Magnus Hellberg had his roughest outing of the season last night by allowed 5 goals from 17 shots. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
These 2014-15 Milwaukee Admirals have been hit and miss but last night’s 6-2 thrashing at the hands of the Chicago Wolves was a big fat miss. The build up to the game was something to be excited about. The road trip seemed to boost the Admirals back on a better path to their brand of hockey. And, long before puck drop, the crowd was rocking.
Then the game starts. And it all slips away.
In the last seven home games the Admirals power-play is 0/27. They are dead last in the AHL on the power-play when playing on home ice: 3/52 for a 5.8 PP%.
While that is enough to tear your hair out think of this. The Admirals are third in the AHL on the power-play when playing on the road: 14/59 for a 23.7 PP%.
I could just about give myself a stellar headache wondering about the simple question: why? I don’t know why. And I quite honestly feel the players don’t know why either. The power-play is there to punish the opposition. That hasn’t happened at home. Every failed power-play is a missed opportunity to get a lead, tie the game, claw back, and gain momentum. It happens. The players show that they can bury these opportunities. It just doesn’t happen at home. Why? I don’t know.
After the game I spoke with Dean Evason, Magnus Hellberg, and Jimmy Oligny. Here is what they had to say following the Admirals sixth straight loss at home.
Yeah. At least that’s how it has felt lately. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. At least that’s what the feeling was for the Milwaukee Admirals in the first period of their 3-1 loss to the Adirondack Flames Friday night. We saw lots of solid hits and hard plays from the Admirals and a speed level reminiscent of the hockey they played during their successful start to the season.
Then it happened. The Admirals power-play hit the ice, controlled and sustained the attacking zone for 1:54 of the man-advantage, and didn’t just not score a goal – but took a penalty of their own immediately after. What did the Flames do with the follow up power-play? They scored.
The Admirals scored a dirty, junky, garbage style goal working a loose puck in front of the net. That basically ended the second period with a high note to equalize things at 1-1. What did the Flames do in response? They scored. 2:25 into the third period. And kept the Admirals at a distance before striking with the killshot with 2:03 left in regulation.
After the Admirals last win, which was over two weeks ago, we as fans were celebrating the performance and words of Rich Clune who said that the Chicago Wolves were a “soft” hockey team. In fact, he said plenty more than that.
“I would be nice to them if they just shut their mouths and took what was coming to them,” said Clune of the Wolves. “But they seemed to like to throw personal comments out toward me. None of them are really tough enough to really deal with me in a fight. They just don’t match up with us at all, toughness and speed. I love running them over every night.”
Since those comments the Admirals have gone on a winless stretch of seven games for a 0-5-0-2 (2 points) record. It’s the worst losing streak in the AHL history of the Admirals and they have now fallen down to fourth place in the Midwest Division standings. If the season ended today – the Admirals, ninth in the Western Conference, wouldn’t be in the playoff picture despite a franchise best start to a hockey season.
While those words alone act as the bookmark to the start of this losing streak – it has been our offense that has been getting “run over” every night. I feel as if the team is being manhandled to the walls and are forced to wide shots from the boards that either get blocked en route to goal by traffic or the goaltender sees it the entire way. The Admirals are not the biggest team in the league. They are not the strongest team in the league. And they’re playing like it.
The Admirals have been outscored 22-12 in regulation during this losing streak. 7 goals from the 12 goals the Admirals posted during this losing streak came from 2 games. I said it last time in Chatterbox. It’s not good enough. Nowhere near good enough. With the goaltending performances of Magnus Hellberg and Marek Mazanec of late – both netminders have been given nothing to work with in front of them.
Brendan Leipsic hasn’t scored a point in 5 games. Mark Van Guilder, ditto. Austin Watson hasn’t scored a point in 6 games. Viktor Arvidsson has a solitary assist in 10 games. Our entire defensive unit during this losing streak has a combined 7 points (1 goal, 6 assists) in 7 games… anyone not named Anthony Bitetto or Joe Piskula haven’t registered a point of offensive contributions from the blue line in the month of December.
I’m not sure where the offensive accountability is but those meant to be producing have just shut down.
The stat that still baffles me those most this season is that Colton Sissons has no assists in 24 games. Through as many games last season he had 8 assists. Is this an in-between the ears problem? Has what went on in Nashville during the off-season, signing veteran centers and not handing the reigns off to the youth movement instead, gotten in his head? He started his season off here in Milwaukee out of pre-season with the hopes he could build an explosive offensive game rather than play things safe and defensively. Right now he isn’t doing either. Sissons has taken a plus/minus rating hit of -1 with each game played in December. He doesn’t look like the player he was last season and I can’t do anything other than theorize as to why that is. As I said. It baffles me.
