The Milwaukee Admirals won 4-3 in overtime against the Charlotte Checkers on the road Wednesday night at the Bojangles’ Coliseum.

This game had a little bit of everything tonight. The Admirals held a 3-1 lead but the Checkers rallied back with their net emptied and the extra attacker on to force overtime in the final three-minutes of regulation. That only set the stage for Marek Mazanec and Kevin Fiala to provide a true curtain drop on the evening. Fiala might have scored the goal of the season to win it in overtime.

It was a far better start for the Checkers tonight who played better out the gate than at any point last night. This paid off when Phil Di Giuseppe flew past Trevor Murphy down the left wing and won a wrap-around race against Marek Mazanec to record his eighth goal of the season.

The Checkers first period pressure had the Admirals firmly pinned into their own half of the ice for the majority of the frame. Perhaps Frédérick Gaudreau was simply trying to flip a puck up and out of his defensive zone at the time but what resulted in his clearance was setting up Anthony Richard for a breakaway. The speedster zipped in on Michael Leighton and beat him low to the stick side with a hard forehand shot to pick up his first AHL goal a day after recording his first AHL assist.

After a roughing call against Valentin Zykov the Admirals scored with seconds remaining on a power-play to go up 2-1 early in the second period. Pontus Åberg worked himself free down the left wing wall. After getting loose he skated in towards the face-off circle and fired a shot from the dot that snapped past Leighton for the Swede’s tenth goal of the season.

On an overlapping power-play the Admirals scored early in the third period to extend their lead to 3-1. Gaudreau passed back to the point where Trevor Murphy was all alone. He stepped up into the high slot and smashed in a trademark howitzer of a slap shot for his ninth goal of the season.

The third period would get nasty as a scrum broke out that saw dual fights take place. It is hard to do proper justice to all that occurred in the fracas but the net result was a fight between Adam Payerl and Keegan Lowe and a fight with Derek Army and Sergei Tolchinsky with game misconducts given to the latter brawlers and a boarding major to Payerl.

For all that occurred, the five minute major penalty kill as well as a misconduct that sat down Jimmy Oligny for ten minutes, the Admirals survived. Unfortunately, all that they had endured seemed to sting them with the repeated attacks of the Checkers coming wave upon wave to Mazanec’s doorstep.

With 4:38 remaining in regulation the Checkers brought Leighton off and the extra attacker on. They found a gap in transition when Andrej Nestrasil slid a pass from the right wing down towards the rushing Patrick Dwyer who finished on the backhand to get the game down to 3-2 from Dwyer’s sixth goal of the season.

The Checkers were continually pressing and Leighton made his way to the bench again with 1:13 remaining and the Checkers were able to tie things up at 3-3 with 19.2 seconds left in the contest. A shot from the high left point by Haydn Fleury redirected in the slot by Lucas Wallmark snuck past Mazanec to level the game. It was Wallmark’s twelfth goal of the season. And the Checkers went from being down 3-1 to tied 3-3 in the final three minutes of regulation.

It seemed as if the Checkers could have been destined for a monumental comeback victory tonight. They had two high quality breakaway chances in three-on-three overtime but Mazanec came to the Admirals rescue. He first denied Jake Chelios who beat a tripping Murphy at neutral ice. He then stayed grounded along the mouth of goal to stop Andrew Poturalski on both his initial and follow up chances.

That just simply wasn’t how this game was going to end. Kevin Fiala delivered one of the best goals scored this season to win it for the Admirals in overtime. He had the puck on a string attached to his stick as he guided around two Checkers defenders and then came to a completed stop once he reached the glove-side of Leighton who –at that point– completely sold out on Fiala’s speed to the net and laid out. Fiala stopped, yo-yo’d the puck back to a shooting position, and flipped it into the wide open net over the left pad for the game-winner and his third goal with the Admirals this season.

For all the theatrics that this game provided you cannot take Mazanec’s performance in net for granted. He made a career high forty-three saves in net tonight. It is the second time in his Admirals career that he recorded forty-plus saves. The last time he accomplished the feat it came on 2/7/15 on the road against the Rockford IceHogs in a 7-5 Admirals win.

The next adventure on this four-game road trip for the Admirals just so happens to be the final games of the 2016-17 season at the Allstate Arena. The Admirals will face the Chicago Wolves on Saturday and Sunday. From there, the Admirals will finally get a little home cooking with a four-game homestand that begins Tuesday against the Cleveland Monsters.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played last night there were pleasantly no roster moves made in the organization. Last night defenseman Alex Carrier made his NHL debut for the Nashville Predators in a 1-0 road loss to the Vancouver Canucks. Carrier played 10:49 of ice time from nineteen total shifts and recorded a blocked shot in his debut. Tonight’s line combinations and scratches were exactly the same as last night: Florek: Florek-Smith-Åberg, White-Kamenev-Fiala, Richard-Kirkland-Gaudreau, Liambas-Army-Payerl, Pardy-Murphy, Oligny-Pinkston, Diaby-Dougherty. Scratches: Cody Bass (lower-body), Shawn O’Donnell (healthy), and Max Görtz (healthy). Marek Mazanec recorded his tenth career AHL assist tonight. Since calling the Bojangles’ Coliseum their home last season the Checkers have now hosted the Admirals six times and lost every single game.

