The Houston Aeros had won 11 straight playoff games that had gone in to overtime.

A new streak has started, courtesy of a Kelsey Wilson deflection 1:01 into the extra session, as the Admirals forced a game seven after a 5-4 win over Houston Sunday evening.

Ryan Thang’s shot from the point was deflected by Wilson as he was being worked over by Drew Bagnall in front of Aero goaltender Matt Hackett.

“He’s a real important piece for our team in terms of his character and his leadership,” Coach Lambert said.  “Since he has come back in game 5 of the Texas series, he’s played good hockey for us.”

Wilson’s goal capped a rollercoaster of a game that saw the Admirals score the first three goals, Houston score the next four, and then the Admirals score the final two.

“The game is 60 minutes, and they’re a good a hockey team,” Coach said.  “We did a good job getting ourselves a lead.  I thought we made a couple little mistakes and the puck ended up in the back of our net, and we just had to focus and regroup.”

The Admirals scored their first two goals with a little help from Aeros goaltender Matt Hackett.  Ryan Ellis scored his first pro goal with a shot from the point that went off of Hackett’s pads and trickled in next to the near post.

Gabriel Bourque scored his sixth of the playoffs with a shot from the far face-off circle that Hackett saved, but he lost where it went, and ended up kicking it into the net with his skate.

The Admirals made it a 3-nil lead with a power play goal from Roman Josi early in the 2^nd period.  From the top of the near face-off circle, Mark Van Guilder had a wide open passing line, and fed a cross-ice pass to Kelsey Wilson.  He tapped it back just a touch to Josi who was pinching, and his shot beat Hackett top-right corner.

The rest of the period belonged to the Aeros, and the turning point seemed to be a bizarre play involving Roman Josi and the goalie Hackett.  During play, Josi was pushed into Hackett, and an Aeros defender and Hackett proceeded to take some shots at Josi.  Josi got back to his skates, only to be knocked down again.  Lots of chirping back and forth between the two teams.  While skating away Josi gave a soft shot to Hackett, who then followed Josi and an official to the far corner.  And Hackett gave a pretty hard shot back to Josi.  Leaving the crease to be part of an altercation?  Some goalies would be tossed for such an action.  Instead, Hackett and Maxim Noreau got two each for roughing, and Josi got two for goaltender interference and two for roughing.  We proceeded 5-on-5.

About four and half minutes later the Aeros put the first of three dents into the scoreboard in the period.  Taking advantage of an AWFUL long line change, Jarod Palmer had a shot from the slot that beat Jeremy Smith.  It was helpful that another Aero forward set a pick to take two Admirals out of the play, but it was a great shot by Palmer.

Noreau scored less than a minute later on a shot from the point that flat out beat Smitty, while there were five Admirals just standing around watching the play.

Jon DiSalvatore scored a power play goal amidst a lot of waving sticks, and Chris Mueller being a little late coming back to pick him up.  Nice pass by O’Sullivan and nice finish by DiSalvatore.

So we went to the third period, and the question was, who was going to come out with the most urgency?  The team on the verge of clinching, or the team on the verge of their season ending.

The Aeros ended up controlling most of the play, and were able to take the lead at the 9:32 mark of the period.  After a faceoff, there was a scramble in front of Jeremy Smith.  Smitty was on his belly, and the puck was sitting in the crease just to the right of his elbow.  Patrick O’Sullivan was there to tap it in.  The fourth unanswered goal for the Aeros.

“They gained momentum obviously, and they ended up taking the lead,” Coach Lambert said.  “We had a huge push from our guys.   I thought the Aaron Johnson hit helped turn things around a little bit in the third period.  We started getting back to playing physical like we were in the first period.”

And then with 4:44 left in the period, Chris Mueller was able to stop the bleeding.  Mueller picked off a clearing attempt in the offensive zone, but couldn’t control the puck.  Ryan Thang worked to get it, and then tapped it back over to Mueller, who had relocated to the slot.  His shot beat Hackett.

