Well this makes Texas’ gameplan for Game 2 pretty easy, right?

Stop Gabriel Bourque and Chris Mueller.

Those two combined for 9 points, as the Admirals shot down the Texas Stars 5-2 Thursday night in the first game of their playoff series.

Bourque’s five point night ties an Admirals playoff record.  Last person to have it?  Libor Pivko against Chicago in 2004.

Not bad for a 20 year old.

It was the Stars who were first to strike.  While Scott Ford sat in Johnson’s office for a cross check, the Stars made quick work of the odd man attack. 17 seconds later, Aaron Gagnon had the puck at the top of the near side circle, took a couple strides towards the net and fired a wrister that looked to have been deflected. The puck remained on target and past Jeremy Smith, who was being screened by Raymond Sawada.  The shot looked funny and had a weird trajectory,so I am assuming it was redirected. Perhaps some conspiracy theorist can look and come up with a grassy knoll type idea. Either way, the score counted, and the Ads were down halfway through the stanza.

The Admirals evened the match when Gabriel Bourque got the biscuit past Richard Bachman off of a great pass by Roman Josi. Andreas Thuresson got a loose puck on the near side boards and quickly sent it to the far side circle, where Josi gathered it. After a stride, he found Bourque crashing back side, and put the puck right on the tape, which Bourque converted into his first goal of the game.   It was a great play by all parties involved and woke up the crowd.

Just under three minutes later the Admirals extended their lead while on the Mountain Fury Power Play.  Bourque had the puck and was skating down the far side wall.  He dished the puck slightly forward to Mueller, who took the puck on the other side of the circle, skated around a defender, and put a back hand past Bachman short side for the Fury goal.  This was a goal off of great stick handling and also a great job by Bourque to find Mueller in space.

The Admirals kept the momentum going in the second period,  and scored a couple more goals.  The first came off Ryan Thang’s stick, and a great re-direct at that.  Mueller gathered the puck in the slot and unleashed an awkward shot that looked to be sailing high. Thang was being boxed out by a Stars D-man but was able to track it and make contact with the puck on his stick below the crossbar. The puck then went straight down and spun like a top over the line, right before another Stars D-man could bring it to safety. This play looked weird right from the start, but a great job by Thang to get some wood on it for the score.

The Stars had a golden opportunity to get back in the game, with the help of some 5-on-3 power play time.  Instead, it was the penalty kill unit and specifically Jeremy Smith who kept the momentum with the Admirals.  The 5-on-3 was courtesy of a Roman Josi Yonking penalty, and when Ford got called for “carrying two many sticks”.  It put the Admirals down two men for 1:05 and the the penalty kill unit was great. They found a way to keep the puck out of their net with the help of some great acrobatic saves by Smith. I tell you what, if there was a back breaker for the Stars in this game, that was it.

Coach Lambert says Smith was mirac…..great tonight.

What’s that? You want a little more of the Mueller and Bourque show? Well funny you should mention that.  Bam!!! Bourque goal!!!!! With a turnover in the Admirals o-zone Mueller was able to gather the rock and carry it to the near side corner where he spotted Bourque coming to the net near side. Mueller put a pinpoint pass on Bourque’s tape, and Gabriel took it top shelf to give the Admirals a three goal lead.

Mueller talks about the chemistry between himself and Bourque.

The third period started with a Texas goalie change, and a little bit later, a Stars goal. Mathieu Tousignant gathered the puck just atop the near circle and fired a shot that hit Grant Lewis, who was covering a crashing Stars player. Smith was unable to compensate for the redirection, and it beat him far side to half the deficit at 4-2. The goal was a great example of ‘get the shots on net and good things happen’. Nothing special, it was just the right place, right time, and a right decision by Tousignant.

With the crowd chanting encore like a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert that had yet to play Freebird, the Mueller and Bourque show continued to fly high, giving Bourque his fifth point and Mueller his second goal of the night. Bourque created the turnover,  and then shoved a pass to Mueller, who was near side down low. Mueller just casually skated in putting on a stick handling clinic, and eventually just putting the puck 5-hole on a frozen Tyler Beskorowany.

Mueller says it was just one of those nights.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS:

Lines started:

Bourque – Mueller – Thang
Thuresson – Van Guilder – Conacher
Santorelli – Begin – Beck
Flynn – Bartlett – Ryan

Lane shuffled them a bit in the 3^rd period, but after talking to Coach, we shouldn’t read too much into it

The Admirals scored five goals tonight.  They scored seven goals in the season series this year.

Surprised Beck got the call instead of Latta?

Describe the upgrade of Aaron Johnson over Jeff Foss.  How nice was it to have him back?

Ever seen that illegal stick call before?

When was the last time the Admirals had a #1 line like this?

What kind of game to you expect on Saturday night?

Great!  The Admirals are able to announce the first two home playoff games, Thursday April 14^th, and Saturday April 16^th.

They were able to clinch home ice for the first round…not because they did anything in their game Wednesday night, but rather due to the fact that Peoria defeated Texas.

So even though the Admirals lost 2-1 to the Grand Rapids Griffins, they can leave the Bradley Center knowing when their first two post-season games will be.  (They probably won’t know the opponents until Sunday).

So clear your schedules for Thursday and Saturday, yo.

Ok, now to the game.

The Admirals, continuing to punish the jersey embroiderer, added two more new names for tonight’s game. Taylor Beck and Michael Latta, who finished their junior seasons over the weekend, were the fresh faces.  And here’s what the coach said about their debuts.

