Die-hard hockey fans will tell you that a top-notch goaltender is the key to a long and successful playoff run.

In Drew MacIntyre, the Admirals have found their man.

The 25-year-old stopped 24 of 25 shots as the Admirals beat Rockford, 3-1, Saturday night an took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven West Division Semifinals.

It was the second straight outstanding performance for MacIntyre, who stopped 31 Rockford shots – 25 of them in the first two periods Thursday night in Game 1 of the series. He was among the AHL's best netmiders during the regular season, leading the league with 34 victories and posting a .920 save percentage with a 2.30 goals-against average.

"He's played very well," said head coach Lane Lambert. "He's been making the timely saves; the difficult save or the one at the right time that keeps the game even or keeps us ahead.

"That's been the strength of his game; the timing of his big saves."

Signed by parent-club Nashville during the offseason, MacIntyre came with a respectable resume, especially during the postseason. As a member of the Grand Rapids Griffins in 2006, he spilt time between the pipes with Jimmy Howard. Despite playing in just five games, MacIntyre led all post-season goaltenders with a 1.99 GAA as his team advanced to the Western Conference Finals before eventually falling to the Admirals.

During the 2007 Calder Cup Playoffs, his .922 save percentage raked fourth among goalies and his goals-against average with fifth best as he led Manitoba to the North Division Finals.

In 17 overall Calder Cup Playoff appearances prior to this season, MacIntyre owns an 8-7 record with a 1.95 GAA.

"I've had a few experiences," MacIntyre said. "Some haven't gone good and some have. There's distractions and a lot of different things and it all comes down to eating that little black biscuit. You just have to figure out that it's your only job and you can't try to do too much."

Goaltending, as a whole, has been a strong suit for the Admirals this season. While MacIntyre saw a majority of the action, his backup, Mark Dekanich, performed just as admirable. Appearing in 30 games, Dekanich went 15-10-2 with a .923 save percentage.

So close: The only goal allowed by MacIntyre Saturday was a close call. Evan Brophey scored on a deflected shot from Rob Klinkhammer that, from a distance, looked to be kicked in. Lambert didn't question the officials, but said it was a close call.

"I thought it was kicked in, it was kind of a reaction play" Lambert says. "Obviously none of the officials saw it. It's one of those things where it's a judgement call."

Plenty of work to do: The Admirals are happy to be up, 2-0, in the series but aren't getting ahead of themselves, despite playing the next two games in Rockford, where Milwaukee went 4-1 this season.

"You just take it one game at a time," said Lambert. "We wipe the slate clean starting tomorrow, it all starts fresh. Each game is an individual battle. We're happy we're up, 2-0, but that doesn't get us anything."

The Admirals and IceHogs met 10 times with going Milwaukee 6-3-0-1. Six of the 10 games were settled by two goals or less and the teams went to a shootout twice. O'Reilly and Cody Franson each recorded 10 points against the IceHogs and Mike Santorelli had nine.

Game 3 of the series is set for 5 p.m. tonight in Rockford with Game 4 following at 7 p.m. Tuesday, also in Rockford. The series reverts back to Milwaukee for Game 5 on Friday night and games 6 and 7, if necessary, will be played at Rockford and then Milwaukee, respectively.

Welcome back, Cal: Center Cal O'Reilly, who spent the last three weeks of the regular season with the Predators, made an impact in his first game back in Milwaukee. O'Reilly scored a pair of goals including the game-winner and assisted on a third in the Admirals' 3-1 victory Thursday. He was second on the team during the regular season with 69 points and had five points in 11 games during his NHL call-up.

Keeping it close: The Admirals won each of the first two games in the series by two-goal margins, continuing a trend from the regular season. Of Milwaukee's 80 regular season contests, 59 were decided by one or two goals. The Admirals were 36-14-3-6 in those games and had a 26-6-3-6 mark in one-goals games, which tied a franchise record for one-goal victories set in the 1996-97 season. Twelve of those victories came on the road, another team record.

Been here before: He's not playing in this series due to an injury, but Rockford's Jack Skille has fond memories of the Bradley Center ice. He was a member of the Wisconsin Badgers' 2006 team which won the NCAA Championship in Milwaukee. He had six points against the Admirals during the regular season.

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Posted by GC1967 on April 19, 2009 at 2:28 p.m. (report)

Well-done DrewW! Great game last night and looking forward to watching the games on AHL.com this week! Unfortunately, I'll be in Detroit next week so i won't be around for game 5 if it comes to that...i'll be anxious for round 2 tickets coming up!