MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee Admirals’ four-goal third period powered them to a 5-2 victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins on Saturday at Panther Arena.

Grand Rapids went 5-for-6 on its league-leading penalty kill and 1-for-3 on the power play, while scoring a shorthanded goal in its second-straight outing. Carter Mazur and John Leoanrd each tallied a goal and an assist, and Amadeus Lombardi (6-6—12) bagged a helper for his 12th point in eight contests. Sebastian Cossa recorded 30 saves to sit at 24-7-3.

On a shorthanded breakaway at 5:13 in the first period, David Edstrom tried to push the puck past Cossa on the doorstep, but he made a sprawling pad save to keep the Admirals off the board. The best opportunity for the Griffins came with 7:35 to play when Michael Milne picked one up in the right circle and popped it at Magnus Chrona, but it bounced off the netminder’s shoulder.

The Admirals opened scoring 3:05 into the second frame when Jordan Oesterle ripped a sharp-angle shot from the goal line into the top-right corner. While shorthanded, Leonard tapped one at Chrona, it ricocheted off his pads and landed on Mazur’s stick, and he punched it home in the paint at 5:29 to tie the contest.

Grand Rapids claimed a one-goal advantage just 36 seconds into the final slate. Lombardi fed it down low to Mazur on the goal line, and he centered it to Leonard on the doorstep, who pushed it home. Kevin Gravel ripped it from the top of the blue line at 3:11 and it bounced past Cossa, and 2:40 later Oesterle snapped one from the blue line on the power play to grab a 3-2 lead. With 11:17 to go, Massimo Rizzo walked into the right circle and launched one in to make it 4-2. The Griffins added an extra attacker in place of Cossa with 2:34 to go, but with two seconds left O’Hara notched an empty-netter to defeat the Griffins 5-2.

Notes

• The Griffins moved to 44-12-3-1 with 92 points through 60 games, and 21-5-1-1 on the road. 

Box Score

Grand Rapids 0 1 1 - 2

Milwaukee 0 1 4 - 5

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Marino Mil (high-sticking), 4:48; Angle Gr (tripping), 5:31; served by Dufour Gr (too many men - bench minor), 9:33.

2nd Period-1, Milwaukee, Oesterle 9 (Bancroft), 3:05. 2, Grand Rapids, Mazur 8 (Leonard), 5:29 (SH). Penalties-Tuomisto Gr (hooking), 3:38; Leonard Gr (slashing), 10:33; Lind Mil (high-sticking), 19:22.

3rd Period-3, Grand Rapids, Leonard 29 (Mazur, Lombardi), 0:46 (PP). 4, Milwaukee, Gravel 2 (O’Hara), 3:11. 5, Milwaukee, Oesterle 10 (Wiesblatt, Edstrom), 5:51 (PP). 6, Milwaukee, Rizzo 1 (Bancroft, Gravel), 8:43. 7, Milwaukee, O’Hara 16 (Gravel), 19:58 (EN). Penalties-Tralmaks Gr (elbowing), 4:41; Rychlovský Gr (tripping), 15:18; Marino Mil (slashing), 17:12.

Shots on Goal-Grand Rapids 7-8-9-24. Milwaukee 7-17-11-35.

Power Play Opportunities-Grand Rapids 1 / 3; Milwaukee 1 / 6.

Goalies-Grand Rapids, Cossa 24-7-3 (34 shots-30 saves). Milwaukee, Chrona 8-9-3 (24 shots-22 saves).

A-7,094

Three Stars

1. MIL Oesterle (two goals) 2. MIL Gravel (goal, assist) 3. GR Leonard (power-play goal, assist) 

Record/Next Game

Grand Rapids: 44-12-3-1 (92 pts.) / Sun., March 22 at Rockford 5 p.m. EDT

Milwaukee: 26-26-4-3 (59 pts.) / Tue., March 24 at Grand Rapids  7 p.m. EDT

Photos by Milwaukee Admirals/Brianna Nevins