 5-2 win over the Chicago Wolves on Saturday Night at Allstate Arena.

Jimmy Huntington and Mark Jankowski each chipped in a goal and an assist and Jordan Gross had a pair of helpers to pace an offense that saw 12 different players find the back of the net.

The Wolves were outshooting the Ads 7-1 midway through the first period, but it was Milwaukee who got on with a power-play goal from newcomer Jankowski at 13:08 of the opening frame. John Leonard had the puck on the blueline and passed it down to Jankowski, who was stationed along on the left post. He caught the puck on his backhand, spun around to his forehand and roofed it over Wolves goalie Pyotr Kochetkov.

Less than 90 seconds later Markus Nurmi made it 2-0 when his wrister from the left circle snuck by the left foot of Kochetkov for his first goal in North America.

The Wolves would battle back to tie the score at two with a pair of quick goals of their own in the second period. The first came off the stick of Vasily Ponomarev at 5:25 and then Stelio Mattheos got his first of the season at 6:53 to knot the score at two.

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However, Tim Schaller pushed the Admirals back into the lead on the eventual game winner with exactly one minute to play in the second when he was able to poke the loose puck by Kochetkov during a scrum in front of the Chicago net.

Milwaukee picked up goals late in the third by Roland McKeown and Huntington sealed it with an empty netter with 48 seconds left to play.

The Admirals will head to Grand Rapids next Wednesday, Oct. 19 before returning home to kick off the home portion of their schedule next Saturday, Oct. 22 at 6 p.m. against the Manitoba Moose at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.