The Milwaukee Admirals lost 5-3 against the Cleveland Monsters at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Wednesday morning.

In the third “School Day” game in Admirals’ history the team saw a third period rally come up short. The Admirals trailed by a four-goal margin but managed to get it to a one-goal game with over eight minutes remaining in regulation. Unfortunately, the deficit that came from a poor second period was too much to overcome and the Admirals –for the first time– lose in their AM game.

“A lot of times, when we get down like that, we don’t give teams anything until we give teams everything,” stated Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “That’s what we did tonight.”

The game’s opening goal wouldn’t come until the start of the second period. A hard rush to the net by Joe Devin saw a puck fall off his stick but stay in stride for Akim Aliu to put a wrister past the blocker of Jonas Gunnarsson from the low slot for his second goal of the season.

The Monsters would extend their lead to 2-0 later in the second period off of a Brett Gallant rebound. John Ramage threw a puck towards the net from the high right wing circle that was knocked down in front of Gunnarsson. The first man to react to and find the loose puck was Gallant who quickly zipped a shot up into the net for his third goal of the season.

It wouldn’t get much better for the Admirals as their second period woes continued. The Monsters would pass into a two-on-one chance from the face-off circles. Alex Petan passed off from the left wing to the backdoor of Gunnarsson where Miles Koules smacked in a one-timer for his first career AHL goal to make it 3-0 Monsters.

To start the third period the Monsters surge continued. Sonny Milano delivered a low shot that Gunnarsson kicked out towards the right wing. Ramage was able to step up from the blueline and hit the rebound like a setup pass for a slap shot that ripped into the net for a 4-0 Monsters lead from Ramage’s fourth goal of the season.

“It’s not on our goalie,” said Evason. “[Gunnarsson] was real good. Two off the bar. One is an empty net. We can’t give those up.”

The Admirals would finally get on the board in the third period from their power-play group that had several sustained attacks throughout the contest. Alex Carrier passed low for Trevor Smith who quick upped the puck back into the right wing circle for Frédérick Gaudreau to step into a one-timer and score his eighteenth goal of the season.

After a Jordan Maletta slashing minor the Admirals scored their second successive power-play goal. It was a tic-tac-toe passing play from Gaudreau to Smith and off to the left wing circle where Pontus Åberg launched a one-timer past Anton Forsberg to record his nineteenth goal of the season.

In typical Cardiac Kids fashion the Admirals weren’t going to go away quietly and Petter Granberg’s first career goal with the Admirals made it a one-goal game. Gaudreau had worked himself into a near breakaway rushing down the left wing. As he came barreling down on Forsberg he lost the handle of the puck but Mike Ribeiro gathered it up, swung around the net, and found Granberg atop the right wing circle for a one-timed bomb. Following Granberg’s goal the Monsters used their timeout.

“It just takes one bounce, one goal, or one hit to get us going,” said Admirals captain Trevor Smith. “Last week when [Liambas] and [Florek] had a couple of big hits and they got us going. Something sparked the team and we started to turn it on. It’s nice to know you’re never out of a game.”

It then came time for a dust up. Mike Liambas matched up with Gallant and the two had a quick frenzy before the Monsters’ scrapper went for a takedown. That probably should lean more to Gallant in the fight cards for the finish.

Gunnarsson would come off for the extra attacker with fifty-eight seconds remaining in regulation. The Admirals struggled to setup shop to record the game-tying goal and, before time expired, Sonny Milano was able to score on the empty net for his thirteenth goal of the season to put the game at its 5-3 final.

“You can’t say enough about our resiliency and we just ran out of time,” said Evason. “We really did run out of time. We still had some great looks to get that fourth one. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get set on our six-on-five but we did a lot of good things all night. We just ran out of time. But our will and our want was there.”

The Admirals will finish off their four-game homestand this weekend with big crowds and promotions in the cards. The Rockford IceHogs will arrive Friday night at 7:00 PM CST which will be followed by a post-game concert by Cheap Trick. Saturday night at 6:00 PM CST the Admirals will be hosting the Chicago Wolves as well as their annual Teddy Bear Toss night which will also see the first 5,000 fans receive a Juuse Saros bobblehead. The giveaway on Saturday night is limited to one bobblehead per person not per ticket.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played there was a lone roster move of note. Rick Pinkston was once again added on loan from the Manchester Monarchs of the ECHL. This morning’s line combinations were: Salomäki-Ribeiro-Gaudreau, White-Smith-Åberg, Kirkland-Kamenev-Payerl, Richard-Florek-Liambas, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Granberg, O’Brien-Dougherty. Today’s scratches included: Derek Army (healthy), Adam Pardy (compound fracture to left arm), and Rick Pinkston (healthy), Pardy, who missed his twentieth successive game today, has returned to skating but a time table on his return to game action isn’t known yet. Today’s attendance was 6,766.

What was your reaction to this morning’s game? Where did the second period sour? Because the Admirals start and finish were strong. Would it be safe to tip your cap to Anton Forsberg today and just move on for Friday’s game?

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 3-2 in overtime against the Manitoba Moose at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Saturday night.

This was perhaps a game that the Admirals didn’t have any right earning a single point tonight. The Moose had them thoroughly out-worked on the evening but yet another multi-goal comeback in the third period saw the Admirals force overtime and then win eight seconds in through Mike Ribeiro to take the win over the Moose.

“He has been phenomenal,” smiled Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “I know people have heard different things of Mike Ribeiro. He has been the perfect teammate. He’s worked hard everyday – in practice, games. He has been so good for us.”

The Admirals didn’t make it easy on themselves in tonight’s opening period. They took three trips to the penalty box and the last occasion saw the Moose capitalize with a power-play goal. Kyle Connor skated off the left wing circle in towards the slot where a shot pass from the right point by Jack Roslovic went off his tape for a redirect. The goal for Connor was his sixteenth of the season.

