Author: Daniel Lavender

Chatterbox December 13, 2016

Chatterbox, Vol. 161

Unlike the previous game for the Milwaukee Admirals I don’t exactly want to sit and stew over what happened. Their back-and-forth contest against the San Antonio Rampage that ended in a 5-4 win is something that deserves to be written in the moment. It was a pretty smooth sailing game as far as the first two periods were concerned. Then that third period turned up and it turned into the hockey version of the upside-down from Stranger Things. That’s the short way to view it. Let’s really acknowledge that third period.

When the third period started the Admirals had a 3-1 lead. They were up in shots on goal by a comfortable 22-14 margin. And the Rampage didn’t seem to be finding many quality scoring chances. Annoyingly, that is still said with yet another saga in the Admirals penalty taking rodeo that occurred. The Admirals had four penalty kills in the second period. One of them they managed to get a delayed penalty called and work the puck around long enough with the extra attacker on that they created a shorthanded goal for Pontus Åberg. That play was pretty spectacular given Åberg pretty much started the play from behind the vacated net to start a rush that he’d finish after three passes up ice.

I suppose the true writing on the wall for just how insane the third period was about to be was when Jonathan Diaby scored his first career AHL goal. Diaby unloaded a cannon of a slap shot. He used all of that massive and wiry 6’6″ frame of his to unleash a shot Kent Simpson was never stopping. Diaby did that. No, really, Diaby did that. His first AHL goal in the seventieth game of his AHL career. That’s the same Diaby who in previous seasons was being outscored by goaltenders in points by season’s end. You could have started to buy a lottery ticket and it wouldn’t have shocked me in the slightest if that happened and the Cleveland Browns were on Monday Night Football last night and earned a win to boot. We -at that moment- had reached the upside-down.

All of that sounds brutal. I get it. But let me paint you a much better image for you of that special moment for Diaby last night and why it felt so surreal to see. Diaby since arriving from Victoriaville at the end of the 2013-14 season has really just been a big bodied defenseman and one that looked very unstable when skating backwards on defense. The Admirals in recent years has seen examples of this plenty of times with European defenseman that the Nashville Predators sign and you can quickly see the difference in North-South pace overwhelming them and turning them inside out at times. Diaby, with his big frame on the ice, isn’t agile or quick. He is clumsy with the puck and sometimes that can almost comedown to passes directed at him have a much wider area to pass to on him versus someone else and Diaby can handcuff himself receiving pucks to begin with. It was always going to be a lengthy learning curve and development process for him. But time at the ECHL level is something that could do him wonders in the fact that he could log far greater minutes to play and learn the pro game in game-speed. The problem was getting in games at all a season ago.

Diaby was the poster-boy for the Admirals rebranding a season ago. He was the man rocking the brand new uniform when they were unveiled for the first time. He was the one photographed next to the Admirals name as the eleventh greatest hockey jersey of all-time as tabbed by The Hockey News. Yet, for all that excitement ahead of the 2015-16 season, Diaby only actually wore that Admirals uniform in-game five times. He was mainly with the Cincinnati Cyclones in the ECHL and ended up playing 43 games down there. He missed significant time due to injury. One of those injuries was receiving a skate cut that was less than a quarter of an inch from cutting his femoral artery. That required two surgeries to help with bleeding and it was that sort of bad luck that seemed to hang over his head all last season. Which is made all the more sad given he was the man I credit to with creating the “French Fries” nickname yet it was Frédérick Gaudreau, Jimmy Oligny, and Félix Girard getting all the buzz around them in the AHL a season ago. Diaby was part of that group. And he didn’t really get to enjoy any of that success or fun.

For Diaby he is still only 22-years old and has another year past this one under contract. You keep your fingers crossed for him, in moments such as right now when the roster is so stretched, that he sees these AHL opportunities and actually capitalizes off of it and finds something that sticks. Scoring a goal isn’t doing that. It isn’t. He is a defenseman. His job is to negate goals more than scoring them and, with that frame of his, that’s the approach he’s looking to go with. He followed up scoring his goal by turning a puck over right to Shawn Ouellette-St-Amant for a one-timer goal. Every shift with Diaby has a certain drama to it. And it isn’t always something that ends on the plus side but, for once, last night had far more right than wrong. Seeing him get that goal might not be the start of a trend by any means but it sure makes a person such as myself smile seeing a guy continually battling to work for more and more. Diaby was given an opportunity last night over Trevor Murphy. And he used it. Sometimes all it takes is one moment or one of those sorts of games to start pushing a player forward. I hope last night was Diaby’s moment.

But, what from there? The Admirals were leading 4-1 with 15:29 remaining in regulation. What could possibly go wrong? Well, seeing as we’re in the present talking about the past now, a lot.

