The Predators signed Zach Budish to a two-year entry level tryout contract Wednesday. He’ll make his Admirals debut along with Paul Crowder tonight against Rockford.

The Minnesota Golden Gophers captain was drafted by Nashville with the 41st overall pick in 2009.

Budish played in 129 games at Minnestota recording 94 points, scoring 35 goals. He helped the Gophers to two consecutive MacNaughton Cups as Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) regular-season champions along with two NCAA tournament berths including a run to the Frozen Four in 2011-12.

After he gained captaincy in 2012-13, Budish’s Gophers led the WCHA in scoring offense, scoring defense, power play and penalty kill while the program ranked in the top ten nationally in all four categories.

As we said in an earlier post, Crowder’s also coming off a successful 2011-12, as the 28-year old Victoria, BC native scored 23 goals and recorded 27 assists in 53 games played for the Wheeling Nailers.

Roundtable, what do you think of these signings, and which one do you see having the bigger impact both immediately and down the stretch?

On a night that Rockford used to celebrate being named the third most “Miserable City” in the U.S. by Forbes Magazine, the home fans got something to smile about.

In a sloppy game for both sides the IceHogs grabbed a 2-1 win over the Admirals Tuesday night in Rockford.

The loss dropped Milwaukee (75 points in 67 games) from seventh to ninth place in the Western Conference and moved Rockford (73 points in 67 games) to within closing distance of the Admirals in the division standings.

Magnus Hellberg got the start and had a decent night in net with 21 saves, and the Admirals’ offense outshot the IceHogs 32-23. Unfortunately, it didn’t add up to a win as Milwaukee missed some golden opportunities to tie the game in the third period.

Kyle Beach got Rockford on the board at 18:02 of the first period with his 15th goal of the season. Beach fired a low shot from the high slot that beat Hellberg stick side.

A too many men on the ice call late in the second period gave the Ads their third power play chance of the game, and Milwaukee would take advantage to tie the game 1-1 at 15:31.

Brad Winchester started a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing play feeding Juuso Puustinen from the far dot. Puusty tipped the puck right to Michael Latta in the slot, and Latta put it past Henrik Karlsson.

Rockford came right back to retake the lead after a questionable turn of events. Scott Ford thought he had his stick knocked away by an IceHog and pleaded for a penalty.

Meanwhile, Rockford started a rush into the Admirals zone, and a furious Fordo looked on as Ryan Stanton scored on a snapshot from the top of the right circle at 18:47. Even Milwaukee assistant coach Stan Drulia said his team “thought they’d be going on the power play” after Ford lost his stick.

The Admirals responded with a good final push in the last twenty minutes, but Karlsson stopped all 14 shots he saw down the stretch to get his first win against Milwaukee.

At 9:23, Brad Mills ran into Hellberg knocking the big goalie to the ice. Magnus got right back up, Mills went to the box for goalie interference, but the Ads couldn’t captialize on their fifth and final power play chance.

With around five minutes to play, Josh Shalla had a great chance against a fallen Karlsson, but couldn’t find the puck.

Hellberg hit the bench with 1:44 to play, but the Ads couldn’t nab the equalizer despite two more good chances in the final minute.

Karlsson stopped a Winchester shot, but couldn’t handle the rebound cleanly resulting in a scramble in front that was eventually covered. Later, Mark Van Guilder had a wide open shot roll right off his stick.

From there, Rockford was able to clear twice and run out the clock.

Notes:

Kevin Henderson left the game right around the second intermission with an undisclosed injury, and Drulia said he will be reevaluated tomorrow.

Rockford continued a dominant trend improving its record when leading after two periods to 19-1-0. Milwaukee meanwhile has won just five games when trailing after two.

Latta’s goal was his ninth of the season, third power play goal and second in Milwaukee’s last three games.

Peeking up at Nashville, Taylor Beck grabbed two assists in the Predators’ 3-1 win over Colorado tonight.

Questions:

Things are pretty close in the bottom half of the Western Conference playoff picture. Just six points separate the fifth-place spot from the eleventh-place spot. Right now there are three teams (the Heat, the IceHogs and the Admirals) on the outside looking in but still in contention for postseason spots with Chicago currently holding the final spot with 75 points.

What advantages do you think the Admirals have over the teams left in the field, if any? Do you foresee the Ads reemerging from the pack? They are still 7-2-1 in their last 10.

A year and a day ago the Ads and IceHogs engaged in a massive, memorable bench-clearing brawl at the Bradley Center. Some saw it as a turning point for that Milwaukee team, others saw it as just two frustrated teams hashing things out.

Do you think the Ads need a similar sort of rallying point as the season winds down?

