The Admirals won 4-1 against the Chicago Wolves Saturday night. Austin Watson was front and center in this installment of the Amtrak Rivalry. He scored the teddy bear toss goal and scored two more to get the hats flying in the Admirals first regulation win against the Wolves this season

Jonathan Diaby recorded his first fight as a pro hockey player tonight. He squared up with recent Wolves signing Yannick Veilleux. It wasn’t a lengthy bout. Not nearly as exciting as you would have hoped the big man Diaby’s first fight would have been. Still, he and Veilleux did each other a favor with this one. I’m certain both are trying to make a quick impression.

The first period finished with a flurry of open ice activity. Filip Forsberg was turned loose on a breakaway against Wolves netminder Matt Climie. The shot was pushed wide but, shortly after the clearance, Austin Watson and Forsberg raced right back in on a two-on-one. Watson’s shot whipped past Climie. The first period shots, despite the late action, were only 7-6 in the Admirals favor.

After a high sticking call from Chris Chelios’ kid against Simon Moser – Austin Watson’s power-play goal gave the Admirals the opener. Vinny Saponari passed down towards the left wing side of the net to Patrick Cehlin – who quickly stepped up – passed acorss Climie – and found a one-time shot by Watson who scored for his nineteenth goal of the season. It wasn’t just a power-play goal. It was the teddy bear toss goal! Great turnout from the Milwaukee fans in that respect.

Excitement levels jacked up following some Finn on Finn crime. Jani Hakanpaa was given a boarding minor as he hit Joonas Rask behind Climie’s cage. We then saw a shorthanded goal and power-play goal scored thirty-six seconds apart from one another.

The Wolves shorthanded goal was scored, for all intensive purposes, from a two-on-zero break by the Wolves. Nathan Longpre pushed a puck over to Christian Hanson and he beat Marek Mazanec to tie the game. It is the Wolves fourth shorthanded goal of the season. They have twice as many shorthanded goals against Milwaukee as they do power-play goals.

Only thirty-six seconds later Watson scored his second power-play goal of the game. The play was incredibly similar to the first Watson goal: Saponari to Cehlin to a one-timer from Watson – same spots on the ice.

The Watson show wouldn’t end there either. He scored his twenty-first goal of the season to complete his hat trick to finish off the second period. Taylor Chorney’s clearance attempt hit Watson square in front of the net. The Michigan native gathered himself and flipped a wrister past Climie for his first professional hat trick – each goal scored from the power-play – and the Admirals first hat trick since Watson’s former linemate Juuso Puustinen did it last season against the Oklahoma City Barons on 1/25/13.

The Admirals scored their fourth goal of the game just moments after a another power-play chance expired. This time it was Miikka Salomaki doing the damage as he smashed in a skipping puck that trickled between two Wolves defensemen. It goes down as Salomaki’s nineteenth goal of the season.

Mazanec continued to perform big time in net for the Admirals. If not for Watson’s hat trick he would have easily been tonight’s first star. He stopped twenty-eight of twenty-nine shots on goal – including numerous breakaway chances by the Wolves. This is the first time since the opening five-game winning streak in which Mazanec has won three straight games.

Ramblings: Tonight’s scratches included Scott Ford, Mikko Vainonen, Mike Liambas, Scott Valentine, Kirill Gotovets, Mark Van Guilder, and Francis Wathier. Of the players listed as scratches tonight – only Vainonen participated in the pre-game skate. Teddy Bear Toss Total, 1,195 teddies.

The Admirals won 4-1 against the Rockford IceHogs Friday night. With the victory the Ads have officially clinched a playoff spot for the twelfth consecutive season.

The Admirals scored the opener tonight just seven seconds into a power-play. Klas Dahlbeck flipped a puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty. After Colton Sissons won the draw, the puck circulated down by the net to Miikka Salomaki who was all alone by netminder Jason LaBarbera. Salomaki passed across the veteran goalie to Filip Forsberg on the left wing who scored on a one-timer for his thirteenth goal of the season.

We then had a fight of the year candidate as far as the Admirals are concerned. This whole situation was a spillover from an earlier incident in which Francis Wathier hit d-man Adam Clendening into the boards at an awkward angle. Wathier didn’t get called for any penalty from the play – but that didn’t stop Brandon Mashinter from wanting to drop the gloves with him. The two landed big time right handed bombs and resulted in Mashinter getting really bloodied by Wathier. You can give the win to Wathier in your fight cards.

With just over a minute remaining in the second period the Admirals extended their lead to 2-0. Wathier was skating down the right wing and fired a puck through the net front traffic to Taylor Beck. The eventual shot by Beck was deflected in by Austin Watson who was racing in on LaBarbera. The goal went under review before officially being counted as Watson’s eighteenth goal of the season.

As the third period neared the halfway point Teuvo Teravainen marked his AHL debut with a goal courtesy of Scott Valentine. With the puck behind Marek Mazanec’s net, Valentine passed the puck out into the slot if he thought Scott Ford was there. He wasn’t – but Teravainen was for a quickfire goal to make it a one-goal game.