“I liked Latta.  He plays hard and he’s got some skills.  I think the one thing about him is his pace to the game, but he does a lot of things well in terms of competing.

“I thought Beck got an eye-opener tonight.  He’s going to have to compete a lot harder for me, because he’s a big guy, but there wasn’t enough…..there were a couple of moments where he had the puck down below the goal line that he was pretty good…. But on their second goal, all he’s got to do is finish Tatar behind the net and it’s a dead play.  These are little things here that when you get guys out of junior hockey, that you need to fix, and there’s not a lot of time to fix it right now. “

The Griffins’ Cory Emmerton would be the first to light the lamp with 7:47 to go in the first. Chris “shop at” Minard(s) gathered the puck from Adam Keefe . Brett Palin stepped up to contest Minard giving him a good shove but was unable to jar the puck loose. This allowed Minard to pass the puck to Emmerton, who was crashing the net uncontested from the back side, and for an easy goal.

The second period got off to a productive, if not lucky start for the Admirals, and more specifically Andreas Thuresson, who was able to pick up his 14^th goal on the season at 2:02.  Newcomer Latta gave the puck in the neutral zone to fellow noob Cory Conacher.  After receiving the puck Conacher put a shot on net from way out that hit Griffins net minder Jordan Pearce in the torso, and he looked like he thought he still had the puck in his pads.  Instead, the puck had just gotten past Pearce and was slowly moving through the crease as Thuresson was pushing through a defender hard to the net.  On his way to being shoved to the ice, Thuresson got enough on the puck to give it a little more zip to get the Admirals’ only goal of the night. It was one of those plays where the goalie wishes he saw it because there was quite a bit of time between initial stop and Thuresson getting to the loose puck.

“Over the last 40 minutes we carried the play and had the majority of the chances and we should have won the hockey game, but their goalie played well, and we couldn’t find ways to put it past him,” said the Coach.  “And the one that we did put past him was a bad goal by him.  He should have had that easy wrist shot from the blue line and he didn’t.  It’s funny how it goes…there’s lots that should have went in and the one that shouldn’t have did.”

The Griffins, not allowing the Admirals too much time to celebrate the goal, got the lead right back off of a Tomas Tatar tally (that’s alliteration kids) just :34 seconds later.  After a Ilari Filppula shot that went wide, Tatar gathered the puck from behind the net and came around near side to try a wrap around. Jeremy Smith was able to stop the first attempt but unfortunately was unable to stop the second as the puck trickled behind Smith and over the line to give the Griffins the lead, and Tartar his 24^th on the year.

The Admirals had chances in the 3^rd period, and the sound “ping” was heard, illustrating in sound how close they came on a chance.  The home team outshot the Griffins 14-5 in the frame, and they seemed to start using some speed to their advantage.  But Pearce was solid, and the defense was able to get the puck out of trouble when needed.

Coach Lambert says that it’s great to be in first, but the focus is elsewhere right now.

“We’re trying to build here.  In terms of standings and points and things like that, that’s not our focus right now.  It can’t be, because we are trying to improve our game with the number of new players that we have in the lineup.  That’s really our focus – to sort of get back to the foundation and continue to try and build.  There are certain plays that happened in the game tonight that guys that haven’t been here very long don’t recognize.  And it’s all part of the process of trying to get better and we have to do it quickly.”

NOTES & QUESTIONS:

So what did you think of Latta and Beck?  I thought Latta really picked it up from about the half way point in the second. I felt he was one of the few out there with a real fire… I thought he helped create a few good chances and even got some chances of his own off of his hard work.  Beck?  I wouldn’t say he looked like a loser, baby…..but he didn’t impress me (with his Devil’s Haircut) the way that some of the other ATO guys had in their debuts.

Plenty of dump and chase, but I think they were better about skating it into the zone in the 3^rd period especially.

Was that the loudest pipe you’ve ever heard, on Josi’s bullet in the 3^rd?

Foss and Leaderer….act II…..thoughts?

Laakso and Josi combined for well over 40 minutes of ice time.  Big effort from those guys tonight.  Laakso almost scored in his fifth straight game….but couldn’t get his stick on a rebound on a play in the 3^rd period.

Looks like Ford was able to avoid suspension.  Word is that Peoria didn’t even submit tape to the league about the hit.

Begin took a puck to the leg and had to be helped off the ice.  Day-to-day is the word for now.

And one more note:  The Admirals have a chance to set a franchise record for the fewest penalty minutes in a season.  The current record is 1,086 minutes in the 83-84 season….and with three games to go, the Admirals are sitting on 1005 minutes.

The Admirals suited up 5 total players on ATO or PTO contracts and failed to convert on a chance to clinch the West, as they were defeated 4-3 by the Peoria Rivermen Sunday evening.  With Rockford defeating Texas 5-1, the Admirals could have become the “kings of the west” and clinched home ice advantage through most of the playoffs but alas it wasn’t meant to be.

Here’s the coach.

Only 3:37 into the game things weren’t looking good for the Admirals and unfortunately, worse for former Admiral Dave Scatchard. With Scatchard skating the puck into the zone from the near boards he passed the puck though the slot to a fellow Rivermen. After Scatchard passed, Scott Ford met him with a shoulder to the head and Scatchard went down.  He remained down and had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher. Ford was given a five minute major and a game misconduct for “checking to the head”. I am sorry if this seems kind of vague or non-descript and that is because I didn’t actually see the hit that sent him down, and the replay crew rightfully didn’t deem it replay-worthy.  Please feel free to give your description of the play in the comments section.

