The Admirals had the lead in Game 1, but the visitors spoiled the party.
Milwaukee began their run in the Calder Cup Playoffs with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Rockford IceHogs in Game 1 of the Central Division Semifinals on Thursday night at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
The AHL affiliate of the Nashville Predators got goals from Cal O’Reilly and Fedor Svechkov, and Matt Murray made 25 saves in net, but Rockford came back from a 2-0 deficit to score the winner just 12 seconds into OT.
“The first two periods, I really liked our game,” Ads Head Coach Karl Taylor said. “There's a lot to like… [The IceHogs] were a little opportunistic tonight, but they worked really hard, and they didn't go away. And every game has been a one-goal game this year with this team. So, that's basically what happened. And you don't like getting scored on like we did there at the end that quickly in overtime, so unfortunate that it ended that quick. But it's one game, and you have to rinse and repeat and get ready for Game 2.”
“It's one game,” O’Reilly said. “Got to move on, really. We'll look at some things and things we could do better. But for our first game in two weeks, we put ourselves in a good spot, and then we made some mistakes, and they capitalized on them.”
As is typically the case in the postseason between a pair of division rivals, physicality was rampant from the opening puck drop, and early in the second stanza, the Admirals found twine.
First, O’Reilly - whose brother, Ryan, plays for the Preds - converted on a wraparound only 30 seconds into the middle frame, and just 15 seconds later, Ozzy Wiesblatt found Svechkov who scored on a backhander in the slot to give Milwaukee a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes.
“We were on top of them,” Taylor said. “I thought our forecheck was strong. We recovered pucks. I'd like to generate a little more offense from it, but I thought we played hard and heavy. I thought we were ready to play, and unfortunately, we didn't get the results, so we'll watch the tape and get ready for Game 2.”
Admirals winger Kyle Marino provided an extra jolt to an already charged building in the second period with a thunderous hit at center ice before firing a slew of right hands on Rockford’s Nolan Allan who challenged Marino to a scrap after the bodycheck.
But in the third period, goals from Paul Ludwinski and Gerry Mayhew saw Milwaukee’s lead vanish with overtime required in the series opener.
In OT, Colton Dach only needed 12 seconds to give the IceHogs a 1-0 series lead and force the Admirals to now look ahead to Game 2 on Saturday night.
“Obviously we're a little disappointed right now,” O’Reilly said. “But sulk on it and sit on it for a bit, and tomorrow we come to the rink, it’s done. So, we’ve got to win a game on Saturday.”
“You lose a game, you lose a game,” Taylor said. “It's one game, so we're moving on and getting ready for Game 2. We're doing that already, so the guys know what to do. They've been in this a lot. We've had a lot of playoff games, so we need to move on. They get an hour to be mad or disappointed or the rest of it, and we'll shake it off. Get ready tomorrow, and then get ready for Saturday.”
Notes:
Joakim Kemell, who made his NHL debut with the Preds this season, assisted on O’Reilly’s goal, and Kieffer Bellows, also a Nashville skater for a time in 2024-25, added a helper on Svechkov’s tally.
Game 2 of the best-of-five series between the Admirals and IceHogs is set for Saturday night at 6 p.m. CT in Milwaukee before the series shifts to Rockford next week.
