It’s nice to get a laugher in our favor every once in awhile. Even sweeter in front of a big crowd.
Maybe it’s the return of Chris Mueller and Matt Halischuk. Maybe it’s that they had a week to prepare for this game. Maybe it’s the green and gold face-off circles.
Whatever the reason, the Admirals ride off on their horses as victors, after an 8-1 win on Country Music Night over the Peoria Rivermen.
Blake Geoffrion led the way with two goals and three assists, and that line of Geoffrion, Linus Klasen, and Ryan Thang is on a roll.
Klasen and Thang both pitched in with a goal and two assists, and Andreas Thuresson played one of his best games of the season.
Geoffrion scored 42 seconds into the contest. After his first shot hit iron, he continued to pursue the rebound, skated around the net with the puck, and his next shot beat Ben Bishop from the slot.
Then the Admirals exploded for four goals in the second period.
Mark Van Guilder scored his fourth of the year, but Andreas Thuresson is the one that did the dirty work in front of the net. After Kelsey Wilson fed Thuresson the puck right in front of the crease, Andreas had a couple whacks at the puck. He ended up kicking the puck a few feet away from the scrum down low, and Van Guilder had a great look, and beat Bishop.
Thuresson got the next goal, but Geoffrion did the dirty work on his. Geoffrion carried the puck in down the right wing on an offensive rush, and held on to the puck as long as he could. The defensemen slid himself out of the play, and Geoffrion fed Thuresson who was crashing the net.
So it’s the 8:02 mark of the second period, and the Admirals were up 3-0. Anyone remember last home game?
Chris Mueller wasn’t here for it. And his shorthanded goal at 11:56 was the backbreaker for the Rivermen. With Kelsey Wilson serving a tripping penalty, Mueller and Halischuk were having a phenomenal forecheck. Mueller outhustled the Rivermen to create a turnover in the offensive zone, and a quick pass found Halischuk open near the bottom of the faceoff dot. The defensemen had the angle, and Halischuk tried a no-look shot that almost beat Bishop. The hard work continued, and the puck then came back to Mueller for his fourth shorty of the season.
Klasen scored off a perfect pass from a Rivermen defenseman to make it a 5-0 lead.
Thang took a hooking penalty 9 seconds into the third, and Mark Cundari converted on that power play to spoil the shutout.
Thang then got that one back with a power play marker of his own, cashing in on the rebound of Roman Josi shot on the power play 51 seconds later.
Goal 7 went to Geoffrion, on (guess what) another rebound. Linus Klasen had the first chance, skating around the defender and put a shot on Bishop from down low. The rebound went right to Geoffrion.
Goal 8 COULD have gone to Geoffrion. He had an open look in the slot, but elected to pass to a wide open Jon Blum, who was pinching down. That ended the scoring with 3:45 left in the game.
So eight goals is pretty good. How about two and a half fights in 19 seconds in the 3rd period with the game well out of hand.
I have to say it was half-a-fight, since Grant Lewis and Phil McRae got four for roughing instead of five for fighting.
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NOTES:
Here are your lines:
Thang – Geoffrion – Klasen
Halischuk – Mueller – Bourque
Wilson – Van Guilder – Thuresson
Flynn – Bartlett – (Various)
Discussion Points:
– Lots of guys in the Peoria penalty box. Anybody feel that we were pretty close to a Tie Domi moment after the water bottle squirt into the stands?
– Mom? Dad? Mueller and Halischuk…..can we keep them? Pweeeeeese? Their mom and dad said it was okay. Please please please please please!!!! I’ll clean my room. I’ll say nice things about Aaron Johnson. PWEEEEEESE!
– Thuresson and Geoffrion producing….nice to see? Think Geoffrion has officially arrived, or still too soon to say?
– Lost in the circus, Dekanich had another great outing. After facing just 3 shots in the 1st period, the Rivermen made up a lot of ground over the second two periods, and his shorthanded stop of a Dave Spina breakaway was huge.
– Wilson’s fight. Do you like the hot-dogging? Man, the crowd ate that up.
– Man, you gotta feel bad for Ben Bishop. After what goal would you have yanked him?
– If you were a passive fan (which you obviously aren’t….but pretend that you are….) is this a game that’ll make you want to come back?
– Offense is great…..let’s not lay an egg tomorrow in Rockford, okay?
Admirals Roundtable 
I thought Allen wouldbhave come in for the 3rd period. I’m guessing he didn’t come in because of the ASG, but that seemed dumb. Anyone know the real (or have a better) reason?
Dex did great. It was nice to see the team actually play well in front of a big crowd.
What was the water bottle squirting event that occurted tonight
?
Best game ever. Sadly Blake was outdone in the Preds organization as Ryan Ellis had 6 points!
