NORFOLK, Va. (WTKR) — If the Admirals hope to play in the Scope again this postseason, they'll have to repeat what they did to start the second round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs.
Sweep Adirondack on the road.
Behind two goals in the final 20 minutes, Norfolk lost a heartbreaking game five on Saturday night 2-1 and fell behind the Thunder in the series 3-2.
"It was a really good playoff hockey game that was just very unfortunate for us," said Admirals head coach Jeff Carr. "They've been down by two games in this series, we're down by one game in this series. That's the way we're looking at it."
After a scoreless first period, the home team got on the board to start the scoring when Josh McDougall walked the puck towards the right side of the goal and flipped a shot home.
Inserted back into the lineup on Saturday night, Admiral goaltender Yaniv Perets turned two periods of Thunder chances into nothing. He made 18 saves in the first 40 minutes of play.
With less than eight minutes to play, the visitors got on the board when a shot deflected off of Yushiroh Hirano and slowly leaked through Perets legs to tie the game up.
Two minutes later, Ryan Smith found the back of the net with a wrister right out in front to give Adirondack the lead for good.
"We didn't want to give up anything cheap and easy, and I think they got a little bit of a cheap and easy goal," Carr said. "Tough one for Yaniv, he was battling all night."
Perets equaled his counterpart for the Thunder, Isaac Poulter, with 21 saves on the night. Both teams went scoreless on the power play, with Norfolk missing on four chances while Adirondack came up empty on its three.
With no room for error, the Admirals go back to the road to try and keep their season alive. Norfolk won game one of the series 7-4, then took game two 5-2 in New York.
"We just got to come back in and get some rest. We love playing in their rink, that's probably the most success we have," Carr said. "That's the rink that we get to go to and probably have some fun in there."
Fans in the Norfolk Scope gave the team an ovation as the team skated off the ice. The team has treated those in the building to a turnaround campaign that's included their first playoff appearance in a decade and improving from 20 wins to 41 in the regular season.
"There's no reason to hold your head low or be disappointed or make it anything other than it is right now," Carr said. "We get to play in mid-May, something this organization hasn't done in ten years."
"They've been through so much, this is just another chapter of the story."
