The Milwaukee Admirals won 4-3 over the Chicago Wolves at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Saturday night.

With four minutes remaining in tonight’s game the Admirals looked down and out against the Wolves. Vladislav Kamenev made two incredible plays that changed it all for the better as he scored a power-play goal to equalize and then twelve-seconds later he setup Adam Payerl for the game-winner in a thrilling finish tonight on home ice.

“Thank gosh,” laughed Milwaukee Admirals head coach of the twelve seconds that changed the night. “Real good goal by [Kamenev]. Really got us fired up. We needed to score on that power-play not only to get us close but to gain some momentum. We did and then we caught a couple of bounces.”

The Wolves had a near chance in the first period with a second remaining from their opening power-play chance. A shot by Alex Friesen flipped up on Marek Mazanec and hit the post and the goal light came on. It was waved off. And then the Admirals did it correctly.

Adam Payerl passed from behind the net and found Anthony Richard in the high slot. The youngest member of the Admirals then took a snapshot as he skated in on goal that whistled over the right shoulder of Pheonix Copley and in for his third tally of the season.

At the midway point of the second period the Wolves would level the contest. A turnover at the Admirals blueline allowed a counter attacking rush for the Wolves that resulted in a shot by Wade Megan off the pads of Marek Mazanec and an easy rebound from the doorstep for Samuel Blais to make it 1-1. The goal for Blais was his sixteenth of the season.

The Admirals would finally break out of wave after wave of defending in the third period to stretch their legs on a rush play. Jimmy Oligny spearheaded an attack out of the Admirals defensive zone and passed up ice to Vladislav Kamenev on the right wing. The Russian would saucer pass on the backhand to the center-lane driving Adam Payerl who smacked the feed on a backhander to score his ninth goal of the season to make it a 2-1 Admirals lead.

That lead wouldn’t last for very long. Mazanec attempted to play a puck up ice but his pass hit off of Brett Sterling and it allowed for a rapid scoring chance that would be polished off by Ty Loney for his second goal of the season. It became a 2-2 tie only 3:32 of ice time after Payerl’s tally.

“[Mazanec’s] clear there, that’s not him,” said Evason. “He came back to the bench and apologized to the group. I think that was maybe a rallying point.”

It would take the Wolves only 1:19 of hockey to score again. James Wisniewski hammered a slap shot from the center of the blueline that flew in bardown. It was the veteran defenseman’s first game in North America this season after having his contract with Admiral Vladivostok in Russia terminated and he marked his Wolves debut with a goal.

Following a Sterling slashing minor it felt like the Admirals were being given their last chance to make a solid push with 5:07 remaining in regulation. The Admirals power-play was able to get the breakthrough when Trevor Murphy dropped a pass across to the right point for Kamenev to hammer from one-knee and label the slap shot past the glove of Copley and into the top shelf for his tenth goal of the season.

“The guys on the bench were, you could feel, this was our last chance,” said Evason. “We were fortunate enough to get it and momentum was changed in a hurry.”

The building had erupted following the equalizing goal with 3:15 remaining in regulation and only twelve-seconds later they had even more reason to go bonkers. Kamenev had swooped down below the Wolves net and worked a puck out off of Reid McNeill and the puck laid on a plate for Payerl to rush in and put the Admirals out in front 4-3. The goal for Payerl was his second of the night and tenth of the season.

The Wolves went empty net and extra attacker with 1:23 remaining and then burned their timeout seven-seconds later. The Admirals would hold on and earn a thrilling win over their Amtrak Rivals in a game that saw them down and out until the final four minutes.

The Admirals will be finishing their three-in-three weekend tomorrow evening when they take to the road and play against the Rockford IceHogs. Some revenge will be in mind for Friday night’s game as the puck drops tomorrow at 4:00 PM CST. The Admirals will return home on Wednesday when Félix Girard returns as a member of the San Antonio Rampage.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played last night there weren’t roster moves made in the organization. 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). Tonight’s attendance was 7,889.

What are your thoughts on tonight’s game? Is this the sort of result that can vault the Milwaukee Admirals? What is needed of this team to get consistent and mistake-free hockey going forward?

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 in overtime against the Rockford IceHogs at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Friday night.

There was far more to like than otherwise tonight for the Admirals. They had some great defensive effort and climbed out of a first period hole with a lead. Sadly, the game went to overtime and the IceHogs found a break with Sam Carrick in the three-on-three period that sealed things.

“We’re disappointed in how we give up goals,” stated Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game. “We don’t give teams anything until we give teams everything.”

Tonight’s game got off to a bad start as the IceHogs would quickly take the lead from a Brandon Mashinter breakaway goal. Mashinter glided down the slot and snapped a shot low to the glove of Marek Mazanec that went in for his ninth goal of the season to make it 1-0 IceHogs.

The Admirals would get two responses to the IceHogs opening goal in the first period to see them ahead 2-1.

Trevor Smith created a turnover right in front of netminder Jeff Glass and Matt White stepped right into the loose puck with a cannon of a shot from point blank range to score his tenth of the season. Then Vladislav Kamenev had a dazzling no-look backhand pass as he was skating around the net that setup Adam Payerl for an easy tap-in. Glass was looking for Kamenev out the left side of the net and Payerl was scoring his eighth goal behind his back.

