Jan Rutta scored an overtime goal to lift the Rockford IceHogs to a 4-3 win over the Admirals Wednesday at BMO Harris Bank Center.
Rutta finished off a 3-on-1 passing play in overtime to seal the win for the IceHogs.
The loss was Milwaukee’s first at Rockford since Feb. 12, 2017. The Admirals had won eight straight games in that span.
Milwaukee has points in five straight games (2-0-2-1) and remains in first place in the Central Division with 38.
Milwaukee started with a bang, scoring twice in a span of 14 seconds. The Admirals tallied a power play goal at 1:51 of the first period. Tyler Gaudet flipped a pass to the bottom of the left circle for Emil Pettersson. Pettersson fed Anthony Richard in front of the net and he pushed it in for his 12th goal of the season and his second scored on the power play.
The Admirals Jeremy Gregoire scored with a wrist shot at 2:05 of the first period, just :14 after Richard’s goal, to give Milwaukee a 2-0 edge. Zach Magwood and Brian Cooper picked up the assists on Gregoire’s third goal of the year.
Another power play goal at 13:26 of the first frame pushed Milwaukee’s lead to 3-0. Gaudet smacked a rebound into the goal for his fifth goal of the campaign. Richard and Pettersson assisted on Gaudet’s first power play marker of the season.
The IceHogs got on the board at 19:22 of the first period to cut the deficit to 3-1. Jacob Nilsson was able to push a loose puck past Ads goalie Troy Grosenick for his fifth goal of the season.
Grosenick left the game at 6:21 of the second period and was replaced by Tom McCollum in the Milwaukee net. McCollum was on goal when Tyler Sikura corralled a rebound of a shot from the left point and wristed the puck into the goal at 9:18 of the second period to cut Milwaukee’s lead to 3-2.
Rockford tied the game at 4:20 of the third period. Defenseman Darren Raddysh’s slapshot bounced off a defender’s stick into the goal to knot the score at 3-3.
Milwaukee returns home Sat., Dec. 22 at 3:00 pm against the Chicago Wolves at Panther Arena. Fans can purchase tickets by calling the Admirals office at (414) 227-0550, or online at www.milwaukeeadmirals.com.
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