Where does Rockford rank on your list of “most miserable cities” in America? Was Forbes too harsh or too generous?

Jeremy Smith played a solid 59 minutes in net for the Admirals, but had to be helped off the ice with 13.4 seconds to go.

Magnus Hellberg filled in, and the Ads withstood a big third period from the IceHogs to get back on the winning track with a 3-2 victory.

Milwaukee’s offense was the story of the first two periods as the Ads held a 3-1 lead and a 34-19 shot advantage heading into the second intermission.

Ryan Ellis gave the Admirals the 1-0 lead right at the end the first period scoring with a tenth of a second left on the clock. Michael Latta whipped a quick pass to Ellis whose shot from the right circle beat Rockford goalie Carter Hutton.

The Ads carried momentum into the second period, scoring just 11 seconds after the break. Latta took the puck into the Rockford zone and freed it up for Mark Van Guilder. MVG hit Kevin Henderson at the left dot and his shot cleared Hutton’s right shoulder.

The Admirals grabbed a 3-0 lead at the 12:31 mark with a power play goal from Latta. Hutton made a few big time saves in front, before Latta was able to poke the puck past him for his eighth goal of the season.

The IceHogs finally got one past Smith about five minutes later, however, as Brandon Svendsen picked up his third goal of the year. Smitty had to move hard from left to right to take away a shot opportunity from Adam Clendening, and unfortunately that left Svendsen wide open in the slot.

The game was far from over at the second break, as Rockford had won an AHL-best nine games after trailing in the first two periods entering the matchup.

The IceHogs displayed some of that knack to come from behind outshooting the Admirals 18-10 in the final period.

At 9:14 Martin St. Pierre cut it to a one-goal deficit with his 22nd of the season, but for the final ten minutes Smitty stood tall to keep the Ads ahead.

Kenndal McArdle was all alone with nine minutes to play, but Smith was able to poke check his shot away. He then gobbled up a Jeremy Morin slapper with 8:01 to play in a nice sequence.

With just under 45 seconds left and Hutton on the bench, Smitty gloved a Brad Mills shot.

Later, the puck was tipped in front of Smith and a mad scramble ensued. Smitty made the save, but was piled on top of after Rostislav Olesz shoved an Ads defender into him.

After laying face-down for a few minutes, Smitty had his right leg worked on by trainer Doug Agnew and had to be assisted as he went to the bench.

Hellberg didn’t face a shot in the final 13 seconds, as Mike Moore blocked Rockford’s only attempt and the Ads were able to clear it away.

Notes:

Milwaukee finished with 44 shots on net with Latta’s seven and Juuso Puustinen’s five leading the way.

Smitty stopped 35 of 37 shots in one of his more impressive outings of the season. He’ll see a doctor tomorrow and will most likely be out. No idea on the weight of his injury yet. We’ll keep you updated on his status as we learn more.

Brad Winchester assisted on the Latta goal after re-signing with the Ads today. The power play goal was the only one of the game, as both teams went a combined one-for-nine with the extra attacker.

Questions:

Are you concerned that the Ads let Rockford get off 18 shots in the final 20 minutes? Why do you feel they had a hard time keeping the IceHogs down after mostly dominating the first two periods.

On the other end, what do you think has helped the Ads up their shot opportunities recently. They didn’t appear to be missing Nashville call-up Craig Smith tonight, and the offense looked really good throughout the game.

How big is the potential Smitty loss? Coach Dean Evason has mentioned how great it’s been of late to have both of his goaltenders play at a high level.

After 13 points in seven games, Wednesday night was a head-scratcher for Milwaukee as Lake Erie frustrated the Ads for the fourth time this season.

Sami Aittokallio stopped all 33 shots he faced leading the Monsters to a 1-0 win at the Bradley Center. As good as he was (and he was really, really good) the Ads had a lot of opportunities that they just couldn’t capitalize on.

Milwaukee outshot Lake Erie 33-19 and Magnus Hellberg stood on his head for a few great saves, but it simply wasn’t enough.

A Paul Carey redirection off a slapper from Luke Walker gave the Monsters the only goal they needed 7:10 into the contest. From then on the story of the game was missed chances from the Ads and stellar saves from Aittokallio.

Dean Evason talked about the Ads struggles to light the lamp, and the speed of Lake Erie’s defense.

Before Carey’s goal, Michael Latta had a couple of good chances to give Milwaukee the early lead. He took a pass right in front and tried to hack home the one-timer and then the rebound, but Aittokallio stood tall.

Later Michael Liambas had a bad pass sail out of the offensive zone and Lake Erie would score on that possession.

