So much for carrying momentum into game 3. By the time Wednesday rolls around, Saturday will be ancient history.
With all these off-days, it makes me wonder why we can’t have a 7-game series in the first round… It doesn’t appear to be due to a lack of time.
Looks like we get a Koharski of the Jamie variety on Wednesday, along with Graham Skilliter. I know a lot of you don’t care much for Koharski, but I’ll take any Koharski over Shaun Davis any day of the week.
Here’s an open thread for you to discuss whatever you want heading into game 3….but here are some topic suggestions…
- Give us some line combinations you’d like to see. Are any lines from the stretch run untouchable?
- Now that the NHL talent is back for both teams, do you expect another defensive grudge match or some higher scoring games?
- If they go with six defensemen, who do you scratch? And if Fordo is your answer, how much will they miss his leadership during the game?
- Ever been to Austin?
- Who is going to Goolsby’s on Wednesday for the viewing party?
Magnus Hellberg stopped all 23 shots he faced, while goals by Austin Watson and Captain Mike Moore gave the Admirals all they needed to knot up the Western Conference Quarterfinals at 1-1.
Texas ended up outshooting Milwaukee 23-20, but the Ads were able to squeeze one past the Stars midway through the second period and finish with a remarkable empty-netter.
While the first period ended scoreless, the Ads had a strong start controlling most of the action. They got their first power play chance just 20 seconds in after a Kevin Connauton hooking call, and used it to build early momentum.
Mattias Ekholm had two pretty good chances on the PP, but the Stars eventually killed it off. Nevertheless, Milwaukee finished the period up 12-2 in shots.
The Ads got another early power play chance 37 seconds into the second period, but again failed to put one past Christopher Nilstorp.
After a brief rumble along the boards, Brad Winchester was down on the ice for a few moments and had to be helped up and off by trainer Doug Agnew and Patrick Cehlin. He went to the locker room and did not return. No news on his status.
After a couple of nice saves by Hellberg on long blasts from Francis Wathier and Joe Morrow, Watson got Milwaukee on the board.
Mike Liambas fired a nice shot from the left circle that popped off Nilstorp right to Watson. Watty was able to chip it past the Stars goalie who was late adjusting the rebound.
Watson said after the intial shot it was a matter of beating the goalie to the puck.
The Ads went on the PK right after taking the lead, but a shorthanded rush by Cehlin drew a tripping call on Mike Hedden that evened things out.
Holding the 1-0 lead for the final 20 minutes would be no easy task for the Ads, as they were dealt a blow in the first four minutes.
Liambas was called for charging after a big hit along the boards, and he then dropped the gloves with Luke Gazdic. After Gazdic dropped Liambas to the ice with a vicious hook to the head, Liambas looked a little dazed getting up. He also would not return after being helped off the ice.
The results of the fiasco were offsetting five-minute fighting calls, a ten-minute misconduct call and two-minute instigating call on Gazdic along with the initial charging call on Liambas. In short, after two minutes of four-on-four, the Ads faced a three-minute Stars power play.
The defense came up huge and Hellberg made some nice stops, as the Ads killed off what could’ve been a big turning point for the Stars.
Coach Dean Evason was pleased with his team’s performance on the extended PK and overall on defense.
With the Ads keeping the good chances away from their net, Nilstorp hit the bench with 1:30 to go.
Moore erased any doubt with a goal from the top of the left circle…of his own zone. His laser beam from the opposite end hit the back of the empty net to seal the deal.
Notes:
When asked about which Nashville guys he expects to rejoin the Ads Wednesday, Evason promptly replied, “All of them.”
Evason also gave his expectations of the team’s trip to Texas, complimenting their ability to never get “too high” or “too low” after a game.
As mentioned, we don’t know the statuses of Liambas and Winchester and will keep you posted.
Milwaukee is 42-73 historically on the road in the playoffs and 9-13 in road Game Threes.
Questions:
Did tonight change anybody’s opinions on the overall series outlook? Do you think the Ads can pull off two of three on the road?
While it would be foolish to not want guys like Chris Mueller back in the lineup, are you at all concerned it may mess with the Admirals’ chemistry at this point?
Magnus Hellberg and the Admirals played well enough to take Game One, but a rough break in overtime put Milwaukee down 0-1 in the Western Conference Quarterfinals.
After the Admirals tied the game at 7:11 of the third period, Brett Ritchie’s goal at 11:44 of OT sent top-seeded Texas to a 3-2 victory.
