Gulls End Road Trip With Loss

The Gulls never fully recovered from an early deficit and fell 5-4 in the last of their six-game road series in an International Hockey League game seen by 14,999 Saturday night at the Bradley Center. The crowd was the fifth largest in the 45-year history of the league.

The Admirals (11-10-2) jumped to a 3-0 lead, paced by Dave Mackey’s back-to-back goals at 1:22 at 2:48 in the first period. It marked the 20th time in 26 games the Gulls have been scored on first.

Mackey’s second goal was with Milwaukee playing short handed. It was the first of two short-handed goals the Gulls (13-11-2, 4-2 on this road trip) allowed for the night. For the season, they have given up five.

The Gulls pulled to 3-2 when Bob Jones scored a short handed goal at 4:25 in the second, and teammate Clark Donatelli got his 10th goal on the power play at 9:42, with an assist by Derek Mayer, which extended his scoring streak to 10 games in a row.