The Milwaukee Admirals fell to the Manitoba Moose 4-3 in overtime. Connor Ingram had an incredible 56 saves to keep the game close.
“The one positive today is we got a point,” said Head Coach Karl Taylor. “I would like to publicly apologize to our goalie. We left him high and dry.”
Ingram ended up as the losing goalie despite his impressive performance. All four goals he allowed were on Moose power plays. In contrast, Mikhail Berdin had an easy night as the winning goalie in net, saving 13 of 16 shots.
The Admirals enter Wednesday with 22 consecutive successful penalty kills, raising their team to fourth-best in the AHL with an 88.1% success rate. However, the Moose were quick to break their streak, scoring a power play goal just 96 seconds into the game. David Gustafsson added his third goal of the season, assisted by Austin Poganski and Ville Heinola.
Although the Admirals forced overtime, the Moose heavily outplayed them. The Moose had 60 shots on goal compared to the Admirals’ 16. Six Moose skaters recorded five or more shots on goal.
“It’s unacceptable, that’s not how we play here,” said Taylor. “We’re not going to accept that effort and I take full responsibility.”
The Admirals struggled early on, turning the puck over too many times and failing to connect on some easy passes. They couldn’t score despite going on the power play for four minutes courtesy of a double minor penalty by Jimmy Oligny. They landed a season-low three shots on goal and failed to record a shot on goal with the man advantage in the first period.
The Admirals came out firing in the second period with Captain Cole Schneider tying the game just over two minutes into the period. It was his team-leading sixth goal of the season, assisted by Marc Del Gaizo and Matt Luff.
Cole Smith added an impressive goal, fighting for the puck in front of the goal and slapping it in to give the Admirals the lead. Smith’s goal was assisted by Del Gaizo. Just 84 seconds later, Egor Afanasyev added another goal for Milwaukee, assisted by Cody Glass and David Farrance.
However, the Moose did not go away, answering back with another power play goal by Jeff Mallott, assisted by Greg Meireles and Leon Gawanke with just over three minutes remaining in the second period. The Admirals led 3-2 after two periods despite being outshot 34 to 12.
Milwaukee got themselves into trouble with back-to-back penalties early in the third period. As a result, the Moose tied the game on the 5-on-3 man advantage with a goal by Gawanke, assisted by Heinola. The game went into overtime tied at three.
A hooking penalty by Glass gave the Moose the man advantage, and with one second left on the power play, Gawanke scored the game-winning goal, assisted by Mikey Eyssimont.
The Admirals ended up 1-for-4 on the power play while the Moose ended up 4-for-6. Ingram won’t be able to save the day every game and the Admirals need to prioritize puck possession. Allowing 60 shots on goal isn’t a recipe for success even with the most talented goalies.
This was the second time these two teams faced each other, as the Admirals won 2-1 in overtime last Friday. They will face off 12 times total this season. The Admirals begin a five-game road trip starting Saturday in Iowa.