Reassigned to the Admirals in the afternoon, Jake Lucchini scored a shorthanded goal and added an assist to help the team secure a 3-1 win Friday night against the Chicago Wolves at Panther Arena.

Joakim Kemell scored the game-winning goal on the power-play in the third period and Ondrej Pavel iced it with an empty netter as the Ads drew back into a tie for first place in the division with Texas at 67 points.

Matt Murray made 16 saves to pick up his career-best 19th win of the season.

Chicago kicked off scoring at 10:44 in the first period as Juha Jaaska scored shorthanded. Jesse Ylonen got tripped up with the puck off the faceoff, which caused Jaaska and Justin Robidas to go two-on-one into the Admirals defensive zone. Once in shooting range, Robidas passed it last minute to the left circle where Jaaska poked it past the skate of Matt Murray.

The Admirals returned a shorthanded goal of their own just 44 seconds into the second period at the hands of Lucchini, who is fresh off a three game stint with the Predators. The play initiated when the rebound off a save made by Murray let Ufko sneak the puck to Lucchini and Ryder Rolston. The pair passed the puck back and forth until Lucchini gained control of the puck, faked a shot in the slot, weaved it between his legs to his backhand where he fired and found the back of the net.

The Admirals got the edge in the third period off a five-on-three PP at 13:45 off the stick of Kemell. With a two man advantage, the Admirals got into an easy passing flow until Cal O’Reilly sent it to Kemell, who ripped a slapshot, seamlessly beating Spencer Martin. The win was sealed with an empty net goal by Pavel with just 1:17 to go in the game.

The Admirals are back at it Saturday, March 8 at 7 pm against Iowa, where a celebration will take place for O’Reilly’s 1000th AHL game. The first 4,000 fans will receive a mini-stick featuring O’Reilly, plus Christian Music stars Shane & Shane will perform live post-game as part of Faith & Family night.