The Milwaukee Admirals lost 5-2 against the Chicago Wolves Monday night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

This is the second time this season that the Admirals have had a three game losing streak but the first to feature three consecutive regulation losses. Marek Mazanec played a terrific game in net. The Admirals just had a few too many miscues that came back to bite them tonight.

“We were awful,” commented Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game. “It is the worst we’ve played all year. We talked to the group and we hope to heck this is rock bottom for us. We have this adversity. We have to find a way.”

It took the Wolves just over two minutes into the contest before netting the opener tonight. The Admirals botched a breakout from behind their net and once a puck kicked off the stick of Harry Zolnierczyk it fell to Brett Sterling for a quick shot that would beat Marek Mazanec for his fifth goal of the season.

The Admirals would level things up before the midway point of the second period. After some stellar pad saves from Mazanec the Admirals caught the Wolves on a bad change and had a three-on-one rush. Trevor Smith was the puck carrier entering the zone down the left wing and he decided to shoot rather than pass off. The shot ripped past Pheonix Copley for the Admirals captain’s tenth goal of the season. Smith is the first on the team to the double-digit goal plateau.

The 1-1 deadlock wouldn’t survive the second period. Following a minor penalty against Matt White for holding the Wolves made it a 2-1 game on the power-play with 2:44 remaining in the frame. Sterling circled atop the right point and back down the wall before snapping a shot low that deflected off of Samuel Blais’ stick. The quick change of direction saw the puck get past Mazanec for Blais’ fifth goal of the season and his first scored on the power-play.

Right before hitting the ten minute mark of the third period the Wolves extended their lead to 3-1. Jonathan Diaby turned the puck over on a clear attempt with Blais hovering the blueline like a hawk to get an intercept. The 20-year old forward would step in down the slot a bit more before unleashing a wrister that ringed around the posts before dropping in for his second goal of the night and sixth tally on the season.

“We work for every goal so hard and then we shoot ourselves in the foot with our dumb decisions in the d-zone,” said Milwaukee Admirals goaltender Marek Mazanec. “We gave up so many scoring chances. We’re making it too easy for a team to play against.”

Blais would get called for a hooking minor with 3:18 remaining. At that time the Admirals used their timeout and had Mazanec stay on the bench to bring on the extra attacker. It wouldn’t result in the desired result. The Wolves were able to see a long range clearance by Wade Megan go the distance for a shorthanded empty net tally that made it a 4-1 Wolves lead. The goal was his fourteenth scored this season.

The empty net saga would continue as the Admirals power-play was still on. With 1:47 remaining Vladislav Kamenev would dink a loose puck around the net forward and it would roll underneath Copley for his eighth goal of the season to get it back to a two-goal deficit. After getting the puck cleared from danger the Admirals would keep going with the empty net with 1:20 remaining in regulation only to see Ivan Barbashyov score fifty seconds later to close this game out at 5-2 for the Wolves on their Russian’s eleventh goal of the season.

This will be another game that will look bad on paper for Mazanec. And that is a shame. He was incredible in net for the Admirals tonight. He came up big time and time again. He only allowed three goals and, when looking back on them, he’s left on the short end of the stick with two in-zone turnovers right in front of him and a net front redirect on a Wolves power-play. He made twenty-two saves in net tonight. Mistakes in front of him proved fatal.

The Admirals will be back in action at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Wednesday night when they face-off against the Iowa Wild. That game starts at 7:00 PM CST.

“Tomorrow we’ll come to work,” said Evason looking ahead. “And put some kind of positive spin on getting out of this.”

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Thursday night there were some headlines that took place. Following the completion of his conditioning assignment Reid Boucher returned to the Nashville Predators. Boucher scored four goals and an assist in the five games he played with the Admirals during his conditioning stint. Cody Bass was suspended by the AHL for one-game due to his boarding major on 12/21/16 on the road against the Grand Rapids Griffins. Bass served his one-game suspension tonight. With two forwards out of the lineup the Admirals reinserted Max Görtz after being a healthy scratch for the last five games. The Admirals also recalled Justin Kirkland from the Cincinnati Cyclones (ECHL). Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: Florek-Smith-Åberg, Gaudreau-Kirkland-White, Zolnierczyk-Kamenev-Payerl, Liambas-Girard-Görtz, Murphy-Dougherty, Oligny-Kessel, Diaby-Carrier. There were no scratches tonight as the Admirals roster was stretched to capacity. This game marked the start of the AHL’s uniform policy that sees all home teams start to wear darker more traditionally road uniforms at home and road teams switching to their white more traditionally home set.

What is your reaction to tonight’s game? Where did this game go wrong tonight? What positives can you take out of this game? What needs to be corrected by Wednesday 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 8-4 on the road against the Chicago Wolves Thursday night at the Allstate Arena.

These lengthy road trips for the Admirals sure do end with a nasty sour taste, don’t they? After such a strong showing in Texas the Admirals have dropped two games in two days with both having their unique flavor of disgust to them.