It felt as though the Admirals badly needed some energy or a spark. This is where Adam Payerl stepped in with a fight against Scott Kosmachuk which ended in a flurry for the Admirals’ alternate captain. That was a decisive win for Payerl in the scrap that could almost go as a 10-8 in your fight cards with the punching advantage and knockdown to finish it.

The game wouldn’t see another goal until the third period and it was almost a carbon copy of the opener. J.C. Lipon fired a shot from the right wing wall that went to the net for a crashing Connor off the back post for a deflection past Marek Mazanec. It was Connor’s second tally of the night and seventeenth of the season.

Matt White would finally inject some life into the Admirals with a goal midway through the third period. As the Admirals were on their third power-play of the evening White had a solid angle down the left wing with Justin Kirkland screening Eric Comrie in net. He snapped a shot glove-side across the screen to get the Admirals on the board on the power-play with his eleventh goal of the season.

It was already a big night for the organization as Miikka Salomäki was making his return to game action after having been sidelined since December with a lower-body injury. The Finn marked his return with a breakaway goal and a dazzling one at that. Mike Liambas sent Salomäki loose and he dangled to a backhander which floored Comrie. All Salomäki needed to do was elevate past the glove and he did for his first goal scored in just his fourth game of the 2016-17 season to tie things up at 2-2. The goals for the Admirals were scored 1:32 of ice-time apart.

“Third period was phenomenal,” said Evason. “First two we got outworked, out-battled, and out-competed. And complete credit to them. We were trying.”

Tonight’s game, much like the first time these two met, needed overtime to decide it. Mike Ribeiro won the draw in overtime and proceeded to skate downhill for a two-on-one with Frédérick Gaudreau to the left wing. Ribeiro patiently waited for a gap, skated across into the slot, and snapped a shot into a wide open net as he had Comrie completely frozen to record his third goal with the Admirals and give them the 3-2 win in overtime.

“I was thinking pass,” said Ribeiro of the game-winning goal. “I was thinking pass, go backdoor with [Gaudreau], but [Gaudreau] was skating on his backhand there so I just decided to keep it and cut to the middle. The goalie was out – really out. I just happened to have a really open net there. It feels good to score in overtime.”

The Admirals next play on Wednesday morning at 10:30 AM CST for their second school day game of the 2016-17 season. They will be playing against the Cleveland Monsters on that day. The Admirals will then complete their four game homestand by facing the Rockford IceHogs and Chicago Wolves on Friday and Saturday next weekend.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played there were two roster moves of note. The team released defenseman Rick Pinkston from his PTO Contract on Thursday. It is expected he will be rejoining the Manchester Monarchs of the ECHL very soon. Miikka Salomäki was officially assigned to the Admirals from the Nashville Predators on a conditioning assignment late this afternoon. He is able to play for the Admirals on loan from the Predators for three games before being required to be returned to the NHL. Salomäki will be wearing #10 with the Admirals on his conditioning assignment as his traditional #20 currently is held by Derek Army. Tonight’s line combinations were: White-Smith-Åberg, Richard-Ribeiro-Gaudreau, Salomäki-Kamenev-Payerl, Florek-Kirkland-Liambas, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Granberg, O’Brien-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches were: Derek Army (healthy) and Adam Pardy (compound fracture to left arm).

What was your reaction to tonight’s game? Do you feel that the Milwaukee Admirals tend to play down to their competition level at times? Where did that comeback happen tonight?

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 5-4 in an eight round shootout on the road against the Charlotte Checkers at the Bojangles’ Coliseum on Wednesday night.

If you like crazy games this one certainly hit you over the head while laughing at you from the opening puck drop. There were four-goals scored inside of four minutes of hockey with goals being scored seconds apart from each other in the process. That set the stage for a wild and insane contest that required eight rounds of the shootout tonight before Kris Newbury scored the game-winner to give the Checkers their first win over the Admirals on home ice since 11/30/14 in which they also won via a shootout.

The opening four-minutes of tonight’s game offered some of the most bizarre end-to-end hockey of the season. The Admirals scored twice inside two minutes in a span of thirteen seconds which was followed 1:11 of ice-time later by a pair of goals scored by the Checkers separated by twenty-four seconds.

Pontus Åberg’s hot run continued with a goal to start the night. Trevor Smith’s intercept in the Admirals defensive zone put Åberg on the rush where he would deke defenseman Dennis Robertson out of his skates before scoring on the two-on-one attack from the right wing circle on a wrister for his eighteenth goal of the season.

After the following face-off, Anthony Richard made a very heads up defensive play using his speed to pressure and generate a turnover inside the attacking zone for the Admirals. This then allowed for Frédérick Gaudreau to pick things up, skate towards the right side of the slot, and whip a wrister of his own high-glove past Alex Nedeljkovic to record his seventeenth goal of the season and make it 2-0 Admirals.

1:11 of ice-time later the Checkers scored their opening goal with some controversy. Marek Mazanec had been bumped into by Connor Brickley hard enough to knock the Czech’s goaltending mask off. As the mask was coming off Danny Kristo scored through traffic for his seventh goal of the season. You can thank the AHL for not having goaltender interference as a reviewable play in their rule book.

Perhaps it was the Admirals stewing a little bit over the non-call or perhaps it was simply the way the opening four minutes of the game went – but – the Checkers scored again twenty-four seconds later. Robertson was able to redeem himself after being made a fool of on the game’s opening goal by cranking a hammer shot from the high left point that deflected off traffic in front for his fourth goal of the season. It was a 2-2 game with the Admirals recording two shots on goal, the Checkers recording three shots on goal, and it was only 3:25 into the game.

That wouldn’t be the end of the first period scoring, either.