They allow 20 minutes for the overtime period, but the Admirals needed just the 61 seconds.  After controlling the first shift of overtime, the Admirals scored after the line change.

“I think our guys rose to that challenge and made sure that we stayed focused,” Coach said.

NOTES & QUESTIONS

Flynn – Bartlett – Begin
Wilson – Mueller – Thang
Bourque – Van Guilder – Thuresson
Ryan – Hunter – Santorelli

Teemu Laakso did indeed return to the ice, and Grant Lewis was scratched in his stead.

Ryan Ellis’ head was the recipient of a demonstration of Newton’s 3^rd law of physics.  Andreas Thuresson had a big hit on Justin Falk along the boards.   Ellis was pinching down, tried to also hit Falk, and 6’5 Falk’s shoulder met 5’10 Ellis’ noggin. Ellis stayed on the ice for about half a minute, but skated to the bench on his own power, and after a trip to the locker room, hit the ice again later in the 3^rd period.

Speaking of Ellis, I thought he played a pretty good game.  He looked a little more comfortable in the offensive zone, and was able to bail himself and some teammates out on some rushes against Smitty.

There was lots of Aero contact with Smitty, but I think he did his fair share of hamming it up too.  Still, he did get peppered a few times.

The three stars were all messed up.  They presented Wilson, Josi, and Mueller….and the box score says Wilson, O’Sullivan and Smitty.  DiSalvatore had a great game, and had a goal and two assists.  Noreau was sharp.  Thang had four assists.  Meh.  There are worse things to pick on.

Who stood out for you tonight?

Did you think they had it in them?

Happy to see Laakso back?  Bummed that Lewis was the odd man out?

Thoughts on the power play performance?  2 for 4 for the good guys.  Anyone toasting some Mountain Fury right now?  Weren’t we supposed to do some kind of giveaways for that stuff?  I’ll have a word with Sutty….he’s our fake director of corporate sponsorship.

Admirals still outshot….33-23 tonight.  For the series, Admirals have been outshot 203-128 in the six games.  Nice save % numbers for Smitty….but that’s really the only silver lining to that.

Anything else you’d like to share about the game?

See you Tuesday.

The highs in playoff hockey are like nothing else in professional sports.

The lows in playoff hockey?  Just as dramatic.

Jeremy Smith stood on his head, the Admirals survived a first period that looked like a continuation from a previous game, and had some puck luck to get to a 2-0 lead.

And then the captain, did what captains before him have done so very many times before.

Puck over glass.  Delay of game.  Two minutes for “Yonking”.

That put the Admirals down two men with 4:55 left in the game.  Grant Lewis was already in the box for setting a pick (a penalty that should have had an Aero player accompany him to the box after a shot to Lewis’ face).

It took the Aeros 33 seconds to score.  Robbie Earl’s shot low stick side beat Smith.

Chad Rau tied the game with 1:21 left, as Matt Hackett was heading to the bench for the extra attacker.

Robbie Earl was the man in overtime as well, jamming the puck past Smith at the near post, while Casey Wellman was in the crease.  He was engaged with a defenseman, but it may have been enough to distract Smith on the game winning goal.

Houston outshot the Admirals 19-6 in the opening period, thanks in part to four Aero power plays in the frame.  Smith was outstanding, making some saves that Pekka Rinne might not have.

Ryan Thang continued his strong play, scoring his fifth of the playoffs on a fluky goal.  A Thanger shot went off of Hackett’s blocker, popped in the air, landed on Hackett’s shoulder, rolled off, hit the crossbar, then fell down to the goalline, where Thang finished the job.  Put the puck on net, stuff happens.  What a concept!

The Admirals second goal had a little bit of puck luck too, as the ice shavings in front of the bench slowed down a puck just enough on a shorthanded clear that Mike Bartlett was able to scoop it up.  While he couldn’t get a shot off, Steve Begin did, and scored with 5 seconds left in the period.

The Admirals failed to convert two power play chances in the 3rd period before their time on the 5-on-3 penalty kill.  A goal there may have been just enough to put the game out of reach.

Smitty ended the night with 50 saves on 53 shots.  Hackett had 23 saves on 25 shots.  (Shot counter isn’t doing Hackett any favors!)

Patrick O’Sullivan (12), Chad Rau (9), and Robbie Earl (6) combined had two more shots than the full Admirals roster.

So now what?  The Admirals will face their first elimination game of the playoffs Sunday evening at the Bradley Center.  If the Predators lose Saturday night in Vancouver, there may be some reinforcements coming to Milwaukee.  And boy, could we use them about now.  I think we’ve seen enough ATO guys for awhile.

The third period had all the makings of a sad story of collapse.  But a questionable Houston goal was answered in short order by an Admiral goal, and Milwaukee skated out of Toyota Center with a 5-3 win over the Aeros Tuesday night.

Let’s address the elephant in the room right away.  The AHL needs to have video replay in every arena.  There’s no excuse to not have it.  But since we don’t have it, how on earth can Mark Lemelin, in perfect position, waive off a Jarod Palmer goal, and then at the next whistle, be convinced that he waived it off in error?  The goal judge never turned on their light, so is he even supposed to be consulted?  If the replays on the video board had any impact at all on the reversal, Lemelin should be terminated.  Immediately.  Every team in the league had good goals waived off due to human error.  It’s the reality of the league.  Obviously, we aren’t privy to the conference of the zebras on the ice, but I don’t know how anybody could/should have been able to get him to over-rule himself.  Nobody was in better position, and even though the replays made it look to be the right call, he is not supposed to have the benefit of replays.  The Admirals should have gotten away with that one.

Fortunately for the Admirals, it didn’t matter.

After they awarded Palmer the goal to make the score 4-3, and after they put some time back on the clock, it took the Admirals 27 seconds to answer back.  Mike Bartlett put in a juicy rebound of a Steve Begin shot.

Jared Spurgeon opened the scoring with a power play goal, sneaking in the back door on the far side.  From the replay, it looked like it was Begin’s missed assignment.  But it was a great pass from Robbie Earl, and a nice finish that beat Jeremy Smith.

The Admirals would tie it at the end of the period, thanks to some nice passing as a power play was ending.  On one last rush, Aaron Johnson had a cross-ice pass to Ryan Thang on the far side.  He put the puck on net, and it was deflected by Van Guilder past Matt Hackett.  The goal came a second after the power play expired.

In the second period, the Admirals scored a pair more.  Ryan Thang converted a rebound of a Scott Ford shot into an open net.  And then about five minutes later, Andreas Thuresson reappeared, and cashed in after some great plays from Grant Lewis and Begin.  Lewis had a strong play bringing the puck down low towards the net.  The puck came to Begin behind the net, and his slick pass found Thuresson all alone in the slot.

Then there were four goals over a 2:17 span in the middle of the 3rd period.

Marco Scandella scored a power play goal from the bottom of the near circle that looked like it could have been waived off too.  Tough to tell from the one replay Toyota Center showed.  But okay, ref was there, it’s a good goal.  We move on.

Steve Begin answered 1:19 later finishing a 3-on-2 rush.  Thuresson, to Bartlett, to Begin in front of the crease.

Palmer somehow got behind everybody and his shot did beat Smith.  And that play led to Lemelin-Gate 2011.

NOTES:

First, the lines.

Bourque – Mueller – Beck
Wilson – Van Guilder – Thang
Begin – Bartlett – Thuresson
Ryan – Hunter – Santorelli

We’d like to give an extra special ‘welcome back to the playoffs’ to that 4th line, which I thought played very well as an energy line tonight.  High marks for all four lines, actually.  While the 1st line didn’t yield any goals, they had some nice moments too.

Biggest difference between game 2 and game 3?  Chaos in front of Hackett.  As in, there was none on Sunday, and the Admirals were able to drive to the net and be a bit more distracting tonight.

Both Smith and Hackett channeled their inner-Pekka Rinne, making some insane saves at times.  Both teams missed some open nets too.  There were rebounds aplenty on both ends, but the Admirals were the superior team tonight when it came to getting help from the defensemen clearing pucks out of danger.

Scott Ford was whistled for interference in the 2nd period.  But the clock kept running after the play stopped for about another 25 seconds.  Dean “The Dream” Zanoni would NEVER let that happen!

You can check out some thoughts from Andrew at The Third Intermission here.  There are some quotes from the Houston coach (who isn’t interested in giving the Admirals credit for the game).  Andrew points out that it was the same forward line out there when the Admirals answered back both times in the 3rd period.  It’s a good read, and I recommend that you give it a gander.

Admirals recap is here.  Aeros recap is here.  Box score is here.

A quick start, some puck luck, and the offensive re-appearance of Steve Begin were all keys in the Admirals 3-1 victory over the Houston Aeros in Game 1 of their playoff series Friday night.

Quick start:  The Admirals were up 2-0 before the game was 11 minutes old.

Puck luck:  The Aeros heard the sound “ping” after their shots on multiple occasions.

Begin:  Scored his first goal since November 28^th against San Antonio, on that 10 game road trip way back when.

Begin recorded the first goal of the game at the 9:49 mark, starting the play with a big hit in the defensive zone, and then had all the time in the world after receiving a pass in the high slot while there was a delayed penalty.  Begin’s shot hit the top left corner of the net, and gave the Admirals the lead.

Taylor Beck scored 41 seconds later on a play that looked like a trick shot you might see at an All-star game.  From the top of the near circle, he flipped/floated the puck over Nate Prosser, went around Prosser, and met the puck in front of the crease when it came back down.  His backhander beat Matt Hackett.

On a power play later in the 1^st period, the Aeros hit iron a couple of times, the loudest ping coming on a shot from Marco Scandella.

The second period was scoreless, but the team received a scare when Casey Wellman’s skate collided with Jeremy Smith’s helmet on a play.  Wellman was being worked over by Kelsey Wilson, lost his balance, and that’s how it happened.  Not a dirty play….just hockey play.  And boy, were we thankful Smitty was okay.

The Admirals were outshot 12-5 in the 3^rd period, but their first one went in.  Ryan Thang had a shot on a play that resembled his OT winner in the Texas series.  He came in along the right wing, and a shot from the faceoff circle just flat out beat the goaltender.  No screen, no deflection.  Begin created the turnover in the neutral zone that sprung Thang on the rush.

Here’s the recap from The Third Intermission.  Interesting discussion going on about roster management.

Let’s talk about Ryan Ellis’ debut.  You could tell there were a few moments where he looked like he needed to adjust to the timing of things up here.  But there were other times where he looked like he belonged, and hadn’t just been playing a full season in Windsor.  Ellis also got his first professional point, assisting on Beck’s 1^st period goal.

Here’s the coach on Ellis’ night.

What kind of marks would you give his performance?

Game of inches sometimes.  Game would have looked a whole lot different if even one of those shots that hit iron went in.

Do you buy the whole “rust” thing, or do you find it a convenient excuse for a slow start?  This isn’t meant to be an attack on Houston, but rather a philosophical question.  When the Admirals have had slow starts after long layoffs, we’re heard the “R” word used.  What do you think?

Great to see Begin on the scoresheet again.  Gives us a chance to put a microphone in front of his face and let him wax poetic for awhile.

Did you even know that Watson and Latta dressed tonight?

Care to comment on the Mueller-Noreau pay-per-view heavyweight bout at the end of the second period?

Who would you give the hard-hat award to tonight?  Who played a great game, but didn’t get credit for it in the box score?  Call it for either team.

And what do the Admirals need to do to be better on Sunday?