The Milwaukee Admirals won 3-2 on the road against the Grand Rapids Griffins at the Van Andel Arena on Wednesday night.

It was another playoff style atmosphere between these two teams tonight. This go around the Admirals come up with the gritty defensive effort with the likes of Trevor Smith, Tyler Kelleher, and Marek Mazanec all shining in Grand Rapids. The Admirals now have forty wins on the season and their magic number to clinch a playoff berth is down to five.

Tyler Kelleher marked his return to the lineup by notching a primary assist for his first career pro point and the first of two goals for the Admirals scored in the opening period. Kelleher swooped around the net with pace and passed out from the left wing side for Vladislav Kamenev to tag the puck first-time and score his sixteenth goal of the season.

After Kamenev scored he was tabbed for interference on the following face-off. This set the stage for another youngster to get his pro scoring off the mark. Fillip Hronek hammered a slap shot from the left point and it flew through traffic for his first career pro point and goal coming on the formidable Griffins power-play.

The first period ended with some controversy. The Admirals had a power-play following a bench minor against the Griffins and some scrambling in front of the net turned into a goal. Nathan Paetsch had the puck in front of Jared Coreau and was about to clear it deep. As he looked up he took a stick in the face from Trevor Smith who was battling in front of the net with Brian Lashoff. It was unintentional but Paetsch went down instantly, left the puck in the slot, and Frédérick Gaudreau hopped at the opportunity. He quickly dangled forehand-backhand-forehand to wrap-around the left pad of Coreau to score his twenty-fourth goal of the season.

Martin Frk’s incredible ability to shoot a puck showed up out of the gate in the second period. The Czech forward skated himself loose from left wing to slot and had a narrow gap to shoot. His wrister wired into the roof past the glove of Mazanec for Frk’s twenty-seventh goal of the season.

It took the Griffins 1:37 of the second period to score. It would take the Admirals just two second further to start the third period and regain their lead. Kelleher made a fantastic wing-to-wing pass to find a wide open Adam Payerl down the left wing who ripped a shot above the blocker of Coreau for his sixteenth goal of the season to make it a 3-2 Admirals lead.

From that point forward the Griffins were really barreling down on the Admirals. The Griffins  went empty net and extra attacker with 1:45 remaining and a minute later would have a power-play after a Gaudreau hooking minor. The Admirals saw great work in the face-off circle by their captain Smith to work themselves out of trouble and earn the win tonight in Grand Rapids.

You can tip your cap once again to Mazanec. The Admirals really leaned on him as they defended wave upon wave of attacks in the end of the contest. The Admirals were outshot 35-19 and gave the league’s best power-play seven chances to do damage. Mazanec stood on his head for the team tonight.

This was the final road game of the regular season for the Admirals in Grand Rapids. They will next see the Griffins in the 2016-17 regular season finale at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. The Admirals are now 5-5-1-0 this season against the Griffins with three wins coming on the road.

What’s next on tap for the Admirals is a four-game homestand which begins Saturday and Sunday against the Texas Stars. Those contests start at 6:00 PM CDT and 3:00 PM CDT respectively.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Sunday there were no roster moves made within the organization. Tonight’s line combinations were: Richard-Ribeiro-Gaudreau, White-Smith-Aberg, Payerl-Kamenev-Kelleher, Florek-Perfetto-Liambas, Pardy-Carrier, O’Brien-Granberg, Murphy-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches were: Army (healthy), Kirkland (undisclosed injury), Oligny (lower-body injury), and Pinkston (healthy). Adam Pardy made his return to game action after having missed the previous twenty-nine games due to a compound fracture of his left arm.

What is your reaction to tonight’s game? Despite all of the penalties taken by the Milwaukee Admirals how do you rate this performance? How good of a game did Tyler Kelleher have?

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

The Milwaukee Admirals lost 3-2 against the Grand Rapids Griffins at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Sunday afternoon.

The Admirals three-game winning streak ends where it started a week ago at home against the Griffins. The win today for the Griffins makes them the first team in the Central Division to clinch a spot on the 2017 AHL Calder Cup Playoffs. The Admirals will have a chance to return the favor Wednesday on the road in Grand Rapids.

With the second shot of the game the Griffins broke open the scoring in the first period. Ben Street labeled a wrist shot from the left wing that flew across the grain of Marek Mazanec and beat him stick-side for Street’s twenty-fifth goal of the season.

In the second period the Admirals were able to equalize from their white hot power-play. Evgeny Svechnikov slashed the stick out of the hands of Alex Carrier. That allowed for Pontus Åberg to work his magic from the left wing circle where he faked a slot shot, measured a wrister, and sniped clean past the glove of Jared Coreau to record his twenty-seventh goal of the season.

As the second period was coming to a close Andrew O’Brien was given a minor for slashing. The Griffins scored with 20.2 seconds remaining in the frame on the power-play when Mitch Callahan gathered up a loose puck in front of the net and whipped in a wrister from the doorstep for his fifteenth goal of the season.

Midway through the third period and the Admirals pace earned them an equalizer. Anthony Richard nearly had a wrap-around work out but the puck flew off his stick. The same couldn’t be said when Åberg went for the same move except the puck got caught up in the pads of Coreau and trickled through to make it a 2-2 game. Åberg had his second goal of the game and twenty-eighth of the season.

The Griffins were motoring in attack shortly after and an attempt to skate up out of the zone by Richard saw him out-skate the puck. Dylan McIlrath took it from him and then passed off to Svechnikov low right wing where the Griffins’ Russian managed to smack a puck past Mazanec for his eighteenth goal of the season.

