Admirals’ Kemell helps salvage weekend split in Texas

What had the potential to be a lost weekend for the Milwaukee Admirals turned around, thanks to Joakim Kemell.

His goal 2:33 into overtime gave the Admirals a 5-4 win over the Texas Stars on Saturday night and a split of the two-game weekend series.

Kemell picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone, and stepped around fallen Texas’ center Fredrik Karlstrom before skating in slowly — and untouched — moving from forehand to lifting a backhander past Remi Poirier.

His reaction while being mobbed by teammates?  A slight shrug.

“Just a phenomenal individual effort,” assistant coach Scott Ford said in a postgame radio interview. “Shooting the puck is kind of his forte, but to show poise and a little bit of moxie with his skill level with that move 1-on-1 was pretty awesome.”

With less than a minute to go, it looked as if the Admirals would come away with a win in regulation. After killing off the only penalty they were called for  — a high-sticking call on Keaton Thompson — Milwaukee faced a 6-on-5 situation when Texas pulled Porier for the extra attacker.

The Stars’ Mavrik Bourque beat Troy Grosenick (22 saves) from the left circle with 48 seconds to knot the score and set up bonus hockey.

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Like Friday’s matchup between these teams, a 6-4 Stars win, this contest was a back-and-forth affair.

Texas (6-3-2-1) took a 1-0 lead 2:54 into the game on Logan Stankoven’s eighth goal of the season. It was Stankoven’s fourth tally against Milwaukee (5-5-0-0) this season.

Playing his 200th AHL game, the Admirals’ Denis Gurianov gained some revenge against his former team at 12:17 when he hammered a shot from the left circle past Poirier for his third goal.

Milwaukee took a 2-1 lead 7:01 into the second. Fedor Svechkov was standing off the right post when he gathered a rebound of Adam Wilsby’s shot and beat Poirier.

After the Stars’ Christian Kyrou evened the score at 13:38, the game opened up with several rushes from both teams, but neither Grosenick nor Poirier let nothing in.

A late flurry of shots from the Admirals paid off in the final minute of the period when a shot by Kevin Gravel dinged Cal O’Reilly in front, and Zach L’Heureux swept in a backhand shot for his third goal at 19:21.

After Nicholas Caamano made it a 3-3 game 9:30 into the third, Texas’ Riley Damiani was whistled 49 seconds later for his second tripping penalty of the period.

Milwaukee failed to get a shot on goal the first time it had the man advantage. The team finally broke through at 10:33 as Tye Felhaber scored his third goal — the Admirals’ first on the power play since Oct. 25 against Belleville and third in 28 chances this season.

“It’s good to get a couple of points here in Texas, Good to get back to .500, ” Ford said. “Hopefully we can turn the corner and climb the other way.”

images that precede very fortunate events: pic.twitter.com/c1W2PKxMpf

— Milwaukee Admirals (@mkeadmirals) November 12, 2023

THREE STARS

1. Joakim Kemell, Milwaukee: Ends the game in overtime
2. Denis Gurianov, Milwaukee: Scores a goal against his former team in his 200th AHL game.
3. Navrin Mutter, Milwaukee: Brought the grit to this one.

COMING UP

The Admirals finish their three-game road trip Friday night when they meet the Rockford IceHogs for the first time this season. Milwaukee took six of 10 matchups with the IceHogs in 2022-23. That will be followed by a home-and-home weekend series with the Chicago Wolves starting Saturday at UW Milwaukee-Panther Arena.

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