Coach Lambert doesn’t know if there will be a suspension, but didn’t think it was a dirty hit.

That was just the start for the Admirals and their penalty troubles as they committed five penalties in the 1^st period alone. Mark Santorelli’s penalty came at the 9:58 mark for holding and just :19 seconds later the Rivermen put a crooked number on the board.  The goal has followed a theme this year and that theme is not consulting with the goal judge and making a unilateral decision on goal or no goal by the Referees.  This was no exception as Akim Aliu was the beneficiary of the hack job. Nathan Oystrick put a shot on net from the near circle that Atte Engren turned aside to the far side icing line. Aliu was there to put a shot on net that Engren had apparently covered. The Ref, Tim Mayer was against the boards at the far side of the ice with his hand up for a delayed penalty when his Go-Go-Gadget eyes saw the puck cross the line.

Here’s Coach Lambert’s token request for video replay.

The Rivermen capitalized on another of the aforementioned penalties. This one was courtesy of T.J. Hensick. Jeff Foss didn’t even have enough time to find out where to sit in the penalty box as the Rivermen only needed : 16 to convert on this odd man advantage. Again, Atte Engren stopped the first shot but was unable to corral the rebound and received no help from his defense. The puck was being peppered form in close with almost everyone in the crease when it came out far enough where a poaching Hensick picked up the puck, skated far side slot and put the shot past the screened Engren.

In the second period the Admirals were able to half the lead off a Chris Mueller goal while on the Double Rainbow Mountain Fury Power Play. The Admirals had the 5-on-3 advantage with Dean Arsene and Brennan Evans sitting in the box. For the Admirals, Roman Josi and Santorelli were playing catch with the puck with Josi in the near circle and Santorelli down low goal line level. They were seemingly lulling the Rivermen to sleep when Santo sent a quick and beautiful pass though the crease to Mueller awaiting back door. Mueller didn’t even have to do anything but angle his blade as the pass from Santo hit his tape the straight to the back of the net.

In the 3^rd period, the fans didn’t even have time to sit down before the Admirals’ Gabriel Bourque lit the lamp to tie the game at two.  Just :44 into the third, Ryan Thang passed the puck to Bourque, who was down low below the goal. He tried to pass the puck back to the slot but it was deflected to netting on the back of the cage. Bourque hit the back of the net to get the puck to come down then proceeded to try a wrap around shot that successfully beat Allen far side. It was a great effort by Bourque to keep the play alive and beat Allen with a quick wraparound.

The game would not be tied for long as the Rivermen took back the lead at the 3:00 mark.  This was just a simple, ‘you messed up and I am going to make you pay’ goal as T.J Hensick intercepted a pass from Santorelli from inside the slot and beat Engren after a couple strides. No big deal right, we can get that ba….. Rivermen goal?!?!?! It took them 13 seconds to make Engren pay for his rubber glove.  Adam Cracknell put a harmless shot on net from the near side circle and Engren tried the glove save and failed with the puck falling in the crease allowing Stefan Della Rovere to take the loose change to the bank to give the Rivermen the 4-2 lead.  It was the fastest pair of opponent goals this season.

The Admirals refusing to go away quietly got their third goal of the night with the extra attacker on the ice in lieu of a goalie.  Andreas Thuresson was at the near side point he sent the pass rink wide to Teemu Laakso who wound up and fired one past Allen to give the Admirals a little more hope.  It was Laakso’s fourth in as many games.

That hope would fade into obscurity as the Admirals could not get the tying goal, despite a last half-minute flurry, making the final 4-3 in favor of the bad guys.

NOTES:

With 3:01 to go in the first period Ben Bishop stopped his second (yes second) shot on goal and after the puck started going the other way Bishop went down to his knees in pain and left the game. The only thing I can think is he got a puck under the pads.

Although I would not call Ford a thug, or a goon, or Matt Cooke, I do think he will get a couple games off without pay for his hit on Scatchard. The NHL is looking to get rid of shots to the head no matter the intention and I am sure the AHL has a lot of pressure on them to stay in line with their parent league.

Although the Admirals were down a man or two quite often in the first period they only managed to get 2 shots on goal…  Two… as in the second loneliest number since the number one.  I am no mathematician but I am pretty sure you don’t have a good chance of winning a period if you can’t muster more than my (Sutty’s) IQ in shots.

According to the coach, Grant Lewis and Aaron Johnson were scratched with injuries.  They are day-to-day.  Kelsey Wilson tore his MCL and stretched his ACL.  4-6 weeks is the latest timetable we’ve heard.

Not the worst thing in the world that Peoria got a couple of points.  Makes it that much tougher for the Wolves to make the playoffs.  And that would be preferable.

QUESTIONS:

So how were the new guys tonight?  Foss?  Leaderer?  Watson?  Cahill?  Conacher?  Anything?  Here’s the coach.

Thoughts on Atte?  Rebounds?  Glove?  Interest in leaving the crease?

Bummed that they couldn’t clinch tonight?  Or is it just a stennank in the road that the team was probably due to have?

Anything else you want to talk about?

The Admirals are going to the big dance.

Thanks to their 3-2 shootout win over the San Antonio Rampage, the Admirals have punched their Calder Cup playoff ticket.  New guy Atte Engren got the start, and came up huge in the shootout, for his first North American W.

Coach Lambert liked the improvement from Engren’s last start.

“I thought he did a very good job of making some adjustments tonight compared to when he played on Saturday in Rockford.  He played well.”