Philip Samuelsson tried a centering pass from below the goal line that deflected off the skate of the net-front defending Trevor Murphy and past Marek Mazanec to his left pad for the Swede’s second goal of the season. The Admirals would then pop a puck through Nedeljkovic on a completely harmless shot by Justin Florek that went in as his seventh goal of the season and end of the night for Nedeljkovic after allowing three goals from nine shots in 17:32 of work.

In the second period things would stabilize by quite a lot. The Checkers would continue pressuring by recording thirteen second period shots on goal but it was the Admirals skating into the intermission with a 4-3 lead.

After Jake Chelios was called for a tripping minor the Admirals cashed in with a power-play goal from Vladislav Kamenev. The Russian unleashed his Tsar Bomba of a slap shot that flew through Daniel Altshuller for his fourteenth goal of the season to get the Admirals back out in front.

The Checkers first shot registered on target in the third period wouldn’t come until half way through the frame. It would result in the game equalizing at 4-4 with Andrew Poturalski jamming home the rebound from a Roland McKeown wrap-around attempt to score his fourteenth goal of the season.

This game would go past overtime which featured a power-play for the Checkers to start it and one for the Admirals to finish it. Both teams went bust and then proceeded to go eight rounds deep tonight in the shootout. Ultimately, the game would be decided by Kris Newbury in the bottom of the eighth round on a snap shot to the glove-side of Mazanec off the post and in for the game-winner tonight.

It was the first time in two-seasons at the Bojangles’ Coliseum that the Checkers earned a win over the Admirals on their home ice and it took them, much like tonight’s shootout, eight tries to do it. The Checkers are now 1-6-1-0 against the Admirals at their new barn.

You must give credit where credit is due tonight for Altshuller. The Checkers netminder came on at the end of the first period in relief and proceeded to give his team a calming influence in net and only allowed the power-play goal by Kamenev against twenty-four shots faces tonight while denying six of eight attempts in the shootout.

The Admirals are now set for a return back home to Milwaukee. There are twenty-games remaining in their regular season and thirteen of those games will take place at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. They now have a four-game homestand which begins this Saturday night at 6:00 PM CST when they face-off against the Manitoba Moose.

Ramblings: Today was the NHL’s Trade Deadline and the Nashville Predators did make some moves. The lone acquisition by the Predators saw them acquire P.A. Parenteau from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for a sixth round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft. The Predators then made paper transactions by reassigning and quickly recalling Juuse Saros and Kevin Fiala in an effort to make both eligible for this year’s AHL Calder Cup Playoffs as members of the Milwaukee Admirals. Tonight’s line combinations remained unchanged as has been the case for the past few games: White-Smith-Åberg, Richard-Ribeiro-Gaudreau, Kirkland-Kamenev-Payerl, Florek-Army-Liambas, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Granberg, O’Brien-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches included both Adam Pardy (compound fracture to left arm) and Rick Pinkston (healthy).

What is your reaction to tonight’s game? How bizarre were those opening four-minutes and what are your thoughts on the AHL not having a capacity to replay goaltender interference? The Admirals claimed all but three points on this four-game road trip: was it a positive one?

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 on the road against the Charlotte Checkers at the Bojangles’ Coliseum on Tuesday night.

The Admirals undefeated run at the Bojangles’ Coliseum continued tonight and did so thanks to a power-play that cashed in three times and penalty kill unit that shutdown all five Checkers chances. The Swedes shined tonight with Pontus Åberg picking up two goals and an assist while Jonas Gunnarsson made thirty-two saves to earn his third win of the season.

It wasn’t a pretty start for the Admirals and specifically Pontus Åberg. The Swede took two penalties in two shifts within the game’s opening four-minutes. Thankfully the Admirals penalty kill was up to the task and Åberg was able to redeem himself before the end of the period.

On the Admirals second power-play chance Frédérick Gaudreau delivered a beauty of a pass to Åberg in the left wing circle and had some time and space to measure up Daniel Altshuller in net. Åberg moved in and then snapped a forehand shot high blocker side along the near post to score his sixteenth goal of the season with 2:20 remaining in the first period.

In the second period the Admirals were able to extend their lead to 2-0 after seeing a neutral ice turnover take place while they were in the midst of a change. Derek Army latched on to the puck and had a breakaway that saw him finish low blocker side on Altshuller to record his seventh goal in only his twenty-second game of the season since joining the Admirals on a PTO basis from the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL.

Andrew Miller would deny Jonas Gunnarsson’s shutout level effort with a backhanded tally out in front of the net with 4:01 remaining in the second period. The play from Miller capped off a great skating shift in the attacking zone for the Checkers which opened up space for Miller to pop in his fourth goal of the season.

That wouldn’t be the last of the goals scored in the second period, either. The Admirals and Checkers traded goals in the final two-minutes to end the second period at a 3-2 Admirals advantage.

Åberg managed to score his second goal of the night on a shot from the center of the blueline. His shot was assisted into the net because of the net front presence of Matt White which pulled in Andrew Poturalski who tagged the shot with the blade of his stick and fooled his own netminder allowing for Åberg’s seventeenth goal of the season.

The Checkers answered back 1:09 of ice-time later with a goal in the final minute of the second period. Connor Brickley scored off of a net front redirect on Levko Koper’s shot from the left wing and the puck just squirted through Gunnarsson to give Brickley his sixth goal on the season.

It isn’t every day you see penalties taken by goaltenders but, at the start of the third period, that happened and allowed for an Admirals power-play goal. Altshuller was called for holding and the Admirals power-play setup kindly for Åberg to get his hat trick. The lone problem was Åberg shot, wide open in the low left wing, whistled wide of the net and ended up popping back off the glass and over the net for Gaudreau to score with ease. The goal for Gaudreau was his sixteenth of the season.