This wasn’t a shutout loss like last night but a defensively depleted and dysfunctional effort by the Admirals meant conceding a season high eight goals against tonight. This certainly isn’t the merriest of ways to head into the Christmas break.

This looked like the Admirals were getting a quick start tonight as they accomplished something they didn’t do last night, score a goal, in just 1:20 of the game. After the Wolves won a defensive face-off Petteri Lindbohm instantly turned the puck over on an outlet pass that went direct to Reid Boucher in the slot. Boucher delivered a quick release to get his fourth goal of the season before Pheonix Copley probably knew what happened.

The Wolves responded right back 1:26 after the Boucher tally. A good piece of forechecking allowed for Kenny Agostino to snap a pass from the left wing wall out towards Scooter Vaughan as he edged down the right wing for a snap shot past Marek Mazanec to quickly level the game on Vaughan’s third goal of the season.

Agostino nearly had a goal of his own after getting a home run feed out of the penalty box but Alex Carrier held him up to put the Wolves to the power-play. Vince Dunn sent a low wrister from the right point that Jordan Caron deflected underneath Mazanec and the puck sat loose behind the Czech netminder until Caron pushed it across the line for his third goal of the season.

Another net front scramble went the way of the Wolves to end the scoring for the first period. Mazanec had completely laid out to make a few good saves, some from his belly, but the whistle never came and the Wolves kept attacking until the puck trickled towards the left wing side of the net where Ivan Barbashyov smacked it home for his ninth goal of the season to give the Wolves a 3-1 lead.

The first period drama wouldn’t be without some post-whistle pushing and shoving. This went a bit over the top near the end of the period when Lindbohm started to get too stiff with a jab and Jonathan Diaby paired up with him for a proper scrap. Diaby dropped the Finnish defenseman with a solid right hand. You can score that a win in the fight department for Diaby.

For all the penalties that swamped the second period the Admirals were able to rally back and level things at 3-3 in the sandwich stanza. Alex Carrier smacked a low slap shot past a Harry Zolnierczyk screen and Copley to record his fourth goal of the season. Then, during four-on-four hockey, a pass from Agostino to Dunn skipped up off the Wolves defenseman’s stick and sent Frédérick Gaudreau off to the races where he’d finish with a backhander to earn his fourth goal of the season.

Once the third period came it appeared the Admirals defense started to fall apart. Barbashyov was able to whip a backhander wide and stick around the slot long enough for Andrew Agozzino to feed the puck right back to him for a second chance that he’d score on a wrister from the high slot for his second tally of the game and tenth of the season.

Following a disputed icing call that saw the officials take back an icing against the Wolves in favor of a neutral zone face-off the Admirals quickly turned the puck over and allowed Brett Sterling to break down the left wing and pass across to the slot for MacKenzie MacEachern to score on the counter attack for his second goal of the season and see the Wolves restore their two-goal lead just 6:44 into the third period.

There was a glimmer of hope that the Admirals could rally back and deliver their resilient comeback magic as Matt White tagged Trevor Smith for a picture perfect setup. Smith was cruising behind the defense off the back post and White’s pass from the right wing wall hit the Admirals captain right on the tape for a redirect past Copley and Smith’s ninth goal of the season.

As great as that play was. As much momentum as it should have created. The Admirals fell flat on their face defensively just fifty-four seconds later when a bad turnover allowed for the easiest of two-on-zero plays in front of Mazanec. Sterling passed off to the right wing and Bryce Gervais had a tap in to get the Wolves back ahead by two-goals.

Going for broke, the Admirals went with the empty net and extra attacker with 2:24 remaining in regulation only to see the Wolves score twice more to make the game reach a season low for the Admirals. The Wolves scoring eight goals tonight was the most allowed by the Admirals all season. Chris Butler scored from distance for his third goal of the season. That was followed by Gervais netting the second empty netter and his second tally of the night to extend his season total to eight goals.

The Admirals record falls to 17-7-2-1 (37 points, 0.685 points percentage). This means seeing them slip behind the Grand Rapids Griffins in the Central Division and Western Conference standings. The Admirals will look to avenge tonight’s rough outing against the Wolves next time out as they will be back on home ice at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Boxing Day against the Amtrak Rivals for a 7:00 PM CST face-off.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played last night there were no roster moves made in the organization. Tonight’s line combinations were the same as last night: Florek-Smith-Åberg, Boucher-Gaudreau-White, Zolnierczyk-Kamenev-Bass, Liambas-Girard-Payerl, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Dougherty, Diaby-Kessel. Tonight’s lone scratch was Max Görtz who was a healthy scratch. This was the final game of Reid Boucher’s two week (fourteen consecutive days) conditioning assignment: 5 points (4 goals, 1 assist) in 5 games with a plus/minus rating of -4, 0 penalty minutes, and 13 shots on goal.

