Milwaukee Admirals top Grand Rapids Griffins at home, 5-2

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MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee Admirals topped the Grand Rapids Griffins at Panther Arena on Saturday, March 21. The final was 5-2.

Jordan Oesterle scored two goals and the Admirals rallied from a 2-1 third period deficit to take down the Griffins.

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The win was the fourth in the past five games for Milwaukee, who, coupled with a loss from Iowa, saw their magic number to clinch a spot in the Calder Cup Playoffs drop to 18 as the regular season ends four weeks from Sunday.

Admirals Captain Kevin Gravel scored his second goal of the season and dished out two assists for the first three-point night of his career.  

Playing in their first games in front of the home crowd since being acquired from Boston in a trade on March 12, Dalton Bancroft dished out a pair of assists and Massimo Rizzo scored a goal to help the Ads offense. Cole O’Hara also posted a two-point night with a goal and an assist for his seventh multi-point effort of the season.

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In net Magnus Chrona stopped 22 of the 24 shots he faced to pick up his eighth win of the season for Milwaukee

After a scoreless first period Jordan Oesterle got the Ads on the board with a snapshot from a tight angle at 3:05 of the second, but the Griffins responded just over two minutes later with a shorthanded tally by Carter Mazuer.

Then just 46 seconds into the third Grand Rapids grabbed the lead when former Admiral John Leonard scored backdoor on what appeared to be a remarkable save by Chrona. However, after review it was determined that Chrona’s glove had gone over the line with the puck in it and the Griffins went on top.

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However, the Admirals scored the next four goals beginning when Gravel tied the score at two at 3:11 of the final period and that was followed by Oesterle’s second of the night, this time on the power-play, to give Milwaukee a lead they would not relinquish at the 5:51 mark.  

Rizzo and O’Hara gave the Ads insurance goals as they became the only team in the league to beat the Griffins four times this season.

The two teams head back to Grand Rapids to play on Tuesday, March 24th at 6 pm CT in a game that was rescheduled from March 13th because of unsafe ice conditions.