The Admirals started the season having issues with continual trips to the penalty box. Especially last month it seemed as if the cure was found for that reoccurring hiccup that they had. These recent games though, specifically the last two home games, have been brutal. It isn’t that they are boneheaded penalties, not all of them anyways, but they are penalties. The game by the second or third period should already have a sense of right and wrong with the on-ice law and order. What can and can’t be done with aggressive play with sticks and small grappling along the boards or at the neutral zone, etc. The Admirals seem to keep putting themselves in areas where a penalty can be called – and it is being called. They are hustle style penalties but they are overly aggressive penalties to take and they are being taken when they just can’t or shouldn’t be afforded to be done.

With a 4-1 lead the Admirals could have and should have been able to coast home with that sort of a score. They didn’t. Adam Payerl took a roughing penalty and then Rampage captain Joe Whitney scored a power-play goal. That’s a spark. That’s the start of something. And 1:33 of ice-time after that it was 4-3. And 4:47 after that it was tied – tied by a power-play goal scored by Rocco Grimaldi after a slashing call against Cody Bass. The Rampage went from down 4-1 to tied 4-4 in 9:06 of ice-time in the middle of the third period. A time that should have seen the Admirals closing the door – they opened it wide and welcomed the Rampage right on in.

The real reason for the drama that took place in that third period last night comes down to the Admirals getting too aggressive in the way they were trying to finish that game. To continue with the theme of doors, as was one around the Master Lock rink last night, it was as if the Admirals were trying to slam the door so hard that it smacked back open. Remember a few years ago when the buzz quote was to “play the right way” and “to do the right things” after games? We didn’t hear it in any media scrums last night but that’s the message that should soak back in after two games where a more simplified approach could have helped see a lesser bite in the way the Admirals defend and end up going to the penalty kill endlessly. It’s an exhausting way to play. And one that darn near cost them two games on home ice.

At the very least the upside-down that was last night’s kept on with yet another Admirals defenseman, who is not commonly known for his goal scoring named Jimmy Oligny, netting a shot to earn his first goal of the season. It just seemed to catch Simpson unexpectedly. The shot was from along the left wing wall and found its way home. It was Admirals back out in front with a 5-4 lead just 1:19 after Grimaldi had tied it with a power-play goal. The game stayed there for the final 5:04 of regulation. And the Admirals earned a much harder than it had any right to be two points.

There is all great news to that game as well as this past three-games, really. The obvious would be winning last night. That’s nice no matter how ugly it gets. But the lessons to learn from everything happening around the last three-games are really important to be learned from. The Admirals had a very taxing four-game road trip that depleted them by the fourth game. They are about to take another four-game road trip. They should learn from the last one and manage their energy appropriately. The Admirals in the last two-games, both at home, were marred by continuous penalty troubles leading to a penalty killing vortex that also exhausts a bench and goaltender. They -need- to learn from that and start finding a way to play with an edge without that edge cutting their own heads off. Today, the Admirals have an off-day. That is two off-days in three days surrounding last night’s game. They need the rest. But from Wednesday to the first game against the Texas Stars this season a lot of troubleshooting should get done to minimize what’s sending so many to the penalty box. It can’t happen so often and be expected to not impact the loss column.

~Chatterbox~

After last night’s game I spoke with Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason as well as Jonathan Diaby, Jimmy Oligny, and Mike Liambas. The chat with Liambas was a fun one to get to know more of his NHL spell, how he found out he was recalled, the game itself, and what it was like to look around and see so many he already played with in Milwaukee. Here were last night’s interviews.

Comments on the comments? How do you feel the Milwaukee Admirals will hold up with all of the upcoming road games? Is this little bit of down time at home in Milwaukee before heading to Texas just what the Admirals need?

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.

Game Recaps December 12, 2016December 13, 2016

Ads Survive Third Period Thriller; Win 5-4

The Milwaukee Admirals won 5-4 against the San Antonio Rampage Monday night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

This game was a roller coaster in the third period that saw the Admirals go up 4-1 only to have the Rampage fight back with three unanswered goals to tie things up. Yet, the Admirals scored just a minute after the game went 4-4 with a bad angle shot from Jimmy Oligny that would hold up against a late frenzy as the game-winner to end the Admirals two-game skid.

“We stayed positive. We stayed resilient again,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game. “But we can’t continually keep going to the well.”

After a depleted looking effort in the last two games it was going to be important for the Admirals to show some swagger and energy in tonight’s first period. You can’t quite argue with the opening few shifts, either. The Admirals had a power-play 1:10 into the game and cashed in quickly with a puck that trickled over to Trevor Smith in the low right wing circle for a hard slap shot into an open net with Kent Simpson failing to make a post-to-post stop. For the Admirals captain that was his seventh goal of the season.

It’s been slim pickings for the Admirals as far as highlight reel goals go this season. Most have been rather straight forward or gritty goals around the net. Vladislav Kamenev’s seventh tally of the season changed that.

