Our match-up in this series pits the two hottest teams in the league (not from Norfolk) against each other.
After one period, things were looking pretty good for the home team. The Admirals had a 2-1 lead on a couple of stoppable shots that got past Heat goaltender Danny Taylor.
But the Admirals dug themselves into a deep hole in the second period, and they couldn’t climb out of it, eventually losing 6-2 to the Abbotsford Heat in Game 1 of their best-of-5 Calder Cup playoff series Friday night.
Here’s the first portion of the penalty sheet for the second period.
Ford Holding 1:48
Ford Holding The Stick 3:31
Foss Interference 6:24
Ford Yonking 7:03
While the Heat only scored on one of those early 2nd period power plays, it certainly did change the complexion of the game.
After that Greg Nemisz power play goal tied it up, Nemisz struck again about 10 minutes later, diving forward to beat Taylor Beck to a loose puck after Jeremy Smith was out of position and sprawling to get back.
A minute and 37 seconds later, the Heat went on another power play, and Krys Kolanos scored his first of the series.
Jon Rheault had a shot from the near dot that beat Smith after a Kolanos pass, and then Kolanos added the empty-netter with 12.7 seconds left.
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Notes:
Let’s review some of the Master Lock keys to the game.
– Special Teams: Admirals went 0-5, Heat went 2-5.
– Kolanos awareness: He had a four point night.
Kolanos….highly skilled in his own right, and he makes everyone on his team better when he’s on the ice. That first line may give us fits all series long.
Comebacks? The Heat doesn’t give up leads. They were 13-0-0-1 on the road this season when leading after two periods. And in Admiral playoff history, they’ve only come back to win from a two period two-goal deficit once…Back in 1995.
The Admirals hadn’t given up 6 goals in a playoff game since a 6-5 loss to Chicago on April 14th, 2010. They hadn’t lost by at least four goals since the 2006 Calder Cup Finals against Hershey. In game 4, Pekka Rinne and Brian Finley let in seven goals, and the Admirals lost 7-2. The Admirals proceeded to lose the next two.
The best Admiral lines tonight? Van Guilder’s and Lajunen’s…..arguably the 3rd and 4th lines. Need the first two to make some more noise on Sunday. Tough for a guy like Kyle Wilson to score if he doesn’t put any shots on net. Hopefully Abbotsford won’t be the new Rockford for him.
Kevin Henderson took a tough hit in front of the Admiral bench while in a vulnerable position late in the game. No official word on his status for Sunday.
Did you miss Victor Bartley? I missed Victor Bartley. Chance he’ll play Sunday, but don’t count on it. Upper-body injury.
Questions……
Were you okay with Smitty’s performance? They’ve been a resilient team and they’ve battled back to get to where they are now….do you expect a better performance on Sunday? Thoughts on the goalie Taylor? Beatable? Anything else strike you about the game tonight?
Admirals Roundtable 
What a horrible game. Jeremy Smith was pathetic. Scott Ford is captain of this team and wants to spend one third of the game in the penalty box. Scott doesn’t care if his dumb penalties leave the team shorthanded time after time. A experienced player like Ford has to think of how stupid penalties will hurt this team. As I watch this game in the stands I see Ian Herbers show no emotion when his team screws up. Does he even care? After watching the Admirals play so well last Sunday I believed they could beat the Heat in this series. I was wrong. The Heat appear to be a better coached team who’s players are hungrier and will play harder. They seemed to be so much faster and more skilled than us in the second and third period. Thanks for letting me vent after this frustrating loss.
Dave
Cudahy
Jeremy Smith was not as sharp as we’ve been used to. He let in a few softies that he should have stopped. The big thing is the Heat’s speed. We need to neutralize their speed or this will be a quick series.
I missed Bartley at both ends of the ice. He is a good two way D-man and plays physically. He would have slowed the Heat down with some crushing checks, scored a goal and assisted on another one. I will remember that next season when the Charlotte Goons come to town!