What happened to the Milwaukee Admirals these last two nights? Are the losses on defense of Petter Granberg and Adam Pardy starting to hurt the group? When will the penalty troubles end?

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 on the road against the Grand Rapids Griffins Wednesday night at the Van Andel Arena.

This game started off poorly for the Admirals, got worse with a match penalty against Cody Bass, and they never got into a groove offensively. Following the highest of highs, winning 9-1 in Texas, the Admirals hit a low with their first shutout loss of the season. Eddie Pasquale stopping all twenty-seven shots on goal tonight. The Admirals skid in Grand Rapids, including last year’s trip in during the playoffs, is now up to ten straight games (0-9-1-0 record). Under Dean Evason the Admirals are 5-15-1-0 in Grand Rapids.

It took the Griffins twenty-six seconds to get on the board tonight. After a face-off win in neutral ice Yevgeni Svechnikov was able to sneak behind Jimmy Oligny and Alex Carrier to race off on a breakaway. The Russian forward stickhandled and then flipped a backhander above the left pad of Marek Mazanec to quickly make it a 1-0 Griffins lead.

Joe Hicketts has made sure he is on the Admirals naughty list this season. In the first meeting of the season Hicketts low bridged Harry Zolnierczyk at the knees with a check that had him landing on his head. Tonight Hicketts walloped Mike Liambas towards the head near the penalty box area. It instantly caught the ire of Jonathan Diaby who flew over and dropped the gloves with the Griffins defenseman. Diaby was issued an instigating penalty and misconduct for doing so but the Admirals did kill off the minor penalty that created.

The first period heat intensified when Cody Bass delivered a big hit to Kyle Criscuolo that sent him face first towards the boards. Bass was issued a five minute major for boarding and a game misconduct. Criscuolo stayed down for a bit after the hit and went off to the locker room for repairs. He would return quickly enough to contribute on the Griffins major power-play.

Diaby was out for his misconduct for instigating a fight. Bass was out for the game due to his boarding major. Blake Kessel was serving Bass’ penalty. This may have sparked a bit of gamesmanship with Mitch Callahan grappling Jimmy Oligny after a whistle that had the two sent to the box for matching roughing minors that would leave the Admirals to just three defensemen to kill the remainder of the major penalty.

Moments after the roughing calls the Griffins had their breakthrough. Svechnikov and Criscuolo played a one-two pass to each other and it allowed the Russian to get a quick shot off down the slot to score his second goal of the first period and seventh goal of the season to extend the Griffins lead.

In the second period the Admirals did have much better attacking pressure and scoring chances. They weren’t able to get anything through and that was in large part to some great work in net during the middle frame by Eddie Pasquale. At the other end, Mazanec came up huge to deny Martin Frk with a phenomenal glove save on a breakaway and keep the scoreline right where it was coming into the period.

Despite finding some momentum in the second period the Admirals would allow a goal less than three minutes into the third period. The Griffins won an in-zone face-off and Robbie Russo ripped a wrister from the left point right off the draw that sailed in top shelf for his fourth goal of the season to make it a 3-0 Griffins lead.

In an effort to negate a shutout the Admirals did bring Mazanec to the bench with 2:06 remaining in regulation. Their effort with the extra attacker didn’t crack Pasquale in net and the Griffins won 3-0 with their netminder earning a twenty-seven save shutout. It was the first time the Admirals have been shutout this season. The last time the Admirals were shutout came back on 3/1/16 on the road against the then named Lake Erie Monsters.

If there is any good news out of this game it is that it will not have to stay in the memory banks of the players for too long. The Admirals are right back in action tomorrow night on the road against the Chicago Wolves at 7:00 PM CST. They’ll look to end the current four-game road trip on a high note heading into the Christmas break.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Saturday the lone roster move made saw defenseman Adam Pardy recalled by the Nashville Predators. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: Florek-Smith-Åberg, Boucher-Gaudreau-White, Zolnierczyk-Kamenev-Bass, Liambas-Girard-Payerl, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Dougherty, Diaby-Kessel. Tonight’s lone scratch for the Admirals was Max Görtz who was a healthy scratch.

Reaction to tonight’s game? What is it about playing in Grand Rapids that just seems to flip the Milwaukee Admirals’ world upside-down? What do the Admirals need to change to start having success on the road against the Grand Rapids Griffins?

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 9-1 on the road against the Texas Stars Saturday night at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.

Last night was a track meet. Tonight was one as well but nobody seemed to inform the Stars about it. The Admirals offense absolutely exploded tonight. It is the first time since the 2013-14 season that the team has produced nine goals in a game. That last occasion came on 2/28/14 at home against the Iowa Wild which also ended in a 9-1 win. Pekka Rinne was the goaltender of record for the Admirals that night when he was making his comeback that season.

The Admirals played twenty-four games prior to tonight’s contest and scored four or more goals in six games. Tonight they dropped a four spot on the Stars in the opening fifteen minutes of the game.