The game really didn’t get started until the second period and it was the Rampage that got things going.  While Mark Van Guilder was in the sin bin, the Rampage were peppering the crease with shots from all over the zone.  One shot from the near side was kicked to the far side by Engren.  After the save Engren seemed to have tripped or fell but was doing barrel rolls to the opposite side of the crease, and that made for easy pickings for Garrett Stafford, netting his 13^th on the year at the 2:42 mark.  I don’t want to say this goal was Engren’s fault completely, but he seemed to be a bit out of position and unable to get back to a sound hockey position after the initial stop.

The next penalty was called on the Rampage and the Admirals were able to even the score on that power play.  Nick Ross was serving a hooking penalty, and just under a minute later Teemu Laakso put the bisquik in the basket at the 12:12 point.  The play started with the Admirals doing a great job containing the zone when the puck came to Andreas Thuresson, who pushed the puck up to Santorelli on the near side and a couple feet from the cage.  Santo found  Laakso crashing the back side and had a great pass though the crease to the tape of Teemu, and it went to the back of the net immediately.

Exactly 2 minutes later the Admirals took the lead with a delayed penalty goal by Grant Lewis and one for his highlight reel for sure. With Engren out and the extra attacker in for the Admirals, the o-zone was shrinking on Matt Climie. Kelsey Wilson dished the pass forward to Grant Lewis who had some room to move. He took a stride or two forward and was tripped by Viktor Tikhonov but on Lewis’s way to the ice he put on a shot that beat Climie for Grant’s 7^th on the year. This was a great play for Lewis, and a great job by the Ads to get the extra skater out there for added pressure. While the goal doesn’t count as a power play goal it was still with an odd man advantage.

“I don’t know if their team let up at all,” Coach Lambert said.  “Sometimes you can have a tendency to do that, thinking that you’re going to get the puck and the whistle’s going to blow.  He made a great individual effort, obviously, he showed his size and strength and his reach with the play, and made a great play.”

The Rampage tied the game shortly after the Lewis goal on a fluky and incredibly lucky goal by Randy Robitaille at 17:56. With the Admirals struggling to cover or clear the puck, the Rampage were working against a tired Milwaukee crew. After a shot put on Engren that was turned aside, the puck caromed out to the far face off dot. Robitaille skated up to it, spun around, and tried to pass/shoot the puck to the near side boards.  The puck found Brock McBride’s skate which was in the crease following the puck. The puck just smoothly skimmed the ice towards the net and nothing anyone could do to stop it. The goal was unassisted (by a Rampage player) and gave Robitaille his 5^th on the year.

The 3^rd period came and went just like the first period and in the overtime both goalies came up big on a couple occasions forcing the game to go into a shoot out.  Engren stopped the first three shots he faced, and allowed a goal on the fourth attempt to Viktor Tikhonov.  Meanwhile, Gabriel “Money shot” Bourque, Roman Josi, and Andreas Thuresson all beat Matt Climie, to give the Admirals the shootout win.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS:

Time to start growing your playoff beards.  Gentlemen AND ladies.  It starts tonight.

“It’s been a grind all year long,” Coach Lambert said.  “Our team, even though we’ve had some call-ups and injuries, has done a very good job of being resilient.   Especially down the stretch here right now.   We’ve created enough separation….we’ve made the playoffs and that’s step one.  Now the step is to fight for first place.”

Steve Begin was back, and took a really dumb penalty in the first period to put the Admirals down two men. He did have a great return on investment because I think he drew 2 or 3 penalties for the Admirals also.  High marks for the penalty kill early on.

Man, Bourque is on fire in the shootout.   He has scored in his last three shootout attempts.  And way for Thuresson to come up boo-yah huge, on just his 2^nd attempt of the year.

I’m just gonna say what we’re all thinking.  We love Ryan, but he’s still a bit green.  But that’s okay.  He’s just keeping Matt Moore’s seat warm for him.

I think Engren was better tonight than he was on Saturday in Rockford, but he sure does come with a fair share of fan anxiety. He seems a bit jumpy and very excited to skate out of the crease.  Excluding Chet Pickard, who was the last goalie that made you nervous every time the opposing team would enter the zone?

Did you like the dodgeball game, or was it another excuse to take a lap or two around the concourse?

Ryan Thang is quietly playing great. The past couple games he has really been fighting and making good things happen on rushes.

So Austin Watson is here.  And a couple others (not Beck, Ellis, or Latta) will be signed to ATO contracts tomorrow.  We asked Lane if he thinks they may be playing at some point this weekend.

“We’ll see.  Obviously our team is sort of built on our fundamentals and our structure and we want to make sure that we don’t throw anybody to the Wolves so to speak before they are ready to play.  We want to people in the best possible position to succeed, so tomorrow will be a big day for all those guys.”

My translation:  Bring your “A” game to practice, and then MAYBE we’ll talk about ice time.

The Mountain Fury Power Play would be the difference in the game tonight, as the Admirals scored 2 special team goals to beat the San Antonio Rampage Sunday evening 2-1. With both teams playing their third game in as many days the question was how the teams would respond.  Here’s what coach Lambert thought about the weekend, which gave the Admirals five of a possible six points in the standings.

The Admirals had their first Mountain Fury Power Play of the game at the 6:06 mark of the first.  Being bored with the normal 2 minutes given for a minor infraction, the Admirals chose to convert at the 6:12 mark of the first period. Randy Robitaille didn’t even have a chance to sit down in the box before Teemu Laakso netted his 5^th goal of the year.  Ryan Thang was able to gather the face off and send the puck to the far point to Roman Josi. Roman then sent the rink wide pass to Laakso who gathered and fired beating Jimmy Joe Fallon top right for the first goal of the game.

