Friday night was your typical Rockford-Milwaukee game. Hard-fought to the end, more than a little chippy and full of energy with a solid home crowd in attendance.

It was the Hogs’ first visit to the Bradley Center this season with the series tied 1-1 heading in.

Carter Hutton began the game with a 9-1 record against the Ads, but over the course of the game, Milwaukee got plenty of traffic in front of him.

Rob Flick saw all three of his shots turned away by Jeremy Smith but other than that our friend Flicka wasn’t heard from very much.

Smith got flat out beat on a break by Nick Leddy just 40 seconds into the game. Leddy pulled up for a slapper from the top of the left circle and beat an unscreened Smitty.

Then the Admirals got a big power play chance early after a roughing call on Wade Brookbank.

The Admirals scored their second power play goal in as many games after breaking an 0-15 streak Tuesday. Victor Bartley fed a pass from the right circle that bounced off Taylor Beck in front of the net and right to a waiting Gabriel Bourque who put it in.

Brandon Saad gave Milwaukee another opportunity with a four-minute double minor for high sticking.

And again Bourque struck with 8:26 left in the period to give the Ads a 2-1 lead. Ellis chipped a pass to Bourque in front of the net and he was able to knock it down out of the air right through Hutton’s five hole.

Brandon Bollig and Joonas Jarvinen tangled with 5:44 left, and while Bollig landed some pretty big blows, Jarvinen seemed a bit outmatched.

Then, in a grind against the boards Kyle Beach appeared to grab Michael Latta’s face, and Latta responded by knocking him over at 4:46 to start another rumble.This one was a bit more evenly matched but Latta got a little bloodied.

Beach went to the box for instigating however, opening another four-minute power play window. The Ads wouldn’t put up any shots this time but ended the period with the lead.

Coach Dean Evason talked about the power play and what helped it break through this time around.

At 11:02 of the second period, Milwaukee added to its lead.

Jimmy Hayes couldn’t clear the puck and it was held in by Milwaukee. Beck took a shot near the inside of the right circle that came off Hutton into a crowd of blue jerseys. Cam Reid took a whack at it and saw his rebound go to the goalie’s right side where Beck collected it and fed it back to Latta who had a wide open net.

Twice more in the period the Admirals could’ve put it away early.

Mueller couldn’t get enough behind a 1-on-1 breakaway attempt, and on the next possession Austin Watson had a 2-on-1 thwarted by a sprawling Rockford defender.

The end of the period was a bit of a letdown for the Ads as Brandon Pirri collected a clean Hogs faceoff win in the Ads zone with just seven seconds left and fired a slapper right passed Smith to make it 3-2.

As time expired there was some group shoving in the far left corner just behind Smith. The scene brought back memories of last year’s bench-clearing brawl.

Beck started the third period in the penalty box after the scrum, giving the Hogs their second power play chance. Smith stopped two Rockford shots as the Ads continued their recent success on the kill.

The IceHogs got their equalizer, however, after a questionable sequence of events.

Beach smacked call-up Charles-Olivier Roussel in the face with his stick to work it along the boards to Bollig. His backhanded pass found a wide open Martin St. Pierre, who beat Smitty from near the top of the left circle at 4:04.

Mueller tried to answer with a wrister with 14:11 left that Hutton gloved nicely out of the air.

Smith made a nice glove save of his own when Leddy tried for another long slapper from just under the Perkins logo, breaking his stick in the process.

Jon Blum did a good job shutting down a break by Saad with just under 7 minutes left to go.

Daniel Bang found himself alone at the top of the offensive zone and fired a shot that Hutton gloved out of the air with 1:27 left.

That was the last real chance either team had to break the tie as Milwaukee held the puck behind its net for the final 10 seconds to head into overtime.

Jeremy Morin got a good break and shot on a 2-on-1 that deflected up off Smitty’s pads over the net with about 3:40 remaining in OT. Then the Ads got the break they needed.

Kevin Henderson started the rush into the Rockford zone, but passed the puck into a flurry of red jerseys. The puck somehow came back to Henderson and he threw it on net to beat a surprised Hutton five-hole to secure the sudden death win.

Henderson was both thrilled and surprised by the opportunity to win the game.

Some Notes:

After some borderline harsh comments last week, Evason’s critque of his goaltender was much different tonight.

Evason also gave his usual chime in on injuries. Scott Valentine is out with a “short-term upper body” injury, while Jani Lajunen missed the game with sickness.

Milwaukee is now 2-1 vs. Rockford and will travel to Peoria tonight, return home against Hamilton Sunday and host two more games against the Hogs next week.

Milwaukee is back to .500 at 10-10-2-1 after a lackluster second period in Charlotte.

Things looked good at 8:08 of the first when Chris Mueller broke an 0-for-15 power play skid with his 10th goal of the season to give the Ads a 1-0 lead.

