The Milwaukee Admirals had a very frustrating February. They lost 10 out of 11 games last month which, obviously, impacted their standings. The only win came in a 6-5 win over the Manitoba Moose on February 17th. Needless to say, the Admirals needed to come into March ready to collect some wins if they have any desire to make the playoffs.
On Friday March 1st, the Admirals took on the last place San Antonio Rampage in San Antonio. The last time these two teams met was on February 11th where the Admirals lost 2-1. Luckily, with the return of Troy Grosenick and some offensive help from Milwaukee’s new additions they were up to the task.
The first period was relatively uneventful. San Antonio led shots on goal 9-5. However, the second period was anything but uneventful. At 5:52 Garret Ross scored his third goal of the season on the powerplay after an Adam Musil hooking penalty. Later in the second period, Jakub Jerabek was called for interference which allowed Laurent Dauphin scored his eighth goal of the season; making for Milwaukee’s second powerplay goal of the game.
For those of you that watched the Nashville Predators game against Winnipeg on Friday, the third period may trigger you a bit. At 10:36, San Antonio’s Klim Kostin scored his seventh goal of the season on the powerplay. Late in the period, San Antonio pulled Jared Coreau in favor of an extra attacker. This also came at the same time Jared Tinordi was in the box for holding, meaning San Antonio had a 6-on-4 advantage. This allowed Chris Butler to score his third goal of the season to tie the game at 18:16. This match would need to be settled in overtime.
Late into the overtime period, team captain Jarred Tinordi scored his fifth of the season to end the game and earn the Admirals two greatly needed points. Final score was 3-2.
Game notes:
Not a bad win for the Admirals by any means. It was definitely worrying to watch them drop a two goal lead that forced overtime. At this point in the season the thing that matters most is collecting two points regardless of how they do it.
The Admirals have 17 games left this season and are currently sitting 1 point out of 5th place and 2 points out of 4th. The Admirals will need to secure 4th or better in the next 17 games if they want to make the playoffs.
The Admirals next few games will test them. They face San Antonio again on the 3rd and then Texas and Chicago later in the week. Both Texas and Chicago have played strongly against the Admirals this season.