Jimmy Oligny popped a puck up off the glass from his defensive half into neutral ice that ranged out to the young Russian at the Admirals attacking blueline. Kamenev was able to control the puck, measure up Mason Geertsen for a one-on-one deke, blew past him, and snapped a shot off before Anton Lindholm could close him down on the backcheck. Kamenev’s shot beat Simpson against the grain, high glove-side, bardown, and the Admirals had a 2-0 lead from their first proper highlight reel goal of the season.

The first period did end with a much better push from the Rampage. That effort on their part was rewarded with a goal from Cody Corbett. The soon to be 23-year old defenseman used a crossing screen of Shawn Ouellette-St-Amant that dragged Frédérick Gaudreau along with him to his advantage. The Corbett shot snuck past the moving screen and against Juuse Saros movement with the screen to go high glove-side for his first goal of the season to make it a 2-1 game.

In the second period the Admirals were flirting with penalty troubles again. Yet, they would score during the course of that. On a penalty kill Harry Zolnierczyk took a high stick from Rampage captain Joe Whitney and it gave the Admrials some wiggle room to create on the delayed penalty with Saros getting to the bench and an extra attacking getting to the ice. Some great passing, starting from behind the Admirals net, led to a tic-tac-toe between Kamenev, Matt White, and Pontus Åberg. The Swede kept his shot from the right wing low and beat Simpson for his sixth goal of the season and first with the Admirals since his lengthy NHL spell with the Nashville Predators. That goal, while on the delayed call, was scored as a shorthanded tally for the Admirals.

Jonathan Diaby’s inclusion in tonight’s game with Trevor Murphy out seemed a touch odd at the start of the night. Diaby’s pro career to this point has been a bit of an odyssey punctuated by a strange 2015-16 season with injuries that included a skate cut nearly getting to his femoral artery. Perhaps some rage of days gone by went into the slap shot he uncorked in the third period to record his first career AHL goal and give the Admirals a 4-1 lead.

“It’s pretty cool. It takes a little weight off the shoulders,” commented Jonathan Diaby after the game of recording his first AHL goal. “But it’s not my main concern. I try to focus more on defensive play and everything. But it is cool to score a goal. That’s for sure. It’s good to put up some points.”

The Rampage finally got a chance to get back into the flow of the game following a roughing call against Adam Pardy. The power-play for the Rampage didn’t take too long as a quick face-off win and pass cycle ended with a wicked wrister by Whitney atop the right wing circle that beat Saros high blocker-side for his sixth goal of the season.

That energy followed and the Rampage would score from a poor defensive zone turnover by the Admirals only 1:33 after the Whitney power-play goal. Alex Carrier was pressured behind the Admirals net and tried to spit a puck to the corner for Diaby who fumbled the pass and it fell on a plate for Shawn Ouellette-St-Amant to take an immediate one-timer that zipped high past Saros for his first career AHL goal. What was a 4-1 lead became a 4-3 game in the space of 4:19 of ice-time.

Another power-play came to the Rampage after a Cody Bass slash. This put the Rampage’s top scorer on the season Rocco Grimaldi in the spotlight to complete a three-goal comeback in the space of 9:06 of ice-time. The Rampage worked on the rush to feed Grimaldi down the right wing where he hit a slapper past Saros for his eighth goal of the season to make it 4-4.

“We didn’t like giving up a three-goal lead but there’s a lot of reasons for it,” said Evason. “We didn’t manage the puck very well. Took some silly penalties. We’ve got to clean up our penalties. Even though we think it’s good, bad, or otherwise we’re putting ourselves in positions to take them and we’re taking them.”

That tie only last 1:19 of ice-time. This night and third period, if it wasn’t crazy enough, was put in perspective by Admirals defensemen that aren’t known for scoring goals who actually did just that. Jimmy Oligny was skating along the left wing wall when he threw an innocent looking shot on net. Simpson either misread the shot or it caught a deflection off his own man on the way off Oligny’s shot because the puck sailed over his shoulder and in from a bad angle to get Oligny his first goal of the season and the Admirals their lead back in a flash.

With 1:24 remaining in regulation the Rampage used their timeout to draw up a play for an in-zone face-off with the net emptied and extra attacker on. Pardy would head to the box with forty-three seconds remaining and the Rampage had a six-on-four push. They simply ran out of time and the Admirals survived a thriller by a final score of 5-4.

“It’s not good for the heart I’ll tell you that,” smiled Jimmy Oligny of the stressful game. “Every time that happens it is tough to stay in the game. We didn’t play our best hockey there but we came back to what worked for us. And then we finished it strong.”

