The Milwaukee Admirals winning streak came to an end as the Iowa Wild fought back on Wednesday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, topping the Admirals 4-2.
Despite the loss, Miikka Salomaki scored his first goal of the season.
Early into the first period, Michael Keranen got the deflection and threw it to the cage putting Iowa on the board 1-0 at 2:52. At 8:08, the Ads fired back. Miikka Salomaki picked up the rebound in front of the net and buried it to tie up the game 1-1.
A power play goal came for Iowa at 13:27 of the second period. Marc Hagel camped in front of the net, got the redirect, and tipped it in to take back the lead 2-1. Iowa scored once again on the power play with 3:56 left in the second. Zack Mitchell shot from the far circle, got it past Marek Mazanec, and strengthened Iowa’s lead 3-1.
The Ads made a good third period effort with a goal from Austin Watson. Anthony Bitetto handed Watson the puck and shot it through a screen to bury the rebound at 9:01 bringing the score to 3-2. With just about 21 seconds left in the third, Danny Syvret scores an empty net goal for a final score of 4-2, Iowa.
Though it was a frustrating game, Salomaki and Watson each tallied a goal and Mazanec stopped 24 of 27 shots from Iowa.
After defeating the Wild back to back on 16th and 17th of October, Iowa wanted this win bad. “Iowa was desperate tonight. They played hard, they played right, they competed. Our work ethic is never in doubt, but there are nights where the other team is going to compete. Yes we have skill but you need to battle to get there,” said Head Coach Dean Evason.
“They came out hard with a little bit of edge in their compete level. It showed through the first two periods and we weren’t able to battle back from that,” said Watson.
The Admirals will take on their Amtrak rival, the Chicago Wolves, at home for the first time this season on Sunday, November 2nd at 3pm.