Brian Lashoff was called for a hooking minor with 2:11 remaining in regulation to give the Admirals a late power-play and chance to equalize. Mazanec made his way to the bench with 1:04 remaining to give them a two-man advantage. Yet, things changed with 34.9 seconds remaining when McIlrath and Mike Ribeiro had a coming together along the Griffins bench. That resulted in a the Admirals power-play being scrubbed off.

With 26.8 seconds remaining in regulation the Admirals earned an in-zone face-off and decided to use their timeout. The game would finish with a tripping call against Åberg as he was negating a push up ice for an empty net bid by the Griffins. And the Admirals would drop a 3-2 game on home ice.

These two teams will lock horns once again on Wednesday night at 6:00 PM CDT at the Van Andel Arena. Neither play until that tilt and it will be the Admirals last trip to Grand Rapids in the regular season. After that the Admirals complete their March schedule and only have eight games remaining. They open up a four-game homestand on April Fool’s Day for the first of two against the Texas Stars.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played in Manitoba on Friday night there have been no roster moves made in the organization. Today’s line combinations were: Richard-Ribeiro-Gaudreau, White-Smith-Åberg, Perfetto-Kamenev-Payerl, Florek-Army-Liambas, Pinkston-Carrier, O’Brien-Granberg, Murphy-Dougherty. Today’s scratches were: Kelleher (healthy), Kirkland (undisclosed injury), Oligny (undisclosed injury), and Pardy (broken left arm). Today’s attendance was: 6,587.

What were your thoughts on today’s game? Despite a rough first period -shots wise- this appeared to be a very close game: where did the Milwaukee Admirals lose out?

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

The Milwaukee Admirals 3-1 on the road against the Manitoba Moose at the MTS Centre on Friday night.

This was a historic occasion for the Admirals as Marek Mazanec became the team’s all-time AHL minutes leader for a goaltender and head coach Dean Evason earned his two-hundredth career victory behind the Admirals bench. The team is now on a three-game winning streak.

At the end of the first period J.C. Lipon was called for tripping and an unsportsmanlike conduct. The Admirals top power-play unit would deliver the game’s opening goal forty-seconds into the second period. Alex Carrier threw off from the top of the blueline to Mike Ribeiro in the right wing who delivered a picture perfect pass to Trevor Smith who floated out to the back door on Jamie Phillips to score his thirteenth goal of the season and first scored in twenty-four games.

The second half of Lipon’s penalty was still active following the power-play goal from Smith. That said, you weren’t to know it based on how well the Moose were attacking while shorthanded. Both Patrice Cormier and Chase De Leo had shorthanded breakaways in a matter of moments during the same kill and both times Marek Mazanec got the crucial stops to keep the Moose off the board.

Mazanec would go on from the moment to surpass Brian Finley’s Admirals all-time AHL record for minutes logged in net. The previous mark by Finley was 9122:21.

Over the halfway point of the second period the Admirals added to their lead when Justin Florek scored his tenth goal of the season. Florek had guided a pass behind the net for Derek Army who dinked it back in line for the swooping forward to pick it up and wrap a shot around on Phillips through the wickets and in to make it a 2-0 Admirals lead.

At the end of the second period former pest of the Admirals Rob Flick showed up to do more pest like things such as take a boarding minor on Jimmy Oligny. This caught the attention of Oligny’s defensive partner Alex Carrier who raced over and got into his first pro fight. Flick got the better of Carrier in the fight and the boarding penalty to Flick was erased by the instigator penalty by Carrier.

Tensions seemed to remain high between the two teams towards the start of the third period. Ryan Olsen attempted to scrap with Trevor Murphy and wound up sitting in the penalty box for roughing. This allowed for another power-play goal to be scored as a hammer shot by Pontus Åberg flew off the end boards where Smith passed right back into the slot opposite side of the net where Frédérick Gaudreau smacked in his twenty-third goal of the season.

Another fight would start up in the third period. Francis Beauvillier delivered a big hit to Andrew O’Brien and the two quickly decided to scrap. O’Brien uncorked some bombs and won decisively. I’d score that 10-8 in my fight card.

A holding call against Mike Liambas put the Moose on a late power-play. It appeared that De Leo rammed through Oligny and left him injured during the following special teams play. Oligny soldiered on as best he could, no whistle came, and the Moose ended up denying Mazanec’s shutout bit with a power-play goal. Patrice Cormier was alone on the doorstep to push across a rebound from Kyle Connor’s shot to earn his twelfth goal of the season.

In more Flick-like theatrics he took a high shot towards the head of Liambas as the Moose were on an empty net and extra attacker bid. Liambas finally had enough of Flick and proceeded to maul him with punches as Flick turtled on the ice. Liambas was given the lone penalties on the play: fighting major and a game misconduct.

For all the nastiness that went on the game would finish there. These two teams won’t play each other for the rest of the season so all the toxicity ends here with a 3-1 Admirals win. They may have been outshot 33-15 but the Admirals received a great night in net from Mazanec with timely offense.

Next on tap will be a travel back home to Milwaukee. The Admirals will face-off against the Grand Rapids Griffins on Sunday afternoon at 3:00 PM CDT. They will then swing over to see the Griffins at the Van Andel Arena on Wednesday at 6:00 PM CDT.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played last night there were no roster moves made in the organization. Tonight’s line combinations were the same as they were last night: Richard-Ribeiro-Gaudreau, White-Smith-Åberg, Perfetto-Kamenev-Payerl, Florek-Army-Liambas, Oligny-Carrier, O’Brien-Granberg, Murphy-Dougherty. That meant tonight’s scratches remained the same as they were as well: Kelleher (healthy), Kirkland (undisclosed injury), Pardy (broken left arm), and Pinkston (healthy). After being hit from behind by Chase De Leo on a Moose power-play Jimmy Oligny left the game late in the third period due to injury and needed assistance to leave the ice and head down to the Admirals locker room.