Ritchie took a neutral-ice pass from Mike Hedden (that was very close to being offsides), skated to the slot and whipped a high wrister past the big goalie.
(Goal starts at :18)
Hellberg finished with 41 saves in the solid overall effort. He said Joonas Jarvinen may have screened him a bit on the game-winner, but credited the quality shot.
After killing off Texas’ first chance of the game, Milwaukee got its first power play opportunity on a Scott Glennie holding call. The Admirals showed some spark right off the bat on the PP rattling off seven shots.
Patrick Cehlin finally Furied the Fury, getting the Ads on the board at 12:05 with three seconds left in the man-advantage. The puck came right to Cehlin at the left dot and his beautiful, quick slapper beat Christopher Nilstorp for the 1-0 lead.
Right after the goal, Nilstorp was assessed a 10-minute misconduct penalty and Toby Petersen served.
The Ads wouldn’t register a shot on net for the rest of the period, and with just 15.6 on the clock the Stars tied things up.
Ryan Ellis and Juuso Puustinen couldn’t get back and set up in time to disrupt a tight rush by Matt Fraser and Travis Morin. Morin chipped the puck towards Hellberg and Fraser redirected it slightly from the left slot for the equalizer.
The second period was a tough one for Milwaukee, as the Ads mustered just one shot on goal.
Zach Budish went to the box at 2:14 for interference, but the Ads killed off their second penalty thanks to back-to-back stops by Hellberg including a great save on Ritchie’s try from point-blank range.
After an interference call on Brad Winchester, however, Texas grabbed a 2-1 lead at 9:09.
Mattias Ekholm fell down a bit, giving Kevin Connauton too much space, and the defenseman lifted a wrister to beat Hellberg top shelf from the left dot.
Milwaukee headed to the break facing a one-goal deficit, and history wasn’t on its side. The Admirals have won just seven of 41 AHL playoff games when trailing after two periods.
After failing to get a shot on net in almost 30 minutes, the Ads started the third with four shots in the first five minutes.
Six seconds after a tripping call on Joonas Jarvinen, Hedden went to the box for embellishment. Then another Texas penalty on Joe Morrow gave the Ads a 4-on-3 chance that they would convert for the equalizer.
Early in the PP, Zach Hamill whiffed on a nice circle-to-circle feed from Winchester, but seconds later made it a 2-2 game from the exact same spot.
Winchester’s wrister from the right circle bounced cleanly off Nilstorp to a waiting Hamill in the left slot. He had plenty of room to bury the rebound with a wrister of his own and pick up some momentum for Milwaukee at 7:11.
The Ads kept the pressure on right after the goal, drawing an interference call against Connauton.
The Stars promptly responded with a solid penalty kill that ended with a nifty move by Morin on a shorthanded breakaway to draw a hooking call on Puusty.
Some monster pad saves by Hellberg kept the score tied and sent the game to the extra period, but it was for naught.
Notes:
Coach Dean Evason was pleased with the power play’s two for five performance, but felt his team didn’t produce as well at even strength.
Coach added that his team showed good composure despite the loss.
Evason wouldn’t confirm any player movement for tomorrow, but it’s probable that Daniel Bang, Austin Watson and Kevin Henderson will be recalled to the Predators. Evason also had nothing to add about Nashville’s decision to keep Filip Forsberg.
As AHL playoff records go, the Ads drop to 22-24 in Game Ones, 25-20 in one goal games and 20-23 in overtime games.
Milwaukee will get its second and final home-ice shot at Texas tonight at 7 pm CDT.
Around the second time Milwaukee got kicked in the teeth by Grand Rapids on home ice, doubts started creeping in about the Admirals’ chances of an 11th straight playoff berth, much as they did at a similar time last year.
However, when the Admirals/Predators made several key transactions down the stretch, and goaltender Magnus Hellberg got hot, my expectations for this constantly overachieving club rose. Little did I know that Milwaukee would need a final run of 15-4-1-0 in order claim the eighth and final playoff spot in the AHL’s Western Conference, needing to sweep its last four contests to overcome hard-charging, nemesis Rockford.
The Admirals managed to do just that, winning their final two games in shutouts to boot, to claim a playoff spot on the final night of the regular season for the second straight year. Make it 11 straight berths and ten straight 40 or more win seasons, as my feature on MilwaukeeAdmirals.com states.
Now Milwaukee gets Texas, about as favorable an opponent as a team can find in a top seed in the conference. The Admirals have just two fewer wins than the Stars this season, and are playing better hockey as of late compared to Texas. But how will the matchup breakdown?
