The Milwaukee Admirals will look to bounce back as they host the Rockford IceHogs for Game 2 of the Calder Cup Playoffs’ Central Division Semifinals tonight at 6 p.m. CT at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
Nashville’s AHL affiliate fell to the IceHogs in Game 1 by a 3-2 final in overtime on Thursday night to begin the postseason schedule - a game that saw the Ads own a 2-0 lead in the third period before the visitors came all the way back.
Now, the Admirals will look to even up the series with a more complete effort this evening.
“We don't want to flush the game, just for the record, but we do have to move on from it,” Admirals Head Coach Karl Taylor said following Thursday’s loss. “For two periods, I really liked our game and what we were doing. The third [period], maybe we got [too focused on] getting the ship to the dock and maybe sat back a little bit. So that's a lesson learned. We have lots of players in there that don't have playoff experience, and so that's a new experience for them. And sometimes you’ve got to learn a hard lesson - maybe, hopefully, we do that today.”
“We definitely had some looks,” Ads forward Cal O’Reilly said after the loss. “And even at the start of the game with such a long break, I thought we came out competing, doing lots of good things, and we put ourselves in a good spot. But, it's a good lesson for us.”
O’Reilly and Fedor Svechkov both tallied for the Admirals in the loss, while familiar names like Ozzy Wiesblatt, Joakim Kemell and Spencer Stastney all recorded an assist in the effort. Goaltender Matt Murray made 25 saves in Game 1 and was perfect through two-plus periods of play.
Ten different players - forwards Svechkov, Wiesblatt, Kieffer Bellows, Kemell and Jake Lucchini; defensemen Marc Del Gaizo, Stastney, Kevin Gravel and Ryan Ufko; plus goaltender Murray - all saw at least one recall to Nashville over the course of the 2024-25 campaign.
Visit MilwaukeeAdmirals.com for more information on how to watch and listen to Game 2, and stay tuned to NashvillePredators.com for coverage from Milwaukee through the weekend.