What are your thoughts on tonight’s game? The Manitoba Moose might be lowly in the standings but how good was the two-game effort from the Milwaukee Admirals on the road? How does this set the stage for another showdown against the Grand Rapids Griffins on home ice on Sunday?

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

The Milwaukee Admirals won 6-2 on the road against the Manitoba Moose at the MTS Centre on Thursday night.

This appeared to be a continuation of the great work that the Admirals had in full display this Sunday. They powered out five goals with three power-play goals in the game’s opening twenty-five minutes. That surge saw the end of the night in net for Eric Comrie and effectively the Moose’s chances of taking a point.

Dan DeSalvo was called for tripping fourteen minutes into the first period to give the Admirals the game’s opening power-play opportunity. Frédérick Gaudreau made an outstanding play to keep the puck in the attacking zone and was then able to finish off a play that he generated. Trevor Smith’s pass knuckled down into the slot but Gaudreau followed in for a quick swat that beat Eric Comrie for his twenty-second goal of the season.

The Admirals would extend their lead fifty-eight seconds later to make it a 2-0 lead. Adam Payerl delivered a shot from the right wing that Comrie kicked out into the high left wing. Andrew O’Brien followed up with another firm shot on net but, this time, Comrie got most of the shot and the puck stayed near the crease. Stephen Perfetto was the quickest to react to the rebound and swiftly deposited the puck on net for his second goal with the Admirals.

For as grinding as the first period was feeling the game went from scoreless to 2-1 in the space of 1:51 of play. Only fifty-three seconds after Perfetto scored the Moose had a response through Kyle Connor. The twenty-year old forward was on a quick give-and-go as he burst out of the left wing across the slot. He wrangled up a puck in his skates and then flipped a backhander against the grain to beat Marek Mazanec high-glove for his twenty-second goal of the season.

For the second period the Admirals came out guns blazing and chased Comrie out of the Moose net inside of five minutes.

Alex Carrier dished off to Pontus Åberg in his sweet spot on the Admirals power-play. The hammer shot from the left wing circle blazed through Comrie for the Swede’s twenty-sixth goal of the season. That was then followed by another power-play goal with the same scenario playing out opposite wing when Trevor Smith moved over from slot to ring wing where Mike Ribeiro picked his spot high-glove on Comrie for his fourth goal of the season.

Following the Ribeiro power-play goal the Admirals scored at even strength just twenty-seconds later to end Comrie’s suffering. Perfetto had an extra step down the right wing with Brenden Kichton defending him. He appeared to use Kichton as a slight decoy to wire a shot to the near post high-glove on Comrie for his second goal of the night and third of the season.

Comrie’s night ended after 24:47 of ice time where he stopped 11/16 shots on goal. The Admirals power-play was a perfect three of three with him in net. Jamie Phillips took his place from then on out.

Naturally, looking for a spark, a fight broke out with the Moose needing some energy. Darren Kramer challenged Mike Liambas and he probably should have picked a different hombre. That was a clear win in the fight department for Liambas.

At the start of the third period the Admirals got a break from a quick whistle. Mazanec looked to have gloved down a shot on a Moose power-play but he never had it. J.C. Lipon was quick to pounce on the puck and push it across the goal line but he almost didn’t even need to do that for it to go in. Yet, the play had already been whistled dead. And the Moose were denied a power-play goal.

That didn’t mean the 5-1 scoreline was holding out for long. Shortly after that quick whistle the Moose had the Admirals in a slow change and found Kramer lurking down the left wing alone in space. He stepped in and beat Mazanec with a wrister glove-side to record his second goal of the season.

With over five minutes remaining the Moose went for the miraculous and decided to bring Phillips to the bench and introduce the extra attacker. That desperate ploy for a comeback was dealt with fast as Ribeiro popped home the empty netter to record his second tally of the game and give himself a four point night. The scoreline read 6-2 Admirals and would mercifully end there.

It is a matter of “same time, same place” between these two teams tomorrow night. The Admirals will return home on Sunday afternoon at 3:00 PM CDT when they will see the Grand Rapids Griffins once again. That sets the stage for the first of two games between those two. The Admirals will travel to Grand Rapids on Wednesday next week following their pit stop at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Sunday the team made no roster moves. Adam Pardy did make a return to team practice on Tuesday and could potentially make a return to game action in over a week’s time. Justin Kirkland remained inactive after missing the weekend three-in-three. Tonight’s line combinations were: Richard-Ribeiro-Gaudreau, White-Smith-Åberg, Perfetto-Kamenev-Payerl, Florek-Army-Liambas, Oligny-Carrier, O’Brien-Granberg, Murphy-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches were: Kelleher (healthy), Kirkland (undisclosed injury), Pardy (broken left arm), and Pinkston (healthy).

What is your reaction to tonight’s game? Are the Milwaukee Admirals beginning to get on a run on the back of that Grand Rapids Griffins effort on Sunday?

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

The Milwaukee Admirals won 6-3 against the Grand Rapids Griffins at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Sunday night.

You can count this as one of the best results of the season. The Admirals and Griffins were both on the last of a three-in-three weekend but the Griffins were riding high on two wins whilst the Admirals suffered a tough loss in Iowa last night. The Admirals exploded in the second period and Anthony Richard capped it off with a Gordie Howe hat trick to see them finish off the best team in the Central Division in style tonight.

