The Milwaukee Admirals fell 6-1 on the road against the Manitoba Moose at the Bell MTS Place on Sunday afternoon.

After the first period there were plenty of reasons to feel optimistic for the Admirals. They earned a 1-0 lead from Tyler Kelleher. Juuse Saros was terrific. And then the second period started and the Moose would proceed to outshoot the Admirals 43-33 and score six unanswered goals. It was rough. It has been rough. This game summed up the best of the worst for the Admirals as of late.

For the first time in four-games the Admirals got on the board first. It took the Admirals less than four-minutes in the first period to make it a 1-0 game and they did so off a defensive zone-face-off which triggered a break from Harry Zolnierczyk. He would turn Peter Stoykewych on the left wing and then saucer pass to the backdoor of Jamie Phillips for Tyler Kelleher to tap home his seventh goal of the season.

As good as the first period was for the Admirals it was that much better for the Moose in the sandwich stanza. The would equalize on a near carbon copy play to the Admirals goal. Jansen Harkins was heading up a two-on-one and his saucer pass to the backpost tagged J.C. Lipon for his eighth goal of the season. The Admirals would go on a power-play seconds later only to give up an odd-man rush and a shorthanded goal to Patrice Cormier which gave the Moose a 2-1 lead. The Moose scored their opening two goals in a span of 1:02 of ice time.

Things wouldn’t end there for the Moose in the third period, either. Michael Sgarbossa was attempting a centering pass on a wrap-around that deflected clear off of Trevor Murphy’s skates and in before Juuse Saros had a chance to make a stop. The tally for Sgarbossa was his ninth of the season and made it a 3-1 Moose lead. The Moose outshot the Admirals 22-13 in the second period. It is the most shots allowed in a single period by the Admirals this season.

The third period opened up with a Moose power-play chance following a hooking call against Zolnierczyk. Cameron Schilling’s shot from the left point blazed past the net front presence of Brendan Lemieux and off the stick-side post to Saros and in. The power-play goal made it a 4-1 lead for the Moose and the goal for Schilling counts as his fourth goal of the season.

The Moose would make it five unanswered goals later on in the third period. The Admirals failed to clear their defensive zone and Cormier quickly rimmed it deep around the boards for Robinson. The two would link up again with Robinson backhanding a pass behind the net for Cormier who would score his second goal of the game and ninth on the season in slick fashion past Saros making it a 5-1 Moose lead.

The game could then be properly summed up when the Moose tacked on a sixth goal of the evening. The Admirals were operating on their fifth power-play and, just as it came to a close, some awful passing allowed Chase De Leo to spring loose down the left wing with no pressure and whip in a wrap-around on Saros for his sixth goal of the season.

Mercifully the scoring would end there. The Moose would earn a 6-1 win and it is a shame for Saros that he once again looked great but was effectively hung out to dry. Saros faced forty-three shots on goal this afternoon. With a lesser effort in net the scoreline would have been far more lopsided.

What’s next for the Admirals is a trip back home and a game at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Friday night against the Iowa Wild. That will be the first of a three-in-three weekend for the Admirals. They’ll then take to Grand Rapids on Saturday and Chicago on Sunday before traveling to Cleveland the following weekend ahead of the brief Christmas break.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played yesterday there were no roster moves made by the organization. Today’s line combinations and defensive pairings were: Labrie-Smith-Butler, Zolnierczyk-Zengerle-Kelleher, Richard-Kirkland-Bass, Moy-Army-Lane, Murphy-Granberg, Oligny-Dougherty, Allard-Carrier. Today’s scratches were: Joonas Lyytinen (healthy), Trevor Mingoia (healthy), Stephen Perfetto (suspended), Andrew O’Brien (healthy), Emil Pettersson (upper-body), and Yakov Trenin (surgery).

What is your take on today’s game for the Milwaukee Admirals? Are you satisfied with splitting the weekend considering how hot the Manitoba Moose have been and these games were in their barn? After such a good opening period what happened to the Admirals from the second period to the finish? What drastic changes -if any- need to be made to right this ship?

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