The Milwaukee Admirals defeated the Iowa Wild 5-2 Saturday night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. It’s the first time the Admirals won back-to-back games this season, led by Connor Ingram in the net.
Team Captain Cole Schneider led the offense with his second career hat trick and first with the Admirals. In addition, Cody Glass added three assists.
Connor Ingram Saves the Day
After stopping 31 of 32 shots Friday against the Manitoba Moose, Ingram blocked 41 of 43 shots Saturday, earning the win in goal both days.
“He’s calm in there and nothing really bothers him,” said Admirals Head Coach Karl Taylor. “There’s action at the net, there’s people bumping him, all the things team’s try to do when they’re against a good goalie and he just keeps making saves. He’s really calm, really secure, he looks like an NHL goalie waiting for an opportunity.”
The Admirals won two in a row following a four-game losing streak, thanks to the Ingram’s return. He spent the first three weeks of the season with the Nashville Predators, filling in for Predators Goalie David Rittich while he was out on the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list.
While Ingram was with the Predators, he earned his first NHL win against the Minnesota Wild on Oct. 24. In addition, Ingram is the only goalie in Admirals’ history to post a sub 2.00 goals against average, with a 1.92 GAA in the 2019-2020 season.
On the other side, Dereck Baribeau received the loss for the Wild in net, saving 28 of 32 shots Saturday. His four goals against is the most he’s allowed in a game this season.
Despite causing many penalties, the Admirals had a perfect penalty kill for the second straight game, killing all seven of the Wild’s opportunities. They now have 18 straight successful penalty kills.
“It’s an area we take pride in as a staff,” said Taylor. “We work on a power play-penalty kill, everyone does it together.”
The Wild’s offense dominated early with 20 shots on goal compared to the Admirals eight. However, Ingram was perfect and killed off both Wild power plays to keep the game scoreless.
“Obviously we were taking some penalties early again and we’re not happy about that,” said Taylor. “But then we started turning pucks over and we started playing the wrong way in the neutral zone and Iowa did a great job taking advantage of it.”
However, the Admirals were able to flip the script, taking one more shot on goal than the Wild in the second and third periods.
Despite the Wild looking like the superior team, the Admirals struck first with a goal midway through the second period. Schneider scored a goal that was assisted by Matt Donovan and Cody Glass. It was Schneider’s first goal since the season opener.
The Admirals took advantage of a 5-on-3 power play goal at 12:26 in the second period. Schneider added his second goal of the game, making it 2-0. Cole Smith and Matt Luff assisted Schneider for the score. A few minutes later, the Admirals nearly went up 3-0 with a nice opportunity for Glass, but Baribeau made a quick save.
The Wild kept the pressure up despite being down late in the second period. They answered with a goal by Will Bitten, assisted by Marco Rossi. Ingram was perfect blocking the first 24 shots, but Rossi served up a great pass to Bitten that led to an easy breakaway goal.
Iowa continued to add offensive pressure, scoring the equalizer at 18:52 in the second period. The goal was scored by Nick Swaney and assisted by Jon Lizotte and Mason Shaw.
Admirals Add Trio of Goals in Third Period
The Admirals retook the lead with 8:55 into the third period. Donovan scored what ended up being the game-winning goal, with assists by Glass and Mitch McLain. Then, Schneider finished off the hat trick to pad the Admirals’ lead, with assists by Egor Afanasyev and Glass. Glass leads the team with six assists in six games.
Schneider showed determination, with all three of his goals being scrappy near the net and deflecting off his body.
“I think Cole might’ve had the first hat trick without using his stick tonight,” said Taylor. “I couldn’t believe how hard he went to the net.”
With less than four minutes left, the Wild pulled their goalie during a power play to have a 6-on-4 man advantage. However, it was the Admirals adding an empty netter by McLain, assisted by Smith.
The Admirals will look to win three in a row in as many days, as they travel to Chicago to take on the Wolves Sunday. They return home Wednesday for another game against the Moose.