Coachella Valley opened up a 2-0 series lead in the Western Conference Finals with a 5-3 win over Milwaukee in front of 10,087 fans at a sold-out Acrisure Arena on Saturday night.
The teams head to Milwaukee for Game 3 of the best-of-seven series on Monday evening.
The Firebirds are up two games to none for the first time this postseason; they are 4-0 in Game 1’s but had been 0-3 in Game 2’s before Saturday.
Coachella Valley jumped out in front just 1:01 into the game when Alexander True capitalized on a misplay by Admirals goaltender Yaroslav Askarov and put home his fifth goal of the playoffs.
Zach Sanford’s power-play goal made it 1-1 at the first intermission, but Jesper Froden and Ville Petman scored early in the second to give the Firebirds the lead for good.
Max McCormick and Carsen Twarynski closed out the scoring for the home team with empty-net goals late, and Joey Daccord finished with 24 saves for his third consecutive win.
Anthony Angello and Egor Afanasyev also scored for the Admirals. Askarov stopped 32 of 35 shots on the night.
(Coachella Valley leads series, 2-0)
Game 1 – Thu., May 25 – COACHELLA VALLEY 6, Milwaukee 4 | Recap/Highlights
Game 2 – Sat., May 27 – COACHELLA VALLEY 5, Milwaukee 3
Game 3 – Mon., May 29 – Coachella Valley at Milwaukee, 7:00
Game 4 – Thu., June 1 – Coachella Valley at Milwaukee, 8:00
*Game 5 – Sat., June 3 – Coachella Valley at Milwaukee, 7:00
*Game 6 – Mon., June 5 – Milwaukee at Coachella Valley, 10:00
*Game 7 – Wed., June 7 – Milwaukee at Coachella Valley, 10:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern