Playing their third game in three days, the Admirals still had quite a bit left in the tank offensively.  They put 45 shots on goal, eventually prevailing 5-4 in a shootout against the Rockford IceHogs on Sunday afternoon.

Mark Van Guilder had a pair of goals, Ryan Flynn had a pair of helpers, while Jani Lajunen scored his first North American goal.  Jeremy Smith stopped 16 of 20 shots, seeing action in his third game in three days.

Coach Herbers has some very positive feedback for the way Van Guilder has been playing.

Dylan Olsen opened the scoring at 4:09 of the first period, tapping in a perfect centering pass from Jimmy Hayes.  Olsen was on a b-line to the net, and was a lot more wide open than he was supposed to be.

Joel Champagne answered about four and a half minutes later.  Mark Van Guilder created an offensive zone turnover along the far boards, and then Ryan Flynn fed a perfect pass to Champagne from behind the goal line.

Peter LeBlanc gave the lead back to the IceHogs at 13:12, deflecting a shot from defenseman Brian Fahey.

Mark Van Guilder tied the game just under a minute later.  After a long stretch in the defensive zone, Juuso Puustinen and Taylor Beck led the rush into the offensive zone while Michaell Latta went off for the change.  MVG replaced him, and went straight to the net.  Beck and Puustinen maintained possesion long enough for MVG to catch up with the play, and Beck fed MVG for the bang-bang goal.

Jani Lajunen then scored his first North American goal, finishing on a shot from the point by Tyler Sloan.  Goaltender Alec Richards stopped most of it, but it trickled through five-hole.  Lajunen’s stick beat Richards’ glove to the loose puck, and gave the Ads the lead.  Lajunen says it’s a relief to finally get the first one.

So after one period, the Admirals outshot the IceHogs 14-5, and led 3-2.

Rockford scored twice in the second period, first on a great individual effort by Andrew Shaw, after deeking Scott Valentine out of his skates before his shot.

Rostislav Olesz scored a power play goal while Taylor Aronson was serving a Yonking penalty.  Shawn Lalonde had the shot from the point, and Olesz won the battle in front of the crease and put it behind Smitty.

At 13:44, Jeremy Morin was given a five minute major for elbowing, and a game misconduct.  Joel Champagne took the brunt of the elbow, and was wheeled off the ice on a stretcher.  The Admirals could not score on that 5-minute power play.

Despite outshooting the IceHogs 28-13 after 40 minutes, the Admirals found themselves down a goal and down a player that had been playing very well.  We asked Coach Herbers what the message was in the 2nd intermission.

3:02 into the 3rd period, Mark Van Guilder tied it up with his second of the game.  The play was similar to Champagne’s goal earlier, in that Ryan Flynn passed the puck from behind the goal line to the guy crashing the net.

In the shootout, Smitty stopped all four tries he faced, and Michael Latta and Ryan Ellis scored five-hole on Richards.  Here’s Coach Herbers on tonight’s plan on the shootout.

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Lines:

Bourque – Mueller – Thang
Champagne – Van Guilder – Flynn
Beck – Latta – Puustinen
Slaney – Lajunen – Stortini

Ellis-Sloan, Ford-Bartley, Valentine-Aronson

So the $64,000 question….how is Joel Champagne?  We’ll let him tell you.

So he doesn’t remember much…but he got an elbow in the jaw.  He said he doesn’t think he had a concussion.  So it looks like the team dodged a huge bullet there, especially since he’s been playing so well lately.

– Seemed as though Mueller (-3) and Thang (-2) weren’t on the ice as much late in the game while the other three lines were rolling pretty consistently, with Bourque taking Champagne’s spot with Van Flynder.

– Rockford scored their four goals on their first NINE shots.  Smitty wasn’t as sharp, but had to deal with some deflections, missed assignments, and lost battles by his defense on a few occasions.  Smitty looked better over the 2nd half of the game.

– Ryan Ellis — not playing like the best prospect in the system.  The similie was brought up in the comment section of a previous post….but does he remind you of Cody Franson, just without the size?

– Special teams….still struggling on both sides of late.  Another power play goal allowed, and another 0h-fer with the man-advantage.

Questions:

What does Van Guilder need to do to get on Nashville’s radar for a call-up?  Do you agree with Coach Herbers that he’s been the best and most reliable forward this year?  Are we being too hard on Ryan Ellis?  What specifically do you want the team to work on this week before Toronto comes to town on Friday?

It wasn’t the prettiest of games, but a happy ending is a happy ending.