After the first intermission, the Ads played a little too unselfishly. Too many times good entries into the offensive zone were negated by unwise passes instead of shots. Passing up those opportunities ended up costing Milwaukee big time.

Midway through the period Daniel Bang had a good look at the net but instead tried a spin pass that was intercepted. That started a 3-on-1 rush into the Admiral’s zone and Zac Dalpe tied it up at 9:07.

Two minutes and two seconds later, the Checkers took the lead thanks to another missed chance. Gabriel Bourque found himself on a 2-on-1, and his attempted pass was broken up. The follow-up shot was turned away and cleared.

Zach Boychuk found Tim Wallace on the ensuing possession and Wallace beat Magnus Hellberg short side from the bottom of the left circle.

The Admirals finished the period with a season-low two shots.

The shots came for the Admirals in the third, but Justin Peters stopped all ten he faced. At 11:45, Justin Faulk gave Charlotte a 3-1 lead to finish the scoring.

Hellberg lost his first AHL game in his second consecutive start to drop to 4-1. For the first time this season, his offense couldn’t get him at least three goals in support.

The Admirals didn’t do any more damage on the power play despite snapping the scoreless streak, but they again killed off three penalties.

On the bright side Milwaukee finished its three-game road trip, and will play 11 of its next 13 games at the Bradley Center. The stand starts Friday, as the IceHogs make their first trip to Milwaukee.

Without a doubt, the Ads want to give them a very rude welcome.

The Ads got out to a big lead against the Checkers Sunday, and this time they closed it out, pulling off a 5-2 victory with relative ease.

Milwaukee never trailed as Patrick Cehlin and Gabriel Bourque scored just under two minutes apart early in the first period. MVG and a still scorching Austin Watson gave the Ads a 4-1 advantage in the second, and Bourque added another goal midway through the third to round out a more than satisfying offensive output.

As he’s done in each game he’s started so far, Magnus Hellberg benefited from plenty of scoring support and put together one of his better nights in net stopping 26 shots.

The second goal scored against Hellberg came from a sloppy clearing attempt by the big goalie, but it proved to be harmless thanks to the late four-goal lead.

Milwaukee was equally sound on defense, forcing some big turnovers that led to both of Bourque’s goals.

Luckily the Admirals didn’t need much help from their struggling power play unit as they failed to score five times with the man advantage. The penalty kill got back to form on the flip side, killing off three scattered penalties.

Michael Latta had a big night with three assists as he was on the ice for four of the goals scored. So far he’s proven to be a pretty good facilitator this year when he’s not in the penalty box.

Cam Reid continued to impress with a beautiful no-look backhand pass through three defenders that set up Watson’s one-timer.

Milwaukee will take on Charlotte again on Tuesday, and while it’s tough to beat the same team twice in a row in any sport, the Ads will hope to carry momentum into their third and final game of the road trip.

Milwaukee found itself with a third period lead for the second game in a row, and for the second game in a row it gave it up.

The game was a lot higher scoring this time. It was a 3-1 advantage rather than 1-0, but especially in Rockford, which has been a veritable hell hole for the Ads in the past, no lead is safe.

After everyone’s favorite Hog, Rob Flick, opened the scoring 9:13 into the game, the Admirals responded with three goals in less than five minutes in the second period. Latta, then Bourque then Bartley shelled Carter Hutton in rapid succession.

But that wouldn’t be the most impressive offensive onslaught.

Rockford went on to score four unanswered during the games’ final fourteen minutes. Much to Coach Dean Evason’s dismay I’m sure, the lead-narrower and game-tyer were power play goals.

Milwaukee gave up four penalties (a high number for the Ads based on their play of late) and only got one chance with the man advantage.

So you could say again that while the Ads continued to play solid five-on-five hockey, its the special teams that are continuing to hurt this team.

Or it was just another rough outing for the boys in Rockford.

Either way, letting teams back into games with penalties (no matter how questionable they may be) is a trend the Ads need to avoid going forward.

Questions:

I’ve given my two cents, but why do you think the Ads have given up two straight third period leads?

Word of advice: DO NOT PANIC! Again we’ve still got a lot of hockey left and there are teams that would love to be where Milwaukee is right now…

Milwaukee saw its recent hot streak flame out as Colton Sceviour scored in overtime to rally the visiting Texas Stars to a 2-1 win.

After a scoreless first period, Austin Watson, who’s been on a tear of late, gave the Ads the lead 2:17 after the break. Watson blasted a shot on net from the right wall, but as Christopher Nilstorp reached out to glove it, the puck trickled away from him. Daniel Bang handled it in front and fed it back to Watson and he was able to bank it in off Nilstorp’s left side.