At the 15:55 mark came the first of five power play opportunities that the Ads couldn’t use to their advantage. After Walker went to the box for interference, Aittokallio made a great glove save to keep Milwaukee off the board.

After that penalty expired, Mattias Ekholm was called for elbowing and it took a fantastic save from Hellberg as the period ended to keep Milwaukee down just one goal.

It looked like the Monsters would make it a 2-0 deficit early into the second period, but upon review a potential goal was waved off. Though no penalty was called, replays showed that Vincent Arseneau clearly shoved Daniel Bang into Magnus Hellberg, taking him out of position for the ensuing shot.

After getting help out by the replay, they got another PP chance with Andrew Agozzino in the box for hooking. The Ads couldn’t score, however, and the period ended with the puck clanging around the posts at least twice before the final buzzer sounded.

The Ads continued to have good entries into the offensive zone in the third period, but they yielded no results on the scoreboard.

Agozzino went to the box again for interference at the 4:22 mark, but the most impressive play of the PP came from Ryan Ellis on defense.

Ellis, who played his first game since being sent back down to Milwaukee Monday, stayed with Mike Connolly on a one-on-one breakaway and shut down the shorthanded scoring chance.

On a later power play, Ellis fired a hard slapper that Aittokallio turned away. Later in the possession, Aittokallio was able to cover the puck just before Joshua Shalla could get to it, after it bounced off the boards and ended up at the left side of the net.

Bang had one of the best chances of the night with about seven minutes to play. He had the puck come to him all alone on a rush, but Aittokallio came up huge to make the save with his right leg.

A Brad Winchester penalty for elbowing was killed off with just one minute remaining, and with Hellberg on the bench, the Ads couldn’t get the puck in the net. An icing call with 19.7 ticks left all but sealed the deal, as the Ads couldn’t get it out of their zone.

Notes:

Smith looked good again, leading the Ads with six shots. Latta put five on net while Winchester and Mark Van Guilder each had four.

Winchester played the final game of his 25-game PTO contract, and a decision will be made soon about his future. He had little to say about it.

Evason said he’s selfishly hoping Winchester will stay an Admiral.

The coach said his team came out a “little flat” in defense of its seven-game point streak, and didn’t know if it had anything to do with how the streak had recently played out.

Questions:

What was Milwaukee’s problem with Lake Erie this season, and what did you notice this game that ended the point streak?

What did you think of Ryan Ellis’ return? Will it keep the Ads’ playoff hopes burning even brighter?

Do you think we’ll see Winchester in an Ads jersey again? How do you think his possible departure would impact the team?

Magnus Hellberg got his first start since last Friday and bounced back from that disappointing showing to lead the Ads to a second-straight victory over Chicago.

The big goalie was solid in regulation stopping 22 shots, and he finished the night off with two saves in the shootout.

The Admirals got off to a slow start with just four shots to Chicago’s 11 in the first period, but Hellberg kept the game scoreless making some big saves early.

The Wolves did grab the 1-0 lead 12:55 into the second when Derek Joslin fired a long pass to Darren Archibald to set up a 2-on-1 rush. Archibald whipped a backhand pass to Andrew Ebbett who scored from the slot.

After Kevin Connauton went to the box for roughing to give the Ads their second and last power play chance, Cam Reid tied the game at 16:11. Reider was in perfect position to put back a Juuso Puustinen rebound right in front.

Mike Moore was called for hooking about two minutes later, and the Wolves scored a power play goal of their own after their first four attempts had been killed off.

The Ads tried to corner Chicago and clear the puck along the boards but it came free to Darren Haydar who threw a shot on net from just under the blue line. Hellberg tried to get down and grab it, but Ebbett worked the puck loose, and Andrew Gordon flipped it over the goalie and in off the crossbar at 18:47.

Milwaukee rattled off 14 shots in the third period and finally tied the game again with 4:04 to play. Chris Mueller fired a shot from the near corner and Brad Winchester was able to jab it home past Matt Climie.

The Ads kept the offensive edge in overtime with the only three shots of the extra period, but Climie was able to send the game to the shootout round.

Puusty scored first in the shootout, deking forehand then backhand and sliding the puck in under Climie’s right pad.

Haydar answered with a similar move to get Hellberg down on the ice and slide the puck under him and in off the left post.

Then Matt Halischuk gave the Ads the lead for good whipping a nice little no-nonsense wrister in to Climie’s right.

Michael Davies, Taylor Beck and Nicklas Jensen were held scoreless in order, and Daniel Bang put another one home for the Ads on a backhand wrister.