Trailing at the start of the 3rd period, the Admirals battled back to send the game to overtime and a shootout, ultimately prevailing 4-3 over the Grand Rapids Griffins.

The Admirals are still having a tough time getting off to a good start after week-long layoffs.  Here’s Coach Herbers.

The Griffins scored first, with Gustav Nyquist finishing a give-and-go play Tomas Tatar in front of the right post.  Ryan Ellis was the lone defender back, and got stuck in the middle, and as soon he inched towards Tatar, the pass went back to Nyquist for the easy goal.

Brendan Smith scored a little less than two minutes later.  After J. Smith made a save, B Smith picked up the puck by the right post, skated behind the net, and beat J. Smith to the left post for the wrap-around goal.

At 15:12, Scott Valentine and Mitch Callahan squared off for a fight.  The stare-down lasted longer than the fight itself, but Valentine was hands down the winner, and the hope was that it would light a fuse under the Admirals. More from the Coach…

About a minute later, Ryan Thang got one back for the Ads.  After Gabriel Bourque stole the puck in the offensive zone (and after kind of getting away with a hook), the play went back to Tyler Sloan at the near point.  His shot was saved, and while lots of sticks were whacking at the puck in front of the crease, the puck bounced out to Thang higher in the slot.  Thanger had space to shoot and put the Admirals on the board.

Once again, we had a wild third period.

Scott Valentine scored his first pro goal on a fantastic individual effort that’ll be on video montages in the near future.  He essentially stole the puck from teammate Taylor Beck at the Admirals blue line, skated up the ice, went around Griffin D-man Brian Lashoff after he couldn’t knock the puck away.  And then as Lashoff was taking Valentine down, he put a shot on net that beat Joey MacDonald.

Coach Herbers says it was a good thing that he scored on that play…

To help celebrate, Teemu Laakso took a high-sticking penalty 31 seconds later.  And Tomas Tatar finished a give-and-go play of his own on the power play, backhanding a shot over Smitty by the far post.

To help redeem himself, Laakso scored a goal of his own 1:08 later.  Michael Latta won the faceoff, and Juuso Puustinen sent the puck back to the near point.  Bodies were falling in front of MacDonald, and Laakso’s shot had eyes to get into the back of the net.

To help celebrate, Laakso took another penalty with 3:11 left in the game, but the Ads were able to kill it off, and the game went to overtime.

The Ads were awarded a power play after a questionable holding call against Landon Ferraro…it wasn’t much of a hold.  It was an attempted hold for sure.  But he didn’t get much of the Admiral skater.

The ensuing power play lacked any kind of urgency.  And they ended the night 0-3 with the man-advantage.

So we went to the shootout.  Louis-Marc Aubry scored on the Griffins first try, but Smitty stopped the rest.  Michael Latta scored in the 3rd round, and Chris Mueller went high to beat MacDonald in the 5th round.  Brendan Smith’s try in the bottom of the fifth hit iron.

Coach Herbers talks about the shootout lineup strategy.

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LINES:

Bourque- Mueller – Thang
Champagne – Van Guilder – Flynn
Beck – Latta – Puustinen
Slaney – Lajunen – Stortini

– I’d say the Ads looked like they hadn’t played a game since last Saturday.  Passes were not crisp or accurate, assignments seemed to be missed, and early in the game, the Griffins were taking advantage of it.  But good teams find ways to win on nights when they aren’t playing their best hockey.

– How about Scott Valentine’s night?  Almost a Gordie.  Were those fisticuffs just what the doctor ordered at the right time?

– When the score was 2-1, we figured MacDonald was going to be the number one star of the game.  Looking back, we should have made the iron the #1 star of the game….bailed both goaltenders out a bit.  Smitty more so than MacDonald….

– Not one of Ellis’ best games.  Bartley wasn’t as good as he usually is.  Fordo’s fight left plenty to be desired.  Laakso had more 3rd period penalty trouble.  I thought Sloan had a pretty good game overall.

– Bourque had one of his more physical games of the season.  Probably got away with a few infractions.  I was waiting for him to get called for another snow-job penalty in the 2nd period…

– Pesky Ads go to Rosemont tomorrow to face the Wolves, and then back here to play the first of 12 against Rockford.

Thoughts on the game, Roundtable?  Is this the first win of the season that they didn’t really deserve to win?  How would you cure the long layoff blues?

And finally, here’s a shot for Valentine to frame, courtesy of Scott Paulus.

Gabriel Bourque scored the game winner with 4:21 left in the 3rd period to break the tie, and the Admirals swept the home and home series with Peoria, winning tonight 3-2.

