Murray stops 42, rookie Brady Martin scores as Admirals top Moose 4-1

Matt Murray did more than hold the line in Game 1. He turned aside 42 shots and gave the Milwaukee Admirals the kind of road start that can tilt a best-of-three series, backing a 4-1 win over the Manitoba Moose at Canada Life Centre and a 1-0 lead in the Central Division first round.

Milwaukee needed only 9:18 to seize control when Reid Schaefer scored during four-on-four play, and the Admirals spent much of the night protecting that edge by surviving Manitoba’s push and letting Murray absorb the volume. Brady Martin added the next defining moment, scoring his first career professional goal and giving Milwaukee the kind of secondary contribution that matters in a short playoff series. The rookie milestone fit the game’s larger shape: the Admirals got the opening goal, the goaltender did the heavy lifting, and the Moose spent the rest of the night trying to catch up.

The setting made the result even bigger. Under the American Hockey League’s playoff format, the higher-point team gets home-ice advantage in the first round, but this best-of-three series is being played entirely in Winnipeg. Manitoba entered the postseason as the Central’s fourth-place team with 78 points and a 35-29-5-3 record, while Milwaukee came in fifth with 71 points and a 32-33-4-3 mark. The Admirals had already shown they could handle the matchup, going 5-3 against the Moose in the regular season and 2-2 at Canada Life Centre.

Milwaukee also carried more recent playoff confidence into the opener. This is the fourth all-time postseason meeting between the clubs and the third in the past five years, with the Admirals winning the last two series in five games in 2022 and 2023. Karl Taylor, who has coached the most playoff games in franchise history and has guided Milwaukee past the first round in three straight seasons, again had his group positioned to pressure Manitoba early. Kevin Gravel, Isaac Ratcliffe and Joakim Kemell are the only players left from that 2023 series, while 11 current Admirals had Calder Cup playoff experience from last season.

Jake Lucchini led Milwaukee with 50 points in the regular season, and Brady Martin arrived after Nashville reassigned the 2025 first-round pick following his junior career with the Soo Greyhounds, where he totaled 24 points in 24 games. With Game 2 set for Friday in Winnipeg, the Admirals are one win from the division semifinals against Grand Rapids. The opener showed a clear formula, but it also hinted at the risk: if Milwaukee keeps facing that much shot volume, Murray may have to keep standing on his head to make it work.