The second period was also beneficial for the special teams as both squads lit the lamp with a power play goal. It was San Antonio that was first to score in the frame. With Dylan Hunter in the box for a tripping call it was the Rampage’s Mathieu Beaudoin who netted the equalizer at the 3:12 mark. Beaudoin was down low around the goal line when he put an innocent enough shot on net that just squeaked past the lazy leg of Jeremy Smith and just over the line for his 21^st on the year. It was one of those plays that would not be a goal 9 times out of 10 but this is the time he caught Smith sleeping a little.

Despite that play, Coach Lambert was pleased with Smith’s performance, and how he’s been playing in general of late.

Not to be outdone the Admirals answer back at 15:41. This Mountian Fury Power Play was brought to us by a Matt “one point twenty one giga” Watkins slashing penalty. The Admirals had an odd man rush entering the offensive zone, but the Rampage were quick on their heels. Kelsey Wilson was carrying the zone along the far boards when he sent a pass backwards and across the rink to Johnson, who fired a shot on net.  Johnson’s shot was stopped by the pad of Fallon (no, still not Jimmy) and Andreas Thuresson was there to stuff home the loose change.  This goal was Thuresson’s 3^rd in two days.

The Ads were outshot 14-6 in the third period, which is kind of what we expected considering the long weekend.  But Smith and the Admirals defense were up to the task, and keep their hold on 1^st place in the West Division.

The Admirals magic number is now…………… 2.   Wednesday sounds like a great day to punch the playoff ticket, don’t you think?   See you back here at the BC then.

Notes:

Ford drops the gloves for the second time in as many days. It was an okay bout.  Better than his fight yesterday.

Injuries:  Dylan Hunter took a stick to the face and went down to the ice. When he got up he had a nice little pool of blood under him.  His status you ask?  Coach says upper body injury, and he doesn’t know the timetable yet.  Conor Shields update, by popular demand:  He had Butler and VCU in the final four.  Steve Begin is likely to be back in the lineup this week, maybe even Wednesday.  Dekanich and Klasen are not “out for the year”, but probably won’t play again in the regular season.

Other than the “lazy leg” goal smith was very consistent. I can’t recall any big WOW saves or remember any moments where I covered my eyes and had to peek through my fingers either.

Santorelli was a scratch…. Again… Must be that cat-scratch.

QUESTIONS:

Does the power play look to be fixed?  Or is it more of the same, just with some good bounces?

Do you like the dog promotion?  I always feel bad for those that sing the National Anthem on dog days….I hope they don’t take it personally!

If Smith keeps playing well when Dex is ready to go, do you think they’ll play the hot hand, or is Smith just keeping the crease paint warm for Dex?

There were questions going into tonight’s game versus Chicago. Such questions as, would Engren start in net, would Deveaux be a goon, or would the T-Mobile- AT&T merger disrupt my service at all? All these questions will eventually be answered.  Like right now.

The Admirals torched Wolves goaltender Edward Pasquale for four goals, Deveaux was a non-factor, Engren opened the bench door, and my cell phone service rocked in the Admirals 4-2 win over Chicago Friday night.

Here’s Coach Lambert:

The Admirals were the first to strike at the 9:42 of the first period as Grant Lewis put one past Pasquale. Gabriel Bourque at the near side boards sent a pass to Scott Ford at the middle point. Ford wound up and sent a slap shot towards the net but was redirected off of a Wolves’ defenseman and directly to a wide open Lewis on the far side. From that position he was able to put the shot on net for the goal and beat Pasquale stick side (that ended up being a theme). It was one of those “you couldn’t have planed that” goals for sure.  Right place right time.

The Wolves were able to answer back at 10:50, off an equally fluky goal.  With Ryan Garbutt skating in just off the near side boards he had an Admirals defender on him the whole way. Garbutt put the shot on Smith just as he was shoved down the ice, the puck looked to have been stopped by Smith with the good ‘ole armpit save, however half a second later the puck trickled through and across the line to even the score.  That was definitely a goal that Smith would like to have back, and a goal that you just have to shake off for sure.

Just 1:44 later the Admirals once again took the lead off Dylan Hunter’s second goal of the season, moments after he was featured in the Subway Fact Or Fiction game.  With the puck in the neutral zone and the Admirals’ Mike Bartlett skating it along the near side boards, Bartlett sent a pass across ice and into the offensive zone to a wide open Hunter. Hunter was able to gather the leading pass, take a couple strides, and proceed to burn Pasquale for the Admirals second goal of the period.  Stick side.  Coach is happy to see Hunter cash in.

The Admirals extended their lead in the second as Kelsey Wilson lit the lamp for his 10^th on the year. The Admirals have been putting a clinic on passing all game and this goal was no exception, with Mark Van Guilder playing the instructor in this example.  With Andreas Thuresson carrying the puck into the offensive zone he passed it to Van Guilder who was skating in along the far boards. Van Guilder then sent a pass across ice and backwards to a crashing Wilson, who gathered the puck and put a wrister on net from just inside the near circle beating Pasquale short side (read:  stick side).