What is your reaction to all of what that game just was? What caused that melee in the third period and did that take enough of a toll on the remaining group to allow the Charlotte Checkers back in at the end of regulation? Kevin Fiala isn’t going to be here for long is he?

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

If ever there was a time for a performance like this it was tonight. The entire group delivered but especially Marek Mazanec in net who was fantastic. The Czech goaltender stopped all twenty-three shots he faced and the Admirals have snapped their four-game losing streak in shutout fashion.

The way things have gone lately it was important for the Admirals to have a quick start. After seeing a goal waved off for being played in with a high stick the Admirals would get one that counted moments later. A horrible turnover behind the net by Roland McKeown went directly to the tape of Derek Army in the slot. The follow-up shot was swift and flew past Michael Leighton to his stick-side for Army’s third goal in seven games with the Admirals on PTO basis from the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL.

Midway through the second period a shot from the right wing wall by Phil Di Giuseppe somehow managed to sneak into the net past Marek Mazanec and go in. The signal was for a good goal but Mazanec was convinced that he had the near post covered firmly. After a lengthy video review the officials determined that Mazanec was absolutely correct. The puck managed to sneak underneath the net and the goal was waved off.

In a second period that saw several chances being brewed up by the Admirals it felt a reward was badly needed to separate them from the Checkers. After Levko Koper delivered an elbow to the head of Justin Kirkland the Admirals delivered a much more appropriate response: ending a power-play drought that lasted twenty-two chances without a goal.

Vladislav Kamenev was able to work a puck loose down the right wing for Adam Payerl. Once the puck was low right wing it became a two-on-one near the net and Payerl hit Matt White back post for a tap in past Leighton for his ninth goal of the season to make it a 2-0 Admirals lead. It was the Admirals first power-play goal since Anthony Bitetto scored on 1/3/17 against the Rockford IceHogs.

It was yet another dominant period of play in the last frame of regulation for the Admirals. It was also rewarded when Trevor Murphy blasted a slap shot from the right point into the top shelf past Leighton for his eighth goal of the season to make it a 3-0 lead. The man with the primary assist on the play was Anthony Richard who earned his first career AHL point in the process.

The Admirals in the final minutes were practically stationed in the attacking zone. They shut the door on the Checkers and Mazanec earned himself a twenty-three save shutout. It is his first shutout of the season and his ninth career AHL shutout. The Admirals in five games now at the Checkers’ new old barn the Bojangles’ Coliseum have won all five.

These two lock horns once again tomorrow night in Charlotte. We’ll see if the Admirals can extend this run in the Bojangles’ Coliseum but more importantly sustain all that was accomplished in tonight’s game. It was a solid effort from the group from start to finish. It really is just what the doctor ordered.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played on Friday night there have once again been a chain of roster moves made within the organization. The Nashville Predators claimed defenseman Brad Hunt from waivers off of the St. Louis Blues and placed defenseman Petter Granberg on injured reserve. The Predators then reassigned forward Kevin Fiala to the Milwaukee Admirals. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: Florek-Smith-Åberg, White-Kamenev-Fiala, Richard-Kirkland-Gaudreau, Liambas-Army-Payerl, Pardy-Murphy, Oligny-Pinkston, Diaby-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches were: Cody Bass (lower-body), Shawn O’Donnell (healthy), and Max Görtz (healthy). By securing a shutout tonight, Marek Mazanec joins fellow Admirals goaltenders Juuse Saros and Jonas Gunnarsson in having a shutout this season. It is the first time since the 2006-07 season that the Admirals had three goaltenders record a shutout in the same season: Pekka Rinne, Karl Goehring, and Scott Reid. Tonight marked the NHL debut of Alex Carrier. The Admirals 2017 AHL All-Star debuted on the road with the Predators against the Vancouver Canucks.

What is your reaction to tonight’s game? How impressed have you been by the addition of Derek Army? Is this recent run with the Milwaukee Admirals the best that Marek Mazanec has played?

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 3-0 against the Grand Rapids Griffins Friday night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

And, Admirals fans, the team has hit a low that it has not reached in years. It is the first time the Admirals have lost four straight games in regulation since the 2011-12 season when they lost five straight games (1/22/12–2/3/12).

It is the third time this season that the Admirals have been shutout and second in the last four games. The Admirals offense has produced just two goals from their last 249:43 of ice time. Their power-play is now on a drought of nineteen.

Operating the game’s first power-play opportunity allowed the Griffins to get on the board early tonight. A blast from the top of the right wing circle by Robbie Russo was shrugged off by Marek Mazanec to the opposite wing where Evgeny Svechnikov managed to score on a snap shot from the rebound. The goal goes down as his ninth scored on the season.

The Griffins would extend their first period lead on their second power-play opportunity. It took the Griffins just a matter of seconds to win the face-off and get a Ben Street shot from the right point to deflect off of Mitch Callahan’s stick in the slot clean past Marek Mazanec for his eleventh goal of the season to make it 2-0 Griffins.