Smith played okay. There isn’t much that he could have done on some of those goals. The 4th Heat goal had all four defenders near the left corner and nobody out front. That was the one where Smith was hit in the head by the Heat player and then hooked around the right leg pad to throw him off balance. The puck came through the spot where he moved his right leg from to regain his balance. But that’s not goaltender interference? Not according to refs Darcy Burchell and Tim Mayer. Glad to hear that Henderson didn’t get his neck broken when he was boarded in the neutral zone. No call on that one either. I hope the Ads send the video to the AHL office.The Heat took two cheap shots at Mueller, one was called tripping. In football, it is called a chop block when one guy stands you up and the other one goes for your knee. Jessiman punching Mueller in the back of the head repeatedly when he was trying to step off the ice was really bush league, and wasn’t called.
Taylor looked shaky in the first period. He settled down when his team played better. He can be gotten to if the Ads fire more good shots (not from the half boards or down the goal lines) and crash the net. Stortini needs to be in front of the net, not Ben Ryan.
The Admirals need to play all three periods, not just the first one. The AHL needs to send two real refs to Sunday’s game, not two guys they got off the street who only call penalties on one team.
Hard game, yet it puts them back into the hungry to win phase. The heat are good, so are we, thus this game must be the sum total of bad play while the rest of the series shows the summation of great plays that have existed over the past month. Go Ads!
I hate to complain about the refs. I hate when fans complain about the refs. But the refs really fired me up last night. Adsfan wrote it all perfectly. They were keying on Mueller. You could tell it was their game plan to not let him have any space to work. Jessiman continuing to go after him as he was LEAVING THE ICE was dirty and was ignored. Mueller could have lost it and gone after him but he did the smart thing trying to draw the penalty. Smith getting interfered with was also egregious but that wasn’t called either. Nevertheless, they have to come back and play smarter, faster. Which they can. Abbottsford can be beat as we showed during the regular season. I have gotten used to Smith standing on his head and he wasn’t spectacular. Which is fine, just has to be better Sunday. And yes, I absolutely missed Bartley. Really, really want him to be ok for Sunday. O, and congrats to the Preds!!
Smitty was excellent last year and thought he would be a sure NHLer. Not now… Looks like he’ll be a career AHLer. I still love him, but looks like he doesn’t have the tools
V-bart was sorely missed out there Foss looked a little bit behind which is expected but Sloan also made some questionable decisions with the puck. The whole stick hitting smith in the head was his own teammates stick so there really was no grounds for a call on that. I felt the ads were in control early in the game right up to the 2nd period parade to penalty box. At that point Abby showed its speed and excellent movement of the puck on the PP. Smith played his best during some of those penalties making some wild saves but we did let in 2 penalties down a man. Keys to the game for sunday: 1) don’t take foolish penalties 2) get more shots on net (I always say about 10 shots a period is average) 3) take ownership of the game, and what I mean by this is control the tempo from the opening faceoff. We only have last change this series one more game take advantage and get abby off their game and keep that headcase Kolanos in check he as we’ve know for a long time is dangerous.
There were several determining factors in the loss:
1) Too many penalties in the 2nd blew the period and squashed any momentum we might have had. Ford is one of the better PK defensemen and by taking 4 himself he really let the team down. Hopefully his game today will make up for the last one.
2) Smitty had an off game. There were two he should have had. He bounces back quickly so if he plays today, I’m sure he’ll be better.
3) While Blum has been good on the PP and loves to shoot the puck, he has no prowess in the
defensive zone and was not a good match for Kolanos and the first line. The Heat are a fast skating team. Blum falls short in this area as well.
4) When the PP is clearly not working the coach needs to mix things up and try some different players. Need more shots on net.
5) Ads forwards were closely checked and lost the puck too many times to mention in the neutral zone. They need to adapt their game and skate, rather than standing still along the boards waiting for a pass. Also, more aggressive backchecking and forechecking is needed.
6) This, I’ve noticed all year …. very few players will attempt to block shots. If a record was kept, I think Sloan has been most consistent and has blocked the most shots all year. Whether Smitty is on or off his game …. players need to step up and start blocking shots.
The Admirals can win this series (no doubt in my mind) …. just a little course correction.
On another note … I think it would be interesting to have the players and fans grade the coaching staff since coaching is a big factor in the team’s success or lack thereof.