The Admirals would follow that up with their third power-play goal of the night. Adam Payerl scored after some doing. His initial shot from the low left wing kicked off the skate of Justin Kirkland. The puck then came back to Payerl who fought through a stick lift to get a second chance to pop a shot by Altshuller and did so to set a career high for goals in a season with fourteen to make it 5-2 Admirals.

And that is where the scoreline would rest. The win gets the Admirals to quickly forget the horrors of Grand Rapids from this past Saturday night and also saw a great night in net from Gunnarsson. This was just the Swede’s ninth start of the season and he made thirty-two saves, allowed two goals, and earned his third win of the season.

Tomorrow night these two teams will be right back in action at the Bojangles’ Coliseum for a 6:00 PM CST face-off. The Admirals will then return back home to Milwaukee and see the Manitoba Moose on Saturday night at 6:00 PM CST.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Saturday night there were no roster moves made in the organization. There was a delayed roster note though by way of AHL Transactions that stated that the Admirals re-signed defenseman Adam Pinkston to a PTO Contract on 2/19/17 after having released him on 2/16/17. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: White-Smith-Åberg, Richard-Ribeiro-Gaudreau, Kirkland-Kamenev-Payerl, Florek-Army-Liambas, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Granberg, O’Brien-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches were: Adam Pardy (compound fracture to left arm) and Rick Pinkston (healthy). Tomorrow marks the NHL Trade Deadline. That also means that it will be the deadline for AHL Playoff Roster eligibility. Be aware of potential paper transactions tomorrow that might see members of the Nashville Predators assigned to the AHL just for such reason before being recalled without ever moving an inch.

What is your reaction to tonight’s effort from the Milwaukee Admirals? Is Pontus Aberg due for another recall or might he end up being used as trade bait for tomorrow’s NHL Trade Deadline? Should Jonas Gunnarsson see more time in net? How can the Admirals carry this performance into tomorrow night and not fall into a trap such as their previous road two-in-two?

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 6-2 on the road against the Grand Rapids Griffins at the Van Andel Arena on Saturday night.

The Admirals four-game winning streak came to a thunderous end tonight in Grand Rapids. The push that the Griffins found late last night was evident in practically all sixty-minutes of tonight’s contest and the Admirals suffered. The focus now turns to the final two-legs of this four-game road trip which takes place in Charlotte starting Tuesday.

It appeared that the first period was playing out just as defensively sound as last night’s contest. That seemed to dissipate once the Admirals gave the Griffins a chance with an extended five-on-three power-play. Right as Pontus Åberg was exiting the box Matt Lorito tagged the back door drive of Martin Frk down the left wing for a shot past the glove of Marek Mazanec for his twentieth goal of the season and his career-high twelfth goal of the season scored on the power-play.

The Admirals’ first chance on the power-play tonight went bust and went bust hard. Mike Ribeiro turned the puck over as he was holding the right point into the path of Ben Street who flew off down the left wing on a shorthanded breakaway. Alex Carrier was trekking back defensively but Street’s shot snapped past the stick-side of Mazanec for a shorthanded goal and Street’s seventeenth goal of the season.

In the second period the Griffins would extend their lead to 3-0. Tyler Bertuzzi flipped a pass over to Dominic Turgeon who put a backhander in from the right wing bardown for his fifth goal of the season.

After failed power-play chances the Admirals did finally get one put together to break the Griffins run. A hammer shot by Trevor Murphy from the high left blueline whistled past the net front screen of Justin Kirkland and past Jared Coreau. The goal would officially be credited to Kirkland for his seventh goal of the season.

It took the Griffins a mere fourteen seconds to swiftly punch the Admirals in the gut with a response. Lorito broke around the left side of the cage and delivered a sneaky backhander that found a way through the left arm of Mazanec in net. The goal for Lorito was his fifteenth of the season and quickly restored the Griffins three-goal cushion to make it a 4-1 lead.

The rout would persist into the third period. Brian Lashoff cranked a shot from the left point that snapped down en route to the goal off the stick of Drew Miller for his second goal in the AHL this season.

As a four-on-three power-play for the Griffins was expiring the Griffins made it a 6-1 lead. Lorito put a puck towards the net that Mazanec mishandled and it suck through him to allow for the second goal of the contest by Lorito and his sixteenth goal of the season.

Jonas Gunnarsson would immediately enter in relief of Mazanec following the sixth goal allowed by the Admirals. Mazanec stopped 20/26 shots on goal tonight in 45:04 of work.

There would be another flash of the Admirals getting something positive accomplished on the night. Alex Carrier labeled a beautiful shot-pass from the right point that hit the back door camping Mike Ribeiro for his second goal with the Admirals to make it a 6-2 game.

The Admirals travel tomorrow to Charlotte where they will face the Charlotte Checkers Tuesday and Wednesday night at the Bojangles’ Coliseum. Both games take place at 6:00 PM CST. The Admirals return home next Saturday when the Manitoba Moose come to town.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played last night there were no roster moves made by the organization. Tonight’s line combinations were: White-Smith-Åberg, Richard-Ribeiro-Gaudreau, Kirkland-Kamenev-Payerl, Florek-Army-Liambas, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Granberg, O’Brien-Dougherty. Tonight’s lone scratch was once again Adam Pardy who continues to recover following a compound fracture to his left arm. Pardy has now missed the last sixteen games.

What is your reaction to tonight’s effort for the Milwaukee Admirals? Is this a smack back into reality for the Admirals? Did the Grand Rapids Griffins at the very least expose the weaknesses and faults that the Admirals must clamp down in order to succeed down the stretch?

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 5-3 on the road against the Grand Rapids Griffins at the Van Andel Arena on Friday night.