The IceHogs would equalize in the late stages of the third period following a tripping call against Anthony Richard. Ville Pokka whipped a wrister from the top of the right wing circle and it glanced past the net front screen of Mashinter and then off the leg of Alex Carrier before popping into the net for a power-play goal. The series of bad bounces meant Pokka had recorded his third goal of the season and leveled the contest at 2-2 with just over six-minutes remaining in regulation.

As was the case the last time these two locked horns overtime was required tonight. Matt White had a chance on a breakaway to seal it but Glass locked the pads together and took away the bottom of the net to make the save. In the end, Sam Carrick would skate down the left wing and rip a wrister from the face-off circle that flew into the top shelf past Mazanec for the overtime winner on his tenth goal of the season.

The Admirals are right back in action tomorrow night on home ice when they see the Chicago Wolves at 6:00 PM CST. They will complete the three-in-three weekend with revenge of tonight in mind when they travel to Rockford on Sunday for a game at 4:00 PM CST.

“We’re disappointed in the outcome. We’re not disappointed in the way that we worked,” said Evason. “But we are disappointed in the turnovers and giving them opportunities, clear, easy opportunities to score.”

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played on Tuesday night there haven’t been any roster moves made in the organization. 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 were your thoughts on tonight’s game? Are the Milwaukee Admirals still fighting themselves a little bit or are they slowly getting a foundation set for a run in the right direction? Will the mistakes be corrected by tomorrow night?

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 4-1 against the Cleveland Monsters at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Tuesday night.

Things never looked right for the Admirals from the moment this game dropped its first puck. The passing was sloppy. The defending was sloppy. And the scoring chances were minimal and all lacked any sort of quality. After a nice result on the road in Grand Rapids it feels like the Admirals are right back to the drawing board.

“We did the exact same thing against this group last time. We gave them four goals,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game.

John Ramage took a seat for a holding minor to give the Admirals the game’s first power-play. A poor decision by Trevor Murphy to feed back to a guarded Alex Carrier resulted in a shorthanded breakaway for Sonny Milano that ended with a backhander stick-side of Marek Mazanec. It was Milano’s tenth goal of the season and snapped a goalless drought of 146:15 for the Monsters who had been shutout in their previous two games.

“As soon as that goal goes in, and usually our group is pretty resilient, it looked like a real let down,” said Evason. “Hard obviously to get down like that and not be able to battle back.

The Monsters would make good on the opposite side of special teams when given their first crack on the power-play. A slick series of passes ended with Daniel Zaar threading a pass between the skates of Andrew O’Brien to a wide open Oliver Bjorkstrand for a tap-in on the backdoor to Mazanec’s glove-side. The goal for Bjorkstrand was his thirteenth of the season.

It took the Monsters just 1:09 of ice time to give themselves a 3-0 first period lead. Joe Pendenza worked off the right wing wall to get a puck loose off of Alex Carrier and proceeded to rush in on goal. The former Admiral was able to push a puck towards his opposite wing where Milano was racing down the low left wing and hit his shot first-time. Mazanec wasn’t able to cover post-to-post and Milano had his second tally of the opening period and eleventh goal scored on the season.

The second period would see the Monsters extend their lead even further. Another blown defensive coverage by the Admirals ended with the Monsters getting a three-on-one low in front of Mazanec. Markus Hännikäinen passed off to Bjorkstrand who waited, waited, and waited some more before finally shooting along the ice to score under the pads of Mazanec for his second of the night and fourteenth of the season.

Justin Kirkland really isn’t much of a fighter but that didn’t seem to stop Jaime Sifers from tracking him down back to the Admirals bench and starting a scrap. The two had a brief chat in the Admirals attacking zone but Kirkland looked to be nearing the boards for a change when Sifers grappled him. The two had a brief flurry but the tilt went right to the ground before anything heavy actually landed.

In the closing stages of the second period the Admirals finally found a breakthrough on the power-play. Matt White snapped a pass from the left wing wall to the net front presence of Justin Florek who quickly put a shot on goal. Anton Forsberg handled the initial shot but the puck flicked up on him and allowed Derek Army to sneak in and push the puck over the line for his fifth goal of the season.

Another fight broke out in the closing minutes of the third period. Vladislav Kamenev took his frustrations out on John Ramage as a puck battle along the left wing wall escalated into Kamenev roughing up the Monsters defenseman. That was a clear win for the angry Russian in the fight department. That’s a 10-9 round for Kamenev.

The bad blood continued as Kevin Fiala’s reputation against the Monsters revved up to a new level. He was called for a spearing major and a game misconduct. A pile up took place around Fiala but thankfully tempers cooled and no line brawl broke out – it very easily could have gotten out of hand.

The game would end at the 4-1 scoreline as the Admirals held the Monsters off on the resulting major against Fiala that saw out regulation. The Admirals have two more home games in front of them following tonight. They play against the Rockford IceHogs on Friday night at 7:00 PM CST and then see the Chicago Wolves on Saturday night at 6:00 PM CST.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played on Saturday night there were a handful of roster moves made in the organization. Mike Ribeiro cleared waivers and was assigned by the Nashville Predators to the Admirals. He first reported on Monday and participated in morning practice. The Predators then swapped out Marek Mazanec and Juuse Saros again following the young Finn’s start in Grand Rapids on Saturday night. This morning the Predators recalled Pontus Åberg from the Admirals and placed Harry Zolnierczyk on injured reserve. In awards news, Frédérick Gaudreau was named the CCM/AHL Player of the Week yesterday. Tonight’s line combinations were: Kirkland-Smith-Fiala, Florek-Ribeiro-Gaudreau, Richard-Kamenev-White, Pinkston-Army-Payerl, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Granberg, O’Brien-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches included: Mike Liambas (upper-body) and Adam Pardy (upper-body).