The third period would get off to a slow start as we have become accustomed to when the Admirals have the lead. Unlike the past however, the Admrials would eventually add to their lead with a great move by Gabriel Bourque.  Ryan Thang was along the near borads at center ice when he sent a pitch fork clearing shot off of the glass. The puck eventually came down just past the blue line and found a speeding Bourque. He skated down through the near circle and cut across to the middle, deeking Pasquale out of his jock strap and putting the rock in the net to give the Admirals the 4-1 lead. Due to AHL and world federation of ice hockey equipment rules, Mannino had to come in to relieve Pasquale, because you can’t play without a jock strap.

The Wolves, refusing to go away, got a goal past Smith at the 11:40 mark.  With the Wolves skating into the zone, the Admirals were baited into chasing the puck making it an easy choice for Michael Davies to dish the puck to a wide open Spencer Machacek, crashing down the back door.  The goal looked to be off his skate but all doubt was removed when he got his stick on it just before it crossed the line.  The goal halved the lead, but that was as close as the Wolves would get.

NOTES:

Pretty good crowd tonight, don’t you think?  I think it was because of the gamehost (I’m already sucking up in hopes to be invited back to write next season).

Pretty typical Jeff Smith game.  Just a pair of interference calls in the second period.  There obviously were other infractions, but they weren’t called.  And that’s fine.  You know what you get with Jeff Smith.  And the good teams adjust.  And it seems that the players know what to expect too.  Got cross checked into the boards?  It wasn’t a whine and cheese fest.  They got back up and got back into the play.  And Coach Lambert would rather play these guys 5-on-5.

I thought Pasquale looked shaky from the start.  Smith looked shaky early on too, but some good D got the puck out of danger.  Oh, three Wolves shots hit the pipes.  Some nights those go in.  Some nights you sacrifice goats to the hockey Gods and you get metal and dark goal lamps.  Here’s the coach on Smith’s night at the rink.

Coach Lambert said that we should expect Atte Engren to make his United States of North America professional American Hockey League ice hockey debut tomorrow night in Rockford, Illinois, home of the IceHogs, Cheap Trick, and Beef-A-Roo.  Ok, we’re paraphrasing a bit….but yeah, Coach says Engren should get the start in Rockford tomorrow night.

San Antonio, Texas, and Houston all won, so the Admirals will hold on to first place, one point ahead of the Aeros.

QUESTIONS:

Knowing Engren is likely to debut, does that make want to go to Rockford tomorrow?  Pre-game Beef-A-Roo, and then the big debut?

Which line was the best one tonight in your opinion?  I think the Hunter – Bartlett – Flynn line was pretty sharp.

When did Bourque get so nifty with his stick?  He was a goal scoring machine on the roadtrip, his shootout goal on Tuesday was pretty badass, and he had that nice move to end Pasquale’s night tonight.

Do you like the whole Amtrak rivalry thing?  We don’t seem to be very good at winning the trophy….but can you live with that?

That’s head coach Lane Lambert after the IceHogs 2-0 victory over the Admirals Friday night.

Hannu Toivonen stopped all the shots he faced, and the IceHogs rode a power play and empty net goal to the victory.

“We didn’t play good enough.  He made a couple of fantastic saves, yes, but we didn’t generate enough opportunities.  I’m very bothered by this game.  I’m disappointed in our push, and the fact that we in my mind, didn’t come out and generate enough passion or energy into this game, and there’s no excuse for it.”

The first two periods came and went as the Admirals and IceHogs failed to record any goals, drop the gloves or really dent the scoresheet in any way. The first period came and went in about 32 minutes real time and contained as many whistle stoppages as the Daytona 500. ‘bout as exciting as it also. (Note: not a NASCAR fan)

(Editor’s note:  Sutty has been advised that he’s going to probably be flamed for that comment.  -RM)

The second period also went by very fast, but did however contain the game’s first two penalties. Rob Klinkhammer went to the bin for a slash, and Brandon Pirri served a too many men on the ice penalty for the IceHogs. I bet right about now you are wondering why we are talking about two rather uneventful penalties and frankly the only answer I have is, whelp, because that was all that was noteworthy. Did the Ads have shots on goals? Sure. Did they have good chances? Yep. Are you wondering why I am still typing? Me too!

The third period was a little more eventful.

At the 6 minute mark, Toivonen made a save that I am sure will go on his highlight reel.  With the Admirals driving the zone a centering pass was made in front of the net where the “down and out” Toivonen was able to sprawl out and knock the puck up into the air, eventually corralling it up, to the sadness of everyone cheering for the good guys.  One of the best saves we’ve seen this year.

The stalemate was broken at the 12:41 mark of the third period, when Brian Connelly scored from just above the near faceoff circle. Earlier in the shift, Chris Mueller got hit in the face with or by something and went down. The puck was cleared; Mueller got up but was unable to get off the ice. Connely re-entered the zone with the puck, as the slow moving Mueller was trying to defend the play. Connelly wound up and sent the puck past a defensive Mueller and past a shocked Mark Dekanich for the first score of the game.  Looked like it went off his helmet and in.

Coach Lambert doesn’t like the play that led to the penalty, that eventually led to the goal.

“We got caught out of position in the defensive zone and we had to slash.  We’re in game 64 now.  We work on positioning in the D zone all the time.  And it’s times like now….like I say, you never know when five seconds is going to win or lose you a hockey game.  Everything comes in to play.  Everything.  All the details.”

The Admirals pulled Dekanich with 1:23 left in the match and were unable to convert as the Icehogs added to their lead with an empty net goal by Igor Markarov during a much needed (but sloppy) Admiral line change.  Klasen had to have been out there for 3 minutes.