Mike Liambas put the Admirals out in front inside of four minutes tonight. It was slightly controversial from the Stars perspective as there was a loose puck around Maxime Lagacé. The officials never blew a whistle and the Admirals kept at the puck with Liambas getting the vital touch to record his second goal of the season.

The Admirals then blasted two power-play goals from their first two power-play chances. Frédérick Gaudreau left a drop pass fall back to the left wing face-off circle for Trevor Murphy to step right through and hammer a slap shot to score his fifth goal of the season. That was followed by a Gaudreau face-off win that trickled back to Reid Boucher to picked up the puck, dragged it a bit, and unleashed a shot past Lagacé for his second goal of the season.

It was right there that the Stars decided to pull Lagacé from net. He only faced eight shots in the game and allowed three goals in just shy of ten minutes of work. Landon Bow, who left the middle of last night’s third period due to illness, entered in his place.

Harry Zolnierczyk took a hard ride into the end boards of the Admirals attacking zone and stayed on a knee for a slight bit. The Stars left him alone as the Admirals continued to press on. That defensive lapse allowed Zolnierczyk to dust himself off and station himself along the glove-side of Bow. Vladislav Kamenev put a shot-pass to him and Zolnierczyk deflected it in for his fourth goal of the season to give the Admirals a 4-0 lead just 14:52 into the contest.

The second period push from the Admirals continued and they wound up with two further goals to extend their lead to 6-0. A neutral zone turnover allowed the Admirals to break in with pace and Boucher netted his second of the night and third goal of the season. That was followed with a blast from the center of the blueline by Alex Carrier whose shot caught a deflection from Cody Bass in front of Bow for his second goal of the season.

It took a bit of puck luck for the Stars to finally get on the board. With 44.1 seconds remaining in the second period Jason Dickinson’s turn-around shot from the right wing hit Travis Morin in front of the net. The Stars captain was able to react quick enough to get the rebound off of himself to beat Marek Mazanec for his tenth goal of the season to make it a 6-1 game.

The third period saw the Stars night of horrors continue. The Admirals would score three more times to slam the door on this game. Justin Florek threw an innocent looking shot on net that rolled up the goaltending paddle of Bow and in for his fourth goal of the season. Florek then followed up with a primary assist from the left wing to catch Admirals captain Trevor Smith breaking down the slot for a five-hole finish and Smith’s eighth goal of the season.

The last goal of the night came following a scrap in which Bryce Van Brabant ran over Jimmy Oligny from behind. He was called for boarding but wanted even more and paired up with Bass for a fight he’d probably regret to have gotten involved in. That was a decisive win for Bass in the fight department. Moments after that Zolnierczyk zipped in his second goal of the night to make it an astonishing 9-1 Admirals lead from Zolnierczyk’s fifth goal of the season.

Some final drama did take place. Dustin Stevenson dropped his gloves and was grappling Liambas behind the Stars net. Liambas did not want to fight given the scoreline but eventually played along and continued the Admirals dominance with a tilt that ended in a judo hip-throw. The Stars were battered, beaten, and decimated tonight across the board.

For all that took place you nearly lose sight that Mazanec had yet another solid performance in net for the Admirals. He only allowed the one goal against but stopped thirty shots on goal for his second win in as many days against the Stars.

The Admirals record goes up to 17-5-2-1 (37 points, 0.740 points percentage). They remain the best team in the Central Division and Western Conference. The Admirals swept all four games on the road in the state of Texas this season defeating the Stars and San Antonio Rampage by a combined score of 17-6 in four games.

Next up for the Admirals will be a brief return home following this trip in Texas. They will travel to Grand Rapids on Tuesday and get the Grand Rapids Griffins on Wednesday night. They will play the Chicago Wolves on Thursday night before heading off on the Christmas break.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admiralsplayed last night there were no roster moves made in the organization. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: Florek-Smith-Åberg, Boucher-Gaudreau-White, Zolnierczyk-Kamenev-Bass, Liambas-Girard-Payerl, Pardy-Carrier, Murphy-Dougherty, Diaby-Oligny. Tonight’s scratches were: Max Görtz and Blake Kessel.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Was this the Milwaukee Admirals offense playing up to potential or was this a Texas Stars defense playing up to its negative reputation? How do you feel Marek Mazanec looked this weekend?

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 on the road against the Texas Stars Friday night at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.

This was looking like it would be a track meet coming into the weekend. The first of the two games delivered on just that expectation. The Admirals lead 2-0. The Stars lead 3-2. And the Admirals rally back strongly, backed by an outstanding effort by Marek Mazanec, to win a 4-3 game in Texas tonight. This really may have been one of Mazanec’s best outings as a member of the Admirals.

It took the Admirals 3:46 of ice-time to get on the board tonight. It appeared as if the Admirals might have gotten away with a hand pass when Adam Pardy was operating around the right wing near the net and trying to get the puck down to his own stick. Instead, the puck squirted free over to Pontus Åberg on the back post who had plenty of net to fire home on to record his seventh tally of the season.