What was your reaction to tonight’s game? How did the Milwaukee Admirals manage to look so out of sorts tonight? Do the Cleveland Monsters simply have the Admirals number? Is another punishment level practice in order for 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 5-4 on the road against the Grand Rapids Griffins at the Van Andel Arena on Saturday night.

It has finally happened. The Admirals have ended a two-year long skid of losing games on the road in Grand Rapids. It ends a spell spanning the playoffs and regular season of ten straight defeats for the Admirals on the road against the Griffins. Their last win came back on 1/31/15.

Tonight’s story was all about the line of Kevin Fiala, Trevor Smith, and Pontus Åberg. The trio were on the ice for four of the Admirals five goals scored tonight. Both Fiala and Åberg had multi-goal performances with the Swede netting a beauty that became the game-winner in the third period.

The Admirals got on the board early in the first period courtesy of Kevin Fiala’s fourth goal of the season. Fiala was making a pass from behind the net for Trevor Smith but it deflected off of defenseman Joe Hicketts, popped up in the air, and rolled down the back of netminder Jimmy Howard and in.

Following a tripping call against Conor Allen the Admirals would extend their first period lead with a power-play goal. Pontus Åberg was stationed low in the left wing circle and was trying to hit Smith with a pass on the back post. Much like Fiala’s goal the puck went in off a defender, this time Nathan Paetsch, rather than the tape of Smith’s stick. The goal was Åberg’s thirteenth goal of the season.

It didn’t take long after the Admirals power-play goal for the Griffins to get a response. Just 1:05 of ice-time later a shot from the left wing circle by Kyle Criscuolo flipped over the glove of Juuse Saros and so quick in and out of the net that the goal light never even came on. It was Criscuolo’s twelfth tally of the season.

With seconds remaining in the opening period the Admirals had an attacking zone face-off that proved the importance of playing until the horn sounds. Vladislav Kamenev won the draw, Justin Florek rifled a shot direct from the face-off win, and the shot deflected off the pads of Howard into the path of Frédérick Gaudreau who scored five-hole with 1.8 seconds remaining in the first period. It was Gaudreau’s tenth goal of the season and fourth scored inside of twenty-four hours.

The Griffins had some quality attacking pressure in the second period. As the game crossed the midway point they pulled back a goal to make it a 3-2 game. Matt Lorito delivered a beautiful pass from the right wing that hit Brian Lashoff as he rushed from defense to the back post. The tap in for Lashoff resulted in his third goal of the season.

It took the Admirals 1:09 of the third period to get their two-goal lead back. Smith was battling for a loose puck in front of the net which forced Howard to scramble out of position. The puck would kick loose and Fiala cradled it and then raced around the net to score a wrap-around for his second of the night and fifth of the season.

Just under two-minutes later the Griffins pushed right back. Tyler Bertuzzi snapped a stiff shot from the left wing wall that saw a deflection from Colin Campbell out in front of Saros. The Admirals bench was signaling that it might have gone in from a high stick. Unfortunately that isn’t reviewable in the AHL and Campbell recorded his fifth goal of the season.

Andrew O’Brien and Eric Tangradi became push-happy after a post-whistle scrum in front of the Admirals goal crease. The two were given roughing minors and ten seconds later the Admirals scored. Åberg stole a puck with lightning reflexes off of Paetsch and burned Mitch Callahan down the right wing before whipping a forehanded shot across the stick side of Howard for his second goal of the game and fourteenth of the season.

Alex Carrier would get called for interference near the ten minute mark of the third period. The Griffins would score on the power-play to cut the Admirals lead to 5-4. Ben Street hit a blast from the left point and the net front screening Tangradi put a stick to the puck as it snuck through Saros. The Admirals, as well as the young Finn in net, were insistent on goaltender interference on the part of Tangradi prior to the Street shot. The goal would stand and it was Tangradi’s fifth goal of the season.

There was just one minute remaining in regulation when O’Brien was attempting to chip a puck off the glass and out of the Admirals defensive zone. He ended up flipping his clearance over the glass and earned a delay of game penalty which game the Griffins a power-play chance to go with the empty net and extra attacker. That may have actually served the Admirals penalty kill will because they managed to get a few clearances and it helped see time expire. The Admirals would hold to a 5-4 win.

Considering the talent in net it was slightly surprising to see both Saros and Howard in a goal fest. Saros stopped 22/26 shots on goal while Howard stopped 24/29. The win for Saros was his twelfth win from fourteen starts in the AHL this season. In his AHL career Saros has won 78.8% of his fifty-two career starts.

The Admirals are now set for a return to home ice. They will start a three-game homestand on Tuesday night when the Cleveland Monsters turn up. Friday night the Admirals see the Rockford IceHogs and then on Saturday night the Chicago Wolves come back into the Admirals schedule.

