The Admirals won 1-0 in overtime on the road against the Rockford IceHogs Friday night. It was a dazzling goaltending stalemate between Marek Mazanec and Michael Leighton that held the game scoreless until Austin Watson’s team leading fourteenth goal finished things off in overtime. The Ads have now won three games in a row.
Both the Admirals and IceHogs were unable to find the back of the net through the entirety of regulation tonight. The chances were plenty but both Marek Mazanec and Michael Leighton were stout in net. The Ads matched last night’s season high for shots in a period in the second by peppering in seventeen shots on the back of three power-play opportunities.
The breakthrough wouldn’t come until 2:14 into overtime when Austin Watson scored the game-winner. Watson was flying down the right wing and zipped in a hard shot to the near post that beat Leighton low blocker. The goal for Watson is his team leading fourteenth goal of the season and put an end to Leighton’s Rockford IceHogs franchise best shutout streak that went on for 187:29 of ice time.
Enough superlatives couldn’t be given to both Mazanec and Leighton both from this game. Mazanec earned his third shutout of the season by stopping all twenty-seven shots he faced. Leighton was just as equally up to the task as he had stopped all thirty-four shots he faced in goal right up until Watson scored the game-winner in overtime. Each made highlight reel saves. Each were rightfully voted as the game’s top two stars.
The win is the Admirals third consecutive victory and also, paired with results from around the AHL, sees a big swing in their division standing. Entering tonight the Ads were placed fourth in the Midwest Division. They are now in second after this game and trail the IceHogs for the division lead by six points with three games at hand over Rockford.
You can watch the first period and second period video highlights in the hyperlinks just provided.
Ramblings: Before the game Miikka Salomäki was reassigned to the Milwaukee Admirals after the Nashville Predators activated Taylor Beck and Matt Cullen from injured reserve. Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were Brendan Leipsic (healthy), Garrett Noonan (healthy), and Johan Alm (upper body). With tonight’s game in the books, Mike Liambas has now officially served all three games of his suspension for his illegal check to the head of Louis-Marc Aubry.
Thoughts from tonight’s game? Are the Milwaukee Admirals back in full swing or what? What do these wins against the Midwest Division leaders do for your confidence in this team after a rough month of December?
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I feel better with the 2 wins over Rockford. The Admirals need to keep it going and climb to the top of their division!
Its nice to see the team put a few wins together but they are a ways from being where they need to be. Tonight will really be a telling sign of what direction they are pointing. Its the 3rd game of a 3in3 vs a team we normally don’t play on a weekend game at home in front of what should be a nice crowd…. it’s what typically has been a recipe for a Pants Shitting Affair. Can they score on PP when needed? Can they avoid the early hole they like to dig? Can they play a full 60min hockey game? We shall see. If they could even squeeze a point out tonight that’s a successful weekend.
this weekend with 2 wins against rockford is great if they can get a point vs checkers would be nice
Why is the bar so low? I expect nothing less then 2 points tonight against the checkers. Anything less im disappointed.