Return to playoffs a lock
Goalies help end 1-year absence
Special to the Journal Sentinel
After a rare one-year hiatus, the Milwaukee Admirals are back in the playoffs.
The Admirals clinched a postseason berth by beating the San Antonio Rampage, 2-1, Saturday night in front of 13,245 fans at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. They failed to qualify last season — just the fourth time in team history — after reaching the playoffs 12 years in a row.
“It was frustrating last year, no question,” Admirals coach Dean Evason said. “I think everybody remembers it. . . . It’s nice. We’re clearly a proud franchise and it’s nice to get back, for sure.”
Central Division-leading Milwaukee owns an eightgame point streak, which includes six wins, and has won11 of its last 14 home games to increase its lead to .030 percentage points over second-place Lake Erie with seven games remaining.
The Admirals, who have five road games left, are trying to win the division for the first time since 2011. But the focus after improving to 4-0 against San Antonio this year was the return to the postseason.
“I’ve been lucky enough to make the playoffs every year, so I know it’s a huge accomplishment for the team,” said Jamie Devane, in his first season with Milwaukee. “We’ve worked all year, we’ve had different lineups throughout the year, and we’ve really stuck with our systems and stuck with our team. It’s nice.”
A big reason for the return is the goalies, especially rookie Juuse Saros. The reigning AHL goalie of the month finished with 25 saves to win for the 10th time in his last 12 starts. He had to make seven saves in the first 4 minutes.
“Tonight, he won the hockey game for us, simple as that,” Evason said. “We weren’t good in the first, they were real good. And Juuse kept us in the hockey game. Not only in the first, all throughout.”
The Admirals were whistled for three penalties in the first 8:11but survived and were able to take a 1-0 lead on a goal by Max Reinhart with 1:24 left.
Patrick Mullen intercepted a pass from Borna Rendulic in the Milwaukee zone and he sent the puck past Maxim Noreau to Reinhart in the neutral zone. Reinhart skated ahead for a one-on-one and used a backhanded flip to lift the puck over goalie Reto Berra.
“He caught my eye as I was turning the puck up the offensive way,” Mullen said. “It took a couple of nice bounces and he made a great play to put it in.”