The Admirals record improves to 15-5-2-1 (33 points, 0.717 points percentage). This was their last home game until the Christmas break. That next home game comes on Boxing Day when the Chicago Wolves show up. The Admirals are on the road until then for the next four games with travel taking them to face the Texas Stars, Grand Rapids Griffins, and -hey- the Wolves in Chicago. Their next games will be in Texas this weekend on Friday and Saturday night.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played on Saturday there were some reinforcements delivered from the Nashville Predators. Frédérick Gaudreau and Adam Pardy were reassigned from the Admirals parent club and also received Reid Boucher on a two-week (fourteen consecutive days) conditioning assignment. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: Florek-Smith-Åberg, Boucher-Gaudreau-White, Zolnierczyk-Kamenev-Bass, Liambas-Girard-Payerl, Pardy-Carrier, Oligny-Dougherty, Diaby-Kessel. Tonight’s scratches were: Max Görtz, Justin Kirkland, Trevor Murphy, and Anthony Richard.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? What did you think of the Milwaukee Admirals response from the two regulation losses on the weekend? Are these penalty issues ever going to get resolved?

Scouting December 12, 2016December 12, 2016

Rampage: Scouting the Enemy

The last time the Milwaukee Admirals played the San Antonio Rampage they had three players on the ice who are now up with the Nashville Predators: Petter Granberg, Matt Irwin, and Austin Watson. (Photo Credit: Darren Abate // San Antonio Rampage)

The Milwaukee Admirals had yesterday off to rest after a lengthy road trip ended on a flat note and managed to spill into Saturday’s game. Not only that, but the Nashville Predators have also provided the Admirals with a little Christmas cheer with the additions of Frédérick Gaudreau, Adam Pardy, and Reid Boucher. They are rested and restocked. Now they can prep for a team that they haven’t seen since the opening weekend of the season.

The San Antonio Rampage enter tonight’s game with a record of 11-12-1-0 (23 points, 0.479 points percentage). They are in last place of the Pacific Division and find themselves thirteenth in the Western Conference.

When these two teams last met it was the first two games of the season for both. Obviously there have been a few changes since the Admirals claimed a 2-1 win and matched it with another 2-1 win the next night to start the campaign. There are three Admirals on the previous roster sheet when these teams played that are now with the Predators: Petter Granberg, Matt Irwin, and Austin Watson. On the flipside to that the Rampage are now without Mikko Rantanen and Ryan Stanton. Rantanen is now with the Colorado Avalanche while Stanton was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Cody Goloubef.

That doesn’t seem so bad, as far as missing pieces go, but there are nine players who didn’t play for the Rampage in those first two games of the season against the Admirals that are now on their roster. One of those names coming in will be a familiar one in Gabriel Bourque. It was a rough 2015-16 season for Bourque who played 26 games between the NHL and AHL. Injuries held him back and he has already played 22 games in the 2016-17 season between San Antonio and Colorado. He has 8 points (3 goals, 5 assists) in 16 games this season for the Rampage.

The Rampage have four players in double-digit points right now: Rocco Grimaldi, 17 points (7 goals, 10 assists) in 23 games… A.J. Greer, 15 points (5 goals, 10 assists) in 21 games… Joe Whitney, 12 points (5 goals, 7 assists) in 24 games… J.T. Compher, 10 points (5 goals, 5 assists) in 12 games.

Spencer Martin has been the main man in net for the Rampage this season. Though, I don’t know if that is entirely his doing or down to injuries around him as they have also had Jeremy Smith, Ken Simpson, and Nathan Lieuwen play for them as well. At the moment Martin, Smith, and Simpson are on their roster. The former Admiral Smith has not played since late-October.

Martin has played in 18 games, holds a record of 11-7-0-0, 2.31 goals against average, 0.924 save percentage, and a shutout. In the Rampage’s last two games Martin was in net and saw two different results on the road against the Iowa Wild. He earned a 27-save shutout the first night and allowed 4 goals against the next night.

Expectations for tonight’s game? How big of a boost will it be for the Admirals to have those three players being brought into the mix? With this being the Admirals last home game until after Christmas break do you feel this is an important game to get momentum back on an upswing before such a long road trip?

News December 11, 2016

Reinforcements Arriving for the Admirals

The last few games for the Milwaukee Admirals have been a very solid test in regards to playing through adversity with a stretched roster and fatigue. Today the team had an off-day to rest. And now they are receiving some reinforcements. The Nashville Predators have reassigned Frédérick Gaudreau and Adam Pardy to the Admirals. The Predators have also assigned Reid Boucher to the Admirals on a conditioning assignment.

One of the true great stories of this season has been seeing Gaudreau log game time at the NHL level for the Predators. He was an undrafted talent out of the QMJHL that signed with the Admirals ahead of a 2015-15 season that saw him split time between the AHL and ECHL. He burst onto the scene this time last season for the Admirals by scoring 12 points (4 goals, 8 assists) while assuming the exact role that Colton Sissons had. He earned an NHL contract and then was selected as a representative for the Admirals at the AHL All-Star Game.

Gaudreau made his NHL debut in what is now the notorious food poisoning game. It wasn’t any sort of a one-off appearance as he would go back up again on recall and has now played 8 games in the NHL this season and recorded an assist to notch his first career NHL point. With the Admirals this season he has played 15 games and contributed 9 points (3 goals, 6 assists).

