The Manitoba Moose (16-13-2-0) couldn’t slow down the Milwaukee Admirals (15-14-2-1) offence on Thursday night, falling 7-3 to their Central Division foes at UW-M Panther Arena. Manitoba was coming off a 4-1 victory over the Abbotsford Canucks on Jan. 2 at Canada Life Centre.
The Moose were dominant to start the game, owning a 16-7 advantage on the shot clock through the first period. It was Milwaukee, however, that scored the first goal of the game. Jake Lucchini struck 13:29 into the game, locating a loose puck after it deflected off a collection of bodies in front of the net. The Moose responded three minutes later when Colby Barlow patiently navigated a three-on-one opportunity, opting to keep the puck himself, before finishing on the backhand to tie the game. Just 49 seconds later, Mason Shaw picked off a pass and snuck a shot through Magnus Chrona to give the Moose a 2-1 lead through 20 minutes of play.
The pendulum swung in Milwaukee’s favour in the second period, though the Admirals narrowly outshot the Moose by a 12-10 tally. Three of those shots found the back of the net, as Milwaukee took a two-goal lead into the intermission. Andreas Englund scored his side’s first of the frame 3:03 into the period. Cole O’Hara then gave the Admirals the lead at 12:28. In the late stages of the stanza, Daniel Carr made good on a power play chance, giving the home side a 4-2 lead. Chrona was perfect in the period, stopping all 10 shots he saw, while Domenic DiVincentiis turned away nine chances.
Milwaukee amassed three early goals in the third to extend the lead to 7-2. Ryan Ufko and Andrew Gibson both potted markers before the four-minute mark, and Zach L’Heureux added another power play tally seven minutes in. The Moose got one back late in the contest as Brad Lambert scored his third goal of the season, but the Admirals skated away with a 7-3 win.
Quotable
Moose forward Brad Lambert (click for full interview)
“I think we just have to find a way to grind through adversity. Obviously, we took a couple of penalties, they got a couple of bounces, but we have to just find a way to keep going and play our game and trust in our game as we did in the first.”