“The win is one thing, and the score is one thing, but the effort is what we’re proud of,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game. “It’s easy to just take the night off and just say, “oh well, it’s three-in-three and we’re tired,” and we didn’t. We just worked. It feels good for us, as a coaching staff, to see the group do that.”

It didn’t take long for the Griffins to assert their dominance tonight. They came out in attack and earned a first period lead in only 3:31 of play. Eric Tangradi glided across the top of the right wing circle and released a snap shot against the grain that beat Marek Mazanec high glove-side for his thirteenth goal of the season.

With 4:03 remaining in the first period the Griffins had a goal waved off. A shot had knuckled up on Mazanec and Mike Borkowski quickly snapped at it out of the air. The puck flew down into the net but the baseball style swat by Borkowski was quite clearly above the crossbar and the officials waved it off on the spot.

Moments after that disallowed goal the Admirals equalized. Pontus Åberg had flipped a puck high into the air and Matt White gloved it down just as he was crossing into the attacking zone. White threw the puck down and had a breakaway that ended with a backhander through the five-hole of Eddie Pasquale for his thirteenth goal of the season.

Similar to the way they started the first period the Griffins had a quick tally to open the second period. Martin Frk whistled a shot from the right wing wall through the arm of Mazanec as he was holding the near post. There was just enough of an opening stick-side on Mazanec where the puck hit off of him and glance off the post before Frk had his twenty-third goal of the season and see the Griffins back out in front.

Coming into tonight’s game Pasquale had consecutive shutouts against the Admirals. Perhaps with the Admirals second goal he was making up for lost time or simply felt bad for doing that. The veteran netminder was playing the puck behind his net, hesitate to play it forward, and then passed a backhander directly off the end boards to Vladislav Kamenev. The Russian had a simple rush to the empty net to record his fifteenth goal of the season and make it a 2-2 game.

The Admirals would follow that up to take their first lead of the night. Andrew O’Brien unleashed a low shot as he entered the attacking zone. Pasquale failed to secure the shot with his glove and the puck bounced free for the speedy Anthony Richard to bang home on the rebound to earn his fourth goal of the season and give the Admirals a 3-2 lead.

“My first thought was that I think [O’Brien] was going to give it to Gaudreau and [Ribeiro] on the other side to create maybe a three-on-two or four-on-two,” said Richard. “So I was like, I’m going to create space with my speed and just rush to the net. The puck came right at me on my tape.”

It was around this point when it felt like the dam had officially broken. The Admirals poured on pressure and then saw the French Fry line come up with the goods again. Mike Ribeiro dropped a pass back for Richard who opened up down the left wing for the trailing Frédérick Gaudreau to snap a shot from the slot past the stick-side of Pasquale for his twenty-first goal of the season and make it a 4-2 game for the Admirals.

Richard’s second period was already something special but, following a high stick by Yevgeni Svechnikov, he would get into his first career pro fight in the scrum that followed. He paired up with Matt Lorito and proceeded to knock the tar out of him. It was a decisive 10-8 win in the fight cards as he out-struck Lorito and earned the knockdown. Richard earned a Gordie Howe hat trick in the space of 10:02 in the second period.

“We were all biting our lips,” laughed Evason. “I had my card in front of me because the guys were so excited. We asked him if he had done it before and he said, “yeah, I know what I’m doing.” So, he knows what he is doing. Clearly he is not afraid to do it.”

Almost forgotten about in the melee was the fact that Svechnikov gave the game its first power-play chance of the night after 38:55 of play. The Admirals momentum kept rolling and a no-look spinning backhand feed by Trevor Smith rolled back into Pontus Åberg’s sweet spot in the low left wing circle for a one-timer that roared by Pasquale for his team leading twenty-fifth goal of the season with just 2.7 seconds remaining in the second period.

In the late goings of the third period Tangradi would net his second of the night to cut the Admirals lead to 5-3. He had a puck right on the doorstep of Mazanec but peeled back out before turning around in the low left wing and roofing a shot over the glove hand to record his fourteenth goal of the season.

The Griffins went empty net and extra attacker in the final minute. Mazanec attempted to score a goalie goal but missed out. That was salvaged quickly as Kamenev passed off to Adam Payerl to score the empty netter, earn his fifteenth goal of the season, and seal the Admirals 6-3 victory against the Griffins.

Next on tap for the Admirals will be some rest time before traveling up North to play on the road against the Manitoba Moose at the MTS Centre on Thursday and Friday night. Both of the games will be played at 7:00 PM CDT. The Admirals will then travel back to see the Griffins once again at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena for a Sunday tilt.

“I think it’s important not to dwell on this win,” said Jack Dougherty. “We see what happens when we play a certain way and stay out of the box and play how the coaches want us. I think it is important for us to get a lot of rest after this. We’re looking forward to going to Manitoba and getting ready for playoffs here.”

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals play last night there were no roster moves made in the organization. Tonight’s line combinations were: Richard-Ribeiro-Gaudreau, White-Smith-Åberg, Perfetto-Kamenev-Payerl, Florek-Army-Liambas, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Granberg, O’Brien-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches were: Tyler Kelleher (healthy), Justin Kirkland (undisclosed injury), Adam Pardy (broken left arm), and Rick Pinkston (healthy). Tonight for the Grand Rapids Griffins forward Dominik Shine made his professional playing debut.

What were your thoughts on tonight’s game and this weekend’s three-in-three? Where did that second period explosion for the Milwaukee Admirals come from?

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

On the road tonight the Milwaukee Admirals lost 4-1 against the Iowa Wild at the Wells Fargo Arena.