After a slashing call against Derek Army in the early stages of the second period the Griffins did it again – as did Svechnikov. The Griffins power-play cycled from the right point with Russo over to the right wing dot for Svechnikov where the Russian sniped home the top corner near post for his second power-play goal on the evening and the Griffins third consecutive in the contest. It was Svechnikov’s tenth goal of the season.

The game would wrap at that scoreline. Eddie Pasquale earned his second shutout of the season over the Admirals. He stopped all thirty shots on goal. Meanwhile his counterpart, Mazanec, made twenty-five saves and only allowed the three goals that came from the power-play for the Griffins.

Next up for the Admirals is yet another four-game road trip. The Admirals will travel to the East Coast for a two-in-two against the Charlotte Checkers on Tuesday and Wednesday night with 6:00 PM CST start times. They will then play next weekend on Saturday and Sunday against the Chicago Wolves which will finish off playing at the Allstate Arena for the rest of the season.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played on Wednesday there were a few roster moves of note. The Admirals released Garrett Meurs from his PTO Contract. Meurs has since returned to the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL. The Nashville Predators recalled defenseman Alex Carrier from the Admirals. It was his first career NHL recall and he could possibly make his NHL debut tomorrow afternoon. Then this morning the Predators traded Félix Girard to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Cody McLeod. The Admirals then recalled Anthony Richard from the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL. Prior to game time the Admirals had Pontus Åberg reassigned to them by the Nashville Predators. He arrived ten minutes into pre-game skate. Tonight’s line combinations were: Richard-Smith-Åberg, White-Kamenev-Gaudreau, Florek-Kirkland-Görtz, Liambas-Army-Payerl, Pardy-Murphy, Oligny-Pinkston, Diaby-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches were: Cody Bass, Petter Granberg, and Shawn O’Donnell. This was Anthony Richard’s first game played since 12/16/16 with the Cyclones when he suffered an injury. It was his first game with the Admirals since 12/9/16 in a road game against the Griffins.

Was this about what you expected from the Milwaukee Admirals after today’s trade and recent roster fluctuations? What happened to the Admirals ability to score goals? Will a solid trip to the East Coast to play against the Charlotte Checkers be a welcome reset switch?

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 Chicago Wolves Wednesday night at the Allstate Arena.

This game may have hurt even more than last night’s effort. The Admirals defense was well up to the challenge of stopping a high octane offense the likes of which the Wolves have. The offense just didn’t have a lethal strike in them until it was way too late.

The night got off in the right direction for the Admirals. They had opened up the first few minutes of the contest by outshooting the Wolves 7-1. Then came a tripping call against Jimmy Oligny. Then came a power-play goal for the Wolves after a bomb of a slap shot from Vince Dunn off the left point beat Marek Mazanec to his stick-side for his seventh tally of the season.

In the second period the Admirals managed to shut down the Wolves offense. The Wolves were limited to just two shots on goal for the entire period which set a season best for the Admirals in limiting shots on goal for the course of a period.

Unfortunately, the Admirals found themselves unrewarded in that second period despite being up 9-2 in shots that period and having three power-play chances.

The Wolves would add another goal in the third period to make it a 2-0 advantage. Magnus Pääjärvi pushed a puck over to the path of Morgan Ellis as he bolted down the right wing. The shot from Ellis was taken just above the right wing face-off circle and it flew past Mazanec high-glove for the defenseman’s third goal of the season.

That shot for the Wolves was just one of five total shots on goal in the third period – three of which came in rapid succession in the opening minutes of the frame. The Admirals rallied hard and put up sixteen shots on goal in the third period and finally saw a jam play by Justin Florek get past Pheonix Copley while the net was emptied and the extra attacker was on to deny the shutout and make it a 2-1 game from Florek’s sixth goal of the season.

Yet, it was way too little and far too late. The Admirals scored their first goal of the night with thirty-five seconds remaining in regulation. Their final chance that came with an extra attacker ended with a puck cleared the length of the ice with icing waved off. And the Admirals found themselves bitten by an absence of offensive production tonight.

Mazanec takes the loss in net tonight after making fourteen saves from sixteen shots on goal. Copley was nearly heading for his first shutout over the Admirals but ends up allowing a single tally out of thirty-six shots on goal.

At the end of November the Admirals had a record of 12-2-2-1. From the start of December to now they are 8-9-0-1. They have scored just two goals from their last 189:43 of ice time.

Next on tap for the Admirals are the Central Division leading Grand Rapids Griffins. That game takes place Friday night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. That will be the last home game before a four-game road trip begins starting next week with the Charlotte Checkers on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Ramblings: Prior to tonight’s game the Nashville Predators reassigned forward Frédérick Gaudreau to the Milwaukee Admirals. The Predators also acquired forward Derek Grant on waivers from the Buffalo Sabres. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: White-Kamenev-Payerl, Kirkland-Smith-Gaudreau, Florek-Army-Görtz, Liambas-Girard-O’Donnell, Pardy-Carrier, Oligny-Granberg, Murphy-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches included: Cody Bass (lower-body injury), Jonathan Diaby (healthy), Garrett Meurs (healthy), and Rick Pinkston (healthy).

