Milwaukee, WI--Nick Blankenburg, Zach L’Heureux, and Vinnie Hinostroza all registered multi-point nights to pace the Admirals to a 5-2 win over Rockford in the home opener for Milwaukee on Saturday night at Panther Arena.
The win was the third straight for the Ads, who completed a home-and-home sweep over the IceHogs by a combined 11-5 score.
Magnus Chrona stopped 22 shots in net for Milwaukee to earn his first win of the season.
It didn’t take long for the Admirals to get their first goal of the home season as Reid Schaefer scored just 32 seconds into the game. Schaefer corralled the rebound of an Adam Wilsby shot and tucked the puck behind Rockford goalie Mitchell Weeks for his third tally in as many games.
The Admirals got their second goal of the game at the 11:20 mark of the first as Hinostroza fired a snapshot from the left circle that sizzled under the right arm of Weeks. It was Hinostroza’s second straight game with a goal against his former team.
Blankenburg’s first as an Admiral pushed the team’s lead to 3-0 with just 66 seconds left in the first. A bad pass by the IceHogs from the corner into the slot was intercepted by Blankenburg and his slapper just trickled through past Weeks glove.
Rockford made the game interesting as they picked up goals from Brandon Baddock at 13:14 of the second and Frank Nazar with 3:34 to go in the third.
However, the Admirals sealed the game with empty-net goals from L’Heureux and Blankenburg to push the score to 5-2.
The Admirals hit the road for Des Moines to take on the Wild on Wednesday night at 7 pm. They return to Panther Arena next Friday, October 25th at 7 pm against the Chicago Wolves.
