Admirals lose to Moose, teams to play decisive Game 3 Sunday
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Matt Murray was once again impressive in net for the Admirals, making 33 saves, but it wasn’t enough as Milwaukee dropped a 2-1 decision to Manitoba in Game 2 of the Calder Cup Playoffs' first round on Friday.
What's next:
The loss for the Admirals forces a decisive Game 3 on Sunday afternoon – a 2 p.m. start at the Canada Life Centre. The winner of Sunday’s game will advance to take on the Grand Rapids Griffins in the Central Division semifinals.
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Big picture view:
The Admirals and Moose have played in the postseason three times in the past five years, and now all three of those series will be determined by a winner-take-all game. In addition, this is the ninth time since Karl Taylor took over as bench boss that a Milwaukee series will go the distance.
By the numbers:
After a scoreless first period, Ryan Ufko got the Ads on the board with his second career playoff goal at 1:42 of the second period. Ufko was sprung from the penalty box after a high-sticking call and took a pass from Kevin Gravel at the far blueline. He skated in on Moose goalie Dominic DiVencentiis before tucking a forehand that was originally stopped before trickling over the goal line.
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However, Manitoba tied things up at the 3:53 mark when Parker Ford collected the rebound of a Walker Duehr shot and put it into the Milwaukee net.
The game remained knotted at 1-1 until 43 seconds remaining in the game when David Gustafsson deflected a Brayden Yager shot over Murray’s shoulder for a power-play goal and a 2-1 Manitoba advantage, setting the stage for Sunday’s decisive Game 3.
The Source: The Milwaukee Admirals provided this report.