Whenever there are more fighting majors than goals scored you are either looking at a highly explosive game or a loss. Tonight the Admirals came up on the wrong side of a Wild team that did a solid job of out-battling them to the point of attack tonight. Their efforts were backed by a quality effort from Steve Michalek in net who stopped all but one of the Admirals twenty-eight shots on goal.

Tonight’s game started pretty much where last night’s left off between Jimmy Oligny and Ryan Carter. The two dropped the gloves eleven seconds into the contest which was trickle over after a rough exchange in front of the net last night in Milwaukee. It was primarily a jab fest with with a few over-hand rights getting through. There was not much separating the two in the fight cards.

After a high sticking minor against Matt White the Wild were able to score from the night’s first power-play chance. Pat Cannone delivered a pass from the low left wing into the high right wing circle for a one-timed shot by A.J. Jenks. Jonas Gunnarsson was able to defend the shot by Jenks but the puck laid flat in the crease for Gerald Mayhew to score on a tap in and earn the first goal of his professional playing career.

Less than three minutes later the Wild were able to make it a 2-0 first period lead. The Wild were able to keep a cycle going and Sam Anas chipped a puck down the right wing wall for Zack Mitchell. It didn’t seem like there was any angle to shoot but Mitchell snuck a shot from below the goal line deep in the right wing pocket that rolled up off the skate of Gunnarsson as he hugged the near post to give Mitchell his tenth goal of the season.

Past the halfway point of the second period there was a moment of controversy from both sides of the ice. Hunter Warner delivered a huge hit on White as the forward had his head down. The check appeared to be targeted to the head and that drew the attention of Andrew O’Brien who went in for a fight. There wasn’t a call against Warner on the check. There wasn’t a call against O’Brien for instigating. And the Wild, if that fight didn’t whistle play dead, would have had a two-on-zip breakaway in attack. It was effectively left alone as a fight despite all that happened around it. Thankfully for the Admirals White wasn’t hurt on the play.

In the closing minutes of the second period the Admirals would get off the mark. A quick play in neutral ice between Anthony Richard and Frédérick Gaudreau sent the latter sprinting down the right wing wall. It appeared as if three Wild players were caught puck watching and Gaudreau labeled a pass for the back post to Stephen Perfetto that he took first time to beat Steve Michalek to score his first career AHL goal and make it a 2-1 game.

Out of the gate of the third period the Wild were able to notch a goal to take the wind out of the sails for the Admirals. Colton Beck passed out of the trapezoid to find Mayhew on the right face-off dot. His shot sailed back the net-front screen set by Tyler Sikura and beat Gunnarsson stick-side to make it 3-1 from Mayhew’s second career AHL goal.

Another fight would break out between these two teams as a result of a hard hit by the Wild. Trevor Murphy was clocked from behind and into the boards by Jenks. That had Adam Payerl after him and that fight, unlike the first tilt, has a decisive winner in Jenks who had the takedown after a quick flurry.

Before the Admirals pulled the trigger to bring Gunnarsson to the bench and bring the extra attacker on with under three-minutes remaining in regulation the Wild made it a 4-1 contest. Jenks ran clean through Murphy as he was breaking out of the defensive zone, corralled the loose puck, and proceeded to fire a wrister from the left wing circle low glove on Gunnarsson to complete the Gordie Howe hat trick with his first goal scored in the AHL this season.

It will be a long bus ride back tonight for the Admirals. They are heading home from Iowa right after this game and back to Milwaukee where they have a 5:00 PM CDT face-off tomorrow night on home ice against the Grand Rapids Griffins who just finished a two-in-two of their own against the Chicago Wolves. The Griffins won each of those games in overtime.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played last night there weren’t roster moves made in the organization but there was more roster shuffling as the team rotates through injuries. The line combinations tonight were: Richard-Gaudreau-Perfetto, White-Smith-Åberg, Payerl-Kamenev-Kelleher, Florek-Army-Liambas, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Granberg, O’Brien-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were: Justin Kirkland (undisclosed injury), Adam Pardy (broken left arm), Rick Pinkston (healthy), and Mike Ribeiro (rest).

What are your thoughts on tonight’s game? What happened to the Milwaukee Admirals in the first period? What is your assessment of Jonas Gunnarsson this season? Will the Admirals have enough in the tank to compete toe-to-toe with the Grand Rapids Griffins tomorrow?

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

The Milwaukee Admirals won 2-1 against the Iowa Wild at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Friday night.

It’s been awhile since the Admirals played a very well structured sixty-minutes of hockey but they accomplished that tonight against the Wild. They received goals from Justin Florek and Pontus Åberg to get them out in front. It was only a Sam Anas penalty shot that got the better of Marek Mazanec in the Admirals victory tonight.

“It was a real quick game,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “No penalties. So everything was going really fast and both teams were working their butts off. That team works hard. Our team works hard. We have good games against them. Can’t see it being any different.”

Early into the first period the Admirals opened up the scoring with speed and numbers behind them. Mike Liambas had the puck down the right wing on a rush and was attempting a centering pass for Justin Florek that lofted a touch wide. Thankfully, Derek Army was also flying down the left wing and then opened up to deliver a picture perfect pass for Florek down the slot which he would bury past Alex Stalock for his ninth goal of the season.

“The goal was a big lift for us,” commented Evason. “We knew they had been playing very well. We knew they were very confident. One of our keys was to start well and hopefully take that confidence out of their game. We did not -but- we got the goal and the goal kind of did that for us.”

In the second period the Admirals extended their lead thanks to a power-play goal from the game’s first special teams exchange. Maxime Fortunus had been called for hooking and the Admirals top power-play group took care of business in twenty-four seconds. Pontus Åberg delivered a shot-pass from the left wing that looked to tag Frédérick Gaudreau en route to the net down the slot. Instead, the puck dinked into the net off of Wild defenseman Mike Reilly’s skate. It was Åberg’s twenty-fourth goal of the season.