Where did the swagger and confidence of the Milwaukee Admirals go? Have all the fluctuations in the lineup stunted defensive and offensive productivity? How do the Admirals right the ship with the Grand Rapids Griffins coming in on Friday or is that just the sort of high level challenge that the team needs to rise to the occasion?

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 Charlotte Checkers Tuesday night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

At a time when the Admirals defense was at its strongest in months – this game was a letdown. The Admirals lacked an attacking pulse all night and their defense was torn apart as the game dragged on. The result is a devastating loss against a woeful opponent on a week that the Admirals could have really used two points tonight.

“We thought the whole game wasn’t good,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game of the team’s effort tonight. “They skated, we did not. We looked slow, we were slow, they looked fast, they were fast. We had odd-man rushes just because they were beating us up the ice. Simply no excuse. They outplayed us.”

After a scoreless first period the Checkers were able to get on the board halfway through the second period on the power-play. The Admirals had cleared the puck just over the blueline from their zone and Mike Liambas raced to the bench to get a new stick. The Checkers raced down and saw a Phil Di Giuseppe shot near the glove side of Jonas Gunnarsson in net take a harsh deflection off of Adam Pardy’s stick and back into the net for a power-play goal. The tally for Di Giuseppe was his seventh of the season.

It took the Checkers twenty-four seconds to add to their lead and make it a 2-0 game. A wicked shot by Sergey Tolchinsky saw the Checkers forward spin around the right wing circle and snap a low shot clean through Gunnarsson for his fifth goal of the season.

The Admirals would get a quick answer after the rapid scoring from the Checkers. After Max Görtz worked a puck loose from the right wing corner it fell into the path of Justin Florek who delivered a step-in slap shot that exploded past C.J. Motte into the top shelf for his fifth goal of the season to get the game down to a 2-1 Checkers lead.

Petter Granberg marked his return in the second period with a big hit on Jake Chelios that was called for elbowing. This triggered Keegan Lowe looking for a fight and Jimmy Oligny was the man to oblige him. Heated scrap and there wasn’t an instigator called for the fight.

“You can watch the penalty. He doesn’t elbow him,” said Evason. “It’s a loud noise. It looks bad but it’s not. And it’s frustrating because then their defenseman comes flying in from the neutral zone and Jimmy Oligny tries to hold him from getting to [Petter Granberg] and the guy drops the gloves and fights Jimmy and there is no instigator. I don’t understand it. The guy flies from outside the zone to get into a fight and we don’t get an equalized call.”

On the Granberg hit he was called for elbowing and that allowed the Checkers to get one more power-play chance in the second period. Valentin Zykov was score off a net-front redirect on a shot from the right point by Chelios. Zykov had been the recipient of a huge check from Mike Liambas prior to scoring. In the end, the two players that were checked hard ended up getting the game to 3-1 Checkers. The goal was Zykov’s ninth scored on the season.

The Checkers scored with forty-four seconds remaining in the second period. They would open up the third period by scoring forty-three seconds in to make it a 4-1 lead. A howitzer shot from the high slot by Lucas Wallmark would cannon in and out of the netting quickly off his ninth goal of the season.

The damage would continue less than three minutes later. A quick one-two between Kyle Hagel and Kris Newbury saw the latter forward snap a shot from between the two face-off circles and into the top shelf for Newbury’s fifth goal of the season which made it a 5-1 Checkers lead.

With a little over eight minutes remaining the fans did get a chance to cheer for something as the gloves dropped between Shawn O’Donnell and Mitchell Heard. This was a very spirited scrap that saw the two land flush numerous times. Heard did get the final strike and takedown. O’Donnell left down the Admirals tunnel following the fight for repairs.

The game would finish right there. It was another unfortunate night for Gunnarsson to be the man in net for the Admirals. His stat-line just isn’t a true reflection of the effort he had in net as a team in front of him was about as flat as they have been all season. The Swede allowed five goals from thirty-five shots. Many of those shots to the net for the Checkers came with numbers barreling down on Gunnarsson on the rush.

The Admirals can thankfully erase this from memory fast. They are right back in action tomorrow night with a road game against the Chicago Wolves at 7:00 PM CST. Later this week on Friday they return to the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena for a game against the Grand Rapids Griffins at 7:00 PM CST.

“It’s a little fuel for the fire,” commented Justin Florek of the poor result tonight looking ahead to tomorrow night. “We want to look past this one and get ready for Chicago but, at the same time, it was a disappointing loss for us. We didn’t play the way we wanted to play. So, a little fuel for the fire for tomorrow and come out guns blazing.”