In the do-or-die attempt, Hellberg stayed with Bill Sweatt all the way, and Sweatt missed the net just to the right, securing the win for Milwaukee.

Here are the highlights courtesy of the Wolves.

Notes:

In a game where the Ads allowed six total power play opportunities and only received two, the special teams units were efficient again.

That’s the last we’ll likely see of Halischuk, as he’s headed back to Nashville. Along with the winning shootout goal, he picked up an assist on the late Winchester goal.

The win kept Milwaukee’s playoff chances alive putting the Ads just two points behind Abbotsford for the eighth spot in the West.

Questions:

Hellberg looked good again, particularly with his glove and reaction time. If anything he set up an interesting decision for Wednesday’s game against Peoria. Who gets the start?

We hope Halischuk enjoyed his stay down here, as we certainly did. Again do you think his play will mean anything to the team in the long run?

Do you think the Ads will keep up the recent stretch of better special teams play? What else needs to stay constant for this team to make a serious run at the postseason?

After Friday’s game, Coach Dean Evason said he’d keep Matt Halischuk as long as Nashville wanted.

The right winger, who was sent down to Milwaukee this week on a conditioning assignment, made a big impact in the Admirals’ 4-3 victory netting the game-tying and go-ahead goals in the third period.

Kevin Henderson got the Ads off to a quick start thanks to a great play from Michael Latta. Latta was able to maintain possession of the puck after entering the Chicago zone and steer around a defender to feed Henderson who shot it from the slot.

Mark Matheson scored his fifth goal of the season and third against the Admirals at 9:47 to tie things up. Bill Sweatt’s shot was blocked, but the puck came free to Matheson in the slot and he quickly put it past Jeremy Smith.

The Wolves took the lead 2:01 into the second period when Darren Archibald shot the puck past Mattias Ekholm and over the left side of Smitty.

Ekholm didn’t have a great night, but captain Mike Moore and former captain Scott Ford, who played his first Bradley Center game since returning to the Ads, picked up the slack on defense. Moore made more than a few key blocks and did a nice job shutting down some breaks, while Ford’s quiet leadership was present according to Evason.

Evason has talked about the team struggles to score and come back in games, but down 2-1 at the start of the third period, the Ads had already registered 26 shots on net.

Halischuk had been trying to make things happen from the start of the game, and he was finally rewarded on a deflection in front of Matt Climie 43 seconds into the third period. The goal came on a power play after Derek Joslin was called for tripping.

Later in the period, Smitty was leveled by Nathan Longpre while trying to play the puck. Longpre was inadvertently shoved into the Ads goalie by Juuso Puustinen, and the impact knocked Smitty’s helmet off.

Smith shook it off and stayed in net, making some key saves down the stretch.

If Halischuk’s first goal had anything to do with luck, his second was all skill. He fired a great shot from the goal line that didn’t have a lot of room to work with, but squeezed through just under the crossbar at 10:18.

Puustinen would pick up an insurance goal about four minutes later that would pay dividends. Puusty was able to score on Milwaukee’s third attempt in a wild sequence, as Cam Reid and Taylor Beck’s shots were both denied by Climie.

Chicago pulled Climie with 1:24 remaining and put one in on a 6-4 advantage with 29.5 seconds on the clock. Smitty gave up a rebound that Andrew Ebbett was able to chip home to narrow the deficit to 4-3.

Smitty and the Ads were able to hold on in the final moments, however, as their aggressive defense kept the Wolves at bay.

Despite the late PP goal, the Ads special teams played quite well, particularly on a late kill in which they generated three odd-man shorthanded rushes. One was an all-out hustle play by Halischuk, who was thinking hat trick all the way, along with everyone else in the building.

Evason talked about the team’s aggression on the kill and its improvement from games past.

Notes:

Joonas Jarvinen was active and physical early but picked up three penalties that luckily didn’t hurt the team all that much.

Evason talked about Halischuk’s impact and whether or not it rubbed off on the rest of the roster.

The win came on a nice night for Victor Bartley as he played his first game in the NHL in Nashville. He got a block and a hit in just over 19 minutes of ice time. Good on him!

In that same game, Patric Hornqvist left with injury, meaning we might not see much more of Halischuk in Milwaukee.

Questions:

Do the Ads win this game if Halischuk isn’t in the lineup? As mentioned we probably shouldn’t get too caught up in it considering he likely won’t be here long. Do you think the team takes anything from his showing?

Besides him did you like what you saw from Ford and Beck back in the lineup? How about Moore’s night? He definitely played up to the standards of that “C” on his chest.

Do you feel the team can keep that intensity we saw on the late penalty kills up? It’s a theme that Evason seems ready to work with.