Griffins 3, Admirals 2: Turnover proves costly

Milwaukee’s costly turnover deserved another look.

Following a steal by Grand Rapids’ defenseman Dylan McIlrath that led to his team’s go-ahead goal in a 3-2 victory over the Admirals on Sunday afternoon at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, Dean Evason watched the replay before addressing the media.

What the Milwaukee coach saw was a shot bounce off Admirals’ goalie Marek Mazanec that teammate Anthony Richard recovered in the left circle. He skated ahead and McIlrath started to go back.

But just before Richard was going to cross the blue line into the neutral zone, McIlrath took a swipe at the puck and stole it away. McIlrath pushed ahead to the right corner and dished the puck to Evgeny Svechnikov, who scored from the right side of the slot off the left side of Mazanec for the 3-2 lead with 8 minutes, 26 seconds left in the final period.

“Most defensemen would be out of there,” Evason said. “He feels he’s dead in the water because of Richard’s speed. So, he actually stops backing up and goes forward and surprises Richard. Not a lot of defensemen would stop at the blue line with two guys coming at them with speed.

“I think he just got caught in a bad spot and fortunately got the stick on the puck. There’s no way that that usually happens. They caught a break, because if he gets by him, (Frederick) Gaudreau and him on a 2-on-1.”

The Admirals’ three-game winning streak, which began with a 6-3 win over the visiting Griffins on March 19, came to an end.

And third-place Milwaukee not only failed to pick up ground on Central Division-leading Grand Rapids, second-place Chicago also won on Sunday.

“It’s always tight against Grand Rapids,” said Milwaukee’s Pontus Aberg, who scored twice. “It was a little uphill. When we scored, they scored.”

Grand Rapids, which hosts Milwaukee on Wednesday, held a 1-0 lead on a goal from Ben Street in the first period.

Aberg tied the score with 16:48 left in the second when he notched his team-high 13th power-play goal on a shot from the left circle that went past the left side of goalie Jared Coreau and bounced in off the right post.

But Grand Rapids, which leads the American Hockey League on the power play, got one on the man advantage when Mitch Callahan slammed in an easy rebound with only 20.2 seconds left in the frame.

Grand Rapids 1 1 1 — 3
Milwaukee 0 1 1 — 2

First period — 1, GR, Street (Tangradi, McIlrath), 3:36. Penalties — MIL, served by Richard (bench minor - too many men), 10:09; MIL, Payerl (tripping), 15:14.

Second period — 2, MIL, Aberg (Carrier, Ribeiro), 3:12 (PP); 3, GR, Callahan (Ford, Street), 19:39 (PP). Penalties — GR, Svechnikov (slashing), 2:53; GR, Ford (slashing), 3:35; MIL, Carrier (bench minor - delay of game), 8:06; GR, Hronek (high-sticking), 10:52; GR, Callahan (interference, roughing), 15:13; MIL, Gaudreau (roughing), 15:13; MIL, O'Brien (slashing), 19:15.

Third period — 4, MIL, Aberg (White), 8:58; 5, GR, Svechnikov (McIlrath), 11:34. Penalties — GR, Lorito (high-sticking), 3:21; GR, Lashoff (hooking), 17:49; GR, McIlrath (interference), 19:25; MIL, Ribeiro (roughing, slashing, misconduct), 19:25; MIL, Aberg (tripping), 19:57.

SAVES

Coreau, GR 6 8 9 — 23
Mazanec, MIL 15 9 5 — 29
Mazanec, MIL 15 9 5 — 29

Shots — GR 15-11-6—32; MIL 6-9-10—25. Penalties / minutes — GR 8 for 16; MIL 9 for 26. Power plays — GR 1 for 6; MIL 1 for 6. A — 6,587. T — 2:31.