The Milwaukee Admirals completed the reverse sweep last night against the Texas Stars, defeating them 5-3 in Game 5 of the best of 5 series to officially erase the 0-2 start. We’ve got three stars, two takeaways and one big question:
Three Stars
After a quiet start to the series, Admirals rookie Zach L’Heureux seems to have arrived, with his second two goal game in a row and third multipoint game. Not content with opening the scoring 43 seconds into the game, he added a second goal fifteen seconds later for his fifth of the series. He will finish the Division semi-finals leading the AHL in postseason goals with five (tied with Matej Blumel), and second in points with nine (also tied with Matej Blumel, as well as Belleville Senators forward Stephen Halliday). Perhaps the most impressive stat, though, is that he has only seven shots on goal through the five games, and has scored on five of them, giving him a shooting percentage of just over 70%.
Every goalscorer needs a set-up man, and L’Heureux’s guy this game was Juuso Parssinen, who assisted on both his goals. Parssinen is currently second on the Admirals in scoring, with seven points in five games, and only one of those is a goal. He has assisted on all but one of L’Heureux’s goals in this series, and these two players have formed a formidable duo that solved the Texas Stars’ previously solid goaltending.
Fedor Svechkov scored only his second goal of the series, but it was a big one, because it was the game and series winning goal. Shortly after the Stars cut the deficit to 3-2 on Oskar Back’s power play goal, Svechkov scored a PPG of his own for his fourth point of the series to make it 4-2 Admirals. Though both teams added an extra goal of their own, Svechkov’s would stand as the game winner, and the Admirals overcame the 2-0 hole they wound up in after the first week of this series. For a player that hadn’t scored since the first game of the series, it was a timely slump breaking goal that sends the Admirals to the Division Finals.
Two Takeaways
Whose Goal Is It Anyway?
After some minor controversy early in the series, when Admirals Head Coach Karl Taylor benched Yaroslav Askarov, who had been struggling, for veteran Troy Groesnick, the Stars needed to get in on the action, swapping Remi Poirier, who had started every game for them so far, and had for the most part performed well, for Ben Kraws, who had played four regular season AHL games for Texas this season, and who had relieved Poirier in Game 3 of the series, saving all seven shots he faced in 20 minutes of postseason play.
Kraws would allow three goals on nine shots in the first period of this do or die game, including two goals in the opening minute (L’Heureux at :43 and :58 of the first), and the Stars were forced to return to Poirier for the second period. It was a strange decision, and though it’s not fair to blame Kraws for this series loss, as the Stars had 3 attempts to finish the Admirals off and failed, they came into the second period of Game 5 down 3-1, and had to spend the rest of the game trying to overcome that disastrous first minute of play. For what it’s worth, Poirier finishes his first postseason campaign as the starter with a .907 sv% and one shutout in seven games.
The Kids Are Alright
For both teams, the youths led the way in scoring. The leading scorer for Milwaukee was rookie L’Heureux, and second and third place also belonged to first year pros (Parssinen, Svechkov). For Texas, Mavrik Borque was in his second full time AHL season, and he led the entire AHL in points with 11. This series more than most was proof that the AHL is increasingly a young man’s game, and Admirals fans should be extremely excited about L’Heureux and Co as they continue to grow and develop.
One Question
Can The Admirals Keep The Hot Play Going?
The Admirals overcame the series deficit, and now they’re getting ready to play the Grand Rapids Griffins, who have been idle since May 5. Is it going to be a case of rest vs rust? Do the Admirals keep relying on Troy Groesnick, who has been very good since coming into the series for Game 3? It’s worth mentioning also that Grand Rapids were the team to put Milwaukee’s 19 game win streak to an end back in February. Both teams had an identical record in the regular season series (4-3-0-1), and this might be the most evenly matched of the Division Finals. It will certainly be one to watch.
The Milwaukee Admirals return to play on Wednesday May 15 to take on the Grand Rapids Griffins in a best of five series. Game 1 will be in Milwaukee, and will start at 7pm CT.