It is always a beautiful thing for the Admirals to escape the dreaded House of Horrors in Grand Rapids with a win but they ended up making this game far more terrifying than it had any right to be. The Admirals jumped to a 4-0 lead only to see the Griffins rally back with three third period goals. The game would get sealed with an Adam Payerl empty netter to finally relieve the tension to see the Admirals extend their winning streak to four games.

After a lackluster first period that saw mostly chances for the Griffins go begging things didn’t intensify until the next frame. Adam Payerl and Dan Renouf started the second period off with a scrap. There weren’t too many punches that clearly landed but the most obvious one that did was an over-hand right by Payerl. That’s enough to give him the win in my fight card, anyways.

Past the midway point in the contest the Admirals found the first breakthrough. Frédérick Gaudreau was racing down the slot with the puck which scattered back behind him where Anthony Richard popped a low shot to the net. Gaudreau continued his run and was able to get the rebound from Jared Coreau’s left pad save with a backhander to record his fourteenth goal of the season.

In the final minutes of the second period the Admirals added another tally to make it a 2-0 lead. Trevor Murphy was racing around the boards when he decided to push a puck towards the net front area from the left wing corner. Murphy’s shot appeared to hit off the leg of defenseman Brian Lashoff and everyone around the net lost sight of the puck. That is everyone except Justin Kirkland who was quick to poke the loose puck in for his sixth AHL goal of the season.

The hot run for Gaudreau would continue with a beauty of a goal for his second of the night. Richard was gliding down the left wing as Gaudreau was opposite wing with two defenders around them. Richard lofted a pass up towards the net and it looked like Coreau might get a glove to it but Gaudreau batted it out of mid-air to notch his fifteenth goal of the season.

Pontus Åberg then followed Gaudreau’s footsteps by tallying his fifteenth goal of the season, as well. Petter Granberg ripped a low shot from the right wing wall that kicked out for Matt White to go digging for a rebound. As it so happens that rebound opportunity ended up shifting to the left side of goal for Åberg to collect the goods and give the Admirals a 4-0 lead.

The Griffins would draw one back after getting 1:27 worth of five-on-three power-play time. Their approach was rather straight forward: shoot the puck. Eventually Matt Lorito setup a backdoor feed for Mitch Callahan from the low left wing for a one-timer that Marek Mazanec had little hope to stop. The goal was Callahan’s fourteenth scored this season.

The run for the Griffins would continue as Tomas Nosek flew around the endboards and dished a pass into the net front area where Martin Frk was able to get a one-timer off and then secure his own rebound to earn his nineteenth goal of the season.

It then shockingly became a one-goal game as the Griffins scored their third goal in the space of 5:35 of ice time to make it a 4-3 Admirals lead. Yevgeni Svechnikov appeared to vault Jack Dougherty from the back into Mazanec. In the scramble that followed Tyler Bertuzzi whipped a low backhander past the Czech netminder just as he was settling back into the cage. There was no fuss made for goaltender interference and it isn’t even reviewable in the AHL. That meant Bertuzzi had himself his ninth goal of the season.

The ending was a bizarre one. The Admirals had a power-play with 3:14 remaining in regulation. As that was starting to roll along Trevor Smith would tangle up slightly with former Admirals defenseman Conor Allen who proceeded to throw right haymakers to the face of the Admirals captain. The resulting penalties saw the Admirals go on a two-man advantage and Allen exit with a misconduct.

It would have been nice for the Admirals to treat the resulting five-on-three power-play like exactly what it is but they instead proceeded to play a game of keep away. The Griffins killed the penalty off and then had the chance in a one-goal game to go empty net and extra attacker to push in the dying seconds for overtime. Thankfully Adam Payerl helped to see that not be the case as his empty netter would result in the final score to make it a 5-3 Admirals win in Grand Rapids tonight. Payerl has now set a career high this season in points scored in the AHL with thirty and his empty netter matched his career high goal total from a season ago with his thirteenth.

Tomorrow night the Admirals are back in action, same time and same place, against these very same Griffins. I suspect that the “rest vs. rust” factor will be a non-issue as they lock horns tomorrow so the Admirals are going to need to do a bit better job knuckling down for a win than they did at the end of this contest. It was far closer than it needed to be.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Sunday there were no roster moves made by the organization. Tonight’s line combinations were: White-Smith-Åberg, Richard-Ribeiro-Gaudreau, Kirkland-Kamenev-Payerl, Florek-Army-Liambas, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Granberg, O’Brien-Dougherty. Tonight’s lone scratch was Adam Pardy who missed his fifteenth straight game after suffering a compound fracture to his left arm. Mike Ribeiro recorded three assists in tonight’s contest. The last three-games that the Admirals won in Grand Rapids came with the Griffins starting goaltender in on a conditioning assignment.

What is your reaction to tonight’s game? Did the Milwaukee Admirals get a solid result tonight with this win over the Grand Rapids Griffins or did that finish take some of the edge off? What will the Admirals need to do tomorrow to slow down the attack of the Griffins that almost saw a 4-0 lead evaporate late tonight?

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 5-4 in overtime against the Charlotte Checkers at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Sunday evening.

It was yet another less than favorable start for the Admirals who once again fell asleep at puck drop. But, once again, they rallied back to find a way to win.

“We’ve talked a lot about our character and our group all year. These last few games it’s showed,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game. “Nothing has really got us down: a bad penalty, a bad goal, timing. We’re able to withstand it.”

For the third consecutive game during this three-game homestand the Admirals lost the opening face-off only to pick the puck out of their net following the game’s first shift. Andrew Miller passed into the low left wing circle where Lucas Wallmark didn’t get all of his first-time shot. As the puck came off his stick poorly it fluttered in on Marek Mazanec and the change-up beat him to provide Wallmark his seventeenth goal of the season. The opening goal came just nineteen seconds into the game.

