(Photo credit to the illusive raptor Scott Paulus)

The Admirals won 4-1 against the Grand Rapids Griffins Thursday night. An explosive second period put the Ads up and over the AHL Western Conference’s top team. Goals by Taylor Beck, Colton Sissons, Miikka Salomaki, and Kevin Henderson provided the backbone to one of the most impressive performances –start to finish- that the Ads have produced all season.

“We’ve talked a lot, since I got here last year, about are teams being very similar,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game. “If we can compare ourselves to the Calder Cup champions obviously it’s a good thing. I think we play the same way.”

The first period was scoreless and saw the Griffins outshoot the Ads 12-7. Yet, I felt the majority of quality scoring chances came from the Ads. Their opening power-play chance, particularly the first line of that unit, was teeing up some great looks for shots to the net. The best chance in that exchange came with an Austin Watson shot from the slot in-tight. The chances were there. Credit simply has to be given to the Griffins who blocked shots on goal through the opening period.

In the second period things went nuclear. The Ads tallied for three goals in the opening eight-minutes of the period and, in my book, put together one of the most complete periods of the season.

Taylor Beck picked up the opening goal through a deflection. The play cycled from the point where Simon Moser passed over to the left side of defense to Joe Piskula. The rising shot to the net by Piskula deflected off of Beck – who was standing just to the side of Tom McCollum’s net. The goal for Beck is his eighth of the season.

Next came the frenzy. Adam Almquist of the Griffins was called for hooking on a strong drive to the by Mark Van Guilder. Then Ads coughed up a shorthanded breakaway only to have Miikka Salomaki get called for tripping – quite lucky to avoid a call for a shorthanded penalty shot.

The Ads responded quickly to the four-on-four challenge with a beautiful one-touch goal from Colton Sissons. Joonas Jarvinen waited patiently for a shooting or passing lane to open up from the blueline. What he found was Sissons right on the backdoor of McCollum’s glove side. Jarvinen zipped the pass along the ice. Sissons smacked it through for a four-a-side goal. That’s goal number eleven already for Sissons.

Just as time expired on the Griffins penalty against Almquist, Austin Watson was able to take the puck en route to a shorthanded breakaway of his own. Watson had from the blueline in to work with and went forehand to backhand – denied by a blocker save from McCollum.

The penalty against Salomaki ended to finally make it even strength. I don’t think the Griffins were particularly aware of that though because Salomaki went on a breakaway fresh out of the box. The pass from Henderson put him clear through by miles. He pulled Watson’s move to the opposite side, forehand-backhand, and beat McCollum’s glove for his seventh goal of the season.

“I just flicked it up as high as I could in our zone and [Miikka Salomaki] was fortunate enough to get it,” commented Kevin Henderson of his assist on Salomaki’s goal. “It wasn’t a tic-tac-toe play. I didn’t really mean to do it, but I was fortunate he was right there. The timing worked out really well.”

Just as it looked like the Griffins were playing to escape the period, having conceded three goals and burned a timeout with little impact off of it, they picked up a rocket of a goal. Cory Emmerton won an offensive zone face off for the Griffins and the puck fell back to Teemu Pulkkinen who immediately blasted it top shelf. The quick shot semed to fool Scott Darling – and I haven’t caught that side of him much since he was called up from Cincinnati.

The three goal lead for the Ads was restored quickly in the third period after Kevin Henderson scored his third goal of the season. Just 1:56 into the final period of regulation, Watson fired a shot off McCollum that dropped to Henderson who fired at it the moment it fell to him. That goal ended the night in net for McCollum who gave way to Jared Coreau. The goal for Henderson was his first scored in seven games.

The game finished with the 4-1 scoreline and chalk up another win for Scott Darling who has started in six games this month and won five of them. He has stopped ninety-seven of ninety-nine shots on goal in his last three games. His stat line in the month of December should get some recognition from the AHL… or at least it should: 5-1-0-0, 1.34 GAA, 0.957 SV%, and one shutout.

“[Darling] has skill,” smiled Evason. “He’s calm back there. He handles the puck extremely well. He has confidence. I think as important his teammates have a lot of confidence in him. Certainly, when your group can have confidence in both goaltenders, it’s obviously a very positive thing.”

Ads reload and play again tomorrow with the Charlotte Checkers. That means going from playing the best in the West to the thirteenth. If you’re feeling giddy right now it is completely normal.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Who impressed you the most in this one? What did the Ads do right tonight that they didn’t do in Grand Rapids two weeks ago? How do you see the Ads goaltending situation right now?

The Admirals lost 2-1 in overtime against the Chicago Wolves Sunday evening. There were plenty of shots mustered up in this one, 37-25 in favor of the Wolves, but the goaltending and defenses made this a tight contest. The Wolves scored the opener from a deflection. Taylor Beck answered on the power-play. Sadly, the Wolves jumped right to it twenty-seven seconds into OT to secure a win heading into the Christmas break.

