By Sam Toman
Enquirer contributor

MILWAUKEE - Simon Gamache had a goal and two assists to lead the Milwaukee Admirals to a 5-1 victory over the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks in the seventh game of the AHL West Division semifinals Saturday night.

Greg Classen, Greg Zanon and Mathieu Darche also scored and Wade Flaherty made 25 saves for the Admirals, who rallied from 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 series deficits to advance to the West Division finals against the Chicago Wolves.

"I think we had a lot of guys step to the front," Ducks coach Brad Shaw said. "We needed everything to fall into place to beat a team like Milwaukee. I know there was enough guys on the same page that it was a possibility, but it was just too bad we couldn't get the execution to that point."

Stanislav Chistov had the lone goal, and Ilya Bryzgalov finished with 31 saves for the Ducks, who were outscored 21-9 in the four games at the Bradley Center.

Considering the top-seeded Admirals finished 30 points ahead of fifth-seeded Cincinnati in the regular season and claimed home-ice advantage throughout the Calder Cup playoffs, the upstart Ducks were hardly pushovers.

With Milwaukee's victory Friday, the most telling statistic was that no team won consecutive games in the series until Saturday.

"We had 10 rookies in the lineup the last two nights and they're continuing to improve," Shaw said. "We had a young team all year and guys that dramatically improved their game. But when you get up against a team like Milwaukee, it's a great example of what you have to do. You have to look across and see the execution and the effort and what they did throughout the series to eventually win it."

Cincinnati	0	1	0	-1
Milwaukee	2	2	1	-5

First period: 1. Mil, Classen 1 (Haydar, Henderson), 2:25. 2. Mil, Zanon 1 (Safronov, Gamache), 16:15 (ppg).

Second period: 3. Mil, Gamache 3, 2:52. 4. Cin, Chistov 6 (Martensson), 10:02. 5. Mil, Darche 2 (Hrkac), 10:24.

Third period: 6. Mil, Gamache 4 (Hutchinson), 1:54.

Shots: Cin 3-7-16=26; Mil 11-14-11=36. Power plays: Cin 0-for-5; Mil 1-for-6. Goalies: Cin, Bryzgalov (36 shots, 31 saves; record 5-4); Mil, Flaherty (26-25; 4-3). A: 3,226.