“I’m trying to find Gaudreau in the middle there,” smiled Åberg. “It went under his stick and they scored a nice goal for me.”

Tonight marked the professional playing debut for Tyler Kelleher. Things were going swimmingly until a moment in the third period that he would like to have back. Sam Anas had a breakaway and his shot was stopped by Marek Mazanec. Yet, Kelleher took a slash across the right side of Anas to draw a penalty shot. Anas would swoop left wing and pull a backhand to forehand move that opened up the Czech goaltender to the stick-side for his eleventh goal of the season to deny Mazanec’s shutout bid.

Following a double-minor for slashing against Ryan Carter with 1:52 remaining in regulation it felt like the Admirals had a sure road to victory. The Wild still pushed and were able to get Stalock to the bench for the extra attacker just seven-seconds later. That wouldn’t get them much more that puck possession around the boards and the Admirals would get the clear and win when all was said and done.

Mazanec was in the right place at the right time whenever he was required tonight. He probably could feel hard done with the penalty shot that denied a shutout for him but his twenty-five saves on the evening gave a great foundation for the Admirals to build off of en route to their second consecutive win.

“He’s an NHL goalie,” said Åberg of Mazanec. “Good for us to have him down here. When we’re having our lowest he’s the one who is carrying the team back there. It’s nice to have him.”

Tomorrow night these two will lock horns once again but on the road at the Wells Fargo Arena in Iowa. That game will start at 6:00 PM CDT. Following the conclusion of that contest the Admirals will bus right back to Milwaukee for a Sunday clash against the Grand Rapids Griffins which starts at 5:00 PM CDT.

Ramblings: Prior to tonight’s game the Milwaukee Admirals announced the signing of University of New Hampshire standout Tyler Kelleher. The current Hobey Baker Award finalist is signed to an AHL contract with the Admirals through the rest of the 2016-17 season as well as the 2017-18 season and made his professional playing debut tonight. There was some shuffling with tonight’s line combinations: White-Smith-Åberg, Richard-Ribeiro-Gaudreau, Kelleher-Kamenev-Payerl, Florek-Army-Liambas, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Granberg, O’Brien-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches were: Justin Kirkland (undisclosed injury), Adam Pardy (broken left arm), Stephen Perfetto (healthy), and Rick Pinkston (healthy).

What were your thoughts on tonight’s game? Was the penalty shot a correct call? How did you feel Tyler Kelleher looked in his pro debut and are you excited by what his time with the Milwaukee Admirals could be? How will these two clash tomorrow night in Iowa?

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

The Milwaukee Admirals won 4-3 in overtime against the Rockford IceHogs on the road at the BMO Harris Bank Center on Tuesday night.

This was a car crash style game that had hectic ebbs-and-flows. It wasn’t until the third period when the Admirals held a lead and even then overtime was needed. He might have made three key mistakes to get there but Pontus Åberg’s second goal of the night was the winner in overtime.

“He messed up three times,” smirked Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “Our group knows they can go for the [empty] net if we have a two goal lead. They get it out if we have a one goal lead. He messed up there. He messed up on their tying goal by going through his check. He should have went through [Hinostroza] first and then to the defense. And then he messes up by not changing at the end. Ultimately all his messes led to him scoring the game-winner.”

The game’s first power-play chance put the IceHogs ahead in the first period. Trevor Murphy was called for a kneeing minor against Vinnie Hinostroza. The IceHogs won the initial power-play face-off and quickly cycled d-to-d with a shot from the right point by Ville Pokka deflecting off the blade of Brandon Mashinter in the slot past the blocker side of Marek Mazanec. It just so happened to take an extra deflection off of Kyle Baun who would later be credited with the power-play goal for his twelfth goal of the season.

Matt White was welcomed back into the lineup tonight and his presence was felt quickly. The California native had pace down the left wing and seeing a two-on-two with Pontus Åberg on his opposite wing practically become a two-on-naught with their pace down the wings cutting to the net. White dished off to the back post run of Åberg and the Swede cradled it home past Jeff Glass for his team leading twenty-second goal of the season.

Prior to the midway point of this contest Chris DeSousa was called for a boarding major against Admirals captain Trevor Smith along the IceHogs bench. All the Admirals could do is generate four shots on goal and see a left wing shot by Åberg ring off the near post and go flying into the right wing boards.

It wasn’t all that long after the successful major penalty kill that the IceHogs put themselves back in front. They had generated great pace starting from their own zone and worked a rush play that cut the Admirals defense apart tic-tac-toe from Mashinter to Baun and then down the right wing for Hinostroza to barreled in on net to snag his second AHL goal of the season and second in as many games against the Admirals.

So, the Admirals power-play was getting stifled but that didn’t mean that their special teams couldn’t generate offense. Smith would get the Admirals off on a shorthanded rush with Justin Florek in tow. The initial shots would be denied by Glass but a scramble would form and Florek flicked a shot that nearly rolled in clean. Glass would swipe a glove to it before it rolled over the line but, in the process, appeared to lose the puck off his glove into his pad and back into the net. They all count the same and that shorthanded marker for Florek was his eighth goal scored on the season.

“We’ve kind of been talking about it lately. I don’t think we have too many shorthanded goals,” said Florek of the Admirals penalty kill. “We’ve kind of been talking about when we get the chance to capitalize off a few of their’s. Lately we’ve been getting a few more and hopefully we start to see a few more go in.”