Ramblings: Prior to tonight’s game the organization was pretty busy. Marek Mazanec and Juuse Saros traded places for the sixth time this season. The move was aimed at getting Saros time in net while Pekka Rinne holds fort briefly. Mike Ribeiro officially cleared waivers this afternoon and was promptly reassigned by the Nashville Predators to the Milwaukee Admirals. Ribeiro did not join the Admirals tonight in Grand Rapids but is expected to arrive and participate in practice Monday in Milwaukee. Prior to action tonight, the Predators then acquired Vern Fiddler from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for a fourth round draft pick in the 2017 NHL Draft. Tonight’s line combinations were: Fiala-Smith-Åberg, Florek-Kamenev-Gaudreau, Richard-Kirkland-White, Liambas-Army-Payerl, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Granberg, O’Brien-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches were: Adam Pardy (upper-body), Rick Pinkston (healthy), Mike Ribeiro (reassigned this afternoon to team).

Thoughts on tonight’s game? How impressive and important of a result was this for the Milwaukee Admirals? Is this team, which is getting stronger as the Nashville Predators are getting healthier, ready for a big push?

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 at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Friday night.

Despite a Frédérick Gaudreau hat trick the Admirals found themselves allowing a late equalizer that forced overtime tonight. The Admirals didn’t even need a line change as a hard shot by Pontus Åberg fell flat for Alex Carrier to score his second overtime game-winner of the season.

It would take the Admirals only fifty-nine seconds to get out in front tonight. Mac Carruth made a terrible judgement call to sprawl out of his net for a loose puck. He didn’t make the cover and Justin Florek quickly passed to Vladislav Kamenev who dinked towards Frédérick Gaudreau at the doorstep where no goaltender was to be found.

The IceHogs would equalize midway through the first period under controversial circumstances. It appeared that Trevor Murphy had won a footrace down the right wing that should have seen hybrid icing called. The officials instead let play continue and, in a matter of seconds, Nolan Valleau scored his second goal of the season from a slap shot off the right wing circle.

Post-whistle drama would occur only eight seconds after the controversial Valleau goal. Viktor Svedberg not only tied up Derek Army but started throwing fists at the turtling opponent. Svedberg was given four minutes for roughing and a misconduct while Army was handed two minutes for roughing. Things didn’t seem to sit well with the IceHogs bench, for some reason, and that escalated their problems further as they earned a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The Admirals were give a full two minutes to operate on the five-on-three power-play. Their setup was short and sweet. Murphy cranked a slap shot to the net and Carruth did all he could to trap it – Murphy’s shots just have too much on it. The resulting battle for the rebound saw Florek and Gaudreau fighting for the second and third chance opportunity and Gaudreau would cash in with the power-play goal and his second tally of the first period to push his season total to eight.

After more bad blood banter on the ice it seemed that IceHogs head coach Ted Dent had seen enough for one night. He was assessed a game misconduct following the completion of the first period.

In the second period the IceHogs drew a full five-on-three power-play of their own following a lengthy shift in attack. It would serve to equalize for them as Brandon Mashinter worked off the left wing circle and passed through the three man triangle of the Admirals to the low right wing for a one-timer by Spencer Abbott. The backdoor shot would have needed a miracle to be stopped. Abbott picked up his tenth goal of the season to make it a 2-2 game.

As the horn sounded to end the second period there was some carry over from the face-off that saw Justin Kirkland take a swipe at Michael Latta. With bodies gathering together Murphy found himself a dance partner in the fight department in fellow defenseman Ville Pokka. It was a decisive victory for Murphy in the scrap as he landed some seriously hard rights to the face of Pokka. I’d call that a 10-8 in the fight card.

It felt that for all the penalties and all the stoppages that the flow of tonight’s game was working against the Admirals. As the third period was spiraling down it seemed that the Admirals weren’t generating much attacking pressure on Carruth in goal.

Yet, hockey can be a silly sport at times and all it can take sometimes is to just get the puck towards the net. Gaudreau was gliding down the right wing when he attempted to pass opposite wing for Kamenev when the puck bounced off of Carl Dahlström’s leg and past Carruth to give Gaudreau his second career AHL hat trick – both of which have come against the IceHogs in Milwaukee during the month of February. It pushed Gaudreau’s season goal tally from six to nine.

With time expiring the IceHogs brought Carruth to the bench for the extra attacker with 1:28 remaining in regulation. They managed to get a breakthrough with 56.8 seconds remaining as a shot from the right point by Michael Latta caught a piece of traffic on the way to Mazanec and allowed Abbott to score from a second chance opportunity and earn his second goal of the night and eleventh of the season.

The game needed overtime and thankfully the Admirals had the ice tilted directly from the face-off. The puck was pinned deep and when Pontus Åberg ripped a shot from the right wing the rebound off the pads of Carruth and fell kindly for Alex Carrier to deliver his second game-winning overtime goal of the season.

To put it bluntly, much like the length of this game recap, this game was long. There were a combined ninety-two penalty minutes tonight with four game misconducts called. This was the first of eight games against the IceHogs for the rest of the season. It sort of sets a tone of what to expect from here on out.