Jonathan Diaby played sixty-nine games in the AHL without scoring a goal. After tonight he now has a two game goal scoring streak that leaps him past Max Görtz for goals scored this season. It came during a delayed penalty call less than a minute after Åberg scored. Matt White was tripped up and passed over to Diaby on the left point where he let loose a howitzer of a slap shot for his second goal in as many games.

The first period would see the Stars draw all the way back level. Both times they scored it came with them having four men on the ice. During four-on-four play Remi Elie beat Jimmy Oligny with pace down the right wing, cut across the net, and dodged a poke check by Marek Mazanec to score his fourth goal of the season. The Stars then added a shorthanded goal for the eighth time this season when Justin Dowling raced off on a breakaway and beat Mazanec with a backhand-forehand move that beat him glove-side for his second shorty of the season and fifth goal overall.

The Stars would continue their run in the second period to take their first lead of the game. The Admirals had just finished up their second power-play of the night and, like the first chance, saw no shots on goal. The Stars continued the momentum off their penalty kill and had a puck in the low slot hopping around that Travis Morin settled and kicked over to Brendan Ranford in the right wing for a quick shot and his fourth goal of the season to make it a 3-2 Stars lead.

That advantage for the Stars would only last until midway through the second period. The Admirals power-play, which was more momentum killing in the first few looks, was able to get on the board when Trevor Murphy’s slap shot from the right point was knocked down in front of the net and the loose puck got a whack from Reid Boucher for his first goal of the 2016-17 season. Boucher is with the Admirals on conditioning assignment from the Nashville Predators after having been claimed off of waivers from the New Jersey Devils. That power-play goal for him came in the second game of his conditioning stint.

Last time out the Admirals finally saw a Goal of the Year candidate from Vladislav Kamenev. In tonight’s third period they may have received the Save of the Year courtesy of Mazanec. The Stars were able to create a turnover right atop their attacking zone as the Admirals were trying to get out of their own zone. Brandon DeFazio passed out of the left wing for Dowling who was breaking down the slot. Dowling had the puck, went forehand-to-backhand, and Mazanec laid out to make a stunning save with his left toe. Everyone in the building including the man in charge of the goal horn thought that was a sure goal. Mazanec stopped him cold.

If that save by Mazanec wasn’t enough the counter attack that came from that resulted in a goal for the Admirals. Jimmy Oligny made a neutral zone interception as the Stars looked to get back to work and raced along the right wing, dropped a pass back to Félix Girard, and his shot labeled off of the blocker side post of Bow and in for his third goal of the season to give the Admirals a 4-3 lead.

From then on out it was the Mazanec show. And what a show it was. This was a highlight reel level performance on the evening for Mazanec and he came up huge when it counted the most in the third period. The Stars poured it on the Admirals in the final twenty-minutes of regulation but Mazanec stopped all seventeen shots he faced in the third period to help see the Admirals across the finish line for a win tonight in Texas.

These two teams are back at it once again tomorrow night. Same place – but not the same time. Tomorrow’s game starts at a more typical 7:00 PM CST start time. After tomorrow’s game the Admirals will return home in Milwaukee briefly before hitting back on the road when they get the Grand Rapids Griffins on Wednesday and the Chicago Wolves on Thursday. They will then reach the Christmas break and play back on home ice on Boxing Day against the Wolves.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Monday night there were some roster moves of note. The Nashville Predators recalled Juuse Saros and reassigned Marek Mazanec. The Admirals then reassigned forwards Justin Kirkland and Anthony Richard to the Cincinnati Cyclones. Both participated in last night’s 3-1 victory over the Indy Fuel. Kirkland scored the first goal of his professional career in that contest. Both Kirkland and Richard have earned their first pro goals as members of the Cyclones this season. The Cyclones won 4-1 against the Fuel tonight in Cincinnati. Kirkland added an assist while Richard left the game with an apparent injury and did not return. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: Florek-Smith-Åberg, Boucher-Gaudreau-White, Zolnierczyk-Kamenev-Bass, Liambas-Girard-Payerl, Pardy-Carrier, Murphy-Dougherty, Diaby-Oligny. Tonight’s scratches were: Max Görtz and Blake Kessel. In tonight’s third period Texas Stars goaltender Landon Bow left the game due to injury and was replaced midway through the third period by Maxime Lagacé who remained in net until the final horn. According to Stephen Meserve of 100 Degree Hockey the reason behind Bow leaving in the third period was due to illness.  The Admirals record has improved to 16-5-2-1 (35 points, 0.729 points percentage) which is still good enough for the best record in the Western Conference. The only team with a better record in the AHL at the moment are the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins who boast a record of 18-5-3-0 (39 points, 0.750 save percentage).

Thoughts on tonight’s game? How good did Marek Mazanec look in his return to game action tonight? Do you feel like Reid Boucher could end up returning to the Milwaukee Admirals should the Nashville Predators attempt to clear him through waivers? 

