GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- A three-goal first period for the Milwaukee Admirals powered them to a 5-2 victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins on Saturday at Van Andel Arena.

William Dufour tallied a power-play goal in his Griffins debut, while Michael Milne and Toledo Walleye captain Brandon Hawkins made their Grand Rapids debuts. Eduards Tralmaks notched his 19th tally of the season on the man advantage, while Austin Watson potted his 150th pro assist. Erik Gustafsson bagged his 20th helper of the campaign, while Grand Rapids went 6-for-7 on its league-leading penalty kill.

Milwaukee opened scoring 4:07 into the first period when Jordan Oesterle snapped a wrister from the high slot to make it 1-0. Cole O’Hara gave the Admirals a 2-0 lead 1:33 later when he flipped a backhander past Sebastian Cossa’s right side. While on the power play with 11:13 to go, Buium sent the puck across the zone to Dufour, who slapped it in from the left circle to cut the Griffins’ deficit to one. The Admirals reclaimed a two-goal edge with 8:41 remaining when Isaac Ratcliffe knocked one in on the door step.

At 9:36 of the second frame, Kevin Gravel’s one-timer from the top of the zone gave Milwaukee a three-goal advantage. Grand Rapids tallied its second power-play goal of the night to make it 4-2 with 7:56 on the clock when Gustafsson tapped it to Tralmaks at the top of the right circle and he cracked the puck past Matthew Murray.

The Griffins nearly cut their deficit to one 50 seconds into the final slate when William Wallinder ripped it from the blue line and Milne tipped it past Murray, but it was called back for a high stick. Ryder Rolston punched in a rebound from Tanner Molendyk at 10:48 to make it 5-2 to ultimately take down the Griffins.

Notes

• Grand Rapids played without its top-five scorers – with John Leonard, Dominik Shine, Sheldon Dries and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard all on recall to Detroit and Amadeus Lombardi injured – while the Admirals were missing six of their top-eight point producers.
• The Griffins’ record moved to 43-10-3-1 with 90 points through 57 games, as they dropped to second place in the AHL for the first time this season.
• Cossa had not surrendered more than one goal for 24-consecutive periods, dating back to Jan. 30 against Chicago. 

Box Score

Milwaukee 3 1 1 - 5

Grand Rapids 1 1 0 - 2

1st Period-1, Milwaukee, Oesterle 7 (Edstrom, Willis), 4:07. 2, Milwaukee, O’Hara 15 (Ratcliffe, Wiesblatt), 5:40. 3, Grand Rapids, Dufour 2 (Buium, Watson), 8:47 (PP). 4, Milwaukee, Ratcliffe 5 (Molendyk, Matier), 11:21 (PP). Penalties-Becher Gr (holding), 0:36; Gibson Mil (instigating, fighting, misconduct - instigating), 7:02; Seger Gr (fighting), 7:02; Mazur Gr (holding), 10:00.

2nd Period-5, Milwaukee, Gravel 1 (Edstrom, Bancroft), 9:36. 6, Grand Rapids, Tralmaks 19 (Gustafsson, Becher), 12:04 (PP). Penalties-Becher Gr (tripping), 0:11; Element Mil (tripping), 11:59; Mazur Gr (double minor - high-sticking), 16:11; Matier Mil (high-sticking), 17:39.

3rd Period-7, Milwaukee, Rolston 7 (Molendyk, Englund), 10:48. Penalties-Seger Gr (tripping), 5:35; Becher Gr (hooking), 15:34.

Shots on Goal-Milwaukee 7-4-13-24. Grand Rapids 7-6-5-18.

Power Play Opportunities-Milwaukee 1 / 7; Grand Rapids 2 / 2.

Goalies-Milwaukee, Murray 16-17-2 (18 shots-16 saves). Grand Rapids, Cossa 24-6-3 (24 shots-19 saves).

A-9,927

Three Stars

1. MIL Ratcliffe (game-winner, assist) 2. MIL Gravel (goal) 3. MIL Edstrom (two assists)

Record/Next Game

Grand Rapids: 43-10-3-1 (90 pts.) / Sun., March 15 at Chicago 6 p.m. EDT

Milwaukee: 24-25-4-3 (55 pts.) / Wed., March 18 at Manitoba 10:30 a.m. CDT

Photo by Nicolas Carrillo/Griffins