Admirals beat IceHogs in overtime.

Carrier notches winning goal

A hat trick by Frederick Gaudreau and an overtime goal from Alexandre Carrier helped lift the Milwaukee Admirals to a 4-3 victory over Rockford on Friday night, despite giving up the tying goal with just 56.8 seconds left in regulation.

“Our group’s very resilient,” Admirals coach Dean Evason said. “I give them a heck of a lot of credit. We don’t get fazed. We don’t panic on the bench. … We stay pretty even keel, which is a credit to the group to hang in there.”

Milwaukee won its fourth straight game against Rockford, which entered the contest last in the American Hockey League in wins (14) and road victories (four).

Pontus Aberg skated with the puck from the top of the left circle to the top of the right when he unleashed a shot at goalie Mac Carruth. The puck bounced in front of the crease, where Carrier was able to retrieve it just ahead of Rockford’s Nolan Valleau. He immediately sent a backhanded shot past the stick of Carruth just 31 seconds into overtime.

Gaudreau, who began the night with six goals in 33 games, gave his team a 3-2 lead with 7 minutes 46 seconds left in the third period.

He was skating with the puck along the right wall and sent the puck toward a streaking Vladislav Kamenev near the inner left circle.

But the puck bounced off the left skate of Rockford’s Carl Dahlstrom in front of the crease and slid past the right leg of Carruth for Milwaukee’s first hat trick of the season.

“It’s fun, for sure,” said Gaudreau, who also had a hat trick last season. “But at the end of the day, if we didn’t get the win, it would’ve been nothing.”

It almost was, because for the third time in the game Rockford rallied from a one-goal deficit to tie the score.

Former Admiral Michael Latta fired a shot from the right wing that bounced off traffic in front of the Milwaukee net. Standing at the left crease, Spencer Abbott was able to swat the puck past goalie Marek Mazanek to make it 3-3.

“The guys knew it was a bad bounce,” Evason said. “We certainly have to clean up our game, it should not have gotten to that point. Our turnovers were ridiculous, which allowed them to be in the hockey game.”

In the first period, it took Milwaukee only 59 seconds to score.

Gaudreau had an easy shot standing in front of the crease because Carruth misplayed the puck by diving for it and never recovered.

But Rockford held an 8-2 shot advantage when it tied the score at 1-1 on a goal by Valleau with 9:19 left.

Gaudreau scored again on a 5-on-3 power play with 8:56 remaining. It was not as easy as the first, but close, as Carruth was trying to cover the puck with his legs when it squirted to an open Gaudreau for a tap-in at the right post.

But again, the IceHogs tied the score at 2-2 on another 5-on-3 power-play goal compliments of Abbott with 9:34 to go in the second period.

Roster update: Defenseman Petter Granberg, who started the season with Milwaukee, returned after he was reassigned by Nashville. He missed the Predators’ previous six games with an injury. Also, Admirals defenseman Jonathan Diaby was reassigned to Cincinnati and Shaw O’Donnell was released from his professional tryout contract.