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 against the San Antonio Rampage Monday night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

This game was a roller coaster in the third period that saw the Admirals go up 4-1 only to have the Rampage fight back with three unanswered goals to tie things up. Yet, the Admirals scored just a minute after the game went 4-4 with a bad angle shot from Jimmy Oligny that would hold up against a late frenzy as the game-winner to end the Admirals two-game skid.

“We stayed positive. We stayed resilient again,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game. “But we can’t continually keep going to the well.”

After a depleted looking effort in the last two games it was going to be important for the Admirals to show some swagger and energy in tonight’s first period. You can’t quite argue with the opening few shifts, either. The Admirals had a power-play 1:10 into the game and cashed in quickly with a puck that trickled over to Trevor Smith in the low right wing circle for a hard slap shot into an open net with Kent Simpson failing to make a post-to-post stop. For the Admirals captain that was his seventh goal of the season.

It’s been slim pickings for the Admirals as far as highlight reel goals go this season. Most have been rather straight forward or gritty goals around the net. Vladislav Kamenev’s seventh tally of the season changed that.

Jimmy Oligny popped a puck up off the glass from his defensive half into neutral ice that ranged out to the young Russian at the Admirals attacking blueline. Kamenev was able to control the puck, measure up Mason Geertsen for a one-on-one deke, blew past him, and snapped a shot off before Anton Lindholm could close him down on the backcheck. Kamenev’s shot beat Simpson against the grain, high glove-side, bardown, and the Admirals had a 2-0 lead from their first proper highlight reel goal of the season.

The first period did end with a much better push from the Rampage. That effort on their part was rewarded with a goal from Cody Corbett. The soon to be 23-year old defenseman used a crossing screen of Shawn Ouellette-St-Amant that dragged Frédérick Gaudreau along with him to his advantage. The Corbett shot snuck past the moving screen and against Juuse Saros movement with the screen to go high glove-side for his first goal of the season to make it a 2-1 game.

In the second period the Admirals were flirting with penalty troubles again. Yet, they would score during the course of that. On a penalty kill Harry Zolnierczyk took a high stick from Rampage captain Joe Whitney and it gave the Admrials some wiggle room to create on the delayed penalty with Saros getting to the bench and an extra attacking getting to the ice. Some great passing, starting from behind the Admirals net, led to a tic-tac-toe between Kamenev, Matt White, and Pontus Åberg. The Swede kept his shot from the right wing low and beat Simpson for his sixth goal of the season and first with the Admirals since his lengthy NHL spell with the Nashville Predators. That goal, while on the delayed call, was scored as a shorthanded tally for the Admirals.

Jonathan Diaby’s inclusion in tonight’s game with Trevor Murphy out seemed a touch odd at the start of the night. Diaby’s pro career to this point has been a bit of an odyssey punctuated by a strange 2015-16 season with injuries that included a skate cut nearly getting to his femoral artery. Perhaps some rage of days gone by went into the slap shot he uncorked in the third period to record his first career AHL goal and give the Admirals a 4-1 lead.

“It’s pretty cool. It takes a little weight off the shoulders,” commented Jonathan Diaby after the game of recording his first AHL goal. “But it’s not my main concern. I try to focus more on defensive play and everything. But it is cool to score a goal. That’s for sure. It’s good to put up some points.”

The Rampage finally got a chance to get back into the flow of the game following a roughing call against Adam Pardy. The power-play for the Rampage didn’t take too long as a quick face-off win and pass cycle ended with a wicked wrister by Whitney atop the right wing circle that beat Saros high blocker-side for his sixth goal of the season.

That energy followed and the Rampage would score from a poor defensive zone turnover by the Admirals only 1:33 after the Whitney power-play goal. Alex Carrier was pressured behind the Admirals net and tried to spit a puck to the corner for Diaby who fumbled the pass and it fell on a plate for Shawn Ouellette-St-Amant to take an immediate one-timer that zipped high past Saros for his first career AHL goal. What was a 4-1 lead became a 4-3 game in the space of 4:19 of ice-time.

Another power-play came to the Rampage after a Cody Bass slash. This put the Rampage’s top scorer on the season Rocco Grimaldi in the spotlight to complete a three-goal comeback in the space of 9:06 of ice-time. The Rampage worked on the rush to feed Grimaldi down the right wing where he hit a slapper past Saros for his eighth goal of the season to make it 4-4.

“We didn’t like giving up a three-goal lead but there’s a lot of reasons for it,” said Evason. “We didn’t manage the puck very well. Took some silly penalties. We’ve got to clean up our penalties. Even though we think it’s good, bad, or otherwise we’re putting ourselves in positions to take them and we’re taking them.”

That tie only last 1:19 of ice-time. This night and third period, if it wasn’t crazy enough, was put in perspective by Admirals defensemen that aren’t known for scoring goals who actually did just that. Jimmy Oligny was skating along the left wing wall when he threw an innocent looking shot on net. Simpson either misread the shot or it caught a deflection off his own man on the way off Oligny’s shot because the puck sailed over his shoulder and in from a bad angle to get Oligny his first goal of the season and the Admirals their lead back in a flash.

