The Milwaukee Admirals survived elimination again against the Rockford IceHogs in game four on Friday, May 9. Their 3-2 victory tied the best-of-five series and pushed it to five games.
Thus far in the series, Milwaukee and Rockford players have had countless fights and penalties, indicative of their rivalry. Friday’s game ended with 36 penalty minutes, including two misconducts.
The first brawl of the game came a little over one minute into the first period. Milwaukee’s Fedor Svechkov and Rockford’s Zach Sanford each earned two minutes for roughing before either team could earn a shot on goal.
At 07:54 of the first period, Milwaukee’s Turner Ottenbreit scored an unassisted goal on Rockford goaltender Drew Commesso. During the regular season, Ottenbreit had two points from one goal and one assist in 49 games. Friday’s goal marked his first in his AHL playoff career.
Rockford’s Jackson Cates evened the score eight seconds later with a goal on Milwaukee’s goaltender Matthew Murray, assisted by Jalen Luypen and Paul Ludwinski. Cates’ goal marked his second career playoff goal and his second point of Rockford’s 2025 Calder Cup playoff run.
Rockford took the lead with a little over a minute remaining in the first period, with Aidan Thompson scoring a goal from Nolan Allan and Samuel Savoie. Rockford led Milwaukee 2-1 at the end of the period and outshot them 11-10.
The first penalty of the second period came 56 seconds into Rockford’s Brett Seney for tripping. Milwaukee was unsuccessful on this power play attempt.
At 7:50 of the second period, Milwaukee’s known fighter, Kyle Marino, evened the score. Navrin Mutter and Marc Del Gaizo earned the assists. Marino’s goal marked his first career AHL playoff goal. During the regular season, Marino scored a career-high 17 points, including nine goals, in 66 games played with the Admirals.
Milwaukee earned another power play at 13:45 of the second period after Rockford’s Dmitry Kuzmin went to the penalty box for tripping. Milwaukee recorded a singular shot on goal during the power play, resulting in a goal from Ozzy Weisblatt. Keifer Bellows and Ryan Ufko assisted Weisblatt’s power play goal.
Throughout the third period, Rockford spent most of their time in the offensive zone. At 17:27, Rockford pulled Commesso to gain an extra body. Milwaukee attempted to earn a few empty-net goals while Commesso was on the IceHogs bench; however, their attempts were unsuccessful. Two seconds before the period ended, Milwaukee’s Marino and Rockford’s Colton Dach each received a misconduct for continuing an altercation in a small brawl near the Milwaukee net.
Weisblatt’s game-winning goal for the Admirals earned him the first star of the game. The two other stars were awarded to Milwaukee’s Ottenbreit and Rockford’s Thompson.
The Admirals will face the IceHogs on Sunday, May 11, at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena for game five of the series. The victor of this winner-take-all contest will face the second-seeded Texas Stars in the Central Division finals.