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ADMIRALS UPDATE: Ads earn yet another comeback win

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Milwaukee, WI—For the second time at the Bradley Center this weekend the Milwaukee Admirals trailed after two periods and for the second time they tied the game in the third and then won it in a shoot-out as the Ads took down the Rockford IceHogs 5-4 Sunday afternoon. Milwaukee has now won five straight games at home and finished the weekend with two wins in three games.

The IceHogs held a 4-3 lead as play began in the third period, but just 3:02 into the frame Mark Van Guilder scored his second goal of the game to even the score at three, where it would stay the rest of the period and through overtime. Milwaukee defenseman Victor Bartley fired a shot from the left point that was stopped by Rockford goalie Alec Richards. The rebound was gathered behind the net by Ryan Flynn, who chipped a short pass over to Van Guilder on the right post and he knocked it in.

Milwaukee netminder Jeremy Smith stopped all four Rockford shooters, while the Admirals Michael Latta and Ryan Ellis each went five-hole to beat Richards and the Ads had their fifth win in their last six tries. Counting Friday night’s win over Grand Rapids, Smith has now turned aside eight consecutive shooters.

The first period certainly didn’t look like it was the third game in three nights for both teams as they combined for five goals and many more scoring chances. After the first 20 minutes the Admirals held a 3-2 lead.

Rockford got on the board first when Jimmy Hayes sent a pretty cross-ice pass to the tape of defenseman Dylan Olsen 4:09 into the game.

The Admirals answered with Joel Champagne’s second goal in as many nights, as Ryan Flynn found him streaking towards the right face-off dot and he buried the one-timer. Van Guilder added an assist on the goal. However, Rockford took the lead back when Peter LeBlanc deflected Brian Fahey’s shot and it squirted through Smith’s legs at 13:12 of the opening frame.

Milwaukee responded again with Van Guilder netting his first goal of the night off a similar play to Champagne’s tally and it was knotted at two with 5:50 to play in the first. Jani Lajunen gave the Ads their first lead of the game when he pockted his first pro goal at the 18:51 mark. Defenseman Tyler Sloan fired a shot from the right point that was stopped by Richards. However he Rockford netminder couldn’t handle the puck and Lajunen pounced on it for the tally.

The IceHogs picked up the only two goals of the second period to take a 4-3 lead. The first came just 2:04 into the stanza on Andrew Shaw’s tally and the second came on the power-play by Rostislav Olesz at 6:54.

The Ads had a great opportunity to tie the game late in the second when Jeremy Morin was whistled for a major elbowing penalty and a game misconduct, putting Milwaukee on the power-play for five minutes. However, despite a number of good chances the Admirals could crack Richards and the Hogs went into the third with the lead.

Van Guilder’s two goals paced the Milwaukee offense, while Flynn netted a pair of assists for the Ads, who fired a season-high 45 shots on goal.

The Admirals return to action next Friday, December 16th at 7:00 pm against the Toronto Marlies at 7:00 pm at the Bradley Center. The first 10,000 fans will take home a 2012 Admirals/We Energies Calendar. Fans can purchase tickets for this weekend’s games, or any Admirals game, by calling Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000 or logging on tomilwaukeeadmirals.com. Groups of ten or more people receive at least $2 off the face value of each ticket. For more information or to purchase group tickets fans can call the Admirals office at (414) 227-0550 or visitmilwaukeeadmirals.com. Don’t forget to follow the Admirals on Twitter (@mkeadmirals) and on Facebook!