DeSousa may have still had a small debt to pay as far as the Admirals were concerned. That or he simply owed last year’s teammate Mike Liambas one as the two let the gloves drop before the end of the second period. It was a decisive victory for Liambas who dropped DeSousa with stiff overhand rights.

Just past the midway point in the third period the Admirals would claim their first lead of the night. Jake Dowell took liberities with Trevor Murphy’s jousting in a post-whistle back-and-fourth and proceeded to throw a punch. That gave Dowell an added minor for roughing and the Admirals a power-play that ended in White getting a slick toe-drag as he cut from the low left wing circle into the slot. His shot flew past Glass stick-side to the near post for his twelfth goal of the season and make it a 3-2 Admirals lead.

With 1:53 remaining in regulation Glass took to the bench to get the extra attacker on for the IceHogs. Åberg went for an empty net bid only to draw an icing call and fourteen seconds of empty net and extra attacker later the IceHogs were level. They won a face-off and quickly had Hinostroza scoring his second goal of the night as he whistled a wrister through traffic and over the glove of Mazanec for his third goal of the season.

That tally meant this game would need overtime. In the overtime period the IceHogs would burn their timeout with 1:41 left in the period as the Admirals earned an attacking zone face-off. The Admirals would pin the puck deep from the point until a clearance saw the IceHogs race for a line change. That allowed Mazanec to get a quick pass up ice to Åberg who had a give-and-go between himself and Ribeiro. The veteran forward left a drop pass in-line for the Swede to swat a shot from the slot. Glass made the initial shot but Åberg followed in for his own rebound and popped the puck over the left pad to score the game-winning goal in overtime. His second goal of the night pushed him up to twenty-three goals on the season.

“It kind of felt like I needed that overtime goal,” said Åberg of his mistakes late in the game. “I felt like I had to give [Mazanec] an out. He put it a little too far for me so I thought their guy was going to get it. Got a stick. Got it between the guy’s legs. That guy went to change and I was supposed to change too but we had a clear three-on-two. So, I wanted to get that opportunity.”

Mazenec not only played a hand in the game-winning goal but his efforts in net to weather waves upon waves of IceHogs shots tonight was important for the Admirals in staying alive tonight. He ended the night with thirty-eight saves to get the Admirals back to winning ways.

Next on tap for the Admirals is a three-in-three weekend. They start on home ice Friday night against the Iowa Wild at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. On Saturday both the Admirals and Wild will travel to Des Moines for a 7:00 PM CDT face-off at the Wells Fargo Arena. The final stop sees the Admirals traveling all the way back home that night for a 5:00 PM CDT start against the high powered Grand Rapids Griffins on home ice.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Saturday night there have been no roster moves made by the organization. Tonight’s line combinations were: Richard-Ribeiro-Gaudreau, White-Smith-Aberg, Perfetto-Kirkland-Payerl, Florek-Army-Liambas, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Granberg, O’Brien-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches were: Vladislav Kamenev (undisclosed injury), Adam Pardy (broken left arm), and Rick Pinkston (healthy).

What is your reaction to tonight’s game? It feels as if the Milwaukee Admirals, even when they get the results, have been sputtering: what is the primary reason?

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

The Milwaukee Admirals were shutout 4-0 by the Chicago Wolves at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Saturday night.

For the Admirals their approach of late has been to play a “defense first” approach but tonight it was “defense only” against the league’s most prolific offense. They came up bust with the Wolves getting the edge as the Admirals offense was blanked in the process.

In an opening period that mainly saw Marek Mazanec put on a highlight reel performance the fans did get to pop for a Fight of the Year candidate between Adam Payerl and Jared Nightingale.

The veteran Wolves defenseman had taken liberties off the puck against Anthony Richard which drew the ire of Payerl. Punches were instantly raining down from Nightingale but the heavyweight tilt extended to see Payerl get his fair share of stiff punches that landed flush. This one was almost too close to call but I tip my scorecard to Payerl for knocking Nightingale’s bucket off his head in the finish.

In the second period, following a holding minor against Derek Army, the Wolves were able to net the opener from a power-play goal. Kenny Agostino hit a shot pass from the right wing to the backdoor of Mazanec where Andrew Agozzino had a step for a first-time shot that sailed in glove-side for his fifteenth goal of the season.

Agostino’s AHL best scoring and assisting prowess made itself known once more late in the third period. The winger snapped a pass from the right wing to the tape of defenseman Vince Dunn who joined the rush down the left wing and labeled a shot past the glove of Mazanec for his twelfth goal of the season to make it a 2-0 Wolves lead with 6:39 remaining in regulation.

With Jack Dougherty in the box for high sticking Ty Rattie it allowed for James Wisniewski to hammer a slap shot from the left wing circle to make it a 3-0 Wolves lead from his fourth goal of the season.

With 1:46 remaining in regulation the Admirals would go empty net and extra attacker. That only allowed MacKenzie MacEachern to add his fifth goal of the season to get the game to its 4-0 final score.

Jordan Binnington didn’t need to do too much tonight but did have one of the best saves you will see all season when he robbed Trevor Smith from point blank range on the Admirals final power-play chance of the evening. Binnington earned his first shutout of the season by stopping all eighteen shots on goal tonight.

After tonight’s game the Admirals are off until Tuesday night where they will travel to play against the Rockford IceHogs at the BMO Harris Bank Center at 7:00 PM CST. That will then be followed by a brutal travel scheduled three-on-three weekend that has them in Milwaukee against the Iowa Wild, then in Iowa, and then back home to see the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played last night the team saw Miikka Salomäki return to the Nashville Predators after fulfilling his long-term injury loan. Tonight’s line combinations were: Richard-Ribeiro-Gaudreau, Perfetto-Smith-Åberg, Florek-Army-Liambas, (Rotating)-Kirkland-Payerl, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Granberg, O’Brien-Dougherty, Pinkston. Tonight’s scratches included: Vladislav Kamenev (undisclosed injury), Adam Pardy (broken left arm), and Matt White (bereavement leave). There were 1,786 teddy bears thrown by the 6,676 of fans in attendance tonight.

