Milwaukee Admirals drop OT decision at Texas, trail series 2-1

The Milwaukee Admirals face a stern test in their opening round playoff series, after losing last night in overtime to the Texas Stars to fall behind two games to one. The Ads' PR release tells all:

Travis Morin deflected a Maxime Fortunus shot from the point past Admirals netminder Jeremy Smith at 8:44 of overtime to give the Texas Stars a 3-2 win and a 2-1 series advantage in the West Division Semifinals. Game four is set for Wednesday night at 7:30 at the Cedar Park Center.

The game-winning goal begin when Brenden Dillon was able to poke the puck from the right dot into the highslot where Fortunus took a big rip at it and it caught Morin's stick and sailed over the top of Smith's right shoulder.

Chris Mueller put the Admirals on the board first with his third of the post-season at 3:36 of the first. The puck was sent behind the Texas net and Stars goalie Richard Bachman went behind to play it, however it took a bad bounce off the board and out towards the left circle where Muller was able to corral the puck and fire into the open net.

The second period featured six power-plays, four of which were for the Stars, as Texas outshot Milwaukee 11-1, but Smith was up to the task and the second period ended without a goal.

Just 33 seconds into the third period Gabriel Bourque scored his third goal of the post-season with a rebound tally. Playing four-on-four, Teemu Laakso fired a shot from the right point that Bachman stopped but Bourque was on the doorstep to bang it home and give the Ads a 2-0 lead.

The Stars wouldn't go away quietly as they scored a pair of goals in the final 4:09 of regulation to even the score and send the game into OT. Phillip Larsen got the first tally on the power-play at 15:51 and then Francis Wathier scored on a slap shot with just 20.8 seconds to play and with an empty Texas net in order to set up Morin's game-winner.

It sounds like Mueller and Bourque continue to lead the way for the Admirals, but they'll need to take Game 4 in order to avoid falling into a deep, deep hole.