Tired team finds way to win.

Team triumphs after Iowa trip

Nothing like getting home from work at 4 in the morning.

The Milwaukee Admirals recovered, however, and defeated Grand Rapids, 6-3, Sunday in front of 3,846 people at the UW Milwaukee Panther Arena.

It was the third game in three days for both teams, but Central Division-leading Grand Rapids only had to make the short trip up from Chicago. Milwaukee defeated Iowa on Friday and then took a bus to Des Moines for a rematch on Saturday. After losing to the Wild, the Admirals drove back home for their 5 p.m. game against the Griffins.

“All you can say is you’re proud of your group, and we are,” Milwaukee coach Dean Evason said. “We don’t whine about it. There’s nothing we can do about it. But we were very proud of how they played. The win is one thing and the score is one thing. But the effort is what we’re proud of.

“It’s easy just to take the night off and say, ‘Oh well, we played three-inthree, we’re tired.’ We didn’t. So yeah, it feels good for us as a coaching staff to see the group do that.”

Grand Rapids was playing on the road for the ninth time in its last 10 games but held a 2-1 lead when Martin Frk got a goal 1 minute 10 seconds into the second period. But the Admirals scored four times in the final 16 minutes of the period and outshot Grand Rapids, 16-3, in the frame.

“We didn’t sink, our heads didn’t go down, we just kept playing the game,” Evason said. “We were able to get the job done.”

Milwaukee tied the score at 2-2 on Vladislav Kamenev’s goal with 15:59 remaining. Griffins’ goalie Eddie Pasquale, who shut out the Admirals the last two games he faced them, tried to pass the puck from behind his net. But it bounced off the skate of teammate Brian Lashoff and slid to the left post, where Kamenev tapped it into the empty net.

Milwaukee took its first lead when Anthony Richard scored on a rebound from the slot with 11:03 remaining.

A turnover by Grand Rapids led to the Admirals’ fourth goal, scored by Frederick Gaudreau from the left side of the slot with 1:08 to go.

Milwaukee made it 5-2 on a power-play goal by Pontus Aberg with just 2.7 seconds left. Trevor Smith sent a backhanded pass from the right goal line between the legs of Conor Allen to Aberg at the bottom of the left circle, where he scored his 11th goal in his last 12 games.

“The second period was phenomenal,” Evason said. “Our second periods haven’t been that good. … The way we played that second period really set us up.”

Grand Rapids took the first nine shots of the final period but did not score. It did shortly after, however, on Eric Tangradi’s second goal of the game.

The Griffins, who lead the AHL on the power play, were then put on the man advantage with 4:46 left but managed only two shots. They gave up an empty-net goal to Adam Payerl with 14.8 seconds remaining to give Milwaukee at least six goals for the fourth time this season.

The Admirals travel to Winnipeg on Wednesday for games at Manitoba on Thursday and Friday, and return home to host Grand Rapids again next Sunday.

“We fly to Manitoba, so it’s not going to be a problem,” Aberg said.