With 1:24 remaining in regulation the Rampage used their timeout to draw up a play for an in-zone face-off with the net emptied and extra attacker on. Pardy would head to the box with forty-three seconds remaining and the Rampage had a six-on-four push. They simply ran out of time and the Admirals survived a thriller by a final score of 5-4.

“It’s not good for the heart I’ll tell you that,” smiled Jimmy Oligny of the stressful game. “Every time that happens it is tough to stay in the game. We didn’t play our best hockey there but we came back to what worked for us. And then we finished it strong.”

The Admirals record improves to 15-5-2-1 (33 points, 0.717 points percentage). This was their last home game until the Christmas break. That next home game comes on Boxing Day when the Chicago Wolves show up. The Admirals are on the road until then for the next four games with travel taking them to face the Texas Stars, Grand Rapids Griffins, and -hey- the Wolves in Chicago. Their next games will be in Texas this weekend on Friday and Saturday night.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played on Saturday there were some reinforcements delivered from the Nashville Predators. Frédérick Gaudreau and Adam Pardy were reassigned from the Admirals parent club and also received Reid Boucher on a two-week (fourteen consecutive days) conditioning assignment. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: Florek-Smith-Åberg, Boucher-Gaudreau-White, Zolnierczyk-Kamenev-Bass, Liambas-Girard-Payerl, Pardy-Carrier, Oligny-Dougherty, Diaby-Kessel. Tonight’s scratches were: Max Görtz, Justin Kirkland, Trevor Murphy, and Anthony Richard.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? What did you think of the Milwaukee Admirals response from the two regulation losses on the weekend? Are these penalty issues ever going to get resolved?

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 Chicago Wolves Saturday night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

It seemed as though the first period was signaling in a track meet tonight. After the first twenty minutes came and went this game devolved into a slop fest for the Admirals and Wolves. The Amtrak Rivals made the better of their chances and blitzed through the Admirals in the third period. This was the first time since the opening month of the season that the Admirals have lost consecutive regulation games.

After a sluggish and sloppy performance last night in Grand Rapids the Admirals wanted to have a fast start tonight. It is exactly what they received. Inside of five minutes the Admirals were up 1-0 thanks to the third goal of the season from Justin Florek. Justin Kirkland passed off from the left wing circle to Jimmy Oligny on the blueline for a low shot that Florek deflected up and over the shoulder of Pheonix Copley. That assist for Kirkland was the first of his pro career.

Midway through the first period the Wolves would tie things back up with Chris Butler’s second goal of the season. The veteran defenseman snuck up from his typical blueline spot on the left point to nestle into a gap in space where the white hot Kenny Agostino managed to get a pass to him from behind the net. Butler smoked a one-timer into the top shelf before Jonas Gunnarsson really knew what had just happened.

Speaking of which, the Admirals regained their lead before the Wolves really knew what had just happened. Just 1:27 of ice-time after Butler had scored and a d-to-d pass in the Admirals defensive zone between Trevor Murphy and Blake Kessel saw the Wisconsin native Kessel deliver a dart of a pass through neutral ice to the tape of Trevor Smith for a breakaway. The Admirals captain was able to lock in on Copley and narrowly work a backhander over Copley’s left pad for his sixth goal of the season.

With under two minutes remaining in the opening period the Wolves drew back with a power-play goal from Ivan Barbashev. The Wolves won a face-off and were able to get a puck to their young Russian forward who worked a wicked backhander that snapped past Gunnarsson to his glove-side for his seventh goal of the season.

That first period saw the Admirals get a season high twenty shots on goal against the Wolves. They followed that up in the second period by matching a season low with only three shots on goal. That came courtesy of numerous penalty killing situations for the Admirals in the second period. Gunnarsson and the PK unit did hold the fort, though, as the Admirals stopped all five penalty kills they endured in that frame.

The Wolves would claim their first lead of the game five minutes into the third period. A rush down the left wing by defenseman Vince Dunn ended with a booming slap shot that went against the grain of Gunnarsson and snuck past him high glove-side to give the Wolves a 3-2 edge.

He wasn’t Dunn there, either. On the power-play midway through the third period Dunn smacked a low slap shot that buzzed through lots of net-front traffic to beat Gunnarsson low off the post to the glove-side for his second goal of the night and third of the season and extend the Wolves lead to 4-2.

Agostino already extended his hot streak of late with an assist earlier in the game. He added a breakaway goal in the third period that saw him out-race Smith when entering the offensive zone and then beat Gunnarsson with a backhander through the legs to notch his ninth goal of the season and make it a 5-2 Wolves lead.

The game would end there. The Admirals went flat after a second period of penalty calls and kills. The offense never seemed to pick back up and Gunnarsson, despite a good effort in net, was left to deal with the pressure. It’s yet another hard luck loss for the Swede who now has a 1-2-1-0 record this season.