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played on Saturday night there have been a good chunk of roster moves made. Petter Granberg was placed on and cleared waivers by the Nashville Predators. He was then assigned to the Admirals. The Predators then recalled Pontus Åberg from the Admirals ahead of tonight’s game which saw the Admirals sign Garrett Meurs to a PTO Contract from the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL. Then, hours before puck drop, the Predators reassigned Vladislav Kamenev to the Admirals. Kamenev was unable to make it to Milwaukee in time for tonight’s game. With that being the case, the Admirals ended up dressing Trevor Murphy at forward tonight. These were tonight’s line combinations: White-Smith-Meurs, Florek-Kirkland-Görtz, Liambas-Girard-Payerl, Murphy-Army-O’Donnell, Pardy-Carrier, Oligny-Granberg, Pinkston-Dougherty. Cody Bass was a scratch tonight as he missed his fifth game in a row due to a lower-body injury. Jonathan Diaby was a healthy scratch.

What is your reaction to tonight’s game? Considering that the Milwaukee Admirals did have their defense back at 100% strength tonight – what was the issue for them tonight? Are you concerned that the amount of injuries for the Nashville Predators in the past month has sapped all the energy and momentum from the Admirals?

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 4-0 on the road against the Stockton Heat Saturday night at the Stockton Arena.

The story tonight was an Admirals offense that was just a bit out of sorts and a goaltender in David Rittich who was solid when he was needed. This is the second time this season that the Admirals have been shutout. The loss ends a two game form of wins to start the 2017 calendar.

It would be the Heat getting on the board first tonight. Émile Poirier exited the box after serving a cross-checking minor and helped get a rush started down the left wing. He would fall back to the middle of the blueline where he would crank a shot past Jonathan Diaby who screened Marek Mazanec. The shot beat Mazanec low to the blocker and in for Poirier’s fifth goal of the season.

The Heat would extend their lead in the second period and Poirier would be a focal point to that 2-0 lead. Poirier whirled around the right wing circle before snapping a shot from the face-off dot that Mazanec fended off. Poirier followed through with a few whacks at his own rebound before Austin Carroll ultimately delivered the decisive strike up past the glove hand of Mazanec for his fourth goal of the season.

With just over two minutes remaining in regulation the Admirals brought Mazanec to the bench in favor of the extra attacker. This would quickly see Poirier score on the empty net for his second of the night and sixth goal of the season. The Admirals, going for broke, went for the extra attacker push again to deny a shutout but saw Matt Frattin add another empty net tally to record his ninth goal of the season and make it a 4-0 Heat lead.

The game would finish there. It was a thirty-five save shutout for David Rittich. It is the Czech goaltender’s fourth shutout from thirteen appearances this season. He is now second in the AHL in shutouts behind Troy Grosenick of the San Jose Barracuda.

The Admirals will return back to the quite charms of home after yet another lengthy trip. This road trip was more a matter of distance traveled than time away but it can be exhausting all the same. They play against the Charlotte Checkers at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Tuesday night at 7:00 PM CST. After that is done they’re right back on the road the next night for a game against the surging Chicago Wolves.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played last night there was one roster move made. Frédérick Gaudreau was recalled by the Nashville Predators. Gaudreau was a healthy scratch in last night’s game for the Admirals in the event of such a recall. Therefore, the Admirals marched out the exact same line combination as they did in San Jose: White-Smith-Åberg, Florek-Kirkland-Görtz, Liambas-Girard-Payerl, (rotating)-Army-O’Donnell, Pardy-Carrier, Pinkston-Murphy, Oligny-Dougherty, Diaby. The lone scratch was Cody Bass who missed his fourth consecutive game due to a lower-body injury.

What is your reaction to tonight’s game? Do you feel the depleted roster caught up to the Milwaukee Admirals 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 3-1 on the road against the San Jose Barracuda Friday night at the SAP Center.

Marek Mazanec has never looked more locked in than his last few games for the Admirals. Tonight may have been his finest. He made thirty-nine saves en route to the Admirals win in San Jose tonight. The Admirals are now back in front of the Central Division standings.

The Admirals would get on the board five minutes into the game tonight. After a face-off win, Alex Carrier stepped up from the blueline and swooped down the right wing wall before snapping a low shot on target. The Carrier shot hit off the pad of Troy Grosenick and into the net front crashing Derek Army for a rebound tally and his first with the Admirals this season.

Army had been signed to a PTO Contract from the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL prior to tonight’s game with all today’s roster activity. By scoring his first AHL goal of the season tonight he extended a personal goal scoring streak to five consecutive games between the Nailers and Admirals.

After being outshot 17-5 in the first period it appeared that the Barracuda shot back to life in the second period. When they were given their first chance on the power-play they quickly scored to tie things up at 1-1. A shot by Tim Heed from the high left wing stayed low and caught traffic in the form of Danny O’Regan. The puck trickled underneath Marek Mazanec and went in for O’Regan’s eleventh goal of the season.

With forty-eight seconds left in the second period the Admirals would snatch their lead right back. Max Görtz was able to fight a shot off from the slot that Grosenick pushed off but right into the path of Justin Kirkland who scored his third goal of the season to make it a 2-1 Admirals lead. The primary assist for Görtz was his first point scored since 11/25/15 on the road against the Rockford IceHogs. It snapped a scoreless drought of nine-games for the Swede.

Army already had himself a nice story by netting a goal to get this game started tonight. He made it even better when he scored a beauty in the third period to extend the Admirals lead to 3-1. Army was flying down the left wing when he did a little head fake towards the left and shot a forehander against the grain of Grosenick that beat him to the glove-side for his second goal of the night.

