Milwaukee, WI--The Admirals opened November with a hard-fought 3-1 loss to the Iowa Wild on Salute to Our Military Night at Panther Arena.

In the teams’ second meeting since Milwaukee’s 3-2 win on Oct. 21, Iowa evened the season series. Despite the loss, the Admirals outshot the Wild 29-24.

Coming off a 4-2 road loss at Grand Rapids the previous night, Milwaukee suffered its first back-to-back losses of the season, while Iowa earned just its second win in its last six games.

The Wild struck first just 2:49 into the game on their second shot of the game. A loose puck bounced off the end boards wide of the rear pipe and landed directly in front of Iowa’s Caedan Bankier, who tapped it past Isak Posch before the goaltender’s last-second save attempt. The goal was Bankier’s second of the season.

The Ads generated their first offensive chances after earning a power play with 9:28 left in the first period.

“A lot of penalties today,” Karl Taylor said. “We had some trouble moving the puck; that happens when you aren’t scoring much.”

Iowa brought the physicality early, trapping Joakim Kemell and the puck at the corner boards and creating a pileup that burned the first 20 seconds of Milwaukee’s advantage. The Ads barely freed the puck in the frenzy before Ahcan kept the pressure on at the blue line.

Ahcan thought about shooting before sliding it to his left, where Tanner Molendyk was waiting. Molendyk received the pass and ripped a clapper that was deflected by John Farinacci and directly under the crossbar for his first goal in his second game of the season for the Ads to tie it up 1-1.

“We had something happen late and Farinacci got his chance today and played great,” Taylor said. “Farinacci is a good guy, we were all rooting for him.”

The early theatrics only escalated when Andrew Gibson and Wild left winger Jagger Joshua exchanged jabs against the boards. Gibson landed a hard shot on Joshua that ended the duel and sent both to the ice in front of the Wild net.

The Ads opened the second period shorthanded in a four-on-three as the trio of Ahcan, Farinacci and Nieminen defended the Wild’s four-man attack before the four-on-three became a regular power play for Iowa.

During the following four-on-four play, Michael Koster patiently carried the puck into Milwaukee’s zone before beating Posch with a well-placed wrist shot to give Iowa a 2-1 lead with 8:23 remaining in the second period. The goal was Koster’s second of the season.

The Wild tested the Ads penalty kill again with a box-and-one formation. The Ads couldn’t get near the puck before the former Admiral Justin Kirkland rifled it past a screened Posch to make it 3-1 going into the third.

In a stick-snapping check just three minutes into the third period, Kyle Marino crashed into the 6’6” Viking Gustafsson Nyberg. Gustafsson turned and punched the nearest man in the face, which happened to be Kalan Lind.

With Lind down, Gustafsson and Marino headed to the box for yet another four-on-four. A following slashing penalty from Iowa’s Jack Peart gave Milwaukee their second power play of the night, a four-on-three with 15 minutes left in the final period.

With 12 minutes left, Felix Nilsson was tripped as he crashed onto a puck bouncing around the slot, giving the Ads another chance for a power play. The Wild remained physical as they killed another penalty and suffocated the Ads’ offense.

The Ads had one last chance to make it a one-goal game when Farinacci came inches away from a brace after just missing a loose puck sliding in front of an exposed net.

With just over three minutes remaining, the physicality resurfaced. Nieminen awkwardly collided with Iowa’s Dylan Gambrell in a massive hit that sent Gambrell to the ice. Gambrell quickly got back up and exchanged punches with Nieminen before both players fell to the ice.

With just over a minute remaining, Taylor pulled Posch for the extra attacker as Milwaukee made one final push. The Ads couldn’t capitalize on the advantage, and the final horn sounded with Milwaukee still trailing by two.

“We’re not scoring goals as of late, but I like the way we’ve been playing,” Taylor said.

The Ads will look to even the season series against the Wild on Tuesday, Nov. 10, with a 10:30 a.m. matinee.