I would talk about the Admirals going 0/20 on the power-play during the five-game homestand but I think we all get it at this point. Our 6.4% power-play conversion rate is second worst in the league to the Charlotte Checkers mark of 6.2% in 2 less games played than the Admirals.
Now comes the good part. The Admirals are 6.4% on the power-play on home ice this season. Their parent club, the Nashville Predators, are an NHL worst 2.3% and they have played an equal amount of games as the Admirals. It’s an in-system powerless-play epidemic. Between the NHL/AHL clubs the Predators and Admirals have a home power-play of 4/91 chances for a 4.4% conversion rate.
I don’t know what to say anymore at this point other than this road trip could be the reboot the entire team needs. The Admirals are coming off of what is their longest homestand of the entire season and they didn’t win a single game. That means getting into a routine and a possible cycle of same ol’ same ol’ while festering over the recent bad run of form. It’s in this moment that I think back to the comments made by Bitetto during the Admirals worst losing streak last season.
“Our hardest win right now is getting that first one back under our belt,” said Anthony Bitetto in the Chatterbox last season. “That’s where we have to bear down and get that first win. We have a good team here. If every guy believes in that we will be fine.”
The Admirals are incredibly talented. That start to the season was proof of just that. The rest of the AHL got better as the season started and so to must the Admirals. It might not click on Tuesday night when they face off on the road against the Lake Erie Monsters but I have a hard time thinking that the team we saw playing against the Flames will be the same one turning up for Boxing Day hockey against the Chicago Wolves… that team that is soft that doesn’t match up with us at all according to Clune.
Following the most recent defeat I spoke with Dean Evason, Joe Pendenza, and Austin Watson. I made efforts to try and speak with former-Admirals Mathieu Tousignant and Nolan Yonkman but, by the time I was finished with interviews in the Admiral locker room, both were out towards the Flames bus. Sounded as if Yonkman did amazing fan service after the game – signing autographs and taking pictures. Incredibly classy from both the fans that remain fans of his and the man himself by giving the love right back. Here is what our team had to say post-game.
Miikka Salomaki is chasing a puck that just appears to keep alluding the Milwaukee Admirals offense during this six-game losing steak. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The Admirals losing streak is six games. Now would seem to be an appropriate time to use the speech from “Network” or, even better, listen to “Not For Want Of Trying” by Maybeshewill. Because things are worse than bad they are crazy.
That franchise best start to a hockey season with six-straight wins has been erased with four of six losses coming on home ice. The power-play on home ice this season is second worst in the league with 3 goals from 44 chances for a 6.8% succession rate out of 13 home games.
Then there is the player regression. Through 23 games this season Colton Sissons has scored 7 points (all goals). At 23 games last season he produced 18 points (10 goals, 8 assists). Miikka Salomäki, the other rookie stand out from last season, has the same story: 12 points (4 goals, 8 assists) from 23 games… last season through 23 games he had 19 points (5 goals, 14 assists). Mark Van Guilder already has more penalty minutes than he did during the entire 2012-13 season and matched his penalty record from the entire 2010-11 season. His offensive production is also down through as many games this season to last season.
It might be a spell in which things just keep getting worse but, just when you feel the Admirals will hit rock bottom before vaulting upwards, they just find another way to lose. Similar to the game against the Grand Rapids Griffins, the Admirals had another good outing in net by Magnus Hellberg and just failed to provide a lead for him to work with. Specifically during this homestand portion of the losing steak the Admirals are only putting up 1.25 goals per game. During the Admirals six-game winning streak to start the season they were scoring (not including the slapped on shootout figure) 3.5 goals per game.
What the offense is doing right now isn’t good enough. It is nowhere near good enough. Even against supposed minnows like the Iowa Wild or Charlotte Checkers you’re asking for a tooth and nail scrap to earn points. The offense needs to wake up. The power-play needs to play as if they have an extra attacker on the ice (because they do). And the goaltending needs to stay the course and remain reliable.
Right now this is a power outage with the offense unable to gain, pass, or shoot the puck. The transition from defense to offense is shattered. The sooner the team can find it’s confidence back so they can play with the same fluidity, pace, and precision that they did at the start of the season – the better.
The Admirals are staring down the barrel of dropping all five games of this homestand including the two road games that preceded it. The Griffins went through a stint not too dissimilar to this earlier this season. They lost all four games of a four game homestand and dropped back-to-back games on the road. They followed that losing streak up by winning three-straight and six of eight games. Identity lacking. Find it. Get back on a run.