“We talked to the group after the game and asked them who they’d like us to start next game at home,” smirked Evason. “Because we’ve tried everybody.”

The Admirals did get an appropriate response not too long after Dennis Robertson was called for a slash. After jarring a puck free from the right wing wall the Admirals power-play unit setup shop and Mike Ribeiro was able to tee up Alex Carrier for a one-timer in the high slot that launched past Alex Nedeljkovic for his sixth goal of the season.

After having scored so early into the game the Checkers only managed to get one more shot on the board over the next ten minutes. Yet, with shot number three, the Checkers scored once again. Andrew Poturalski delivered a spinning pass to the net-front where Kris Newbury was camped out all alone for a tap-in and his seventh tally of the season to make it a 2-1 Checkers lead.

There was a scary moment to start the second period. Anthony Richard, well known for his incredible speed, lost an edge and went crashing violently into the end boards in an incident reminiscent of how he was injured when playing for the Cincinnati Cyclones in the ECHL during December. Doug Agnew ran on the ice and checked on Richard before the two left the ice. Richard was able to skate off under his own power and returned later in the period.

Moments after the Richard injury the Checkers pounced to get the lead up to 3-1. Haydn Fleury’s point shot was collected off the initial save by Mazanec by Valentin Zykov. The Checkers’ Russian was left all alone in front of the net to record his fourteenth goal of the season.

That goal seemed to wake up the Admirals offense. The moments that followed were spent in attack and they quickly answered. Andrew O’Brien hammered a shot from the left point that popped off the left pad of Nedeljkovic. Frédérick Gaudreau was able to step in off the slot and put a low backhander in from the rebound to earn his twelfth goal of the season.

At the midway point of the contest the Checkers restored their two goal lead. Miller made a dazzling play along the left wing that saw him snake past Petter Granberg and Justin Kirkland before letting a backhanded shot stay along the ice and sneak past the Mazanec as he held the near post. Miller’s third goal of the season made it a 4-2 Checkers lead.

With 1:13 remaining in the second period Derek Army took it upon himself to get the Admirals a late period goal. He was racing down the left wing with Trevor Carrick defending him and sent a backhander off the pads of Nedeljkovic, cut behind Carrick, and won the race to his own rebound to pop in his sixth goal of the season and make it a 4-3 game at the end of the second period.

“You never know, goalies have a tough time with the backhand,” described Army. “They don’t always know where it is going so I think it kind of surprised him.”

To start the third period off the Admirals equalized to make it a 4-4 contest. Adam Payerl took a pass from Vladislav Kamenev and had all kinds of speed behind him as he entered the attacking zone. He veered towards the right wing circle before unleashing a wicked wrister that beat Nedeljkovic against the grain to the stick side for his twelfth goal of the season.

This game required overtime and the stage was set for Gaudreau who finished things off by scoring his second of the game and thirteenth of the season. He glided down the left wing, dangled, pulled back on the backhand shot to fake out Nedeljkovic, and then released his backhand shot into the roof to earn the Admirals a comeback 5-4 win in overtime.

“I saw one of their guys was tired maybe because he couldn’t change,” commented Gaudreau of the game-winner in overtime. “Carrier gave me a good pass. I saw Mike Ribeiro on the side but I wasn’t sure about the pass so I just decided to keep it.”

The Admirals are now on a bit of a break in their schedule. They won’t be in action until this coming Friday and Saturday night when they face-off against the Grand Rapids Griffins on the road at the dreaded Van Andel Arena. After that the Admirals travel to see these Checkers on the road next Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Admirals next home game is on Saturday March 4th when the Manitoba Moose make their return to the Admirals schedule for the first time since the end of November.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played on Friday night they saw the Nashville Predators recall Kevin Fiala. That was the lone roster move made by the organization. The Predators lost 5-2 on the road to the Minnesota Wild last night in their first game back out of their NHL mandated bye-week. Tonight’s line combinations were: Richard-Ribeiro-Gaudreau, White-Smith-Åberg, Kirkland-Kamenev-Payerl, Florek-Army-Liambas, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Granberg, O’Brien-Dougherty. Tonight’s lone scratch was Adam Pardy who missed his fourteenth straight game after suffering a compound fracture to his left arm.

What was your reaction to tonight’s game? What about these last three-games and the opening shift? How important was it for the Milwaukee Admirals to sweep this week’s homestand to get rolling?

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 Charlotte Checkers at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Friday night.

For the second consecutive game the Admirals allowed a goal from the game’s first shift only to end up rattling off five unanswered goals. Vladislav Kamenev recorded a hat trick on the night as the Admirals pulled off another comeback victory.

“We talked about home ice. We wanted to create a home ice atmosphere, some kind of close to dominance or people not liking to come here,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “And both games we talked about we give up a goal the first shift. It can’t happen. We have to start better and that’s on us, its on the coaching staff, and obviously filters to the players. But the way we continue to work and play the game the right way as the game goes on is really positive for us. It was a nearly carbon copy opening minute tonight as so happened on Wednesday. The Checkers won the opening face-off and were in complete attack mode for a full minute until cycling to a back post feed for Valentin Zykov in the low left wing. He was wide open for a first-time shot that beat Marek Mazanec for his twelfth goal of the season. Clearly you don’t want to keep coming back in  hockey games but it is a positive note that we have.”

The Admirals did get a response from their first power-play opportunity. Trevor Smith sent Vladislav Kamenev loose down the right wing where the Russian flicked a backhander near post on Michael Leighton. It was a shot the all-time AHL shutout king would like to have back. Kamenev’s shot rolled up Leighton’s glove arm on the near post and into the net for his eleventh goal of the season.