Atte Engren rebounded from his poor outing in Charlotte and was sharp in net for the Ads tonight.  His save of the game came in the last minute, stopping Admiral nemesis Brett Sterling with a right pad save after a Scott Valentine turnover.

Mark Van Guilder opened the scoring for the Admirals 9:28 into the game, being in the right place at the right time.  The right place was by the left goal post.  The right time was when the puck arrived there after a shot from Teemu Laakso went off of Joel Champagne in the slot, and went right to MVG.

The details of the second period are inconsquential.  But it was the second straight game with a wild third period.

1:39 into the period, Mark Cundari had a big hit on Taylor Beck.  Michael Latta took exception, and the two dropped the gloves.  Cundari got five for the fight and two for interference, and Latta got five for the fight and a game misconduct.  Here’s the rule mentioned in the box score. (46.12)

A player who engages in fisticuffs and whose elbow pad(s) are removed other than through the actions of his opponent in the altercation or through the actions of the Linesman, shall be assessed a game misconduct penalty.

So that ended Latta’s night.

A little over six minute later, Bourque was called for Yonking, and the Rivermen were able to tie the game.  After Laakso fanned on a clearing attempt, the puck came to Jonathan Cheechoo at the bottom of the near circle, and he beat Engren to tie it up.

Bourque began to atone for the Yonking penalty by drawing a roughing penalty on Tyler Shattock at 13:39.  The Admirals regained the lead with a Zack Stortini goal on that power play.  He was the big man cleaning up in front of the crease after a Laakso shot from the point was saved by Jake Allen

That goal was the first of three to come in a span of 49 seconds.

Shortly after the goal, Laakso went to the box for interference, and it took the Rivermen just seven seconds of that power play to re-tie the game.  TJ Hensick had a shot went over Engren’s shoulder — A shot he probably never saw due to a great screen from Cheechoo.

But again, the Admirals got right back at it, and Bourque scored the game winner, with assists from Ryan Thang, and Jani Lajunen.

The best part of that goal was listening to the public address announcer wrestle with the second assist….

“Assisted by #8 Ryan Thang, and #24….”  Pause.  Pause.  Pause. “Jani” Pause Pause.  “Lah-yoon-en”.

Yikes.

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NOTES:

– With Mueller playing in Nashville, Lajunen got promoted to the Thang-Bourque line.  Slaney moved to center, and played with Cahill and Stortini.

– The Admirals are now 4-0 VS Peoria this season, and have given up just 5 goals over those games.  All five have been on the power play.   The Admirals have owned 5×5 play.

– Mixed bag for Laakso tonight.  Got some points, took a bad penalty, and fanned on the clearing attempt that led to the first Peoria goal.  Still, it’s good to have him back.

– 3 stars of the game….1. Hensick, 2. Bourque, 3. Cheechoo.  Sure.  Okay.  If you say so.

– So what next for Milwaukee?  Their next home game is Friday against Grand Rapids, kicking off a 3-in-3 next weekend.  Jordin Tootoo probably will be having a conversation with Shanahan this week, and depending on the verdict, there may be a call-up before the next Preds game.  We’ll see.

After a tight first 40 minutes, the Admirals exploded for four goals in the 3rd period, leaving the Peoria Rivermen behind by a 5-1 final score.

Michael Latta had a pair of goals and an assist, Taylor Beck had one of each, and Ryan Ellis had a pair of assists.  Meanwhile, Jeremy Smith was sharp, stopping every shot except for a Derek Nesbitt rebound on a 2nd period Peoria  power play.

That’s 13 goals in 2 games of the Ian Herbers era.  Here’s the Coach talking about the offense.

Michael Latta tied the game 1:20 after Nesbitt’s goal.  He was the 3rd man in on the rush, and had a perfect shot in the upper left corner of the net to beat Ben Bishop.

Victor Bartley opened the floodgates with a goal that Bishop probably wants to have back.  His shot from just inside the blue line somehow beat Bishop.  We’ll let Bartley describe the play.

About two and a half minutes later, Latta intercepted a clearing attempt at the offensive blueline, and tried to feed Taylor Beck down low.  Rivermen D-man Mark Cundari was in position to at least block the pass, but pass got by him and went through to Beck just in front of Bishop.  His backhander beat Bishop to make it a 3-1 lead.

Coach Herbers gave high marks to those two former Guelph Storm teammates after the game.

Mark Van Guilder and Joel Champagne completed a 2-on-1 rush.  Van Guilder waited for the d-man to commit to a slide, then passed through the slot to Champagne for his first AHL goal.