After the game I spoke with Dean Evason, Triston Grant, and Joe Piskula. Here is what they had to say following the Admirals 2-1 loss against the Rockford IceHogs on Wednesday night.
Joe Piskula played in his 500th career game as a professional hockey player Sunday evening in the Milwaukee Admirals 2-1 shootout loss to the Grand Rapids Griffins. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The Admirals began their season off with a franchise best start to a hockey season by winning six-straight games. Fast forward to tonight and the Admirals are in a run of no wins in their last five games with only two points to show for it from two shootout losses.
Certainly, Thursday’s game was the cream of the crop as far as the worst performance of the season. These last two this weekend have been improvements. Results based sport as it is – a loss isn’t great. And I truly feel that Magnus Hellberg and the Admirals deserved a far better fate in tonight’s 2-1 shootout loss.
They were fifty seconds away from not just a shutout but a complete, start to finish, game. It would have done them a world of confidence rather than let them stew until Wednesday’s game against the division leading Rockford IceHogs. Instead, it still feels as if their backs are against the wall. My hope is that desperation seeps into their game with the same tenacity that saw a snake-bitten team like the Iowa Wild come out firing against us not too long ago. The talent is there. The in-game consistency just isn’t at the moment.
After the game I spoke with Dean Evason, Pontus Åberg, Magnus Hellberg, Anthony Bitetto, and Joe Piskula. Here is what they all had to say following the Admirals fifth-consecutive loss.
Colton Sissons celebrates his teddy bear toss goal in the first period of the Milwaukee Admirals 5-3 loss to the Oklahoma City Barons on Saturday night. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The Admirals fell 5-3 to the Oklahoma City Barons last night. Both teams are trending in different directions. Admirals, a season long four-game losing streak. Barons, a season best eight-game winning streak. It by no means wasn’t the greatest effort from the Admirals this season but was a boost out of their worst performance of the season on Thursday night when they were shutout 4-0 at home by the Rockford IceHogs.
I felt as if the Admirals had spurts of exactly who they are in last night’s game. Their opening five minutes to the game was a typical Admiral start with speed, tape to tape passing, sticks on the ice, and turning defense to offense quickly. After the goaltending change that saw Marek Mazanec get pulled for Magnus Hellberg – the team responded with hard-nosed plays to the net and getting the rewards for it with two-goals that put them back in the game before allowing the empty net goal late.
It’s a results based business, sure. This losing streak is something that is getting frustrating for the players. But, the talent is there and the ability to crash, burn, and learn is what came make a strong team even stronger in the long run. I doubt this will be the first losing skid of this season. It’s just a matter of making sure these runs are minimized and, most importantly, learned from by the team and its players so that mistakes are getting less and less common.
After the game I spoke with Dean Evason, Colton Sissons, and Frédérick Gaudreau. Here is what they had to say following the defeat to the Barons on Saturday night.
(Photo Credit: Scott Paulus. Meme Edit: Daniel Lavender)
There is simply no other way to say it. Last night was a dud. Alright, there are lots of ways to actually phrase it. Clunker. Stinker. The only way I could describe to someone what it was like watching last night’s game was that it was how I felt the one and only time I ever watched the movie, “A Serbian Film,” for a Controversial Cinema class in college. I didn’t know what I was watching. I just knew that it was wrong and not good.
The optimist in me will say this though. Hockey has a very long season and games like this happen to the best of them. Some nights you flat out have nothing. That was the Milwaukee Admirals last night and they had that performance against one of the best teams in the AHL this season. In truth, they may be fortunate to have escaped last night’s game at a 4-0 final.
What will be huge for the Admirals are three things. (1) Friday – a day to let that game sink in and work out the damage in practice. (2) Saturday – a quick game to get back into the swing of things. (3) Sunday – yet another home game to get back and rolling.
Plenty of mistakes and wrongs took place last night against the IceHogs. The ability to take games like last night and learn from them are the difference between good and bad teams. There is a lot to take in. And that one dud, clunker, stinker, “A Serbian Film,” might just be enough to get guys back to winning ways.
Patrick Cehlin looks set to make his 2014-15 Admirals debut tomorrow night. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
This afternoon I had the chance to trek into the BMO Harris Bradley Center and visit the Milwaukee Admirals ahead of their game tomorrow night against the Rockford IceHogs. I spoke with head coach Dean Evason as well as Patrick Cehlin, Magnus Hellberg, and Marek Mazanec.
Before getting right into the audio let’s dissect some of what I found out today from talking with Evason and Cehlin.
~Blood Clot~
Cehlin’s injury that hindered his start to the 2014-15 hockey season is something that involves two things. (1) a hip injury that has been nagging him for the last few seasons and (2) a blood clot that formed in his leg.
