Justin Hryckowian scored at 14:55 of the third period to lift the Texas Stars past the Milwaukee Admirals, 3-2, the their decisive Game 5 of their American Hockey League Calder Cup playoffs series May 25 at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
Texas will play either the Abbotsford Canucks or Colorado Eagles, whose series is scheduled to conclude May 26. The conference finals – as well as the Calder Cup finals – are best-of-seven.
Milwaukee edged Texas for the regular season Central Division title and then needed a three-game comeback against the Rockford IceHogs while the Stars swept the Grand Rapids Griffins.
The loss was just the Admirals fifth in 21 elimination games under coach Karl Taylor and the second in eight win-or-go-home Game 5s.
Milwaukee reached the conference finals in 2024 before falling to the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
Goaltender Matthew Murray, in his first year with the Admirals, was spectacular throughout the regular season, with the league’s top save percentage and fourth-best goals-against average. In the postseason, though, he did not find the same success and ranked near the bottom in both, giving up four goals or more in three of five playoff losses heading into Game 5.
Hockey News