Milwaukee, WI—Mequon native Spencer Stastney scored the game-winning goal shorthanded with less than nine minutes to play in the game to lead the Admirals to their sixth straight victory in a 5-4 win over Texas on Friday night at Panther Arena.
The victory kept the Admirals undefeated in 2024 and increased their lead over second-place Texas to six points in the Central Division.
Egor Afanasyev also scored shorthanded and dished out two assists for his second straight three point night, while Stastney (1g-1a) and Mark Jankowski (1g-1a) registered two point games to pace the Ads offense. Zach L’Heureux and Jordan Gross also lit the lamp for Milwaukee. Yaroslav Askarov stopped 25 shots to earn the win in net for the Ads to extend his personal winning streak to six games.
The shorthanded tallies for Afanasyev and Stastney marked the first time since March 5th 2019 that the Ads had multiple shorties in a home contest.
The first 20 minutes were wild as the Ads jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead on goals from L’Heureux and Afanasyev, however Texas countered with three straight tallies in a 2:35 span to grab a 3-2 advantage.
Gross and Jankowski would put Milwaukee back on top in the sandwich frame, but the Stars Michael Karow scored with only 33 seconds to play in the stanza to deadlock the score at four after 40 minutes and setting the stage for Stastney’s heroics.
The Admirals and Stars get right back at it on Saturday night for a 6 pm puck drop from Panther Arena.