NOTES:

Mark Santorelli was scratched…perhaps by his cat before the game, and did not play as a result of the injury.  Shields, McBride, and Hunter played.  And Klasen and Josi returned after missing some time.

Did I mention it was a fast game?  It’s 9:31 right now as I’m typing this.  We should just be finishing up the third period about now.

Roscoe should have been better at the axe throwing contest.  I’m just saying.

Got to hand it to Dekanich and Toivonen.  Both made some outstanding saves.

Not happy about losing to Rockford.  Houston and Texas both lost in shootouts… so they inched closer, but Milwaukee holds on to 1^st place.  Except for the game on the 26^th, we’ll be cheering for Rockford from here on out, though.  Anytime they can beat someone else, that can only be good for us!

It’s a four game home losing streak now.  Here’s the coach:

“In those four games we’ve lost at home, we’ve played well enough to win three of them.  We’ve scored four goals in the four losses.  Total.  So you’re not going to win too many games when you score a goal a game.”

What kind of adjustment does the team need to make for Peoria Sunday?

“Have some life, energy, and passion.”

The question I’ll leave you with – Is Sunday evening against Peoria a MUST-WIN game to get the train back on the track?

These teams met just 11 days ago and tonight’s game started off very similar. The big difference however, was the finish.   The first period was dominated by the Admirals, but they unfortunately stayed in the locker room for the third period, allowing the Rivermen to score 3 unanswered goals and eventually win in the shootout Wednesday night at the Bradley Center.

So heading on down to the post-game press conference with coach Lambert, the $64,000 question was whether he would be short-answer-mad or long-answer-mad.

It was the latter.

With both teams down a man it was the Admirals that were able to light the lamp first at the 5:16 mark. It was a great break out by Admirals’ Gabriel Bourque and Chris Mueller with just one Riverman between them.  Bourque was the man crashing with the puck in the slot when he dished the rock over to Mueller, who was on the other side of the slot. Mueller received the pass and quickly fired on net to beat Rivermen goaltender Ben Bishop for his 14^th goal on the year. This was one of those plays that would make the coach smile as it was performed just as it was drawn up with great execution.

Just over the half way mark of the first period the Admirals extended their lead on the power play (POWER PLAY????) with a great redirect by Ryan Thang. A fast moving Linus Klasen fed the puck up the far boards to 2-time back-2-back AHL player of the week Blake Geoffrion, who quickly sent the puck across ice to a compressing Roman Josi, who was positioned just inside the near circle. Josi fired the shot through a crowd where Thang got just enough on to redirect it away from Bishop’s glove and in for the second goal. The goal was pretty impressive as I think it hit all 3 pipes clipping the top shelf netting on its way though. I think Mike Massey would have been proud with the movement on that goal.

It would appear that the Admirals went to eBay or Amazon and bought themselves a power play, probably using the buy-it-now feature because at the 11:03 mark of the second period they were able to convert on for the second time with the man advantage.   Jon Blum was the point man with the puck and dumped it down to the near side circle to Klasen.  Linus gathered the puck and skated up to draw the slot defender to him, and then fed a pass between the defender’s legs to Josi, who was at the bottom of the far circle.   He put a one-timer on net, beating Bishop for the third goal of the game. This was yet another example of Klasen drawing attention from defenders, causing them to commit and leave their position, and his ability to get the puck to the open man it creates.

The Rivermen, refusing to lie down like in the last meeting, produced a flurry of goals to start the third period. Just 1:10 into the final frame, the Rivermen ruined Mark Dekanich’s shutout with a nifty redirect right to the top shelf.  Jake Gannon sent a pass/shot that stayed on the ice towards the net, and the screening Derek Peltier tilted his blade back and let the pass go straight to the top twine for the Rivermen’s first goal of the night.  It may have also went off of Chris Mueller.

Shortly thereafter it was the Admirals turn to answer as they went on the power play. There was a score.  Unfortunately, it was the Rivermen that got the short-handed tally. With the Admirals in the offensive zone they sent the puck around the boards where Aaron Johnson was unable to pinch the puck and let it by him.  T.J. Hensick took the loose puck in his own defensive zone and was off to the races with Josi closing in.  Josi went to the ice to block the passing lane but Hensick had no intention of passing and instead put the shot on net beating Dex for their second goal in 2:20.  We had a hockey game again.

The Rivermen completed the comeback with just less than two minutes to go in the game. In true Admirals fashion, Blake Geoffrion sent a puck straight over the glass from his own goal line and went to the bin for “Yonking”.  It took the Rivermen a whopping NINE SECONDS to convert with another goal by Hensick. T.J shot it through traffic and beat Dex to get the 3^rd unanswered goal for Peoria.

Unable to convert in overtime with the man advantage, the Admirals were forced into a shoot out.  Only three people scored in the shootout, with two of them being Rivermen.  Chris Porter had the winner in the bottom of the 6^th round.

In summation: The Admirals continue to look for that complete game and struggle in the most inopportune time.  This game had the feel that it was nowhere near over going into the third period and if any team shouldn’t have their back turned to them it is the Rivermen.

Questions for discussion:

Was this the worst collapse you’ve seen in awhile?  What’s the worst collapse you recall?

Benn Olson.  Big guy.  Didn’t see much of him in the 3rd period.  Do you think he’s a liability without his gloves on the ice, or is it too early to tell?

Were you just hoping that Ryan would slip and call Blake’s late game penalty “Two minutes for Yonking?”  I was.  And Ryan, seriously…..how could you not slip in a “Mountain Fury Power Play” line in there?  Fury the fury already!