Defensively the Admirals played sound hockey with good nights out of Jon Blum, Ryan Ellis and Victor Bartley and late in the third Milwaukee had killed off both penalties they’d surrendered. Then came a too many men on the ice penalty that frustrated coach Dean Evason.

It led to a goal by Cody Eakin with 6:25 left in regulation that tied the game up. A Matt Fraser shot bounced off Jeremy Smith’s chest and high over the heads of Blum and Scott Valentine who both tried to whack it down the ice in mid-air.

Instead the puck bounced to Eakin who beat a surprised Smitty.

In overtime, Tomas Vincour took a slapper from near the blue line that Smith couldn’t freeze as the rebound bounced right to a waiting Sceviour who put it past him.

Evason didn’t mince words describing the game-winner and his goalie’s night overall.

Evason also talked about his frustration with the too many men penalty that led to the game-tying goal and his disappointment with his team’s special teams play.

After Friday’s win over Chicago, Evason had talked about how much the power play was missing Taylor Beck and though it was good to see Beck back on the ice for the Admirals, Evason reaffirmed that he wasn’t back to form.

Some positives:

It’s still early and the division and conference have shown a lot of parity as Evason was quick to point out.

As far as individuals go, Coach was impressed with how Watson and Bang continued to create together, and with the play of Cam Reid.

Injury notes:

Evason said Ben Ryan is out with an “upper body injury” but is expected back soon. The same can’t be said on captain Mike Moore’s status on which Evason has “no idea.”

Questions:

So now that Beck is back and the power play didn’t seem to get much better tonight, how do you think the Ads should make it better?

What was your verdict on Smitty tonight? Do you credit those goals to his defense, him or some other mythical force at work?

Who impressed you the most tonight? Keep in mind up until those two errors, the Admirals had played a very disciplined game particularly defensively.

Hey it was a tough loss, but don’t forget that Christmas is right around the corner. And when you think hockey and Christmas nothing brings a smile quite like this.

Up until the last 90 seconds, the Admirals had a frustrating Friday night against their Amtrak Rivalry foes.

Then in the words of Ron Burgundy things really escalated quickly.

The two teams came in with nearly identical records, Milwaukee at 8-8-1-1 and Chicago at 8-7-2-1.

With Eddie Lack on the bench, Matt Climie played most of the game better than his .896 save percentage suggested stopping 30 of Milwaukee’s 31 shots up to the last two minutes.

Chicago struck 2:21 into the game when Jordan Schroeder led Bill Sweatt on a 2-on-1 and Sweatt to beat Jeremy Smith.

The Ads tied it up when Jani Lajunen took the puck on a 3-on-2 and hit Victor Bartley who put it between Climie’s stick and right pad with a scorching slapper at 15:17 of the period.

After a scoreless second, both teams whiffed on early opportunities to go up in the third.

Ben Ryan had an open net on a wraparound but the puck got stuck in the netting right behind the right post and a sprawling Climie was able to grab and freeze it at 17:24.

With about 7 minutes left, Zack Kassian pulled off a slick move that got Smitty down on his pads, but he whiffed his shot over the goalie’s head and off the crossbar.

With 5:30 left in the game, it seemed like the Wolves had locked up the tightly contested battle.

Joonas Jarvinen committed his second penalty of the night (and just the second penalty for the Admirals as a team) giving the Wolves a power play on a roughing call.

Kevin Connauton took a slapper from just south of the blue line, Smitty gave up a fat rebound and Darren Archibald put it right past him.

Chris Mueller almost hit Patrick Cehlin from behind the net with 1:44 left, but Climie gloved it against the ice to cut off the pass and froze it. The Ads went on the aggressive when Coach Dean Evason then called a time out pulled Smith for the extra attacker.

It paid off with 1:25 left to go when Austin Watson worked the puck free from a mad scramble to Climie’s left, Gabriel Bourque scooped it up and fired it through the confusion to beat the Wolves goalie, knotting the score at two goals a piece.

Riding high on adrenaline and momentum in the final seconds, Mueller won a faceoff cleanly, skated to his left and tipped home a shot from Jonathon Blum to give Milwaukee a 3-2 advantage with just 19.1 remaining.

Evason was thrilled with the finish after feeling his team had played well enough to at least reach the extra period.

The win keeps the Admirals hot in division play after they ended Grand Rapid’s eight-game winning streak last Sunday.

Despite playing disciplined hockey yet again, the Admirals finished 0-for-4 with the man advantage and have had their struggles on the power play which Evason puts mostly on the absence of one key offensive piece.

More Notes:

The scratch of Jack MacLellan tonight was a healthy one.

Evason also cleared up the goalie swap with Cincinatti, easing those concerned with Magnus Hellberg’s future.

Questions:

How does it feel to go up 3-1 early in the Amtrak Rivalry? Do you think the Admirals might have Chicago’s number this season, or are we in for a back-and-forth fight?

