Admirals Defeat Tense Gulls in Shootout

Some weekend it was for the Gulls. The first time they blew a third-period lead and lost the game it was unfortunate. The second time it was annoying. The third time it was infuriating.

In front of 6,616 at the Bradley Center Sunday, the Gulls did it again, this time dropping a 5-4 International Hockey League game in a shootout.

“It was a tough trip, no doubt,” Gulls Coach Don Waddell said. “But there’s no way we should have blown all three games in the third period. Right now, we are not in as good of condition as we were before the Christmas break. My job is to get the team back in shape.”

At the start of the weekend, the Gulls had lost only three games when they led in the third period. Three days later, they managed to double that number, with two of the three losses coming in overtime.

Friday in Salt Lake City, the Gulls led 3-1 and lost 5-4 in a shootout. Saturday in Peoria, they led 4-3 and lost 6-4 in regulation. Sunday, they let a 4-2 cushion slip away and lost 5-4 in another shootout. But this trend started before the weekend did: the Gulls have lost leads in four of their last five games.

“We’re starting to get a little tense with a lead in the third period,” Waddell said. “That’s not a good sign. We need to turn that around soon.”

Despite the dismal weekend, the Gulls (20-15-3) picked up a point and remained one point behind second-place Peoria. Milwaukee is 15-20-4.

In the third period, Denny Lambert, with assists by Soren True and Keith Gretzky, scored at 3:16 to give the Gulls a 4-2 lead. But the Admirals rebounded with a goal by Jeff Larmer, then with the tying goal by Andrew McBain at 11:54 to force overtime.

After a scoreless five-minute overtime, Ray Whitney and Glen Goodall miffed their shot attempts to give the Gulls a two-goal deficit after three rounds of the shootout. The game was sealed when the Gulls’ Dmitri Kvartalnov missed his shot attempt.

Gull Robbie Nichols’ 16th goal of the year came was a shorthanded and unassisted goal at 5:45 in the first period. Milwaukee scored at 14:01 to make it 1-1 going into the second period.

Kvartalnov, the IHL’s leading scorer, scored for the 31st time this season, on a power-play goal off a pass from Nichols in the second period. The goal, coming at the 10-second mark, was the earliest the Gulls have ever scored in a period.

True opened the lead to 3-1 in the second when he scored on a pass from Dave Korol at 2:22. Seven seconds later, Milwaukee’s Shaun Antoski closed the gap to 3-2, which it remained until the third.

The Gulls open a seven-game home stand Tuesday against Phoenix.

Milwaukee outshot the Gulls, 28-27. Rick Knickle (13-7-2) was in goal for the Gulls.