by Conor McPherson
In what panned out to be a big night for Milwaukee sports, the Admirals defeated the Manitoba Moose 3-0.
In their first matchup since the Ads’ defeat in last year’s Calder Cup playoffs to the Moose, a Tyson Jost burst helped bring the Admirals their sixth win of the season on Wednesday evening.
The Ads opened the scoring with just 6:11 remaining in the first period as Hunter Skinner carried the puck into Manitoba’s zone, creating a three-on-two opportunity for the Ads.
Skinner slid it to his left to Felix Nilsson, who knocked a one-time, cross-ice pass to Jost on the right. Jost picked his spot and whipped a wrist shot above the glove side of Manitoba’s Domenic DiVicentiis in net. The goal was Jost’s first of the game and season for the Alberta native in his debut season with the Admirals.
Right as Jost put the Ads up 1-0 with a shot right above the glove of the Manitoba goalie, the Brewers’ Cooper Pratt sent an RBI just above the glove of the Tampa Bay second baseman to bring in the first run of Game Five in the World Series, putting the Brewers up 1-0 before their eventual series-clinching 4-1 victory.
Although the Moose outshot the Ads 17-7 in the first period, patience in the offensive zone and smart puck management gave the Ads a one-goal lead by the end of the first.
With 17:32 minutes remaining in the second period, Jost notched an insurance goal to put the Ads up 2-0.
A Milwaukee triangle composed of Ryan Ufko, Kyle Marino and Jost utilized textbook tic-tac-toe passing as Ufko rifled a pass down to Marino, who, with his back to the net, laid off the puck to Jost, who scored the second of the game.
Parked at the right face-off circle, the left-handed Jost once again sent a wrister above DiVicentiis’ glove to extend the lead with just his second shot of the game.
Head coach Karl Taylor had high praise for Jost.
“The group played well, Tyson was really good and scored a couple nice goals,” Taylor said.
Up 2-0, the Admirals found themselves in a five-on-three to kick off the third period after two consecutive Joey Willis and Kevin Gravel minors for holding and cross-checking, respectively.
With 10:10 to go in the third, Matt Murray made one of his many winding pad saves of the game, this time on his stick side to neutralize the Manitoba breakaway effort from right winger Parker Ford.
With 3:30 left in the third, the Ads extended their cushion with a power-play goal from Chase Bradley to cement the win. Bradley scored his first career power-play goal and his second goal of the season after he slotted a wrister above DiVicentiis’ stick for the third goal of the game.
Murray made 37saves in the Ads first shutout victory of the season as he picked up his fourth win of the season after allowing just four goals in five games.
“Murray played great,” Taylor said. “He’s had a great start here, and he’s in a good spot at the start of this season.”
Despite being outshot, 37-25, the Ads continued their slick passing and cohesive defensive unit to close out the 3-0 win.
The Admirals next travel to Cleveland for a two-game Halloween weekend series against the aptly named Monsters on Oct. 30 at 6 p.m. CDT and Oct. 31 at 1 p.m. CDT.