Right from the get-go, the boys came out hungry for a win. And they came out looking like a team. As opposed to last weeks game, where everyone looked lost, this week they actually had some sort of plan in motion. Passes that connected, rebounds on which we were able to capitalize (because a player was where they should be), aggressiveness that turned to aggression when the occasion called for it.
Kudos to Thuresson for almost pulling off a Gordie Howe hat trick. All he needed was to poke somone in the eye, instead of pushing them. Perhaps we can give him a Baby G.
Dekanich had a good night, to be sure. He had help from defense, and his lucky star is still shining bright. He coughs up the puck a whole lot more than he should, and that is a dangerous attribute. Last night’s performance by every unit of the team just clicked, and we had the opportunity to see what this team is able to do when they play….. as a team.
Rather interesting is that the last two games were in many ways reflections of each other. Last week’s game showed us what attitude and teamwork can do, and we suffered at the hands of San Antonio because of it. This week, Peoria took our part, and just couldn’t get it off the ground. Bishop had a lousy night, which is rather out of character for him, but just like the Ads last week, he had little help.
Let’s hope that for today’s game in Rockford, Dr. Jekyll boarded the bus with the team, and not Mr. Hyde.
$20 says Admirals blow it tonight.
Good to see them learn after the SA choke to keep the foot on the pedal after a 3-0 lead.
Has there ever been a fight between J.D. Watt and Ryan Reaves? Both are Kelsey’s punching bags as much as I hate to admit it.
Gotta feel for Bishop, he played a solid game in the 1st 2 Pds, but that defense was atrocious. The eventual Mueller goal was 2 AMAZING saves.
Does Graham Mink have too many points/talent to be considered a goon? Cheap shotting everywhere possible, jawing with fans while on the bench, yet one of their leading scorers.
I wish the Admirals had this much fire when they get their ass handed to them, instead they act all “aww shucks” in the style of Toby Flenderson look-alike coach.
BTW, when will the ushers at the BC learn how to enforce “Wait for the Whistle”? If 70-year old 5′ ladies can enforce it in Chicago, why can’t able bodied 30 to 40-something men do the same thing? (I can imagine MiB’s reason, but I won’t go there)
klasen says he has never been this good:
http://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/hockey/internationellt/nhl/ahl/article8484912.ab
Great analysis, Dream & Chris…
I think the long break between games was huge for the Admirals after that last 3-in-3, with that last S.A. game still fresh in everybody’s mind. They were prepared for Peoria, and they made good decisions for the most part.
Mink — that guy doesn’t stop talking. I don’t think we can call him a goon yet, because it wasn’t just him with the cheap shots. I get the sense that at some point, the Peoria coach just told them to go out and hit anything that moves.
Bishop was definitely hung out to dry by his defense…but he was a rebound MACHINE.
Nice Office-reference Chris.
Santac- Klasen is playing well. You get no rebuttal from me today.
No comment on Nathan Oystrick? If he cried any more, the salt from his tears would have melt the ice. Every time there was a break in the game, he was crying to an official, whether he was on the ice or on the bench. I think it all started after Borque gave him a nice check into the boards that sent him ass-over-tea-kettle. It was a clean hit, but he didn’t like it too much.
What did he get the game misconduct for? I had a bouncer blocking my view trying to catch a damn beach ball (seriously though, we already had two fans taken out by pucks, I think we can look the other way for a beach ball).
It was a great game though, which is good because the concert nights always drive me nuts (especially when it’s county music…GAG), but the excitement level of the game kept everybody entertained and limited the amount of “I’m only here for the music so let’s go get more beer and be assholes” type fans.
Ryan
do you know how hornqvist did in AHL in his first season?
great game, fealt bad for bishop (from the side with the white jersey and tall frame he has an eriee appearance of pekka) woulda yanked him after goal4. Klassen played great, blake may be starting to wake up finally. look at lewis everytime he plays he seems to chip in playing him more would only help. peoria looked rather flat for a team with many good players they seemed uninterested in the first.
nevermind hornqvist had 35p in 49 games. Klasen has already outscored him, though klasen was older doing it.
Sure, we can talk about Hornqvist.
Different kind of player, and his success at the NHL level has been in a different role than Klasen has been in this year. He doesn’t have the skill that Klasen has, but he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty in front of the net, and that’s where he’s been so effective.
Frankly, when he was at the AHL level, we weren’t convinced that he was going to be effective at the NHL level. But after his season in the A, he worked with some skating coaches, and worked his butt off in general during the offseason, and impressed the coaches so much in training camp that they made room for him. Good choice on their part, because he was amazing last season.
Yeah, Klasen has outscored Hornqvist in less games played. But we weren’t ever having discussions about Hornqvist being buried in the minors. He needed the seasoning. Klasen has been improving on D, and we’ll see what happens after the break.
Isnt the skills competition supposed to be on Sports 32 right now???