The game’s scoreline would rest there but not before countless attacks by the Barracuda that would all be answered by Mazanec in net. This was one of his most outstanding efforts as an Admiral as he stopped 39/40 shots on goal with the lone goal allowed coming on a power-play that caught traffic in front of him. The Czech hasn’t looked this sharp in a long time. He has been locked in since returning from the Nashville Predators.

Next up for the Admirals are the Stockton Heat tomorrow night at 9:30 PM CST. They will look to end this California roadie up in style after a really nice character effort tonight in San Jose.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Tuesday there were a good few roster moves made. Anthony Bitetto was recalled from his conditioning assignment by the Nashville Predators. Today the Predators then recalled Vladislav Kamenev who made a cross-country plane trip to make his NHL debut tonight against the Florida Panthers. The Admirals signed Derek Army on PTO Contract for the second time this season from the Wheeling Nailers. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: White-Smith-Åberg, Florek-Kirkland-Görtz, Liambas-Girard-Payerl, (rotating)-Army-O’Donnell, Pardy-Carrier, Pinkston-Murphy, Oligny-Dougherty, Diaby. The scratches tonight for the Admirals were Cody Bass (lower-body injury) and Frédérick Gaudreau (healthy) who was on standby should the Predators need to recall him in the very near future. The Admirals record improved to 20-8-2-2 (44 points, 0.688 points percentage) which has them ahead of the Grand Rapids Griffins by 0.006 of a point percentage for the lead of the Central Division. Marek Mazanec’s 39-save performance tonight was the third time in his Admirals career that he made 39-saves or more. Mazanec’s career high with the Admirals saw him stop 40/45 shots on goal on 2/7/15 in a 7-5 win on the road over the Rockford IceHogs.

What were your thoughts on tonight’s game? How impressive is it for the Milwaukee Admirals to bring in players such as Rick Pinkston, Shawn O’Donnell, and Derek Army and earn a result such as tonight? Is Marek Mazanec going to play his way back into the picture in Nashville?

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

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

It was a well-rounded effort on the part of the Admirals who started the 2017 portion of the calendar on the right foot tonight. Anthony Bitetto marked his return to the team on conditioning assignment by delivering a great performance as did his defensive partner on the evening Trevor Murphy who scored twice in the win.

“He’s a good player,” said Anthony Bitetto of Trevor Murphy. “He’s got a future in the league. He’s one of those kids who if you give him a puck in a position he can make something happen. You saw that tonight.”

The Admirals drew first blood tonight from their opening power-play chance in the first period. The IceHogs trap game made life difficult for the Admirals after clearing the puck on the initial face-off. The Admirals struggled to get past that blueline to start chipping away. That is until a pass from Trevor Murphy snuck Adam Payerl through down the right wing wall behind the defense. Murphy continued his run and the two quickly found themselves on a two-on-zip breakaway. Payerl passed from right wing to slot to Murphy who worked a backhander past the pads of Lars Johansson to bury his sixth goal of the season.

In the second period the Admirals would cash in from a power-play once again. After seeing a five-on-three power-play end they were able to bury a chance with eight seconds remaining on the man-advantage. A bad bounce from behind Johansson’s net on the end boards saw a puck squirt right back near the slot where Pontus Åberg was able to dish over to Bitetto back-post for a tap in to make it 2-0 Admirals. The goal for Bitetto was his first scored in seven games across the NHL and AHL this season.

“Tony hit the ref I think,” smiled Pontus Åberg when describing the play. “It went over the net and right to my tape. I wanted to shoot it first but he had a wide open net. So, I had to give it to him.”

Shawn O’Donnell decided to let his presence be known for the Admirals as the newly added forward from the Cincinnati Cyclones dropped the gloves against Chris DeSousa. The fight took place after DeSousa finished off a hard check near the penalty box area against Justin Kirkland. DeSousa turned right into O’Donnell and the two went at it with O’Donnell getting a decisive 10-9 decision in my fight card.

As a power-play expired the IceHogs got on the board to make it a 2-1 game. Carl Dahlström stepped down the right wing and whipped a wrister past a double screen with Sam Carrick and Martin Lundberg in front of Marek Mazanec. The Dahlström shot went against the grain to beat Mazanec high glove side for the Swede’s fifth goal of the season.

Åberg made the crafty play to setup Bitetto at the start of the second period. He would be on the receiving end of a great pass by Matt White to score his ninth goal of the season by the end of the second period. White corralled a puck in the trapezoid and backhanded it out towards the Swede down the left wing slot for a first time finish. Åberg’s goal was the fiftieth of his Admirals career.

“I know he knows where I am,” said Åberg of Matt White. “We talked about it a lot actually – to find a little spot there. When I got it on the tape I just tried to shoot it right away because they had three guys around me. But I was open enough to get it in the net.”

It took the Admirals just forty-five seconds later to get a puck past Johansson once again. A d-to-d pass at the blueline from Bitetto to Murphy was met with a thunderous one-timer by Murphy that launched into the top shelf for his second goal of the night and seventh of the season.