1. Texas Stars (43-22-5-6) vs. 8. Milwaukee (41-28-4-3)
Offense: Without a doubt, Texas is is a deeper, more dangerous team offensively than Milwaukee. Currently up with Dallas, Matt Fraser has 33 goals (on just goals he has 11 fewer points than Milwaukee’s top scorer). Texas scored 235 goals this season, while Milwaukee put up less than 200, and veterans Colton Sceviour (team leading 52 points) and Travis Morin remain dangerous threats.
The Admirals counter at some point (likely by Game 3) with a full compliment of talent, and will have all five of its top scorers during the season in the lineup (Zach Hamill, Taylor Beck, Austin Watson and Chris Mueller). Brad Winchester also re-discovered his offensive prowess (27 points in 37 games). Slight Advantage Texas.
Defense: Surprisingly, Milwaukee gave up one fewer goal than the usually stout defensively Stars, (200 to 201), and much of the Admirals damages came during the January/February funk and four miserable blowout losses. Milwaukee shored up that aspect of their game with the additions of Scott Ford and Joe Piskula. Add soon-to-be NHL full timers Victor Bartley and Ryan Ellis to the mix (Bartley later in the series) and the Admirals are stout on the blueline.
However, don’t count out the Stars’ blueline quite so fast. NHL veteran Cam Barker, and future/current NHL talents Brenden Dillon and Jordie Benn (back likely for Game 3) are solid, while Jamie Oleksiak had a phenomenal season. Slight Advantage Milwaukee.
Goaltending: If there is one place where either team has an obvious edge, its here. Simply put, Admirals goaltender Magnus Hellberg has been the best goaltender in the AHL since the calender turned to February. The rookie has lost just seven times since Feb. 1 in 27 appearances, posting an 18-7-6 record in that span, and the Uppsala, Sweden native racked up three shutouts in April when the Admirals needed them most.
For Texas, there is no clear cut No. 1 in net between Christopher Nilstorp or rookie Jack Campbell. Bachman’s been up with Dallas, making 12 appearances, but hasn’t played since April 15. He may get a start against Milwaukee in Texas. Advantage Milwaukee.
Coaching: Its been an impressive first season for Willie Desjardins in Texas. All the rookie head coach did in his first campaign was guide the Stars to a Western Conference regular season title after a last place finish a season ago.
Milwaukee’s Dean Evason earned his stripes coaching as an assistant with the Washington Capitals. Considering the lockout, it was a tough first season for any coach, but both did a great job. But because of their full season of success and an incredible 30-point turnaround, I give an edge to Texas.
Intangibles: Tough call here, but because of the Admirals end of season momentum, I will give Milwaukee a minoredge,but last year it didn’t mean much.
Who wins the series: The only two matchups during the regular season were won by Texas, but that should mean little on the outcome, considering how early they were on the schedule. Goaltender Jeremy Smith was a star of the Admirals six-game series victory against the Stars in 2011, but Smith is unlikely to even play this time around.
This series may get decided in the first two games in Milwaukee. Texas was the best team in the AHL on the road this season, going an incredible 25-9-3-1, while the Admirals impressed at home: 21-12-3-2. If the series splits heading to Austin, either team has a chance to grab momentum in three games in Texas. I will take Milwaukee in five games.
So Roundtable . . . How do you see the series shaking out? Any places where Milwaukee/Texas has an edge? Who will win the coaching battle? Am I crazy to pick the Admirals over the West’s top seed?
Milwaukee fans have grown pretty accustomed to playoff hockey with the Admirals making their 11th straight appearance, but this season’s postseason berth almost wasn’t.
It took a huge push down the stretch, but the Ads got it done and were rewarded with the pleasure of facing the top seed in the West.
Texas has more than earned that distinction, but while eight-seeds generally don’t get much respect versus one-seeds, (hell, even that’s shifting in the world of hockey with an eight-seed taking home the Stanley Cup last season) this particular matchup doesn’t quite feel like your usual first-round top vs. bottom showdown.
There’s the overall eight-point differential between the teams in the standings. That’s basically four games that separate the top and bottom of the conference playoff picture.
Also the head-to-head matchups this season (yes, it’s a small, two-game sample size) were both won by Texas, but neither was a particularly dominating performance by the Stars.
A 3-1 road loss way back on October 24 was marred by a horrible start for the Ads and seven Milwaukee two-minute minors. Milwaukee didn’t register a shot on net in the first 15 minutes and spending so much time on the kill kept the Ads from getting into a rhythm.