Pardy is also a nice story given how his season started. He tried to earn an NHL contract in the Florida Panthers pre-season camp and came up empty. He signed an AHL contract with the Springfield Falcons but ended up never playing a game with them. He was acquired in one of those rare early season AHL trades that brought him into the Admirals fold shortly after the team saw veteran defenseman Matt Irwin go up and stay up. Pardy then signed the NHL deal that alluded him in Florida by signing with Nashville after having such a good run in Milwaukee. Pardy should provide some immediate relief to an Admirals defense that has been running nearly two defensive pairings and on an empty gas tank in recent games.

Boucher is an interesting story in his own right. The Predators had just claimed the 23-year old winger from the New Jersey Devils organization and he did get a game in with the Predators prior to this conditioning assignment. Boucher has been a point producer everywhere he plays whether it be in the US National Development system, Sarnia Sting (OHL), or Albany Devils (AHL). The last area he is looking to get going in is the NHL where he has 29 points (11 goals, 18 assists) in 83 games.That’s still a 0.35 point per game average. The talent is there. The all around play and consistency of it is what needs to turn up next to make him stay in the NHL. That’s where this two-week (fourteen consecutive days) conditioning assignment can serve him well to get minutes and a boost in a season where he only has played 10 games at the NHL level.

The Admirals play tomorrow night at 7:00 PM CST against the San Antonio Rampage at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. It will be the first trip into Milwaukee for the Rampage who the Admirals beat twice by 2-1 scorelines on the road to begin the season.

Chatterbox December 11, 2016

Chatterbox, Vol. 160

Firstly, I would like to apologize for the delay in getting post-game interviews and Chatterbox up in a quicker fashion. I just felt that the Milwaukee Admirals 5-2 loss against the Chicago Wolves on home ice was the sort of game where I really wanted to chew on it before really forcing it down. There were some positives within the night but it all got fogged out by numerous sloppy plays. The short and sweet of it: these last two games just haven’t been the Admirals of this season so far.

Continue reading “Chatterbox, Vol. 160” →

Game Recaps December 10, 2016December 11, 2016

Admirals Go Flat Against Chicago; Lose 5-2

The Milwaukee Admirals lost 5-2 against the Chicago Wolves Saturday night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

It seemed as though the first period was signaling in a track meet tonight. After the first twenty minutes came and went this game devolved into a slop fest for the Admirals and Wolves. The Amtrak Rivals made the better of their chances and blitzed through the Admirals in the third period. This was the first time since the opening month of the season that the Admirals have lost consecutive regulation games.

After a sluggish and sloppy performance last night in Grand Rapids the Admirals wanted to have a fast start tonight. It is exactly what they received. Inside of five minutes the Admirals were up 1-0 thanks to the third goal of the season from Justin Florek. Justin Kirkland passed off from the left wing circle to Jimmy Oligny on the blueline for a low shot that Florek deflected up and over the shoulder of Pheonix Copley. That assist for Kirkland was the first of his pro career.

Midway through the first period the Wolves would tie things back up with Chris Butler’s second goal of the season. The veteran defenseman snuck up from his typical blueline spot on the left point to nestle into a gap in space where the white hot Kenny Agostino managed to get a pass to him from behind the net. Butler smoked a one-timer into the top shelf before Jonas Gunnarsson really knew what had just happened.

Speaking of which, the Admirals regained their lead before the Wolves really knew what had just happened. Just 1:27 of ice-time after Butler had scored and a d-to-d pass in the Admirals defensive zone between Trevor Murphy and Blake Kessel saw the Wisconsin native Kessel deliver a dart of a pass through neutral ice to the tape of Trevor Smith for a breakaway. The Admirals captain was able to lock in on Copley and narrowly work a backhander over Copley’s left pad for his sixth goal of the season.

With under two minutes remaining in the opening period the Wolves drew back with a power-play goal from Ivan Barbashev. The Wolves won a face-off and were able to get a puck to their young Russian forward who worked a wicked backhander that snapped past Gunnarsson to his glove-side for his seventh goal of the season.

That first period saw the Admirals get a season high twenty shots on goal against the Wolves. They followed that up in the second period by matching a season low with only three shots on goal. That came courtesy of numerous penalty killing situations for the Admirals in the second period. Gunnarsson and the PK unit did hold the fort, though, as the Admirals stopped all five penalty kills they endured in that frame.

The Wolves would claim their first lead of the game five minutes into the third period. A rush down the left wing by defenseman Vince Dunn ended with a booming slap shot that went against the grain of Gunnarsson and snuck past him high glove-side to give the Wolves a 3-2 edge.

He wasn’t Dunn there, either. On the power-play midway through the third period Dunn smacked a low slap shot that buzzed through lots of net-front traffic to beat Gunnarsson low off the post to the glove-side for his second goal of the night and third of the season and extend the Wolves lead to 4-2.

