The Milwaukee Admirals won 3-2 in overtime against the Chicago Wolves at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Friday night.

The Admirals trailed by a pair of goals after two period. Harry Zolnierczyk would score twice in the third period to force overtime where Bobby Butler would net tonight’s game-winner in a strong comeback performance.

“I wouldn’t say it was a complete sixty-minutes but the third period is the way we want to play our hockey here,” said Zolnierczyk after the game. “If we can consistently put periods like that together then this team will be successful.”

The first tally of the game went to the Wolves. Paul Thompson snuck a backhander on Anders Lindbäck then shoved the puck across past the left toe. The goal was Thompson’s fifth of the season. Although the Admirals outshot the Wolves 10-8, they left the first period down by a goal.

“The puck got kind of stuck under my skate next to the post and [Thompson] just shoved the whole thing in there,” commented Lindbäck of the opening goal. “I guess I need to be a little stronger. I don’t know if it would be a goal if we could challenge it because it felt like I had it covered. But that’s how it is.”

Early in the second period the Wolves tacked on their second goal of the contest. Mackenzie MacEachern skated across the left wing to the net and redirected a shot from the point by Jason Garrison. In the period, the Admirals were outshot 16-5.

The Admirals were eventually able to get on the board early in the third period from Harry Zolnierczyk’s seventh goal of the season. Zolnierczyk skated down the left wing and fired a snap shot through the stick side of Leighton to cut the Admirals’ deficit to a goal.

Later in the period, the Admirals would get just what they needed. Harry Zolnierczyk drew a holding penalty on Wade Megan, setting the stage for the Admirals’ power-play. On the power-play, Zolnierczyk found a loose puck in front of the net and sent it into the back of the net past Leighton to tie the game at two. The power-play score from Zolnierczyk was his second goal of the game.

Sixty minutes wasn’t enough for these two teams, as we headed to overtime for the second straight game. After Zolnierczyk’s late score, the Admirals and Wolves headed to overtime knotted up at two. The Admirals ended up sending the crowd home happy with a thrilling overtime winner.

In overtime, Lindbäck had some rather incredible saves. To set up the game-winner, Trevor Smith passed to Bobby Butler on the left wing and took it the rest of the way to score a five-hole goal that snuck by Leighton. The Admirals completed the miraculous comeback after being down 2-0 in the third period.

“We struggled a little bit, up and down, consistency, whatever” stated Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “Hopefully it’s a game that we look back on that jump starts us to play the way that we can play.”

The Admirals’ last game of the three-game homestand will conclude Saturday night with a 6:00 PM CST matchup with the Central Division-leading Manitoba Moose.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals Admirals last played on Wednesday there were no roster moves made in the organization. Tonight’s line combinations and defensive pairings were: Zolnierczyk-Smith-Butler, Richard-Pettersson-Moy, Labrie-Zengerle-Kelleher, Perfetto-Kirkland-Bass, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Granberg, Allard-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches were: Andrew O’Brien (healthy), Matt O’Connor (lower-body), Joonas Lyytinen (healthy), and Yakov Trenin (upper-body).

What did you think of tonight’s overtime comeback? What do you think of Anders Linback’s overall performance this season?

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