The first period would end with the Checkers scoring twice on the power-play to take a 3-1 lead. A weak shot by Andrej Nestrasil fumbled its way to the goal mouth where Andrew Poturalski swatted it up and into the net for his tenth goal of the season. The Checkers put together another passing clinic, much like their opening goal, and it ended with a slick no-look backhand pass by Zykov in the low left wing that went through Mazanec and the defending Jimmy Oligny right to the tape of Phil Di Giuseppe who scored on a one-timer for his tenth goal of the season.

In the second period there were quite a few swaps in net. Mazanec had a skate issue which saw Jonas Gunnarsson step in for a brief 1:27 of hockey before Mazanec hopped right back in net. Leighton then suffered an apparent injury and gave way to Alex Nedeljkovic for the Checkers.

By the time that Nedeljkovic had warmed up he saw a puck crawl past him with 1:25 remaining in the second period. Adam Payerl was digging for second and third chance opportunities off of a rebound and the puck tickled back in the slot for Kamenev to put home his second of the night and twelfth goal of the season.

Kamenev was the engine for the Admirals through the opening two periods. Perhaps that is why Poturalski attempted to whip his right leg out in the third period. A scrum quickly broke out and it resulted in Jimmy Oligny pairing up with Kris Newbury for a scrap. The two slugged it out a bit and relented once the punched their gas tanks out.

With less than five minutes remaining in regulation the Admirals managed to equalize. It was a beautifully orchestrated tic-tac-toe play with Mike Ribeiro with the tic right wing for Frédérick Gaudreau who went tac back post for the toe in Kevin Fiala who finished off a thrilling passing play for his seventh goal of the season.

The Admirals would get their first lead of the night with 2:53 remaining in regulation. Justin Kirkland launched a rocket of a wrist shot from the left wing that flew past the near post of Nedeljkovic for the first-year pro’s fifth goal of the season.

“[Scott Ford] has been teaching me a few things coming down the wing,” said Kirkland of his game-winning goal. “He deserves a lot of credit on that goal and he was pretty quick to jump on that too.”

With the net emptied the Admirals were able to work a puck out of their zone and see Kamenev win the skate to the red-line before scoring the empty netter to record a hat trick. It was his first North American pro hat trick and his thirteenth goal of the season.

“[Kamenev] has played really well,” said Evason. “He was real good in all areas of the game. Played well defensively. Good through the neutral zone. And he obviously produced offensively but he skated – he skated real well.”

Going for broke the Checkers stayed empty net and extra attacker. Before the final horn sounded the Admirals put one more puck across after a long range backhander by Anthony Richard sailed in for his third goal of the season to make it a 6-3 Admirals lead.

The Admirals will look to extend this run to three straight wins on Sunday afternoon at 3:00 PM CST when they face-off against the Checkers once again. After that the Admirals will be on a small break before taking to the road against the Grand Rapids Griffins on Friday and Saturday night. They will then travel to see these Checkers on the road to end the month of February and begin the March slate.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Wednesday night there were a few roster moves made. Juuse Saros was recalled by the Nashville Predators while Marek Mazanec was reassigned to the Admirals. Rick Pinkston was released of his PTO Contract with the Admirals and is expected to rejoin the Manchester Monarchs of the ECHL. Tonight’s line combinations were: Fiala-Ribeiro-Åberg, White-Smith-Gaudreau, Kirkland-Kamenev-Payerl, Liambas-Florek-Richard, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Granberg, O’Brien-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches included Derek Army (healthy) and Adam Pardy (compound fracture to left arm).

What were your reactions to tonight’s game? Where did that late game rally come from? Why are the Milwaukee Admirals so flat at the start of games lately?

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 5-1 against the San Antonio Rampage at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Wednesday night.

It may have gotten off on the worst possible start when the returning Félix Girard was able to score from his opening shift in the first minute of the contest. From then on, the Admirals would end up scoring five unanswered goals which largely came in an explosive third period following a successful extended five-on-three penalty kill.

“That was a huge kill,” commented Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “We didn’t give them anything on that kill. We shut them down. It gave us a big lift.”

Félix Girard won tonight’s opening face-off against his ol’ teammate Vladislav Kamenev and quickly put on an opening shift clinic with his new team. When Troy Bourke came over the bench he found himself on the puck immediately and was able setup Girard for a one-timer in the low left wing circle. Girard’s shot flew past Juuse Saros for his sixth goal of the season and it came only fifty-seven seconds into the game.

“Sometimes you play against friends and stuff out there but it was the first time for me that I played against twenty of my old friends,” said Girard of his return to Milwaukee as an opponent. “Every time I got into a battle or facing a guy it was my old teammate. So, it was a pretty fun experience.”

The current French Fry contingent in Milwaukee did get an answer five minutes into the first period. Matt White made a slick backhanded chip pass that allowed Frédérick Gaudreau to race across from left to slot and work a shot through Spencer Martin for his eleventh goal of the season to knot things up at 1-1.

There wouldn’t be another tally until the third period when Kevin Fiala was hooked during a breakaway which forced a penalty shot to be called. Fiala swooped around down the slot before finally digging in and releasing a snap shot past the stick side of Martin to record his sixth goal of the season.

The Admirals scored fifty-one seconds later to give themselves a nice two goal cushion. After some battling along the endboards a puck squirted over Kamenev who was able to saucer pass across the lone man defending in front of Martin and tag a wide open Adam Payerl for a tap in and his eleventh goal of the season.

Following a high sticking minor against Duncan Siemens the Admirals made use of their second chance on the power-play with a thrilling series of passes. The Admirals top unit continually controlled the attacking zone and eventually broke down to a sweet pass by Pontus Åberg from the left wing to Mike Ribeiro on the back post to score his first AHL goal since the 2001-02 season as a member of the Québec Citadelles.