The second game was played much closer with the Ads dropping a 2-1 decision in OT at the Bradley Center on December 6. The Ads took a 1-0 lead on an early second-period goal by Austin Watson, but Cody Eakin scored on a late power play chance with 6:25 left in the game to send it to the extra period. Tomas Vincour scored the game-winner.
Mark Van Guilder spoke to the fact that with the current makeup of both sides in mind, it’s best to throw out the results of both contests heading into this weekend.
“I think both teams have gotten a lot better since the last time we met,” Van Guilder said.
Both losses came with Jeremy Smith in net, meaning Magnus Hellberg will get his first crack at Texas this season. His presence alone speaks to the fact that this Admirals team is quite different from the one that faced the Stars earlier in the season.
“I think it’s been good for me to have a lot of games in a row going into the playoffs,” Hellberg said. “I didn’t play much in the beginning so I had to work a lot in the gym to get my conditioning up and I feel that I have use for it now for sure.”
“We worry about what we do, but we do some scouting as well to see what they’re up to. I know the Swedish goalie (Christopher Nilstorp) a little bit. I played against him last year so if we both play it will be a fun little Swedish goalie battle for sure.”
The arrival of Filip Forsberg along with the traveling trio of Daniel Bang, Austin Watson and Kevin Henderson adds plenty of intrigue to the game one matchup, though the quartet may head back up to Nashville on Saturday.
That situation is nothing new for coach Dean Evason, however, as the Ads experienced plenty of emergency recalls and a fluctuating lineup during their playoff push.
“Whoever’s here when the puck’s dropped, they play,” Evason said. “It doesn’t matter who it is, as long as they know what they’re doing, they all play hard. We’ve been able to get our mindset in the right spot and go out and play the game on the ice. We’ve been playing playoff hockey now for a couple of months, so our group should know exactly how to play in tight situations.”
“We’re not 100 percent on their lineup and they’re not 100 percent on ours. We’re not a huge matchup team, but we like to get a few matchups on our back end against their high end players.”
Evason attributed a lot of credit to the personal drive of each of his players during the team’s late surge. He claimed he didn’t have to push them as hard as he’d expected down the stretch.
“There’s an inner coaching and teaching within the group that the guys do, not only away from games, but in games during timeouts. They’re constantly talking to each other about doing the right things, putting pucks in the right areas and what have you. I think our group’s pretty strong mentally, so I think we’re fresh physically and mentally going in.”
Throughout the season, Van Guilder has established himself at the forefront of that inner coaching movement.
“I think it’s too hard for the coaches to teach and lead all by themselves,” Van Guilder said. “It takes a handful of guys stepping up in the locker room. I think my role is just to lead by example and be a professional, teaching the younger guys how to prepare and play hard every night. I also try to set the example of staying calm in tight situations.”
The last time the Stars and Ads met in the playoffs back in 2011, Van Guilder scored the series-clinching double overtime goal to advance Milwaukee to the Division Finals.
“That was an unbelievable series,” Van Guilder said. “That’s a team that I obviously have a lot of respect for. We play a very similar game to theirs and hopefully it’ll be another fun series.”
“I think with the way we’ve played the last couple of weeks, we’ve got good momentum going in. We’re definitely confident going in, but we know they’re the number one seed for a reason. I hope that it’s closer than a one vs. eight series implies, but I think you’re going to see some really good hockey by both teams.”
Questions:
What’s your official series prediction? Who wins in how many?
What kind of impact do you think Filip Forsberg will bring in his Admirals debut? How do you see the team rebounding from likely losing him along with possibly Bang, Watson and Henderson for the next game?
On the Admirals Center Ice Radio Show on Sportsradio 1250 WSSP, Paul Fenton told Aaron and Wojo on Monday that there may be “a couple of surprises sprinkled in” when answering a question about the playoff roster.
One of those surprises was sent down to Milwaukee today.
Along with Austin Watson, it was announced that Filip Forsberg has been assigned to the Admirals. Joonas Rask was also called up to the Predators.
The jewel of the trade that sent Martin Erat and Michael Latta to Washington has played in four games with the Predators so far. If he had played in six games, then Nashville would activate the first year of his entry level contract, which wasn’t a very likely prospect.
So we’re expecting to see him on the ice tomorrow night in Game 1 against the Texas Stars. And that will be a treat. Hopefully there won’t be any airport delays or things like that.
So Roundtable….who would you like Forsberg’s linemates to be if he makes it tomorrow night?