Valentine went from lowlight to highlight in the space of five minutes. After his blunder in his own defensive end – Valentine scored his second goal of the season to restore the Admirals two-goal lead. He received a feed from Simon Moser, entered from the right wing, and whipped a wrister over the blocker of LaBarbera to make it a 3-1 game.

The Admirals sealed this one with a long range empty netter by Colton Sissons for his twenty-sixth goal of the season. The game ended 4-1 and the Admirals officially punched their ticket into the 2014 AHL Calder Cup Playoffs. It is the Admirals twelfth consecutive season of playoff hockey.

Mazanec, who may have been unfortunate not to earn his first AHL shutout tonight, was named the first star of this game. He stopped twenty-five of twenty-six shots faced tonight. It goes down as his sixteenth win of the season and, after so many two or more goals allowed performances, he has picked up back-to-back games of one goal hockey. He’s starting to get fired up at the right time.

Ramblings: Simon Moser made his return to the lineup tonight after missing fourteen games with a left shoulder injury sustained on 3/7/14 against these very same IceHogs. Defensemen Scott Ford and Scott Valentine also returned tonight having missed Tuesday’s game in Milwaukee.

The Admirals won 3-1 against the Rockford IceHogs Tuesday night. The Ads moved one step closer to punching their ticket into the 2014 Calder Cup playoffs on the strength of a penalty kill unit that was a perfect six for six tonight. Colton Sissons also made his mark in his return from Nashville with a power-play goal that finished off the scoring in tonight’s game.

“I felt like we were kind of hanging on there for a long time,” said Sissons. “We obviously had some calls that we didn’t exactly like but we also took some silly penalties. It’s tough. It wears you down – mentally and physically. We were hanging on there and we needed a goal to separate ourselves a little bit. I was fortunate enough to find the back door and [Taylor Beck] found me.”

It took just eleven seconds in this game before we saw Milwaukee Admirals history. Mike Liambas took a slashing penalty shortly after the opening draw. This gave him an Admirals AHL record for most penalty minutes in a single season with 267. The previous record was 266 penalty minutes by Jordin Tootoo during the 2004-05 season.

Unfortunately for Liambas he did not return to the game following his penalty. He appeared to awkwardly finish off a check as the delayed penalty was on at the start of the game. It was unclear as to what he may have injured – but the Admirals played a forward short for effectively the entire game.

The Ads picked up the opening goal with under two minutes remaining in the first period. Francis Wathier was skating down the right wing and dropped a puck off behind him for Mathieu Tousignant. With Wathier still up ice – it gave Tousignant the space to fake a shot, move towards the slot, and slide the puck underneath Jason LaBarbera for his seventh goal of the season.

“I don’t know what else you can say about that guy,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason of Tousignant. “He’s a hockey player. That’s what you have to say about him. Yes, he gets under people’s skin but he kills penalties for us, scores goals for us, scores shootouts. He just plays the game. He doesn’t care where he plays – he just wants to play hockey. That’s pretty refreshing.”

In the second period Bryan Rodney scored an outstanding goal for his fifth of the season. The veteran puck moving d-man faked out two IceHogs with two fake wind ups on a slap shot, moved in on goal, and finally let that slapper loose to beat LaBarbera to make it 2-0 Admirals. The primary assist on the play went to Jonathan Diaby – who was making his professional hockey debut tonight.

Marek Mazanec lost his shutout bid in the third period following a goal from Mark McNeill. Pat Mullane made a wrap-around move, left wing to right wing, and passed out in front to Stephen Johns. The blueliner fired to the net and the luck was redirected by McNeill for his eighteenth goal of the season.

With the IceHogs continuing to buzz around the Admirals defensive zone – Brad Mills was given an interference minor that the Ads quickly turned into a power-play goal. Colton Sissons, fresh from his one month stay with the Nashville Predators, scored his twenty-fifth goal of the season after a great pass by Taylor Beck picked him out in the low left wing circle. It was a tight shooting angle but, with the pass from Beck, Sissons had the time to catch, measure, and beat LaBarbera to re-establish the Ads two-goal lead.

The game would end by the scoreline of 3-1. It is only the second time this season that Mazanec has accomplished that feat in net. He stopped twenty-six of twenty-seven shots on goal and was quite possibly the team’s best penalty killer tonight. The Admirals kill unit was a perfect six-for-six in tonight’s victory.

“We thought we held our composure,” said Evason. “Some of the penalties are our responsibility. It was a tough game for the penalty kill and they came through.”

Ramblings: Jonathan Diaby made his professional debut tonight. He recently finished up his junior career with the Victoriaville Tigres of the QMJHL. Tonight’s unhealthy scratches included: Mark Van Guilder, Simon Moser, Scott Ford, and Scott Valentine. The healthy scratches consisted of: Joe Pendenza, Mikko Vainonen, and Kirill Gotovets. Celebrity Corbin Bernsen took a massive airborne spill during the second intermission. He was attempting to throw a puck into the net baseball style and lost his footing. He appeared on the jumbotron, bandage on the back of his head, near the end of the game. Still not sure what he was thinking – but he seemed to still be having fun regardless.

Thoughts on tonight’s win? What impressed you the most from tonight’s game? What was Corbin Bernsen thinking?