Milwaukee Admirals beat IceHogs, force decisive Game 5

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ROCKFORD, Ill. - Kyle Marino and Ozzy Wiesblatt scored second-period goals to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead as the Admirals defeated the Rockford IceHogs on Friday night in Gamer 4 of the Central Division Semifinals.

The win forces a decisive game five on Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

This is the second consecutive season the Ads have trailed 0-2 in the division semifinals and won the next two to force game five. They completed the comeback against Texas last year and hope to repeat the same against the IceHogs on Sunday.

Turner Ottenbriet also lit the lamp for the Admirals, while Matt Murray made 23 saves to pick up the win in net.

The victory improved Milwaukee’s to 15-4 in elimination games under Head Coach Karl Taylor.

The Admirals jumped out to 1-0 lead on Ottenbreit’s first goal career post-season goal at 7:54 of the first. Ottenbreit intercepted a Rockford clearing attempt at the blueline and fired a shot that got by a screened Drew Commesso and into the net.

However, the Ads lead lasted just eight seconds as Jackson Cates took a centering feed from Jalen Luypen and beat Matt Murray to knot the score at one.

The Hogs grabbed their first lead of the night with just 1:15 to play in the opening frame on an Aidan Thompson tally.

Milwaukee would score the next as Marino grabbed his first playoff goal of his career at 7:50 of the sandwich frame when he cleaned up a Navrin Mutter shot and then Wiesblatt poked a loose puck past Commesso with 5:23 to play in the period for a 3-2 advantage.

Murray and the Admirals defense held tight the rest of the way as they picked up the victory.