The opening period was all Wolves. Fortunately for the Admirals no damage was done in a frame where they were outshot 15-7. Minimal quality chances were created by the Ads. The best effort came in the dying seconds when Colton Sissons had a shorthanded breakaway get shutdown by Wolves netminder Matt Climie.

After controlling the first and the opening minutes of the second, Chicago finally broke the scoreless draw after a deflection by Mark Mancari. Pat Cannone started the play off by skating in from the right wing wall and into the slot. From that position his snapped a low wrist shot that connected off of Mancari to beat Magnus Hellberg.

The Ads then took to the power-play after an interference call against Cade Fairchild. Taylor Beck, off the puck, moved towards the blue line and was picked out perfectly by Bryan Rodney from all the way in the Ads defensive zone. Beck caught the pass on his backhand, circled in on the net from the right faceoff circle, and beat Climie with a low shot to the stick-side for a power-play goal. That’s Beck’s seventh goal of the season and fourth scored on the power-play.

This game remained tight through the entirety of the third period and pushed its way into overtime. Unfortunately, just twenty-seven seconds into OT, the Wolves were able to squeeze a puck past Hellberg for the win. The veteran Keith Aucoin was able to skate in from the left wing, take a check from Joonas Jarvinen, and was played in front of the net by Alexandre Bolduc for a close range shot – and the game-winning goal.

In terms of the OT defeat, this ends a decent run put together at the start of the weekend. The Wolves were probably deserving of the win tonight with the amount of shots and chances established. Magnus Hellberg, who made his first start in over a week, played well tonight – stopping thirty-five of thirty-seven shots – and really played smooth in net in the pressure packed opening first period for the Ads. Might have wanted to be greedy and take all points tonight against the Wolves. Long term outlook though, this was a strong weekend for the team and a good response after last weekend’s Grand Rapids road trip.

Thoughts on today’s game? What happened to Filip Forsberg after his fiery return to game-action? Is Taylor Beck back to the form that got him to the NHL last season? Was this a good return to the net for Magnus Hellberg in your eyes – or would you judge him on not getting the wins right now?

The Admirals picked up a 3-1 win on the road against the Rockford IceHogs Saturday night. Despite conceding the opening goal of the IceHogs, another strong performance for the second consecutive night in net by Scott Darling – along with three unanswered goals – meant the Ads were able to pick up some valuable points on the road against a division rival. The men doing the damage on goal tonight were Miikka Salomaki, Scott Ford, and Simon Moser. Again, those goals all came without reply. Tip that cap to Mr. Darling.

Rockford was able to open the scoring up after a tripping call against Mark Van Guilder. The shot from the point by Brett Skinner was blocked in front of Scott Darling by d-man Joonas Jarvinen. Before anyone could react against the downed puck off Jarvinen – Joakim Nordstrom was able to direct the puck by Darling to make it 1-0.

The second period saw its share of shots: fifteen shots for the Ads and thirteen shots for the IceHogs in the frame. Both goalies were really sharp to open of the game. IceHogs’ Kent Simpson in particular looked locked in through two-periods.

With just fifty-seconds remaining in the second period the Ads finally managed to get a pick behind Simpson to level the game at 1-1. Colton Sissons was able to fire a shot on net – to which Simpson tried pushing it into an open corner. That “open corner” was occupied by Miikka Salomaki who tagged the puck for his sixth goal of the season.

With the start of the third period the Ads immediately carried on. Scott Ford scored his second goal of the season in the opening minute of the period to give the Ads a quick 2-1 lead. There was a great screen in front of Simpson by Van Guilder and Ford was able to wire his shot through traffic to give the Ads their second goal in 1:42 of ice time.

After the Ford goal, the third period saw lots of penalties taken at inopportune times for both the Ads and IceHogs. As a results there were plenty of power-play chances that ended just about as they started, four-on-four hockey, an abbreviated power-play, and repeat.

That’s where the nail in the coffin comes in.

With just thirty-five seconds of an abbreviated power-play coming – the Ads quickly raced up ice and delivered with a goal. Austin Watson managed to power his way towards goal and set up Simon Moser for his fifth goal of the season – and first since 11/22 vs. CHI.

The game went into cruise control from there. It was yet another victorious thirty-four save performance in net for Scott Darling. It might have been a bit of a surprise to see Darling get tipped for tonight’s game over Magnus Hellberg, but I think last night’s effort for him begged for two-games out of this weekend’s three-in-three. Darling repays the team with his fifth win of the season – and continues to play great in net for the Ads.

Other notes for this game: Anthony Bitetto was absent from this game due to an illness. It isn’t clear if he will come back and play in tomorrow’s game or not. That should be made clearer closer to the pre-game skate. Also absent were Patrick Cehlin, Mike Liambas, and Joonas Rask. Cehlin hasn’t played since the start of November – and isn’t expected back anytime soon. Mike Liambas was dinged up in the rough and tumble series against Grand Rapids. The expectation is for him to also be absent for tomorrow’s game. Rask missed his first game of the season after sustaining a nasty hit from Steve Pinizzotto last night against the Rampage. No word on the longevity of his absence, but he missed his first game of the year as a result of that boarding call in last night’s home game.