Who stuck out as an unsung hero tonight? Plenty of candidates. Blum seemed to get the puck a lot and handled it well. Watson continued to create offense. Latta was pretty active around the net and had a nice hit with Jarvinen.

What do you think of coach giving Hellberg the chance to start in some back-to-back action? Should it be read into perhaps?

The Admirals got to see both sides of the shootout round over the course of two days last weekend as they picked up three points of a possible four.

Milwaukee lost a head-scratcher to Peoria Friday night after it seemed like they’d rallied for a regulation victory.

The Rivermen took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission thanks to goals from Jaden Schwartz and Sergey Andronov, but Michael Latta cut the deficit in half in the second period.

Joonas Jarvinen tied the game 4:21 into the third period, but a few minutes later Evgeny Grachev answered.

Later in the period, the Admirals took the lead in rapid fashion. Mark Van Guilder tied thing up again at 12:28 and Austin Watson put Milwaukee up 30 seconds later.

But with just 41 seconds left in regulation, with Peoria goalie Mike McKenna on the bench, Ian Cole put one past Jeremy Smith to knot the score yet again.

The Admirals didn’t score in the shootout, while Peoria escaped with a win on goals by Schwartz and T.J. Hensick.

Saturday night, it was Milwaukee that forced extra time in the third period.

After Watson and Daniel Bang gave the Admirals a 2-1 lead, Chicago found itself in front in the third period as Jordan Schroeder and Zack Kassian scored unanswered goals.

With 2:43 left in the game, Watson continued his hot streak, forcing overtime.

Watson wasn’t done, putting the Admirals up early in the shootout, but neither was Kassian as his do-or-die goal kept the Wolves alive.

After Magnus Hellberg turned Bill Sweatt away, and Jonathon Blum put one past Eddie Lack, Hellberg stoned Anton Rodin to seal an Ads victory.

After losing three straight heading into the weekend, Milwaukee got back on track thanks to some big individual performances.

Watson had a monster weekend with three goals and one shootout goal to go with an assist. Speaking of assists, Ryan Ellis picked up one in each game in his long-awaited return and was active on offense with 8 shots.

Both Admirals goalies found themselves in similar spots, and it was Hellberg who stood tall, literally, in the shootout round. While Hellberg is 4-0 officially, it remains a mystery why the team hasn’t been as successful in Smitty’s 14 starts in net.

The Admirals played the kind of incredibly disciplined hockey that coach Dean Evason looks for each night, giving their opponents just one power play chance in each game. However, Milwaukee went 0 for 6 on the man-advantage.

The Admirals will complete a three-in-three tomorrow with a trip to Grand Rapids, and then some much needed rest before hosting Chicago Friday.

Milwaukee got its look at the vaunted Oklahoma City Barons in back-to-back Friday and Saturday night action.

The Barons were as good as advertised defeating Milwaukee 2-1 in overtime on Friday and flexing their offensive muscles in Saturday’s 5-2 win.

The Admirals seemed to be riding their recent hot streak high in the first game, taking OKC down to the wire. The Admirals scored first when Austin Watson got a nice feed from Gabriel Bourque (great to finally see him back).

But despite putting 43 shots on Yann Danis, the goalie was solid and kept Milwaukee off the board for the rest of the contest.

Danis ended the weekend stopping 77 shots and only allowing three goals.

 

Former University of Wisconsin talent Justin Schultz was an Admirals killer all weekend. He assisted on both Taylor Fedun’s equalizer and Marc Arcobello’s game-winner 3:18 into the extra period Friday.

After the Admirals got the early lead again on Saturday when Daniel Bang scored his second of the year, Schultz tied the game later in the first period.

The real stars of Saturday were OKC’s more famous NHL talents. Taylor Hall assisted Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ goal with 48 seconds left in the first period to put the Barons up for good.

Hall assisted RNH again on an empty netter with 53 seconds left in the game that put OKC up 5-2.

Things got chippy early in the second game with both teams combining for 60 minutes of penalties in the first period, 20 of those minutes coming from a continued altercation between Milwaukee call-up Charles-Oliver Roussel and Dane Byers.

The Admirals’ penalty kill wasn’t up to its high standards as two of OKC’s three power play opportunities resulted in goals. Milwaukee meanwhile couldn’t capitalize on the three man-advantages it received.

Maybe the worst sight of the weekend, however, was Taylor Beck laying motionless on the ice Friday night. Beck, who’s been one of the Admiral’s top producers, crashed headfirst into the boards in the third period and was carried off in a stretcher. Fortunately he displayed hand motions and was talking to his teammates after the game. It’s not known how much time Beck will miss with the injury.

The Admirals will hope to get their offense back on track heading to Rosemont to take on the Wolves. After starting the rivalry off with a 7-4 blowout win at home, part two comes with the Admirals in need of a big rebound.