It might not have been needed but the Admirals added one last tally with thirty-nine seconds remaining in regulation to make it five unanswered goals. Gaudreau was on the puck down the right wing on what was more so a two-on-two across the wings. He was able to zip a pass backdoor for Trevor Murphy who dinked enough of it over to record his eleventh goal of the season and make it a 5-1 contest.

The Admirals would seal it on that tally. It goes down as just another win for Saros who on this season has won thirteen games from fifteen starts as a member of the Admirals. He may have gave up the early goal to Girard but it was the only goal he allowed from twenty-six shots faced.

“Yeah, but if someone has to score on our team I’m happy to see him even though I don’t want to let in goals,” smiled Saros. “Good for him.”

Next on tap for the Admirals will be the Charlotte Checkers for two games this weekend. Friday night at 7:00 PM CST in which the Admirals will be wearing Slap Shot themes uniforms and then on Sunday at 3:00 PM CST which is Salute to Wrestling Night.

“We talked about it before to play especially better at home,” said Pontus Åberg. “This is our building and we need to step up and make the other teams not want to come here and play. That’s going to be our goal for the next couple of games here.”

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Sunday night they received Juuse Saros and Pontus Åberg from the Nashville Predators and saw Marek Mazanec get recalled. The Predators are currently on their mandated “bye week” for the NHL and it is expected that Saros and Mazanec will be rotating the moment that the Predators can resume operation. Tonight’s line combinations were: Fiala-Ribeiro-Åberg, White-Smith-Gaudreau, Kirkland-Kamenev-Payerl, Liambas-Florek-Richard, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Granberg, O’Brien-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches were: Derek Army (healthy), Adam Pardy (upper-body), and Rick Pinkston (healthy).

What is your reaction to tonight’s game? Was this the sort of night -and third period- that the Milwaukee Admirals needed to finally breakout of their funk?

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 2-1 on the road against the Rockford IceHogs at the BMO Harris Bank Center on Sunday evening.

It was a very defensively sound game for both sides tonight. Unfortunately the game tilted the wrong way late in the third period and then saw time run out before the Admirals could rally back to force overtime.

This game started with the news that Jonas Gunnarsson was finally being rotated in net for a start. It was Gunnarsson’s first start since 1/10/17 when the team lost 5-1 at home against the Charlotte Checkers. His last appearance came during a third period relief appearance of Marek Mazanec on 1/24/17 against the Cleveland Monsters. Tonight was Gunnarsson’s ninth appearance of the season for the Admirals. This time last year he had already played 40 games as a member of the Malmö Redhawks in the SHL.

You would think then some rust would show in Gunnarsson’s performance tonight after over a month’s time had elapsed since his last start. It wasn’t to be the case. He was tested early and often by the IceHogs who peppered him with twenty-three shots in the opening two periods. He would have an answer to all of those scoring attempts.

“It felt pretty good,” said Gunnarsson. “I got into the game early with a few shots. Then just went from there.”

The game itself was a defensive chess match with bodies and sticks taking away shots and passes left and right. The game wouldn’t find its first goal until 48:34 of the contest. Sam Carrick had a foot race down the left wing against Jimmy Oligny and his initial shot would get stopped by Gunnarsson but fall free for a follow-up chance. Carrick got to the rebound opportunity and popped it over Gunnarsson for his eleventh goal of the season.

With 1:48 remaining in regulation the Admirals used their timeout and brought Gunnarsson to the bench to bring the extra attacker on with an attacking zone face-off in front of them. That went away just twelve seconds later when the officials called Vladislav Kamenev for a roughing minor. The Russian, trying to figure out how that happened, worked himself into a misconduct penalty and he was guided off the ice.

“They said that he jabbed on the bench, that’s why they grabbed his stick, and then he took a swing. He said he didn’t have to take a swing,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason of the officials explanation of the late penalty against Kamenev. “But, you watch it, Latta hits him first and then goes to the bench and they have an exchange. It should have been four-on-four. I mean it’s ridiculous. 0.1% that doesn’t get called by both guys.”

The Admirals would continue to push with their net emptied but it saw Kevin Fiala get hauled down with no call and then a shot by Jeremy Langlois fly into the empty net for his fifth of the season to make it a 2-0 game.

“It’s hard to take some times,” said Evason. “Obviously you think that call should be made and then not. But [the officials] are human and make mistakes.”

Trevor Murphy would hammer in a slap shot for his tenth goal of the season with just 9.6 seconds remaining to deny Jeff Glass a shutout tonight. The IceHogs took their timeout after Murphy’s goal and they would hold on for the remaining ticks of the clock to earn the 2-1 win in Rockford.

Gunnarsson was terrific in net for the Admirals in his first start in over a month. He picks up a tough luck loss having stopped all but one of the thirty shots he faced in net tonight. The Admirals next return home where Félix Girard and the San Antonio Rampage will be awaiting them on Wednesday night for a 7:00 PM CST face-off.

“We were looking today before the game at [Girard’s] stats,” said Evason. “We miss [Girard]. We miss his grit, his presence in the room. And it will be nice to see him again.”

Ramblings: There were no roster moves made by the organization since the Milwaukee Admirals played last night. Though, if tonight’s opponent was any indication with their roster moves made in the morning, be on the lookout tomorrow to see if the Nashville Predators try to assign some bodies to the AHL during their mandated work stoppage period. Tonight’s line combinations were: Fiala-Ribeiro-Gaudreau, Florek-Smith-White, Kirkland-Kamenev-Payerl, Liambas-Army-Richard, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Granberg, O’Brien-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches were: Adam Pardy (upper-body) and Rick Pinkston (healthy).

What is your reaction to tonight’s game? Where is the Milwaukee Admirals offense lately? Is this Admirals team still in a bit of an identity crisis?

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.