Next on tap for the Admirals is an overnight bus trip to Grand Rapids where the group looks to earn their first win in the Van Andel Arena since 1/31/15. Including last year’s playoff series the Admirals have lost their last ten straight on the road against the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals went on the AHL All-Star break there were a few moves made in the organization. The Admirals released Shawn O’Donnell from his PTO Contract. Petter Granberg was activated from injured reserve by the Nashville Predators and assigned to the Admirals. Jonathan Diaby was then reassigned to the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL where he quickly rejoined with O’Donnell. The Predators this afternoon then placed Mike Ribeiro on waivers. Tonight’s line combinations: Fiala-Smith-Åberg, Florek-Kamenev-Gaudreau, Richard-Kirkland-White, Liambas-Army-Payerl, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Granberg, O’Brien-Dougherty. Scratches included Adam Pardy (upper-body) and Rick Pinkston (healthy).

What were your thoughts on tonight? Has there ever been a truly boring game between the Admirals and IceHogs? Does playing such a sloppy game ahead of a showdown against the Grand Rapids Griffins set a bad tone for tomorrow night?

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 4-2 against the San Jose Barracuda at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Saturday night.

As great as last night was it was as equally important for the Admirals to sustain the performance level that was shown. That hit a snag as the Barracuda extended their winning streak to three straight games.

“The things that we did real well last night we didn’t do real well tonight,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game. “Certainly early in the hockey game to give them momentum and obviously the lead. We talk about it. We’re striving for consistency and it’s not there yet.”

It took the Barracuda thirty-six seconds to do what the Stockton Heat could not all last night. Kevin Labanc was off on a breakaway down the slot and worked Marek Mazanec open to pop a shot five-hole for his fifth goal of the season to make it an early 1-0 game.

Fortunately, the Admirals were able to get a quick response minutes later. Anthony Richard made a heads up defensive play to keep puck possession in the Admirals favor in the attacking zone. His initial shot missed well wide of the net and wrapped around to the left point where Andrew O’Brien quickly shot on net. Troy Grosenick did shrug off the point shot but left the rebound for Richard to smack it past for his second goal of the season to make it 1-1.

In the second period the Barracuda scored twice to get ahead 3-1. Nikolai Goldobin worked off the rush to zip a shot with enough wheels on it that it still rolled through Mazanec. That was followed by a blast from the right point by Tim Heed whose slap shot screamed past high-glove.

The Admirals did draw one of those goals back in the sandwich stanza through a four-on-three power-play chance. Pontus Åberg made a silky smooth pass along the ice from the left wing circle right to the tape of Frédérick Gaudreau on the doorstep for a quick-fire redirect past Grosenick. That goal for Gaudreau was his sixth scored on the season and it narrowed the Barracuda’s lead to 3-2.

In the last stages of the third period the Barracuda regained their two-goal lead. Barclay Goodrow was open in the low left wing as John McCarthy passed from deep to the blocker-side of Mazanec. The Admirals goaltender may have been guilty of cheating too far on McCarthy and ended up allowing Goodrow plenty of net to fire on for his fourteenth goal of the season.

Trevor Smith was called for an elbowing major and a game-misconduct with 6:17 remaining in regulation. He had caught Adam Helewka right as the puck came to him with his head down. Replay showed it to be much more shoulder than elbow but the decision on the ice saw the Admirals captain ejected.

“It’s not a penalty,” said Evason. “It’s simply not a penalty. So, it is tough to take. You’re pushing. You’re trying to get back in the hockey game and you get a call like that. I just don’t get it.”

Kevin Fiala earned a penalty shot while the Admirals were in the five-minute major penalty kill. With his attempt he swung out wide right and slowly slid across to angle forehand to the blocker-side of Grosenick but the Barracuda netminder out-waited him until there was no shot to be had.

The game would finish there. The 4-2 loss for the Admirals leaves a slightly sour taste after a grueling week that saw promising steps forward last night in a shutout effort over the Stockton Heat.

“We had our opportunities to score,” said Evason of the Admirals effort late in the game. “We did enough things well to score but we got some different bad circumstances that didn’t allow us. We thought we were really pushing at the end.”

Next on tap is the AHL All-Star break for the league. The All-Star festivities begin tomorrow night at 6:30 PM CST with the AHL All-Star Skills Competition from the home of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The AHL All-Star Classic is on Monday night at 6:00 PM CST.

The next game for the Admirals will be on home ice against the Rockford IceHogs on Friday night at 7:00 PM CST. They follow that up the next night by playing against the Grand Rapids Griffins on the road at the Van Andel Arena at 6:00 PM CST.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played last night there were no roster moves made within the organization. The Nashville Predators are on their NHL All-Star break and the NHL All-Star Skills Competition took place tonight in Los Angeles with the NHL All-Star Game taking place tomorrow at 2:30 PM CST. The Admirals lone representative this year is first-year pro defenseman Alex Carrier. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: White-Smith-Åberg, Florek-Kirkland-Fiala, Richard-Kamenev-Gaudreau, Liambas-Army-Payerl, Oligny-Carrier, Pinkston-Murphy, O’Brien-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches were: Jonathan Diaby (healthy), Sean O’Donnell (healthy), and Adam Pardy (upper-body).

What is your reaction to tonight’s game? Would you view this as a major setback for what the Milwaukee Admirals gained Friday night or can credit be given to the San Jose Barracuda? Will the AHL All-Star break benefit the Admirals to mentally check out and physically rest up?

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 3-0 against the Stockton Heat at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Friday night.

After a two game losing skid, that caused a punishment level practice on Wednesday, the Admirals rebounded emphatically tonight with a shutout performance over the Heat that checked every box it needed to.

