Admirals Snap Losing Skid
Feb 27, 2008
Antti Pihlstrom scored a pair of goals and Rich Peverley added three assists as Milwaukee withstood a three goal outburst by the IceHogs and beat Rockford Wednesday, 4-3, at the Rockford MetroCentre.
The win moved Milwaukee into a tie with Houston for fourth place in the West Division. Both teams won Wednesday, giving them both 67 points, one more than Peoria. The Rivermen didn’t play Wednesday.
Pihlstrom’s goal at 9:26 of the third period, his second of the night, proved to be the game winner. He scored when the rebound from his first shot at the bottom of the left circle came back to him. He buried the second chance for his 20th goal of the year. Peverley and Jason Guerriero notched the assists.
After Pihlstrom’s goal gave Milwaukee a 4-0 lead, the IceHogs went to work. Rockford’s Evan Brophey got credit for a goal when his centering pass was deflected into the Milwaukee net by Sulzer at 11:16 of the third.
The IceHogs scored again at 13:48 when Michael Blunden was forgotten in front of the Admirals net. He received a pass and backhanded a shot past goalie Pekka Rinne.
Just 32 seconds later, Jack Skille was credited with a goal when a scramble took place in front of Rinne. Rockford celebrated what they believed to be a goal, their third in 3:04. After two players started to celebrate, the goal judge then turned the red light on to signal a goal had, indeed, been scored. Referee Chris Ciamaga made no call. After discussing the situation with the two linesmen and the goal judge, Ciamaga awarded the goal to the IceHogs to make it a one-goal game. The Admirals were able to hang on for the win.
The Admirals got on the board with a power play goal at 7:55 of the second. Janne Niskala and Peverley worked a nice give-and-go to get the tally. Peverley got the pass from the left point atop the left circle. Niskala moved to the right faceoff dot. Peverley found him for a one-timer to give Niskala his 17th goal of the season, 9th on the power play. Peverley and Cody Franson werw awarded the assists.
Milwaukee took a 2-0 lead at 15:04 of the second with a shorthanded goal from Pihlstrom. Alex Sulzer was able to slap the puck from an IceHogs checker at the left circle in Milwaukee’s zone. Peverley passed the puck up the middle of the ice to Pihlstrom who sped in with a breakaway. His shot beat goalie Wade Flaherty between the legs for his team-leading 19th goal of the season and second shorthanded. It was Pihlstrom’s first goal since Feb.2, a span of 12 games. Peverley and Sulzer had the assists.
The Admirals scored an even-strength goal at 17:27 of the second to take a 3-0 lead. Cal O’Reilly stripped the Rockford defenseman of the puck behind Flaherty’s net. He dropped a pass to Matt Ellison at the bottom of the right circle for another one-timer goal. It was Ellison’s 18th of the season with O’Reilly recording the lone assist. The assist was O’Reilly’s 50th helper of the year.
Both teams recorded just four shots aside in the first period.
Rinne stopped 23 of 26 to earn his AHL best 27th victory of the season.
The Admirals host Providence at 7 p.m. Friday night. The first 7,500 fans will receive a whoopee cushion to take part in the largest whoopee cushion sit-down courtesy of Chilli Man. There will be a performance in the East Atrium pre- and post-game by Slumpbusters.