Feel free to tell us how you REALLY feel about this game.

Oh, and as we’re typing this, the zamboni is scraping off the paint from the face-off circles.  This is going to take awhile.

Another overtime game for the Admirals, but their home winning streak came to an end, courtesy of a 4-3 shootout loss to the OKC Barons.

Roman Josi’s goal with 40 seconds left in the 3rd sent it to OT, but a great shot by Colin McDonald won it for the Barons in the bottom of the 5th round.

Coach Lambert says there’s plenty to learn from the game tonight.

The Admirals got on the board early with a goal from Mark Van Guilder. With Mike Bartlett driving down low on the forecheck he was able to get the puck to Ryan Flynn behind the net. Flynn drew several defenders to him, giving Van Guilder a clear path to the net. Flynn’s pass was on MVG’s tape and Martin Gerber had no chance on the shot. It was almost too easy of a goal, as it really looked like the defense failed Gerber. The goalie’s position and reaction to the goal seemed that he thought he had help with the back side, but he didn’t.  And with that, the Admirals struck first.

The Admirals got an early power play in the period, and seemed to do a great job passing the puck and gaining position, but never got that “good” shot on net.    I tell you what, if the purpose of a power play was to have as many passes to teammates without giving the puck up and refusing to shoot, the Admirals would be back to back to back AAU champions (see Fred McGriff commercial).

Despite my critique, Coach Lambert sees the good and bad on the special teams.

The second period started off rather slow without a lot to speak of. However the end of the period proved to be a different story.  At the 16:29 mark in the frame the Barons were able to even the score with a goal by Milan Kytnar. The Ads were reeling to regain possession in their own zone after a long shift. Unable to gather the puck long enough to clear, and with their legs growing tired, the Barons’ Teemu Hartikainen sent a centering pass to a crashing and well defended Phillippe Cornet. It looked as if the puck redirected off of the crashing group of players (Cornet and the two Admirals defenders). The redirected puck had enough momentum to make contact with a positioned Dex and then rebounded to the right of the crease where Kytnar (who was behind the net for most of the play) put the rebound past a helpless Dex.

It was a goal that you can’t put on Dex, but rather, you have to chalk it up to a tired shift. The Ads were just getting a man back off of the Ford penalty and were unable to gain control and clear to get a proper shift change.

The Admirals would start the third period with a man advantage for 1:23 and would capitalize on the advantage.  Just kidding, it is the power play after all, but they did score several seconds after that penalty expired and the delayed penalty was on.  The goal was scored off the cold stick of Andreas Thuresson (not a typo). The more interesting part about the goal was that every player save Dex was within a 7 foot radius of the crease and that radius was shrinking.  With shooting attempts from Aaron Johnson (unsuccessful), and Steve Begin (also unsuccessful), it was Thuresson that was able to send the back hand shot through about 27 people and find the twine. It was one of those plays where the puck kept getting put on net but somehow was unable to cross the line. With all the attempted shots everyone starts to crash the net and before you know it you have 13 people in one crease looking to clear or score, it was a hot mess to say the least. BUT, an Admirals goal none the less, and that was good enough to give them the lead…

… For about  108 seconds.  The Barons, who were up a man thanks to a Roman Josi penalty, were gaining zone control with passes from Alexandre Giroux to Brad Moran and then to Anthony Aiello, who was just above the far side circle. With an open lane to shoot and an Admiral crashing down on him, he put the slap shot on. The puck looked to be going rather high and before you could say “Shi” the light went off.  We here at Rountable of Admirals INC are unsure how the shot went from noon to six and past Dex, but sure ‘nuff it did and was good enough to bring the game even once again.

The Barons would not be content with two goals as they took the lead with 1:20 left in the 3^rd. The Admirals were caught in an umbrella style of defense allowing Phillippe Cornet to gain the slot.  He wound up and fired a slap shot from the top of the near circle.  Dex’s pad save went straight to Kytnar, who put a smooth deek on Dex (who ate it up).  He skated right around Dex, and put  a backhander into the open net , giving the Barons their first lead of the night.

The Admirals would not go without a fight and a little help from the Barons. With the Barons’ Greg Stewart serving a penalty, the Admirals took the opportunity to pull Dex from his duties and give them a two man advantage. The ensuing face off came straight back to Jon Blum who tried a shot that was deflected to the boards. The Admirals gathered the puck and got it back to Blum at the point, who tried another volley on net, but broke his stick in the process.  The puck caromed off the crashing defenders skate and straight to Roman Josi to the left of the crease, and his wrister went by the adjusting Gerber.    The goal would tie the game at 3 with 40 seconds left in the game, and help the Admirals earn a hard fought point.

The over time would come and go and the teams would need the shoot out to decide it. The only wow factor of the shoot out going to (sigh, ear muffs santaC ) Klasen for his awesome move. I think he took about 4 strides and just glided in the rest of the way.  It was the cat and mouse game and finally Gerber made the fatal move and Klasen went top shelf making Gerber look da fool.

Colin McDonald had the shootout winner in the bottom of the fifth, supersizing the game with a great waterbottle shot.

POINTS FOR DISCUSSION:

Even though we won’t see it in the boxscore, I think Dex had a pretty great game.  Bailed some people out again, and tough to blame him on most of the goals.

Do you think Steve Begin had an impact tonight?

Do you like the new Klasen-Geoffrion-Thang line?

Packers tickets will be given away at the game tomorrow.  Practice your QB-form.  It’ll help you tomorrow.