“Our practice was work, we competed, we battled, we played defense,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “That’s what we asked the group to do. We played defense today.”

Marek Mazanec was strong in net and stopped all twenty-two shots he faced. Yet, the defense was key to helping see not only his night go well but everyone’s night. The Admirals demanded getting their defensive effort back. It was stellar all night.

The grinding practice for the Admirals on Wednesday was followed by an off-day for the group to reflect individuals and as a team. That trickled into today as pre-game skate was canceled and the coaching staff left the locker room to their leadership group to get the team prepared for pre-game warm-ups. The first time the coaching staff and team were together in two days came during pre-game skate.

“They gave us the systems like they usually do, it was up on the board, but we took over a little bit,” said Admirals captain Trevor Smith. “That’s how it should be all year long, anyways. It is our dressing room. The coaches give us what they need system-wise. They’ve been great about that making sure we’re prepared every game. At the end of the day, we’re the guys on the ice and we need to preform the right way.”

After a defensive deadlock to open up the first period it seemed that Rick Pinkston and Austin Carroll thought it would be a good idea to have a fight for the sake of a igniting their teams. The post-whistle scrum built between the two and both showed very well in the scrap.

It was an awkward return to Milwaukee for Jamie Devane. In the second period, after seeing Mike Liambas hit Mike Angelidis, Devane went after his old team and tried to get Liambas into a fight. The only problem was that Liambas wanted no part of a scrap following a clean hit and Devane, who threw his gloves theatrically prior to anything being done, did. This saw Devane sit for an unsportsmanlike conduct.

“He’ll fight but, at that point in the game, there is no reason for Mike Liambas to fight,” said Evason. “Mike has come a long way with recognizing what is going on in a game. Probably five-years ago he would have not even thought about it and just fought.”

With that the Admirals had their first power-play of the night. It nearly went bust when Pontus Åberg and Kevin Fiala were caught in a slow change at the bench while a puck was nearly their skates. They made the swap cleanly and then saw a puck scramble out into the right wing path of Trevor Smith who smacked a shot by David Rittich for a power-play goal and his twelfth tally of the season.

As the second period horn sounded it seemed like Angelidis wanted some of Liambas for his earlier check. He instead was cut-off by Jimmy Oligny who proceeded to get some solid shots in before finishing the tilt off with a takedown. That fight, unlike the first one, felt like it had an obvious winner and that was a 10-9 round for Oligny.

It took the Admirals less than two minutes of the third period to extend their lead to 2-0. Andrew O’Brien took a stab on net while ranging down towards the left wing wall. His shot came high of the face-off circle and found its way through traffic to sneak by Rittich’s glove-side for his first goal of the season and first as an Admiral.

A late power-play offered the Heat a chance. That chance ended and the moment that it did Adam Payerl was off to the races on an odd-man rush with Fiala down the right wing. Payerl looked to be passing off to his right but the puck deflected off a skate and past Rittich for a goal to make it a 3-0 from Payerl’s seventh of the season.

The game would finish at the 3-0 scoreline with the Admirals improving their record to 24-14-2-2 (52 points, 0.619 points percentage). Mazanec’s shutout was his third of the season and third in his last six games. Mazanec now has recorded eleven career AHL shutouts as a member of the Admirals. He now only trails Brian Finley’s fifteen shutouts on the Admirals all-time AHL list.

“Frankly, that practice worked,” laughed Mazanec. “It was a good message. It worked. We sticked together. Boys defended really hard today. They gave me a chance to be successful. They didn’t give up any quality chances. They made it very easy for me.”

The Admirals will be looking to follow this game up tomorrow night at 6:00 PM CST when they face-off against the San Jose Sharks. As important as tonight’s game was it now comes down to sustaining what was delivered on the ice tonight.

“That’s exactly what we challenged [the players] after the game,” said Evason. “We have to be monotonous. It has to be again and again and again. This game is done. This game is finished. Yeah, it feels good. – way better winning than losing – but its gone. Tomorrow we have to bring the same game.”

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Tuesday night there were no roster moves made around the organization. Of note though is that Miikka Salomäki has started skating once again in Nashville and could see a conditioning assignment with the Admirals in the near future. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: White-Smith-Åberg, Florek-Kirkland-Fiala, Richard-Kamenev-Gaudreau, Liambas-Army-Payerl, Oligny-Carrier, Pinkston-Murphy, O’Brien-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches were: Jonathan Diaby (healthy), Sean O’Donnell (healthy), and Adam Pardy (upper-body).

What is your reaction to tonight’s game for the Milwaukee Admirals? Was this the response that the coaching staff would have hoped for after Wednesday’s punishing practice?

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 5-2 against the Cleveland Monsters Tuesday night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

The grueling month of January dragged its ugly face to home ice. The result tonight saw an Admirals goaltending change for the first time in nearly a calendar year. The Admirals are now 6-9-0-1 since winning 9-1 on the road in Texas back on 12/17/16 while scoring 2.06 goals per game.

“I don’t care where we played tonight. We weren’t going to win that hockey game. Not the way that we played that game,” commented Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game. “Four of the five goals were given to them. Absolutely given to them.”

After a series of some great passing the Monsters opened the scoring late in the first period. Marek Mazanec had just shrugged off a shot when a puck fell flat for Sonny Milano in the high left wing circle where he would snap a pass to the back door for Justin Scott to smack a one-timer past the blocker for his eighth goal of the season.