The last three seasons Cehlin had three loose bone pieces in his hip. It wasn’t until last season that it impacted him enough to get it further evaluated. Doctors removed two of the bone fragments and put in three screws. Then, as he was flying back home to Sweden, he developed a blood clot in his leg due to the flight.
The blood clot delayed his summer rehab and took six months of attention before his clearance to play games. He will be in the Admirals lineup tomorrow night and will be on a line with Mark Van Guilder and Brendan Leipsic. He should also take part in the power-play as well.
~Kneeing~
Do you think that last Saturday night’s game in Charlotte is still nuts? Guess what. It gets nuttier. The game ended in a 5-4 final and take a look at the box score right here. Where all the line brawl activity starts up there is a missing stat that may well change by the time this post is being read by yourself.
The footage of Rasmus Rissanen‘s knee-on-knee hit on Rich Clune was sent to the AHL for review by the Milwaukee Admirals and the AHL responded by assessing Rissanen a 5 minute major for kneeing and a game misconduct. That’s all well and good… except for the fact that it wasn’t given on the ice and, instead of the Admirals having a 5 minute major power-play in the tank, they were on the penalty kill for Hellberg’s crossing the red line minor.
That kneeing call initiated everything that happened on the ice. If an arm is raised once the knee-on-knee hit takes place… perhaps it doesn’t stop the scramble that follows… but it certainly would take the full “policing the game” duties off the players minds. No call on the ice for a hit like that and players started protecting themselves and their teammates.
Considering the AHL doesn’t really review matters such as this until after the weekend, and it now being Wednesday, I think it is safe to say Rissanen has dodged a suspension just like the Charlotte Checkers dodged a 5 minute penalty kill.
~Recent Additions to the Cincinnati Cyclones~
Yesterday’s news of Jonathan Diaby being assigned and Joe Pendenza being loaned to the Cincinnati Cyclones did appear to get a few of you Twitter folks wondering what was up with this roster move. Was it a matter of performance, playing time, or another factor?
Truth be told, it’s just a matter of keeping them as active as they both can be. Evason talked both just needing to play as well as mentioning that there is no time table set for them. He did say that he doesn’t anticipate it being a long stint with Cincinnati but that both could use the rhythm of playing on a consistent basis rather than sitting out in Milwaukee.
That’s it for things in Scoop City. Now let’s hear from the Admirals I spoke with today and hear them tell the stories mentioned above.
“The Rich Clune Show” is here in Milwaukee. And I think we’re all going to love it. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The Admirals delivered just the right response from a team that had lost two-in-a-row last night. The had a strong start. The defense gave the Chicago Wolves no room to breath and get their offense rolling. You might say, well – the Wolves had those power-plays. But what did they really do from them? The Admirals penalty killing unit was perfect last night and they are ranked fifth in the AHL.
What may have been lost in the Rich Clune frenzy last night were these two things.
(1) Austin Watson recorded his 50th career AHL goal last night. He has 8 goals on this young season already from 17 games. He has improved his scoring rate with each season as an Admiral: 2012-13, 37 points (20 goals, 17 assists)… 2013-14, 46 points (22 goals, 24 assists). At the rate in which he is motoring on this season, a career best 0.65 points per game, he should continue with personal bests for scoring.
(2) Marek Mazanec was handed the net in a big game against a team seated higher than the Admirals in the division and he responded big time. It was his first win of the season since he started off the campaign with wins in his first 5 starts. He had lost 4 games consecutively and needed to rebound just as the Admirals did after the end to the weekend. Mazanec’s work on the penalty kill was solid and, best of all from him, he hardly coughed up rebounds. The only goal that was scored on him came from a net-front redirect by Dmitrij Jaškin. He could have had a shutout last night. He, and the defense in front of him, were outstanding and it allowed the offense to keep the motor running despite the odd penalty being taken here and there. Simply put. Two goalies. One net. One good problem to have.
After the game I had the chance to speak with Dean Evason, Rich Clune, Marek Mazanec, and Austin Watson. Here is what they all had to say following the Admirals 4-1 over the Chicago Wolves.
Austin Watson scoring goals makes Johan Alm the happiest person ever. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
In the Milwaukee Admirals last three games they faced the two teams that are ahead of them in the Midwest Division standings. They beat the Rockford IceHogs twice, 4-1 in Rockford and then 2-1 in Milwaukee, last weekend. Then, last night, they denied the Chicago Wolves comeback bid by winning 3-2 in OT to make the strangle hold on the top three in the Midwest only a 3 point margin.
