Skating with a 4-1 lead with 8 minutes left in the third period, things were looking pretty good for the Admirals.

But the Rivermen, who were playing their third game in three days, got their legs back, and were aided by some careless Admiral penalties.  The Rivermen scored three times in the last 8 minutes to send the game to overtime, before Teemu Laakso’s wrist shot from the left point beat Peoria goalie (and reigning AHL gaoltender of the month) Jake Allen to give the Admirals the OT win.  Laakso got the goal, but lots of credit goes to Jon Blum, who was pinching down all the way to front of the crease, taking away Allen’s eyes.

Where did things go wrong in the 3rd period?  Unnecessary penalties.

Mark Santorelli – Diving
Mike Bartlett – Yonking (puck over glass, if you don’t remember)
Blake Geoffrion – Slashing

There were two stretches of 5-on-3 time, with the Admirals killing off the first one.  No such luck on the second one.  And then with the Rivermen still having the bulk of Geoffrion’s penalty with the extra man, they needed just 13 seconds make it a one-goal game with 7:04 to go.

The Admirals scored the first four goals of the game, starting with a power play goal from Aaron Johnson in the 1st period.  It was a one-timer from the right faceoff circle that beat Allen over his glove.

Johnson got his second of the game finishing a 2-defensemen-on-1-defenseman breakaway with Jon Blum 8:52 into the second.  Blum’s shot was stopped by Allen’s pad, but the rebound went straight to Johnson.

Linus Klasen scored his team-leading 12th goal of the year, scoring a goal that Aaron Sims described as “dazzling”.  A great move got him around defenseman Derek Peltier, and Klasen was able to tuck the puck around Allen.

After the goal, Rivermen captain Dean Arsene was given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.  And the PA announcer hadn’t even finished announcing the goal and penalty when the Ads converted the PP chance.  Klasen found Blake Geoffrion in the slot, and his quick wrister beat Allen.

Yes, the monkey is now off of Blake’s back.  First professional regular season goal.  Aaron had mentioned during the broadcast that Blake and Klasen spent some extra time working on offensive positioning at the end of the morning skate, and it’s great to see that it paid off.

NOTES:

– Great to get Blake back.  Steve Begin and Ryan Flynn also returned from injuries.

– Jeremy Smith bounced back from his dreadful outing on Friday, stopping 31 of 35 shots.  He played better than those four goals against would suggest, but he wouldn’t be mistaken for Mark Dekanich.  He’s now 3-2 with a 4.02 GAA, and a .879 save percentage.

– Multi-point nights aplenty.  Johnson (2g, 1a), Blake (1g, 1a), Klasen (1g, 1a), Lundmark and Blum both with a pair of helpers.

– Andrew Lord has been forsaken….he has been released from his PTO.

QUESTION FOR DISCUSSION:

– Aaron Sims said that Santorelli’s dive was the worst acting job since Miriah Carey.  How would you finish that sentence?  “Mark Santorelli’s dive was the worst acting job since ________!”