The opening to the third period saw Mike Liambas drop the gloves against his teammate from last season Pierre-Cédric Labrie. Unlike the first bout there wasn’t really a winner as such from this tilt. It was a really spirited scrap. I’d say the winner of the fight is yours to decide.

With a solid five-minutes remaining in regulation the IceHogs went for broke and decided to pull Johansson to get the extra attacker on the ice. The Admirals made them pay for that decision extremely fast as Justin Kirkland buried the empty netter for his second tally of the season to make it a 5-1 Admirals lead.

The IceHogs wouldn’t let the game rest there. A shot by Martin Lundberg escaped the grasp of Mazanec and DeSousa was able to smack it out of mid-air past the Czech goaltender to draw the game back a goal.

The game would be sealed right there with a 5-2 Admirals win that pushes their record to 19-8-2-2 (42 points, 0.677 points percentage). It was a great night in net for Mazanec who quietly provided a solid foundation for the Admirals. He stopped 28/30 shots on goal in the win tonight and also earned a secondary assist on the Admirals opening power-play goal. Mazanec now has nine career assists as a member of the Admirals.

“We were fortunate he was back there for us,” commented Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason of Marek Mazanec’s performance in net. “He was phenomenal. He made incredible saves. What we gave them with the two goals – we gave them. Not his fault for sure.”

Next up for the Admirals is a road trip out to the West Coast. They face the San Jose Barracuda on Friday night (9:00 PM CST) and the Stockton Heat on Saturday night (9:30 PM CST). Their next home game comes a week from tonight as they see the Charlotte Checkers.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played there were several roster moves made in the organization: the Admirals released Blake Kessel from his PTO Contract, Adam Pardy was reassigned by the Nashville Predators to the Admirals, Harry Zolnierczyk was recalled by the Predators from the Admirals, Anthony Bitetto was activated from Injured Reserve by the Predators and assigned to the Admirals on Conditioning Assignment, and the Admirals signed Shawn O’Donnell to a PTO Contract from their ECHL affiliate the Cincinnati Cyclones. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: Gaudreau-Smith-Görtz, White-Kamenev-Åberg, Florek-Kirkland-O’Donnell, Liambas-Girard-Payerl, Pardy-Carrier, Bitetto-Murphy, Oligny-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals included: Cody Bass (lower-body injury), Jonathan Diaby (healthy), and Rick Pinkston (healthy).

What were your thoughts on tonight’s game? What did you think of Anthony Bitetto’s return to game action tonight? Are you gaining confidence in the way Marek Mazanec has performed since returning from the Nashville Predators?

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 4-3 in a shootout on the road against the Chicago Wolves Friday night at the Allstate Arena.

This game had a playoff style atmosphere on the ice about it as both really grinded each other out for three periods. In the end, the Wolves would get the shootout win with Kenny Agostino popping in the lone tally in the shootout for both sides. The Admirals end the 2016 side of the calendar claiming a point on the road in Chicago.

Tonight’s opening goal was slightly unlucky on the part of the Wolves. When a puck got over to Pontus Åberg in the high slot he quickly let a wrister fly that went up and hit Andrew Agozzino in the face. The Wolves forward went down quickly, Pheonix Copley in net tried to wave towards his bench area for help, but a whistle didn’t come and Åberg quickly recovered the puck for a follow up shot that went past the glove of Copley for the Swede’s eighth goal of the season.

In the second period the Wolves would level things up at 1-1. Scooter Vaughan polished off a great extended attack by the Wolves in their offensive zone. He managed to loop around the left wing wall and use Jack Dougherty as a screen before shooting to the near post to beat Jonas Gunnarsson low blocker side for his fourth goal of the season.

The Wolves would claim their first lead of the night eight minutes later in the frame. A play by MacKenzie MacEachern put a puck to the net. In the scramble out in front of Jonas Gunnarsson the puck trickled out for Brett Sterling to get a shot on target before most could react and the wee-man had his sixth goal of the season.

The end of the second period saw yet another odd play in which a Wolves player went down with injury only to see the Admirals score seconds later. Harry Zolnierczyk and Petteri Lindbohm collided in the low left wing pocket. It appeared the two caught their legs in the hit with Lindbohm coming off the worse in the check. As the play kept cycling, Frédérick Gaudreau had plenty of space around where the initial collision took place to pass over to a wide open Zolnierczyk in the right wing for a one-timer past Copley to make it a 2-2 game from Zolnierczyk’s sixth goal of the season.

The two sides would trade goals quickly to open up the third period. On a Wolves power-play Wade Megan fired a shot that Gunnarsson stopped but the rebound fell free in front of the crease where Ivan Barbashyov was credited with getting the final push through for his twelfth goal of the season. Just 1:16 of ice-time later and the Admirals’ Russian would be lighting a lamp down at the other end of the ice. Vladislav Kamenev was sent free on a quick two-on-one by Matt White and the Russian stayed in a shooting position and whipped a wrist shot high glove on Copley for his ninth goal of the season to make it 3-3.