Still, the IceHogs and Wolves have played more games (17) than the Admirals (14). When you look at the winning percentages as of now: IceHogs (0.735), Wolves (0.676), and Admirals (0.786). No team in the AHL has a better winning percentage than the Admirals. The next closest are the Utica Comets who have a 0.765 winning percentage – and they, just like Rockford and Chicago, have played 17 games.
~Fact of the Day~
I’m going to give you a number and let you think about it for awhile. Six… Yeah, alright, you got it already. Magnus Hellberg has six wins from his first six starts this season. But here is something you might not have realized.
Hellberg has already recorded more wins this season than he did all of last season.
In 2013-14, Hellberg recorded only five wins out of twenty-one total appearances at the AHL level. On this exact date last year, Hellberg finished the day with his third win of the season to improve his record to 3-4-3-1.
~Highlight of the Night~
To me, the best play from last night’s game was Austin Watson‘s opening goal scored in the first period. The work from Watson, alone, is simple: skate as the trailing player for the backpost, catch the pass, and slam it on home. It was all the pieces around that goal that made it such a well worked goal by the Admirals.
Johan Alm starts this play off by stepping up on the right point to pin the puck deep and keep the Admirals spin-cycle along the boards going. Mark Van Guilder not only wins the race to the puck but follows its momentum behind the net and is smart enough to know exactly what the traffic is like in front of Matt Climie‘s goal before he decides to push out from the Gretzky box to the left wing post. As Van Guilder skates out in front he protects the puck from Jake Chelios and spins off of him to lay off a no-look backhanded pass across the front of the net. That pass went right to the tape of Watson for an easy goal.
What made it so easy? The other moving chess piece on the play: Brendan Leipsic. As Van Guilder has the defense and goaltender watching him on the puck – Leipsic races from the right wing wall to the front of Climie’s crease. This not only works for a potential screen or rebound opportunity – but it also caused the defenseman covering him, Brent Sopel, to follow to lock him down. By the time Sopel reaches Leipsic’s spot on the ice Van Guilder’s pass to Watson is zipping past his run to guard Leipsic in front of Climie. Sopel’s brain and legs were in two different places when this happened. And he wiped out and took Climie with him. All Watson had to do was bury it for his sixth goal of the season.
The play started with Alm pinching to keep the cycle game going. And then all three forwards did the rest. It’s plays like this that can get a smile out of the coaching staff as they look back at all the moving pieces coming together for a direct result.
Speaking of coaches, after the game I caught up with Admirals head coach Dean Evason. I also requested to speak with all Swedish players on the team whose last name ends in berg. Here is what everyone had to say following the Admirals 3-2 (OT) victory over the Chicago Wolves.
After the Admirals fell 3-2 against the Iowa Wild did you expect the Milwaukee Admirals to do what they did this weekend? The Rockford IceHogs had only lost twice in regulation from thirteen games played prior to the weekend set with the Admirals. Then came the eight-game win streak snapper: 4-1 Admirals in Rockford. And tonight, coming back from a goal down at home, winning 2-1.
The IceHogs came into the weekend with a franchise best eight-game winning streak. After these two games they now have lost eight-straight games to the Milwaukee Admirals dating back to last season. Not only were these fantastic back-to-back wins for the Admirals. They didn’t allow the IceHogs to get to overtime and take points from them. It’s so early in this season that games like this are hard to gauge in importance in the grand scheme of the season… -but- it will be these two games that can do a world of confidence for the Ads now, later on in the season series, and these points gained can potentially be a difference at season’s end in a Midwest Division where every single point matters.
When you look at the Admirals and IceHogs I think there is a mirror reflection between the two teams. They play with pace. They are very sound on defense: jamming up passing and shooting lanes to make life easier on their big and talented netminders. It was such a joy watching these two teams lock up.
I’ve started to run out of superlatives to toss over to Magnus Hellberg‘s start to this season. What I notice the most that he is doing such a good job of is limiting rebound opportunities. It’s been rare for Hellberg to drop pucks. If it’s in smothering range – he’s got it. There haven’t been second or third chance opportunities for teams to catch him in a scramble – which makes his size a detriment rather than an advantage. He’s played calm. Let the game unfold before him rather than try to be aggressive in net. The result is five-wins in five-starts with an AHL best in goals against average (0.78) and save percentage (0.969).
After the game my post-game interviewing was rather limited. It was picture night so all players came out on the ice to interact with the fans. Rather than detract from that experience, I decided to stick with head coach Dean Evason and went to the visitors side of the locker room to chat with former-Admiral goaltender Scott Darling (who was called up to the NHL right after I talked with him). Here is what both had to say following Saturday night’s game.
Admirals Roundtable 