Agostino already extended his hot streak of late with an assist earlier in the game. He added a breakaway goal in the third period that saw him out-race Smith when entering the offensive zone and then beat Gunnarsson with a backhander through the legs to notch his ninth goal of the season and make it a 5-2 Wolves lead.

The game would end there. The Admirals went flat after a second period of penalty calls and kills. The offense never seemed to pick back up and Gunnarsson, despite a good effort in net, was left to deal with the pressure. It’s yet another hard luck loss for the Swede who now has a 1-2-1-0 record this season.

The Admirals return to game-action on Monday night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. It will be the first trip into Milwaukee this season for the San Antonio Rampage who the Admirals started the season off with by defeating them twice by 2-1 scorelines on the road.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played last night there were no roster moves made. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: White- Smith-Åberg, Zolnierczyk-Kamenev-Payerl, Liambas-Girard-Bass, Florek-Kirkland-Görtz, Oligny-Dougherty, Murphy-Kessel, Diaby-Carrier. Tonight’s lone scratch was Anthony Richard who was healthy.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? What happened to the Milwaukee Admirals after the first period? Are these last few games starting to point to a weakness in the Admirals defense with it stretched as far as it is right now? Can Jonas Gunnarsson ever catch a break?

Scouting December 10, 2016

Wolves: Scouting the Enemy

Let’s try to quickly put yesterday’s 3-1 defeat to the Grand Rapids Griffins in the past, shall we? The time spent in Grand Rapids in recent years has been a horror show. Last night’s game was on that level – it just was a performance that lacked typical Milwaukee Admirals energy and battle levels. If that can be the result of the four-game road trip coming to an end? Let it be.

Tonight the Admirals return to the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena where they are 5-1-2-0 on the season and face the Chicago Wolves who they have beaten three from three-games. The Wolves enter this game with a 11-9-2-1 (25 points, 0.543 points percentage) which has them fourth in the Central Division. They are currently on a four-game point streak (3-0-1-0). During this point streak they have scored no less than 4 goals per game.

A storyline that should be worth keeping an eye on early and late is going to come in the form of energy. The Admirals played last night and traveled back from Grand Rapids. The Wolves last played on Wednesday. Their game was also on the road in Grand Rapids and that game was a turbulent loss for the Wolves that saw them come back from 2-0, go up 3-2, trail 5-3, force overtime, and then fall 6-5. The Wolves have the Griffins once again tomorrow afternoon. It will be important for the Admirals to have a fast start and not get caught up in more of last night’s sluggish effort.

There are two players that have been on an absolute tear during this four-game point streak for the Wolves: Kenny Agostino and Brad Hunt. The two each have contributed 9 points during this point streak: Agostino (2 goals, 7 assists) and Hunt (4 goals, 5 assists). Right now Hunt is the AHL’s top scorer with 29 points (9 goals, 20 assists) in 23 games but -thankfully- the St. Louis Blues recalled the 28-year old defenseman on Thursday. He scored an assist in his first NHL game of the season yesterday in a 4-1 win for the Blues over the New Jersey Devils.

Agostino is the leading active scorer for the Wolves with Hunt up topside. He has 24 points (8 goals, 16 assists) in 23 games. He is followed by the Wolves top goal scorer former Cincinnati Cyclones forward Wade Megan who has 18 points (10 goals, 8 assists) in 22 games.

The tandem in net for the Wolves seems to finally be accomplishing what the organization hoped for a season ago. Jordan Binnington has a 7-5-2-0 record from 14 games with a 2.73 goals against average and 0.913 save percentage. Pheonix Copley has a 3-3-0-1 record from 7 games with a 2.13 goals against average, 0.922 save percentage, and a shutout. Copley is the better of the two goaltenders against the Admirals this season: 2 starts, 0-1-0-1 record, 1.95 goals against average, and 0.934 save percentage.

What are your expectations for tonight’s game? Was last night just a dud performance or are the Milwaukee Admirals starting to miss out on their defensemen that have been recalled by the Nashville Predators?

Game Recaps December 9, 2016December 9, 2016

Admirals Fall in Grand Rapids, 3-1

The Milwaukee Admirals lost 3-1 on the road against the Grand Rapids Griffins Friday night at the Van Andel Arena.

It simply wasn’t a good game tonight for the Admirals. They set a season low for shots on goal in this game by only registering seventeen shots on goal against the Griffins tonight. Harry Zolnierczyk was able to negate what would have been the Admirals first shutout of the season with under three minutes remaining.

Tonight’s game was extremely sloppy. There were hardly that many scoring chances to be seen up until the midway point of the second period. Dylan Sadowy was able to avoid a poke check attempt by Juuse Saros to spin-around and deliver a quick shot through the Finn’s five-hole to record his first career pro goal and give the Griffins a 1-0 lead.

