For the second year in a row, Milwaukee and Manitoba will go the distance in their Central Division semifinal series after the Admirals pulled out a 5-3 win in Game 4 on Friday night.
The winner-take-all Game 5 is set for Saturday at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
Tied at 1-1, Game 4 turned with 1:15 left in the first period on a delayed penalty call against Milwaukee’s Austin Rueschhoff. Moments after the Moose pulled Oskari Salminen for a sixth attacker, an errant pass back to the point sailed all the way down the ice and into the vacated net to give the Admirals a lead they would never relinquish.
Joakim Kemell and Kiefer Sherwood scored in the second period to up the Milwaukee lead to 4-1, and Rueschhoff hit the empty net with 18.9 seconds left after the Moose had climbed back to within one.
Yaroslav Askarov (2-2) finished with 16 saves for the Admirals.
Jansen Harkins led the Moose with a goal and two assists, while Wyatt Bongiovanni — who scored the overtime winner for Manitoba in Game 3 — tallied a goal and an assist.
Salminen (2-1) stopped 23 of 26 shots in net for the Moose.
Central Division Semifinals (best-of-5)
C2-Milwaukee Admirals vs. C3-Manitoba Moose
Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 28 – Milwaukee 6, MANITOBA 2 | Recap
Game 2 – Sun., Apr. 30 – MANITOBA 3, Milwaukee 2 (OT) | Recap
Game 3 – Wed., May 3 – Manitoba 3, MILWAUKEE 2 (OT) | Recap
Game 4 – Fri., May 5 – MILWAUKEE 5, Manitoba 3
Game 5 – Sat., May 6 – Manitoba at Milwaukee, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
