MILWAUKEE - Two goals from Matt Ellis were not enough to stop the Milwaukee power play as the Admirals rallied from a 5-3 deficit to pull out an 8-5 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins Friday night at the Kern Center.

The Griffins jumped out to an early lead when Evan Kotsopoulos scored at the 2:09 mark of the opening period. Milwaukee quickly answered at 4:57 during a power play with a goal from Sheldon Brookbank.

Griffins veterans teamed up nearly three minutes later when Derek Meech and Kip Miller fed Ellis the puck for a tally to regain the upper hand. Rich Peverley notched the equalizer on a power play for the Admirals with just eight seconds remaining in the first.

The presence of Grand Rapids regulars was felt again in the middle frame as Darryl Bootland notched a shorthanded goal at 6:09, soon followed by a second goal from Ellis. Matt Gens pulled Milwaukee within one less than a minute later at 12:17, but Jeff Campbell scored at the 14:00 mark with help from Bootland to give the Griffins’ another two-goal margin.

Just 11 ticks later, Steve Yetman netted an unassisted goal when he slipped the puck past Stefan Liv, making the score 5-4 at the end of the frame. Liv finished with 16 saves on 20 shots faced through two periods.

The Admirals took control in the third period by racking up three power play goals through the first 11 minutes of the play. Ville Koistinen recorded a point on all three as he scored at 6:21, before assisting Bracken Kearns at 9:33 and finding the mesh again at 10:27.

Vicari finished with eight saves on 11 shots before he was pulled from the Griffins’ net late in the game, allowing Peverley to score an empty-netter for his second goal.

Grand Rapids, which finished its exhibition season with a 0-2 record, will kick off the regular season Friday, Oct. 6 in San Antonio. Game time is set for 8 p.m. EDT.