Things kept looking very bleak for the Admirals right up until the final three minutes of regulation when it appeared the Cardiac Kids were going to pull a rabbit out of the hat once again. Adam Payerl was able to set Harry Zolnierczyk loose for a breakaway that ended with a backhand to forehand finish. Zolnierczyk’s third goal of the season closed the books on Jared Coreau’s shutout bid.

With 1:20 remaining in regulation the Admirals called for Saros off the bench to get the extra attacker on. After getting an icing call against the Griffins the Admirals took their timeout with 33.8 seconds remaining to draw up a play with an in-zone face-off. It appeared the Griffins got let off the hook on what should have been an icing call. Instead, they were able to coral a puck deep in the Admirals defensive zone for an empty net tally for Eric Tangradi’s first goal of the season.

This ends the Admirals four-game road trip. They split the deck with two wins and two regulation defeats. Their record now stands at 14-4-2-1 (31 points, 0.738 points percentage). That record still stands as the best in the league.

As far as the Admirals go in Grand Rapids their woes continue. That is now their ninth consecutive loss on the road to the Griffins. They are 0-8-1-0 on that run with their last win coming back on 1/31/15 when Magnus Hellberg provided a twenty-six save shutout.

The Admirals return to home ice tomorrow night when the Chicago Wolves turn up for the next installment of the Amtrak Rivalry. That game starts at 6:00 PM CST. The Admirals then play against the San Antonio Rampage on Monday night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena for a 7:00 PM CST start-time. That will be the last home game for the Admirals until Boxing Day.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Tuesday there has only been a single roster move made. Derek Army was released by the Admirals from his PTO Contract on Tuesday night and has since rejoined the Wheeling Nailers in the ECHL. Last night game for the Nashville Predators wasn’t pretty, losing 5-2 on the road to the Dallas Stars, but it saw Adam Pardy make his Predators debut and Marek Mazanec stop 18/19 in a relief appearance. Frédérick Gaudreau also logged the most minutes he has had of ice-time since his NHL debut. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: White-Smith-Åberg, Zolnierczyk-Kamenev-Payerl, Liambas-Girard-Bass, Richard-Florek-Görtz, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Dougherty, Diaby-Kessel. Tonight’s lone scratch was Justin Kirkland who was healthy.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? What is it about the Milwaukee Admirals playing in Grand Rapids? Will the Admirals be able to bounce back tomorrow night on home ice?

Scouting December 9, 2016

Griffins: Scouting the Enemy

Tonight marks the Milwaukee Admirals first trip into the Van Andel Arena since being eliminated by the Grand Rapids Griffins in one of the more bizarre games in recent memory for the Admirals. That night saw two pucks fly clean through a net requiring lengthy review processes that stalled out what had been a good start by the Admirals when they needed it.

One would only hope that officials this time around actually check the quality of the goal nets before dropping a puck before every period just to be sure that absurdity is never repeated. Should the netting not be an issue the action surrounding it will be a little like that playoff environment once again.

The Admirals and the Griffins always seem to have very grinding games that exemplify playoff style hockey. As they stand entering tonight the are first and second in the Central Division. The Admirals still maintain the best record in the AHL, 14-3-2-1 (31 points, 0.775 points percentage). The Griffins have the third best record in the Western Conference, 13-6-1-2 (29 points, 0.659 points percentage).

This is the third meeting of the season between these two teams. The Admirals came back from a 3-0 deficit to earn a point but lost in an overtime heartbreaker. They did respond the next time out by winning with a solid 3-1 performance at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. Admirals captain Trevor Smith scored twice in that contest, Vladislav Kamenev added a goal, and Juuse Saros stopped 28/29 shots on goal – only allowing a power-play goal from Tomáš Jurčo coming with a full-two minutes of five-on-three power-play time with 4:31 remaining in regulation.

Saros should have a very busy night tonight. The Admirals defense is without half of the defensive core that played against the Griffins that first time out as Anthony Bitetto, Petter Granberg, and Adam Pardy have since gone up to the Nashville Predators. The Griffins have scored the second most goals in the Western Conference and fourth most in the entire league to this point, 73 goals from 22 games. That is a 3.32 goals per game average. Saros, on the other hand, boasts the second best goals against average in the league among qualified goaltenders at 1.54 goals against average.

Another obstacle in the Admirals path is turning around their fortunes at the Van Andel Arena. Including last year’s playoffs the Admirals have lost their last eight straight games in Grand Rapids (0-7-1-0 record). Their last win in that building came back on 1/31/15 in a 4-0 shutout with Magnus Hellberg in net. In the Dean Evason Era the Admirals are 5-13-1-0 in Grand Rapids and have been shutout by the Griffins 4 times.

The Griffins leading scoring entering this contest is Matt Lorito who ranks third in the AHL in scoring, as well. The former Brown University team captain, who joined the Detroit Red Wings organization from the Albany Devils in the off-season, has 25 points (10 goals, 15 assists) in 22 games this season for the Griffins.

