Those familiar feelings

Milwaukee has won 10 of last 14 against Iowa

The best way to deal with a bus ride to Iowa is to beat Iowa.

Milwaukee did just that Friday, as the Admirals defeated the Wild, 2-1, in front of 4,269 people at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

After improving to 10-4 against Iowa since the start of last season, Milwaukee hopped on a bus to Des Moines for a rematch with the Wild on Saturday night.

“Winning helps,” said Milwaukee’s Pontus Aberg. “But they’re going to come out flying.”

Milwaukee, playing its first home game on St. Patrick’s Day since 2006, has nine wins in its last 13 contests.

The team got a goal in each of the first two periods, beginning with Justin Florek’s 7 minutes 3 seconds into the first after Iowa had seven of the first eight shots.

The Admirals carried the puck into the Wild zone, and then Derek Army passed it from the left circle to Florek in the slot. He slipped the puck between two converging defenders and past goalie Alex Stalock for a 1-0 lead.

“It was a big lift for us,” Milwaukee coach Dean Evason said “We knew they were playing extremely well and one of our keys was to start well and take that confidence out of their game. We did not, but we got the goal. And the goal kind of did that for us.”

It was 2-0 on Aberg’s 10th goal in his last 10 games when he scored with 14:40 left in the second.

At first, however, the goal was awarded to Frederick Gaudreau after officials thought he deflected the puck in on a shot by Aberg from the left circle.

“I knew right away,” Gaudreau said. “I told Pontus and went to see the ref to tell him to switch it.”

That’s because the puck actually bounced in off Iowa’s Zach Palmquist in the middle of the slot, and Aberg picked up his team-high 24th goal.

“I was trying to find Gaudreau in the middle,” Aberg said. “It went under his stick and they scored a nice goal for me.”

Iowa’s only goal came on a penalty shot with 8:34 to go in the third.

Sam Anas was awarded it, and he skated through the left circle toward the crease, went from his backhand to forehand and swiped the puck past the left leg of goalie Marek Mazanek.

It was the only blemish against Mazanek, who made 25 saves and won for the fourth time in his last five outings.

“He’s really calm,” Evason said. “He’s playing a really good game. He’s leading our team because of that.”

Iowa did not help its chances when Ryan Carter, who has appeared in 473 NHL games, was called for a 4-minute slashing penalty with 1:52 left. The Wild pulled its goalie shortly after, but the man advantage was negated because Milwaukee was on the power play.

Roster update: Before the game, the Admirals signed Hobey Baker Award Finalist Tyler Kelleher to an AHL contract for the remainder of the season.

Kelleher recently completed a four-year career at the University of New Hampshire by totaling 24 goals and 39 assists as a senior.

“You can’t judge him tonight,” Evason said. “He hasn’t skated since Sunday, I think. We threw him right into the fire.”