To call last night’s 4-2 loss for the Milwaukee Admirals to the Rockford IceHogs at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena a disappointment might not do the word justice. In this weekend’s three-in-three there were two teams playing for their playoff lives. The IceHogs were not one of them. For the Admirals to lose in regulation on home ice to that team in that manner shouldn’t happen.

On Friday night, the major talking point of the contest was seeing the Cleveland Monsters really stick it to the Admirals throughout the second period and end the frame with the game’s -would be- only goal and outshoot them by an astonishing 16-3. Last night, it felt like that was the case from the word “GO” and the only thing that kept that from getting away fast was Marek Mazanec. The IceHogs outshot the Admirals 17-7 in last night’s first period and 15-12 in the second period. They were far more direct in approach and it forced the Admirals to keep having to fight back in transition from defense to offense -by which time- the IceHogs were already set to deal with them at the attacking blueline and have bodies deep to defend the dump and chase.

Today there isn’t going to be a typical “Scouting the Enemy” here on Admirals Roundtable because, much like the team, I want you fans and readers to focus on the Admirals and Admirals alone today. What the Iowa Wild will be doing should be secondary to all that the Admirals need to be correcting from these last two games. The Wild should be pushing as hard as the Monsters and IceHogs. The crowd will be against the Admirals. It’s up to the Admirals and themselves alone to keep that crowd silent and go back to work. Defense First. Get Pucks Deep. Less Is More. It all sounds far more easier said than done but the more simplified the game gets for the Admirals the better the results always seem to be for them.

After last night’s game I did speak with Admirals head coach Dean Evason as well as Adam Payerl prior to both getting setup on the bus readied for Iowa. These were their comments after the loss to Rockford.

Comments on the comments? Can the Milwaukee Admirals get back to winning ways tonight in Iowa? Has this weekend’s three-in-three already been a letdown following this team locking themselves into the playoffs earlier in the week? What must change for the Admirals moving forward from these last two regulation defeats on home ice?

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