The Milwaukee Admirals won 4-3 in a shootout against the Iowa Wild at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Friday night.
The game started out great for the home team, but the Admirals lost some momentum in the second and third periods. After some calls by the officials that had some Admirals fans scratching their heads, the Admirals seemed to lose some energy. However, Anthony Richard’s two goals and Harry Zolnierczyk’s game-tying goal and game-winning goal guided the Admirals to a thrilling shootout victory.
“Harry has been outstanding for us all year,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game. “He’s been not only good on the ice he’s been real good off the ice. He has energy every day.”
In the first period both teams had spans of dominating the offensive zone, but neither team found the back of the net until 14 minutes into the game. Pat Cannone forced Jimmy Oligny to turn the puck over behind the net, with Cannone then setting up Christoph Bertschy perfectly in front of the net for the Wild’s first tally of the game.
Three minutes later, Luke Kunin was whistled for slashing and the Admirals went on their first power-play of the game. Anthony Richard gave the home crowd what it was looking for, tying the game at one with less than two minutes to go in period one. Joonas Lyytinen fired a slap shot and Richard got the redirect and found the back of the net for his eighth goal of the season. Not only that, but the newly called-up Lyytinen picked up his first career AHL point with the assist.
Just 2:45 into the second period, Kyle Rau gave the Wild a 2-1 lead on his ninth goal of the season. Rau used Petter Granberg and a screen and shot it from the left-wing circle to beat Anders Lindbäck near the pipe.
Anthony Richard then tied the game less than two minutes after Rau’s score. Richard took the puck down the left-wing and had a step on Ryan Murphy the entire way. Richard then took his forehand and cut across Steve Michalek and found the back of the net for the score. The goal was Richard’s second of the game and ninth of the season.
Less than 30 seconds after Richard’s goal, Joonas Lyytinen was whistled for tripping, which was then followed by a Jimmy Oligny slashing call. The Wild took advantage of the 5-on-3 power-play with a rocket off the stick of Alex Grant to give the Wild a 3-2 lead.
Later in the period the Admirals, along with the home crowd, thought Alex Carrier had tied the game at three. But after a brief meeting between the officials, it was determined that there was incidental goalie contact and the Wild escaped the second period with a 3-2 lead.
“Honestly, we went back and watched it, and [Zolnierczyk] does bump their goalie,” said Evason. “I think we would want the same call.”
The Admirals were able to tie the game at three apiece in the third period thanks to Harry Zolnierczyk. The Wild were whistled for a delay-of-game call and the Admirals went on a power-play. Emil Pettersson shot from the left-wing and Zolnierczyk got the redirect for his thirteenth goal of the season. Neither team was able to score again before the end of regulation, and the game headed to overtime.
With both teams registering two shots on goal but no scores in overtime, we headed to a shootout. First man up for the Admirals was Justin Kirkland. In the first round, Kirkland scored and so did Sam Anas. In the second round, Frederick Gaudreau scored and Zack Mitchell was denied. In the third and final round, Harry Zolnierczyk got the puck past Steve Michalek for the game-winning score and the Admirals defeated the Wild 4-3 in a shootout.
The Admirals look to carry momentum on the road as they travel to Rockford for a showdown with the IceHogs at the BMO Harris Bank Center on Sunday.
Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Wednesday the only roster move within the organization was Joonas Lyytinen being reassigned to the Milwaukee Admirals by the Nashville Predators from the Atlanta Gladiators (ECHL). Tonight’s Line Combinations were Zolnierczyk-Smith-Butler, Richard-Zengerle-Gaudreau, Kirkland-Pettersson-Moy, Labrie-Bass-Mingoia, Murphy-Dougherty, Oligny-Carrier, Lyytinen-Granberg. Tonight’s scratches were Fred Allard (healthy), Derek Army (healthy), Tyler Kelleher (lower-body), Andrew O’Brien (healthy), and Yakov Trenin (surgery).
Thoughts on tonight’s game? Was this a bounce back performance for the Milwaukee Admirals? Can the Admirals follow up with another win on Sunday?
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Admirals Roundtable 
I have a few thoughts on the game. The Admirals started well for about 10 minutes. They never led in the game but managed to win!
It was a good team effort to beat the Iowa Wild. They never gave up trying to win that game. They had more shots on goal tonight.
Now come the many bad thoughts. At least 3 of the 4 on ice officials were incompetent! The disallowed goal looked good to almost everybody at the game except the 2 refs, #24 Brandon Schrader and #36 Mike Campbell. After the replay, the “refs you suck!” chant went on for at least 30 seconds. At least 1000 of the fans present were chanting it. Why did this happen tonight? Zolnierczyk’s toe, not in the blue of the crease, touched Steve Michalek’s toe on the right side of the goal from my viewpoint. The puck was rifled into the top left corner, pinged and went in. Nine times out of ten, a goalie doesn’t stop that shot. It was an EGREGIOUS ERROR by the refs to disallow that goal. It prevented the Admirals from winning in regulation.
The second EGREGIOUS ERROR by the refs happened when Nick Seeler (#3) hit Richard in the face with an upward swat of the stick. Richard was laying on the ice near the northwest corner and was bleeding. He had scored both goals by this point, just in case some people think it was an accident. It wasn’t; and Seeler needs to be suspended. He didn’t even get 2 minutes. He could have received a 5 minute major and maybe a gamer for what he did. You are required to be in control of your stick at all times. I was surprised when Richard returned to the game. I thought he would need several stitches. The person sitting next to me thought that Richard lost an eye. But no penalty was called.
The refs missed two Wild players slamming their sticks against the boards in the southwest corner. That is 2 minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct. Neither one was called. My favorite non-call was Colton Beck (#36) holding onto Fred Gaudreau’s stick for 5 or 10 seconds, then yanking it away from him, followed by slashing another Admiral player. No call on either penalty with 9 minutes remaining in period 3. Neither OT penalty committed by the Wild was called. Harry Z was yanked down from behind on a scoring chance. Refs with integrity might have called a penalty shot or a penalty, but we had two Eunuchs out there tonight.
Face offs were horrible tonight. Players from both teams would be kicked out for no apparent reason. The linesmen refused to drop the puck at times, which irritated players from both teams and eventually the crowd. They should have played more sound effects for this garbage, i.e. “I’m waiting!” and “i am getting old”…Linesman Mike Anderson (#39) can’t drop a puck to save his life. He missed the red dot at least 3 or 4 times in the game. They are two feet in diameter for goodness sake! He needs to be fired. Both linesmen had issues with offsides calls. They both got them wrong several times in the game. Jameson Gronert (#95) didn’t seem as bad, but that is like being the thinnest of the Fat Boys.
I hope that Dean Evason sends the tape of the game to the league office in Springfield, Mass. It was a —-fest by the refs.
Beating the Iowa Wild is hard enough. Having to also beat the refs is asking too much. Grade of 2 out of 10 for those bums.
Freddy is so calm in shootouts. His ability to stay relaxed is impressive. I think playing somewhat regularly in the NHL has slowed the game down for him.
should have won game in regulation at least got the win in shootout win is a win