The Admirals looked listless in the second period. When they gave the Monsters their second chance on the power-play they also gave them a prime opportunity to torch a shorthanded attack. Vladislav Kamenev was leading a three-on-three rush from the left wing but his pass for Pontus Åberg was well behind the Swede. This put the Monsters off to the races the other way on a three-on-one in which Oliver Bjorkstrand would patiently avoid the slide-play of Jimmy Oligny to get a wing-to-wing pass to Alex Broadhurst for a first-time shot that would beat Mazanec blocker-side for his ninth goal of the season.

Fortunately the Admirals did get a chance to amend the power-play goal against by scoring one of their own. It had looked like Anton Forsberg had done enough to cover a puck up but he either spilled it or never had it at all because Åberg was quick to race into the net front area and pop a puck through for his eleventh goal of the season to cut the Monsters lead back to a single goal.

In the final two minutes of the second period the Monsters would score twice to make it a sudden and deflating 4-1 lead. John Ramage double clutched a slap shot and then fired one on net that took a redirect off the stick of Bjorkstrand for his twelfth goal of the season. This was followed 1:47 later with an awful turnover behind the net by Trevor Murphy that went right to Joe Pendenza. The former-Admiral quickly shot at the unexpected Mazanec and the shot squeaked through but Shawn Szydlowski made for certain it was a goal by pushing it across for his first career AHL goal in seventy-seven career games in the league.

After that ran its course Mike Liambas attempted to wake-up his team with a fight. He and Brett Gallant gentlemanly but –rulebook unapprovingly– removed their helmets and went at it. The tilt went firmly Gallant’s way.

With energy lacking on the ice, and none brought in during the fight, the Admirals made the conscious decision to swap goaltenders in the second intermission. It was the first time that an Admirals goalie was pulled from a start this season. It had only occurred once all of last season when Juuse Saros was given a short leash on 2/24/16 against the Rockford IceHogs.

“I apologized to [Mazanec],” said Evason of his second intermission decision to swap goaltenders. “In-between the second and third I went in and said that I’ll apologize for the team because I’m part of the team. I’ll apologize for the effort that was put in front of you – it had no bearing on him. We asked them not to hang [Gunnarsson] out to dry like we did with [Mazanec]. There is no reason to leave [Mazanec] in there when we played like that.”

It appeared that the message sent at intermission had impact immediately for the Admirals. It took them thirty-one seconds to get a second goal of the night from Åberg. He whirled a wrister from the high slot as he was falling down that leapt up and over the stick of Forsberg for his twelfth goal of the season.

The Monsters would grab their three-goal advantage back before the midway point of the third period. Jordan Maletta won a footrace to beat Jack Dougherty and head in all alone for a breakaway against Jonas Gunnarsson. Maletta snapped a shot over the glove of the Swede and made it 5-2 Monsters through his sixth goal of the season.

“We can’t be doing what we’ve done against Chicago the other night and tonight against Cleveland,” said Mike Liambas. “We definitely have to clean up our d-zone and we all have to get on the same page. And realize we’re not in the NHL for a reason we’re here in the American League because we’re trying to get there. If you’re not taking care of details, and your d-zone here in the American League, you’ll never get a chance in the NHL – and we won’t win hockey games.”

The game would end there. The Admirals record moves to 23-14-2-2 (50 points, 0.610 points percentage). Next on tap for the Admirals will be a series of hard practices on home ice for the next two days – I’d imagine. They then have two games this weekend at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena and see the Stockton Heat and San Jose Barracuda arrive on Friday and Saturday night.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Sunday there have been no roster moves made within the organization. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: Florek-Smith-Åberg, White-Kamenev-Fiala, Richard-Kirkland-Gaudreau, Liambas-Payerl-O’Donnell, O’Brien-Carrier, Oligny-Murphy, Pinkston-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches were: Derek Army (healthy), Jonathan Diaby (healthy), and Adam Pardy (upper-body).

What is your reaction to tonight’s game? Was this more trickle over from the previous two games against the Chicago Wolves or are the Milwaukee Admirals just stuck in a low gear right now?

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 5-1 against the Chicago Wolves on the road Sunday afternoon at the Allstate Arena.

With the win today the Wolves have secured the 2016-17 Amtrak Trophy over the Admirals. The Wolves clinched with two-games still to be played in Milwaukee this season. The loss for the Admirals snapped a three-game winning streak and saw the opposite take place on the flip-side for the Wolves.

This afternoon’s game saw big performances for the Wolves top scorers. Kenny Agostino extended his AHL best scoring efforts with a three-point night while Wade Megan, Ivan Barbashyov, and Chris Butler all produced two points each.

Like the majority of last night’s game the opening period was very defensive-minded and saw limited scoring chances created. The lone highlights of the first period saw Pontus Åberg rattle a shot off a post on an Admirals’ power-play and then Justin Kirkland getting into his first pro fight where he rag-dolled Bryce Gervais.

In the opening minute of the second period the Wolves beat the Admirals with pace to get on the board first. Kenny Agostino was cheating behind the Admirals defense and Chris Butler’s pass hit him in stride. Agostino got around Trevor Murphy and then beat Marek Mazanec with a wrister over the glove for his seventeenth goal of the season.