What was your reaction to tonight’s game? If the season ended tonight the Chicago Wolves would be the Milwaukee Admirals opening round opponent in the playoffs: how would that rodeo go?

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

The Milwaukee Admirals won 5-2 against the Rockford IceHogs at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Friday night.

The Admirals were caught out by another less than favorable second period but the explosive duo of Pontus Åberg and Frédérick Gaudreau helped get them back to winning ways tonight. The surging forwards both popped home a pair of goals as the Admirals got the best of the IceHogs on home ice.

“They not only scoring goals they are playing the right way – both of them,” commented Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason of Åberg and Gaudreau. “Both kill penalties. Both are on the power-play, obviously. It’s exciting. Obviously, the goals are there, you see that, but they are both playing extremely well.”

To get the Admirals off the mark in the first period they saw contributions from their latest addition, Stephen Perfetto. The recently PTO signed forward flew down the left wing with great speed and was wrapping around the net. Before Perfetto did that he managed to perfectly dish off to Pontus Åberg on the front door, left wing side, to beat Lars Johansson near post. The goal for Åberg was his twentieth of the season to give the Swede back-to-back twenty goal seasons for the Admirals. The primary assist for Perfetto was his first career AHL point and came in his fourth career AHL game.

The Admirals first period scoring continued and also required speed down the left wing from one of their PTO contracted talents. Derek Army beat out an icing call and then pushed a puck out towards the net front area where he narrowly missed Mike Liambas. Johansson attempted to push the puck up and out of the zone but cleared out to Jack Dougherty at the right point who zipped d-to-d for Andrew O’Brien whose following slap shot stayed low with pace to record his second goal of the season.

“I’m always trying to shoot. That’s one of my strong points I feel,” commented O’Brien of his goal. “We had Army in front there, [Dougherty] made a nice d-to-d pass, and I just tried to put it on net. It went in, fortunately. It was pretty exciting.”

In typical Admirals fashion as of late their second period became a bit of an adventure. They allowed two goals in the opening 6:01 of the second period for the IceHogs to level the scoring up at 2-2. They would also get outshot 16-7 in the sandwich stanza.

Vinnie Hinostroza worked out of the left wing pocket to pick out a pass for Michael Latta rushing into the slot. The former Admiral was denied by Marek Mazanec on his initial shot but stuck with the puck to get his own rebound across the line for his third goal of the season.

After the Admirals were hemmed into their own zone, and took an icing call, the IceHogs caught them in the ensuing line change for an odd-man rush. Jake Dowell worked down the left wing and saucer passed opposite wing where Hinostroza was able to bury his first goal in the AHL this season to make it a 2-2 game.

In the third period the Admirals would hop back out in front with some magic by the French Fries – young and old. Mike Ribeiro made a great effort to maintain puck possession behind the net. He was then able to chip a pass out in the low right wing for Frédérick Gaudreau who froze Johansson with a pump fake to the forehand and shot into an open net before Viktor Svedberg could close him down to score his nineteenth goal of the season and make it 3-2 Admirals.

“Honestly, it was just instinct,” said Gaudreau of his game-winning goal. “Sometimes you kind of see stuff a little bit and then you just try to put the puck in the net. I think I got lucky a little bit.”

As the game was in its closing minutes the Admirals would get some insurance in the form of a power-play goal. Trevor Smith poked a puck hopping around the glove-side of Johansson off to Åberg in his sweet spot on the power-play unit for a rocket of a one-timed finish. The Swede had his second tally of the night, twenty-first of the season, and the Admirals had themselves a 4-2 lead.

With fifty-three seconds remaining Johansson would come off to get the extra attacker on for the IceHogs who would burn their timeout late after earning an in-zone face-off. Ribeiro would see a long range empty net big be denied by a post but it fell kindly for Gaudreau to pop in his second of the night and give him a twenty goal season for the first time in his professional playing career.

The Admirals will be back in action tomorrow night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena when they face-off against the Chicago Wolves at 6:00 PM CST. That will be the team’s annual “Teddy Bear Toss” night as well as Juuse Saros bobblehead night. Fans in attendance will receive one bobblehead per person not per ticket. The Admirals will then take to the road on Tuesday night at 7:00 PM CST where they will see tonight’s opponents the IceHogs at the BMO Harris Bank Center.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Wednesday morning there was one roster move made. The Admirals added forward Stephen Perfetto from the Alaska Aces of the ECHL to a PTO Contract. Perfetto will wear the #13 for the Admirals. The final roster note would be that tonight’s game marked the official end for the terms of Miikka Salomäki’s long-term injury loan. The Finn who celebrated his twenty-fifth birthday yesterday will be joining the Nashville Predators shortly after this game. Tonight’s line combinations were: Richard-Ribeiro-Gaudreau, Perfetto-Smith-Åberg, Salomäki-Kirkland-Payerl, Florek-Army-Liambas, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Granberg, O’Brien-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches included: Vladislav Kamenev (undisclosed injury), Adam Pardy (broken left arm), and Rick Pinkston (healthy), and Matt White (bereavement leave).

What were your thoughts on tonight’s game? What is it lately with the Milwaukee Admirals and having a second period lull? How great have Pontus Åberg and Frédérick Gaudreau been for the Admirals? How did you feel Miikka Salomäki looked during his three-game conditioning assignment?

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