That meant, for as stacked as camp looked yesterday, the team was actually just able to squeeze out a lineup tonight. Unfortunately, Scott Valentine appeared to pick up an injury to his left leg or foot in the middle of tonight’s game when crashing into the boards. He did not return and its unknown what that could mean as far as tomorrow’s game in Chicago is concerned. Perhaps chicken noodle soup is in order for Bitetto to fill in Valentine’s spot.

Thoughts on tonight’s win? How about this Darling kid? Despite injuries, does a result like this make you feel comfortable about the team’s depth? What can we expect from the Ads tomorrow against the Amtrak Rivals?

(Photo credit to Scott Paulus)

The Admirals posted a 4-0 shutout over the San Antonio Rampage Friday night. It was a 34-save shutout from Scott Darling for his second shutout and fourth win of the season. The headline into this game, Filip Forsberg, also made a massive splash in his first return to game action in over a month. Forsberg scored two power-play goals en route to a highly successful night for the Ads as a group.

“[Filip Forsberg] is such a gifted goal scorer,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “Obviously we’ve struggled a little bit to score some goals here. Certainly in our last two games. Our power-play was 0/9 in our last game. To have a goal scorer, a pure pure goal scorer, inserted into your lineup – an NHL goal scorer to boot – injects a lot of life into your group.”

Taylor Beck scored his sixth goal of the season to open this game up in the first period. Beck played off the near wall on a two-on-one opportunity with Simon Moser on the left wing and Rampage d-man John Lee between them. Beck maintained a shooting posture, stuttered a bit, and fired high glove against netminder Michael Houser for a silky smooth finish on the goal.

After a questionable hit from Mathieu Tousignant on Steve Pinizzotto, the two decided it best to have at one-another in the corner. It was somewhat more of a tussle than a fight. Some good punches thrown. Not sure if any exactly landed, but Pinizzotto skated off the victory of that exchange in my book.

San Antonio did manage to light the lamp – if only momentarily. The Rampage ransacked the net, running into Scott Darling in goal, and saw their goal –not only disallowed– but sent Eric Selleck to the box for goaltender interference.

The Ads capitalized off of the Selleck penalty with one heck of a goal by newbie Vinny Saponari. The twenty-three year old winger powered in from the left wing wall, held off a defender, and stickhandled his way toward goal and right past Houser in net.

“Great hands,” said Evason of Vinny Saponari. “He’s making plays, he’s scoring, but as importantly he’s not turning any pucks over. He’s getting pucks out on the wall. Making good decisions. Making good passes. Not only offensively but defensively to exit out of our zone. We’ve liked his entire game so far.”

Instantly off of that goal we were given an early fight of the season candidate. Scott Ford went toe-to-toe with the “goaltending interference” miscreant Selleck and the two hammered each other with some bombs. Give the win to Ford – and get ready for YouTube.

The Ads power-play, which struggled big time against Grand Rapids last weekend, was at it yet again to put an exclamation mark on the second period. This time it was Filip Forsberg who answered – marking his return to game action with a power-play goal. The Swede was stationed on the left wall primed to shoot during his shifts on the power-play. This goal was a solid wrist shot that would end Houser’s night in net and force Rob Madore into the game for the Rampage.

“It felt pretty good actually,” said Filip Forsberg on playing his first game since mid-November. “The first period was pretty tired. I was feeling like legs were pretty tired, but during the game I felt better and better. So it was a pretty good game.”

The Ads smacked in their third power-play goal of the night in the third period in similar fashion. Forsberg was laying in wait on the left wall. Austin Watson teed him up perfectly with a crafty toe-drag pass. BOOM, with a one-timer for Forsberg on a slap shot. It was 4-0 Admirals – and would stay 4-0 Admirals.

“Last time I was here we had a power-play goal and we just picked up where we ended,” said Forsberg. “First, [Salomaki] had a good feed and I put it in. Then a nice empty net pass by [Watson] – so that was pretty easy. Two pretty easy goals and nice play by the boys.”

How about a hand for Scott Darling in this game? As much as the spotlight can be shined on Forsberg, for good reason, Darling delivered yet another composed and no nonsense game in net. It seems, the more I watch Darling, his method is the “Keep It Simple, Stupid” approach. Either that or he makes plays in net just seem that calm. He doesn’t let the puck spill out very often. He’s great at stopping the run of play when it really needs to. And –when he does allow goals– he isn’t allowing bad ones. It takes a lot to fool him in net. Can’t say it enough: strength in depth. This organization has lots of big sized goalies that can play very good hockey. Darling is just becoming another example of that the more he gets the call to play.

“I have to credit the team,” said Scott Darling on his second shutout of the season. “It’s just nice. Any win is a good win. Guys blocked shots. Kept most of the shots to the outside. Didn’t really have too many scoring chances. It was a team effort.”

Thoughts on tonight’s game? What did you make of Filip Forsberg’s game tonight? What are your impressions of Scott Darling through eight starts in net? Should Darling get more games or are the Ads sharing the net well?