Tonight’s game would require overtime and in that stretch the Admirals did get a chance on the power-play. Despite burning their timeout to sketch up a play for that opportunity at four-on-three the Admirals came up empty. The Admirals were 0/5 on the power-play tonight.

This game could have well came to an end just a second prior to a shootout being needed. Sterling was off to the races on a breakaway and Gunnarsson stonewalled him to prevent the Wolves winning it in overtime. The game trickled into the shootout where only one man would score tonight, Kenny Agostino with a backhander that went through the five-hole, to get the Wolves a 4-3 shootout win.

2016’s side of the calendar is now complete for the Admirals. Their record now stands at 18-8-2-2 (40 points, 0.667 points percentage). They resume action in 2017 on Tuesday night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena when the Rockford IceHogs show up for their first meeting of the season in Milwaukee.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played on Wednesday night there weren’t roster moves made in the organization. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: Zolnierczyk-Smith-Gaudreau, White-Kamenev-Åberg, Florek-Kirkland-Görtz, Liambas-Girard-Payerl, Oligny-Carrier, Pinkston-Murphy, Diaby-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were: Cody Bass (lower-body injury) and Blake Kessel (healthy). In the month of December the Admirals record was 6-6-0-1 (13 points, 0.500 points percentage).

Thoughts on tonight’s game? After such a dominant first period what happened for the Milwaukee Admirals in the second period that changed the tide? Are you happy with what you have seen from the Admirals in the 2016 side of the 2016-17 season?

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 Iowa Wild Wednesday night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

He might not be seeing the net all that often this season but Jonas Gunnarsson came up big when required tonight. He stopped all twenty-five shots on goal to record the first career shutout of his North American pro playing career as the Admirals snapped a three-game losing skid.

“We talked to the group yesterday and we hoped that -that- was rock bottom,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game of the three-game losing streak. “There’s only one way to go when you’re on the bottom and that’s up. And we did that.”

In the opening phase of the game the Admirals found themselves on a four-on-two rush that they were able to cash in from for a quick lead. Rick Pinkston, who had signed a PTO Contract with the Admirals from the Manchester Monarchs (ECHL) prior to the game, spearheaded the rush down the left wing and cranked a slap shot low that hit off the pads of Alex Stalock and into the path of Mike Liambas for his third goal of the season.

In sixteen seconds of the second period the Admirals were given their first power-play opportunity of the evening. The Admirals worked quickly on that power-play chance and saw a beauty of a backhander from Frédérick Gaudreau go in for his fifth goal of the season. Matt White had put a puck towards the net and Alex Carrier was rushing through towards the goal area. Gaudreau happened to cradle the puck out in front of Stalock, patiently move towards his blocker-side, and pop the backhander into the open net.

The Admirals made it three-for-three when it comes to scoring early period goals. Just 2:16 into the third period and Justin Kirkland smacked a slap shot from the left wing and it soared past Stalock for his first career AHL and Admirals goal to make it a 3-0 lead.

“That’s what it is all about,” smiled Frédérick Gaudreau when speaking about the night’s performances for Justin Kirkland and Jonas Gunnarsson. “To get night’s like that for those guys it feels good for everyone. We see them all the time in practice and they work so hard. So, for us – all the players, to see them having success like that it feels good.”

With 4:19 remaining in regulation, and on the power-play, the Wild brought Stalock to the bench to get the extra attacker on. This attempt to fight back was stunted with 2:49 remaining as Christoph Bertschy was called for a tripping minor. They would never attempt to bring an extra attacker back on from that point forward. And the Admirals shut the door with a 3-0 win.

Jonas Gunnarsson stopped all twenty-five shots on goal net tonight. This was only his fifth start of the season for the Admirals has the Swede has patiently waited for opportunities to play while Juuse Saros and Marek Mazanec traded places between the NHL and AHL. The calm effort in net that he provided help give a nice foundation for the Admirals to spring forward from and get back to winning ways and having fun back on the ice.

“That’s the thing that made us successful this year,” commented Jonas Gunnarsson. “We’re a tight group of guys that have fun together and play hard together. We felt like we needed to get back to that and I think that we did today.”

This was the final home game for the Admirals in 2016. They finish off the calendar with a road game this Friday night at 7:00 PM CST when they play against the Chicago Wolves.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Monday there was one roster move of note and it came not too long before tonight’s game. The Admirals added defenseman Rick Pinkston from the Manchester Monarchs (ECHL) on a PTO Contract. Pinkston follows the likes of Matt White, Zac Larraza, and Matt Leitner as PTO signings by the Admirals from Manchester (ECHL) in the past year. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: Zolnierczyk-Smith-Gaudreau, Florek-Kirkland-Bass, White-Kamenev-Åberg, Liambas-Girard-Payerl, Oligny-Carrier, Pinkston-Murphy, Diaby-Dougherty. Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were both healthy: Max Görtz and Blake Kessel. In the second period of tonight’s game Cody Bass clashed legs between the bench-side area and left the game favoring his right leg. Bass did not return.

What is your reaction to tonight’s game? Was this a solid bounce back performance for the Milwaukee Admirals? How did you view Jonas Gunnarsson’s effort given just how little he has been afforded time in net for the Admirals this season?

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.