I feel the best bet on who gets the start for the Griffins in net tonight would be Jared Coreau -but- Eddie Pasquale did get the start when the Griffins earned an overtime win over the Admirals in the first meeting of the season. Coreau is fresh off his first career stint in the NHL where he had a less than ideal debut with the Red Wings. He has a record of 8-5-0-0 from 13 games for the Griffins this season to go along with a 2.39 goals against average, 0.923 save percentage, and a shutout. Pasquale has a record of 3-1-1-2 from 7 games, 2.50 goals against average, and a 0.918 save percentage. In Pasquale’s last three starts he has picked up losses in games spilling past regulation: two shootout defeats and one in overtime.

What are your expectations for tonight’s game? Can the Milwaukee Admirals buck this poor run of results in Grand Rapids? How important will Saros be in net for the Admirals tonight?

Game Recaps December 6, 2016December 6, 2016

A Composed Effort; Ads Win in Iowa 3-1

The Milwaukee Admirals won 3-1 on the road against the Iowa Wild Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Arena.

It wasn’t always pretty in this game but the Admirals did it yet again. They found some great efforts out of the likes of Adam Payerl, Harry Zolnierczyk, and Juuse Saros on the night to see their AHL best record continue in Iowa. For the Admirals this was their fourteenth win from their opening twenty games.

Last time out the Admirals were able to get an opening minute goal on the road against the Cleveland Monsters. That took them forty-one seconds to accomplish after a tally by Trevor Murphy. Tonight that was not only done again but bettered in the speed department.

It took the Admirals twenty-eight seconds to get ahead in Iowa tonight. Adam Payerl was on a two-on-one and fired a snap shot before a backchecker could clamp him down. Payerl’s shot sailed past Alex Stalock to record his sixth goal of the season and give the Admirals a lightning fast 1-0 lead.

The next tally wouldn’t come until the closing stages of the second period and would see the Wild equalize through Adam Gilmour’s fourth goal of the season. Sam Anas lofted a great pass down the right wing that hit the center lane drive of Gilmour on the tape for a backhanded redirect that flicked up past Juuse Saros on the blocker side to make it a 1-1 game with 29.8 seconds remaining in the second period.

For all the power-play struggles that both teams had in this game it would seem ironic that that’s what would be the game-winning goal for the night. That just so happened to be the case. Having been blanked on their first five chances on the power-play the Admirals scored midway through the third period when Harry Zolnierczyk netted his second goal of the season to restore the Admirals lead. Vladislav Kamenev took a chipped pass by Payerl and wound up for a slap shot, faked the shot, and delivered a perfect feed to Zolnierczyk as he roamed across Stalock for a redirect. It was nearly a mirror image of the Wild’s goal and it put the Admirals out in front 2-1.

As the Wild were getting closer to needing an empty net push the Admirals scored with 2:02 remaining in regulation. Cody Bass was trying to hit Matt White with a pass from the right wing wall as the California native was driving back post. Wild defenseman Zach Palmquist got in the way of the feed but ended up botching his clearance and the puck trickled through the legs of his goaltender and White was alone on the doorstep to push it across for his team leading eighth goal of the season.

After an empty net push was attempted the final horn sounded and the Admirals earned a 3-1 win in Iowa. This game had two great efforts in net between Saros and Stalock. Saros made twenty-saves in the game to earn his ninth win from eleven starts and his seventh consecutive win. Stalock allowed the three goals but did stop thirty-one Admirals shots tonight. He earned a tough luck loss as the Admirals defense really stepped up to prevent much of anything offensively for the Wild to be created. The Wild registered just three shots on goal in the third period.

The Admirals improve their AHL best record to 14-3-2-1 (31 points, 0.775 points percentage). They are the first team in the Western Conference to reach the thirty point plateau and join Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Lehigh Valley, and Hershey for the most points in the league. The difference being that the Admirals have played one to two less games than those teams resting at 31 points.

Next for the Admirals will be a travel day tomorrow. They go from Iowa to Chicago to Grand Rapids. They will then practice in Grand Rapids on Thursday before logging the first road game against the Grand Rapids Griffins this season. That will end the four-game road trip as the Admirals finally return home this Saturday night when they face-off against the Chicago Wolves.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Saturday there were quite a few roster moves made. The Nashville Predators recalled Marek Mazanec and reassigned Mike Liambas, Juuse Saros, and Pontus Åberg. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: White-Smith-Åberg, Zolnierczyk-Kamenev-Payerl, Liambas-Girard-Bass, Florek-Kirkland-Görtz, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Dougherty, Diaby-Kessel. Tonight’s scratches were: Anthony Richard (healthy) and Derek Army (healthy).

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Do you feel like the Milwaukee Admirals actually are a different team when Juuse Saros is in net as opposed to the other goaltending options that have played? Do you feel an NHL recall could be in the future for Adam Payerl and Harry Zolnierczyk given how steady and well they have played this season?

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