The Milwaukee Admirals survived game three against the Rockford IceHogs on Wednesday, May 7. Their 6-2 win brought the series to 2-1 Rockford, and will force a game four in the best-of-five Central Division semifinals series.
Two early penalties on Rockford’s Nolan Allan earned Milwaukee two power plays. On the second power play, Milwaukee’s Grigori Denisenko took a shot on Rockford’s goaltender, Drew Commesso, in the first 10 minutes of the game which earned them the first goal. Milwaukee’s Ozzy Weisblatt earned his second assist of the postseason.
Milwaukee’s energy remained high throughout the first period. Keiffer Bellows, assisted by Fedor Svechkov and Ozzy Weisblatt, earned a goal at 15:20 of the first period. Bellows earned the primary assist on Stasney’s goal at 18:32.
Milwaukee’s lead increased to 4-0 with another goal from Bellows to start the second period. The Admiral’s Ryan Ufko and Jake Lucchini both earned the assists.
Midway through the second period, Rockford’s Brett Seney held Ufko’s stick near the Milwaukee goal, leading to a brawl between the teams. The brawl resulted in five penalties and a Rockford power play. Milwaukee succeeded on the penalty kill.
Milwaukee took their lead to 5-0 at 14:25 in the second period, with Joakim Kemell scoring a goal from Bellows and Marc Del Gaizo. Rockford reduced the goal deficit to four at 19:40 with a Zach Sanford goal, assisted by Samuel Savoie and Ethan Del Mastro.
The third period started with Rockford swapping out goaltenders: Mitchell Weeks took the ice for Commesso. Rockford’s Savoie reduced the goal deficit to three at the beginning of the third with an unassisted goal.
Another large skirmish occurred halfway into the third period after Milwaukee’s Ryder Rolston took an illegal check to the head from former Rockford teammate Artyom Levshunov. Rockford’s Korchinski received the game’s first misconduct as part of the skirmish for continuing altercation.
With less than four minutes remaining in regulation play, Rockford’s Weeks took to the bench to give the team an extra body in the offensive zone. Rockford earned four shots on Milwaukee goaltender Matthew Murray before Weeks returned to the ice.
Bellows earned the second hat-trick of the series in the last few minutes of the third period, taking the score to 6-2 Milwaukee. Bellow’s earned the goal off passes from Svechkov and Kyle Marino.
The last major brawl of the game occurred with less than two minutes remaining, resulting in four penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct. Milwaukee’s Kemell and Turner Ottenbreit and Rockford’s Jalen Luypen and Dmitry Kuzmin received the misconducts and were ejected.
The game concluded with Milwaukee outshooting Rockford 34-27 and a total of 80 penalty minutes. Milwaukee’s Keifer Bellows had a five-point game with his hat-trick and two assists, earning him the first star.
The last time an Admirals player notched four or more points in a game was at the season home opener on October 19, 2024. Rockford’s Savoie was the second star with one goal and one assist. Milwaukee’s Weisblatt was the third star with two assists.
The Milwaukee Admirals will continue the series against the Rockford IceHogs on Friday, May 9, at Rockford’s BMO Center. If Milwaukee wins Friday’s match, they will play game five at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Sunday, May 11.