The Milwaukee Admirals fell 3-2 in overtime against the Iowa Wild at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Friday night.
The Admirals started out strong with an early power-play goal but caught some unfortunate breaks thereafter. The Wild eventually tied up the game on a debatable no-call for goaltender interference in the first period. After exchanging goals one last time the Wild eventually prevailed in overtime on Sam Anas’ second goal of the night.
“We liked the way that we hung around and scrapped,” stated Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game. “We played real good in the third period. Second period wasn’t so good. Obviously they played well, as well, but we weren’t disappointed with a lot of things that happened in that game tonight.”
The Admirals went on the early power-play within the first three minutes of the game when Sam Anas was whistled for slashing. The Admirals took advantage of the penalty with an early goal from Trevor Smith. Looking at it live it appeared as though Harry Zolnierczyk tipped it in off the shot from Smith, but after looking at the replay, it was touched by the Wild. As a result, Smith was credited with the power-play goal- his fourth of the season.
Later in the first period, the Wild retaliated with a score that had some Admirals fans in question. Colton Beck had fallen right in front of the goal which eliminated the crease. Anders Lindbäck tried moving him out of the way, but with no whistle being blown, Christoph Bertschy eventually hit in the game-tying goal. Lindbäck appeared to have the puck in his control, but the referees didn’t agree.
“I just felt the guy falling over me and I was sure [the official] was going to blow the whistle,” said Lindbäck of the incident. “Apparently he didn’t want that. Then they don’t review goals here for goalie interference. I don’t know if he got pushed in but I think it’s still one that’s borderline. I was kind of upset with the call. It is what it is.”
Both the Admirals and the home crowd seemed to lose some energy after that gut-wrenching goal allowed in the first period. The teams remained tied at one until the last two minutes of the second period. Sam Anas skated past the right-wing circle and delivered a rocket past Lindbäck’s glove to give the Wild a 2-1 lead.
It would remain a 2-1 deficit for the Admirals until Emil Pettersson found the back of the net for his seventh goal of the season in the third period. Trevor Muphy lasered a point shot and Pettersson swooped in for the deflection to tie the game at two. With the help of a few miraculous saves from Anders Lindbäck, the Admirals and Wild remained tied at two heading into overtime.
Less than a minute into overtime, Sam Anas won it for the Wild with his second goal of the game. Using Trevor Murphy as a screen, Anas delivered a bar down snap shot past Anders Lindbäck and the Wild took the game 3-2 in overtime.
The Admirals will now hit the road for a two-game road stand. The road trip starts in Grand Rapids against the Griffins on Saturday, followed by a showdown against the Wolves in Chicago on Sunday. The Admirals’ next home game will be on December 27th with the Wolves before taking them on again on the 29th at home as well.
“We have to keep getting better,” said Lindbäck. “It’s simple things that we can fix. It’s not a hard thing it’s just a little structure. For sure, that’s the good thing about playing tomorrow again.”
Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Sunday there have been quite a few roster changes. Juuse Saros was recalled by the Nashville Predators while Anders Lindbäck and Frédérick Gaudreau were reassigned to the Admirals. The Admirals then released Phil Lane from his professional try-out (PTO) contract Thursday evening. Lane is expected to rejoin the Atlanta Gladiators (ECHL). Lastly, Stephen Perfetto has signed a contract with Rögle BK (SHL) which likely ends his tenure with the Milwaukee Admirals. Tonight’s line combinations and defensive pairings were: Zolnierczyk-Smith-Butler, Richard-Pettersson-Gaudreau, Moy-Zengerle-Kelleher, Labrie-Kirkland-Bass, Murphy-Granberg, Lyytinen-Dougherty, Allard-Carrier. Tonight’s scratches were: Derek Army (healthy), Trevor Mingoia (healthy), Andrew O’Brien (healthy), Jimmy Oligny (upper-body), and Yakov Trenin (surgery).
What were your thoughts on tonight’s game? Was this an improvement for the Milwaukee Admirals or more of the same? Can the team move forward in Grand Rapids tomorrow?
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Admirals Roundtable 
The Ads give up an uncontested shot 45 seconds into OT and lose 3-2. I blame Coach Dean Evason. He put the wrong defenseman out there tonight for OT. The first Iowa goal should never have been counted. Beck was sitting on Lindback while the puck was towards the NW corner. He stayed on Lindback for 5 to 10 seconds. The puck comes around in front of the goal and Lindback still stops it. No whistle blows. Lindback gets off his knees to crosscheck Beck with his goalie stick and the puck trickles through his skates. The fans booed for about 1 minute after the call. Much of that was before the replay. You can’t let a player TACKLE your goalie. Later in the game, team Captain Trevor Smith nearly took a guys head off for ramming an Admiral into the Wild goalie. I liked that a lot better.
Granberg was MIA. He let Murphy push the Wild players away from Lindback, if he could. He needs to spend more time near the crease and use his size.
Milwaukee rarely had players in front of Svedberg. That was a big difference in the outcome of the game. The Ads could have won. Butler ‘s shot about 3 minutes into period 3 hit the crossbar. If it goes in, the game comes out a win.
Players who need to be cut from the team:
Kirkland; tonight he got a stupid penalty which cost Milwaukee a goal and eventually the game.
Richard; he has hands of stone every game, 4 G 5 A -3 in 24 games. I am surprised that he has that many points this season. He could have scored 2 goals tonight, but he can’t shoot from more than 5 feet. He has speed and no finish.
This game was the same old song and dance with this team. Flashes of ok to good play sprinkled into a large amount of terrible play. The defenseman love watching Lindback do everything, they never clear players from the crease only push them in it like tonight on the Wild goal in period one. Jack shoves their player into the crease and on his ass and we as fans are upset he didn’t get up or out of the way?! Come on I knew they wouldn’t waive the goal off based on how the Wild player got there via our poor play. Power play is again having issues, like passing until we find and opposing player to clear it for us. We have no blue line threat other than Murphy to score. We are missing leadership on this team. Pardy and Ribs brought that real NHL experience to a group of young players last yr. Bass is the only guy really who seems to be any kind of leader on ice it may be different in locker room but this team needs a shake up. Side question, what is Lindback waiver situation? Is he eligible to be claimed? If yes than why hasn’t he been. He’s playing so well that on a team that was even decent he’d make them great. We would be last place overall without him, hands down the best player on this team.
Sorry FRJ, but Beck is standing and has a skate completely in the blue while the puck is outside the crease. Check the video around 1:26. Yes, he was hit in the back by Jack and shoved into Lindback at 1:28. Beck was in the crease before the puck was in the crease. That means no goal unless the rules have been changed.
I completely agree with you about the defense and the passing, especially on the power play. Lindback deserves better.