Latta scored his second of the game by getting behind the defense and taking a long pass from Ryan Ellis along the near side.  He went in all alone and his goal with 3:15 remaining in the game was the cherry on top.

And let’s not forget about Smitty.  He gets his 10th win of the season, and was sharp throughout.  Will he get the start tomorrow?  I think he should.

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Lines:

Bourque – Mueller – Thang
Champagne – Van Guilder – Flynn
Beck – Latta – Puustinen
Slaney – Lajunen -Stortini

Ellis-Sloan, Ford-Bartley, Laakso-Valentine

Here’s coach on the debuts of Laakso and Slaney.

– Puustinen had a penalty shot attempt after Danny Syvret give Juuso a hefty slash on the hands.  Puustinen made one move too many and then pushed his try wide right.

– Who didn’t miss Brett Sterling out on the ice?  This guy. (I’m pointing to myself)

– Bourque got called for a hockey-stop snow-job into the goalie.  Terrible.  That’s unsportsmanlike conduct?  Never mind the whack that Bishop took at Bourque with his stick immediately afterward.  That’s okay.  And then we had another one of those interference and diving on the same play calls later in the 2nd period.  Where do you stand on that debate?  Can it be both interference and a dive, or does it need to be one or the other?

– I thought the Admirals did a really nice job dictating their style of play for most of the game.  There were extended periods in the offensive zone, while the Rivermen were just one rush and done a lot of the time.  Definitely not the game they’d like to play with their offensive talent.  And the Rivermen started taking some extra chances in the 3rd, the Admirals were able to capitalize on their mistakes.

– I thought that this was one of Ryan Ellis’ best games of the season, especially as the game went on.  I also liked Joel Champagne on that line with Van Flynder.

– While it’s great to have Marty Gelinas on the bench right now, they are still searching for the permanent assistant coach.  Here’s what Herbie is looking for in his #2.

Just one question for discussion (but feel free to comment on whatever you want):  What do you expect in the rematch tomorrow night in Peoria?  It’s their first home game since November 11th, after 9 games straight on the road. (although, the last four have been in the region).

In Saturday’s game, the Admirals came up just short against a great goaltending performance and a solid Charlotte Checkers team.

In the rematch on Sunday afternoon, the Admirals played arguably their flattest game of the season, losing to the Checkers 5-1.

This is going to be a choose-your-own-adventure recap.

For the glass-is-half-empty-sky-is-falling details, flip to page 22.  For the don’t-panic details, flip to page 46.

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-Atte Engren started the game in net.  He faced two shots and allowed two goals, before being replaced by Jeremy Smith.  Engren’s night was done after 3:23.

– Smitty fared marginally better, but was still tagged for three goals of his own.

– Admirals were outshot 17-6 in the first period, and outscored 3-0.

– Admirals 0-4 on the power play in the game.

– Admirals didn’t score until the last minute of the game and had no fire for most of the contest.

– Chet Pickard is 4-6 in Cincy, with a 2.80 GAA and .895 save percentage, in case you want to start a Chet watch.

– The Admirals were by far the slower team.  The Checkers were ready to play and the Admirals weren’t.

– The Admirals will slip to 3rd place in the Midwest Division, regardless of how the Chicago/Peoria game ends this evening.

– You can read the Checkers recap if you need to know the details of how they scored.

– The team is now 0-3 this season wearing the blue jerseys.

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– The Admirals played better after the 1st intermission, outshooting the Checkers 26-12 the rest of the way.

– Gabriel Bourque scored his first of the year, finishing a nice tic-tac-toe play with 56 seconds left in the contest.

– Sometimes you go up against a hot goaltender.  Yesterday it was Mike Murphy, today it was Justin Peters.  It happens.

– The Checkers are a good team.  They’re in first place for a reason.  They’re fast, they’ve got great depth, and a two-headed goaltender monster.

– Here’s what I imagine Kirk Muller would have said after the game to the media.  “We need to be better, and we’ve got stuff to work on and we’ll work on it.  It’s a young team, but really, it’s just one game.  We’ll learn from it, and we’ll be better on Tuesday.”

For an update on how the Mo-vember mustaches are going, flip to page 77.  For the Belfast Giants “All I Want For Christmas Is You” video, flip to page 83.  For discussion questions, flip to page 96.

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How much longer do you think it is until we actually go on Pickard-watch?

Are you alarmed by the number of eggs the team has laid this season?  Are you amazed that they’re where they are in the standings despite their eggs?

What do you expect from the team on Tuesday against Abbotsford?