Wade Megan followed that tally up with a highlight reel goal moments later. The former Cincinnati Cyclones product jumped through Jack Dougherty and Trevor Smith as he cut from left wing to the slot. Before Megan lost control he snapped a shot as he turned to the net and beat Mazanec past the blocker for his twentieth goal of the season.

The Admirals needed a spark offensively. That’s where Derek Army stepped in 1:16 of ice-time after Megan’s goal to make it a 2-1 game. Army had just skated into the attacking zone when he hammered a slap shot that appeared to surprise Jordan Binnington and beat him over the right shoulder bardown. The goal for Army was his fourth scored with the Admirals this season while in on a PTO Contract from the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL.

The third period is where things fell completely flat for the Admirals. The Wolves scored three unanswered goals and twice on the power-play to push this game to a 5-1 final.

Magnus Pääjärvi was on the doorstep to pop in a wrap-around feed by Megan to score his sixth goal of the season. The Wolves then added back-to-back power-play goals from successive Admirals slashing minors. Both power-play goals came courtesy of great net front deflections. The first of which was finished off by Samuel Blais for his eleventh goal of the season. The second of which saw a clear cut deflection from the low slot by Ivan Barbashyov for his nineteenth goal of the season to make it a 5-1 Wolves lead.

The rough final frame of regulation would end there. The loss for the Admirals doesn’t see them drop beneath the Wolves in the Central Division standings but it does end the four-game road trip on a down note. It had been a successful one for both Mazanec and the team prior to today’s game.

There is great news though which is the path ahead for the Admirals. The team will play ten of their next twelve games on home ice at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. That hefty slate starts on Tuesday night at 7:00 PM CST when the Cleveland Monsters mark their first appearance in Milwaukee this season.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played last night there was joyously not a single roster move made in the organization. Today’s line combinations for the Admirals were: Florek-Smith-Åberg, White-Kamenev-Fiala, Richard-Kirkland-Gaudreau, Liambas-Army-Payerl, O’Brien-Carrier, Oligny-Murphy, Pinkston-Dougherty. Today’s scratches were: Jonathan Diaby (healthy), Shawn O’Donnell (healthy), and Adam Pardy (upper-body).

Thoughts on today’s game? Would it be fair to mark these two games against the Chicago Wolves as the Milwaukee Admirals offense stalling for a chess match more than interact in a track meet? How good will it be for the Admirals to finally get games at home for once?

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 1-0 against the Chicago Wolves on the road Saturday night at the Allstate Arena.

There wasn’t much between the Amtrak Rivals tonight. The lone goal of the game came with under four-minutes to play in the first period and came off of a poor in-zone turnover. Wade Megan tried to get a puck up ice from his right wing wall but his pass was picked off by Pontus Åberg. The Swede swiftly passed over to Trevor Smith who managed to beat Ville Husso with a wrist shot for his eleventh goal of the season.

That was the lone goal of this game. That isn’t to say there weren’t chances. Marek Mazanec made a huge breakaway save to deny the AHL’s leading scorer Kenny Agostino on a five-hole attempt. As far as clear cut scoring chances go for the Wolves? That may have been their best opportunity.

The Admirals defensively were great in this game and the penalty kill shined. The Wolves had five chances tonight on the power-play and came away with nothing. In the Wolves final power-play chance, that came with 8:21 remaining in regulation, the Admirals held them to no shots on goal while getting four shots to Husso shorthanded.

The Wolves would go empty net and extra attacker with 1:19 remaining in regulation but they would come away with nothing. The Admirals held to a 1-0 win behind a thirty-save shutout for Mazanec. It was the first time this season that the Wolves had been shutout.

For Mazanec this was his tenth career AHL shutout. It moves him five shutouts behind Brian Finley for the Admirals all-time record for shutouts. This week Mazanec has made three starts, won three games, stopped 96/99 shots on goal for a 0.969 save percentage, and earned two shutouts.

With the win tonight Dean Evason surpassed Claude Noel to become the winningest head coach in the AHL history of the Admirals. Evason now sits at 184 career wins behind the bench.

After tonight the Admirals record has improved to 23-12-2-2 (50 points, 0.641 points percentage). The Amtrak Rivalry continues tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 PM CST in the final game of the season for the Admirals at the Allstate Arena.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Wednesday there were several notes from the organization. The Nashville Predators acquired Andrew O’Brien from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Max Görtz. The Predators then activated P.K. Subban from injured reserve and reassigned Alex Carrier to the Admirals. News also came that Cody Bass has been officially ruled out for the rest of the season due to a lower-body injury. Juuse Saros was removed from the 2017 AHL All-Star Classic and is in the process of finding a home in Nashville which likely sees that he remains up with the Predators for the remainder of the season. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: Florek-Smith-Åberg, White-Kamenev-Fiala, Richard-Kirkland-Gaudreau, Liambas-Army-Payerl, O’Brien-Carrier, Oligny-Murphy, Pinkston-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches were: Jonathan Diaby (healthy), Shawn O’Donnell (healthy), and Adam Pardy (upper-body injury).

What is your reaction to tonight’s game? How impressed are you right now with the efforts of Marek Mazanec? Are you starting to feel more comfortable with the idea of Mazanec being the go-to option for the Admirals for the rest of this season? What did you think of Andrew O’Brien’s Admiral debut?

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.