The Admirals return to game-action on Monday night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. It will be the first trip into Milwaukee this season for the San Antonio Rampage who the Admirals started the season off with by defeating them twice by 2-1 scorelines on the road.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played last night there were no roster moves made. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: White- Smith-Åberg, Zolnierczyk-Kamenev-Payerl, Liambas-Girard-Bass, Florek-Kirkland-Görtz, Oligny-Dougherty, Murphy-Kessel, Diaby-Carrier. Tonight’s lone scratch was Anthony Richard who was healthy.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? What happened to the Milwaukee Admirals after the first period? Are these last few games starting to point to a weakness in the Admirals defense with it stretched as far as it is right now? Can Jonas Gunnarsson ever catch a break?

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 3-1 on the road against the Grand Rapids Griffins Friday night at the Van Andel Arena.

It simply wasn’t a good game tonight for the Admirals. They set a season low for shots on goal in this game by only registering seventeen shots on goal against the Griffins tonight. Harry Zolnierczyk was able to negate what would have been the Admirals first shutout of the season with under three minutes remaining.

Tonight’s game was extremely sloppy. There were hardly that many scoring chances to be seen up until the midway point of the second period. Dylan Sadowy was able to avoid a poke check attempt by Juuse Saros to spin-around and deliver a quick shot through the Finn’s five-hole to record his first career pro goal and give the Griffins a 1-0 lead.

Things kept looking very bleak for the Admirals right up until the final three minutes of regulation when it appeared the Cardiac Kids were going to pull a rabbit out of the hat once again. Adam Payerl was able to set Harry Zolnierczyk loose for a breakaway that ended with a backhand to forehand finish. Zolnierczyk’s third goal of the season closed the books on Jared Coreau’s shutout bid.

With 1:20 remaining in regulation the Admirals called for Saros off the bench to get the extra attacker on. After getting an icing call against the Griffins the Admirals took their timeout with 33.8 seconds remaining to draw up a play with an in-zone face-off. It appeared the Griffins got let off the hook on what should have been an icing call. Instead, they were able to coral a puck deep in the Admirals defensive zone for an empty net tally for Eric Tangradi’s first goal of the season.

This ends the Admirals four-game road trip. They split the deck with two wins and two regulation defeats. Their record now stands at 14-4-2-1 (31 points, 0.738 points percentage). That record still stands as the best in the league.

As far as the Admirals go in Grand Rapids their woes continue. That is now their ninth consecutive loss on the road to the Griffins. They are 0-8-1-0 on that run with their last win coming back on 1/31/15 when Magnus Hellberg provided a twenty-six save shutout.

The Admirals return to home ice tomorrow night when the Chicago Wolves turn up for the next installment of the Amtrak Rivalry. That game starts at 6:00 PM CST. The Admirals then play against the San Antonio Rampage on Monday night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena for a 7:00 PM CST start-time. That will be the last home game for the Admirals until Boxing Day.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Tuesday there has only been a single roster move made. Derek Army was released by the Admirals from his PTO Contract on Tuesday night and has since rejoined the Wheeling Nailers in the ECHL. Last night game for the Nashville Predators wasn’t pretty, losing 5-2 on the road to the Dallas Stars, but it saw Adam Pardy make his Predators debut and Marek Mazanec stop 18/19 in a relief appearance. Frédérick Gaudreau also logged the most minutes he has had of ice-time since his NHL debut. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: White-Smith-Åberg, Zolnierczyk-Kamenev-Payerl, Liambas-Girard-Bass, Richard-Florek-Görtz, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Dougherty, Diaby-Kessel. Tonight’s lone scratch was Justin Kirkland who was healthy.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? What is it about the Milwaukee Admirals playing in Grand Rapids? Will the Admirals be able to bounce back tomorrow night on home ice?

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 Iowa Wild Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Arena.

It wasn’t always pretty in this game but the Admirals did it yet again. They found some great efforts out of the likes of Adam Payerl, Harry Zolnierczyk, and Juuse Saros on the night to see their AHL best record continue in Iowa. For the Admirals this was their fourteenth win from their opening twenty games.

Last time out the Admirals were able to get an opening minute goal on the road against the Cleveland Monsters. That took them forty-one seconds to accomplish after a tally by Trevor Murphy. Tonight that was not only done again but bettered in the speed department.

It took the Admirals twenty-eight seconds to get ahead in Iowa tonight. Adam Payerl was on a two-on-one and fired a snap shot before a backchecker could clamp him down. Payerl’s shot sailed past Alex Stalock to record his sixth goal of the season and give the Admirals a lightning fast 1-0 lead.

The next tally wouldn’t come until the closing stages of the second period and would see the Wild equalize through Adam Gilmour’s fourth goal of the season. Sam Anas lofted a great pass down the right wing that hit the center lane drive of Gilmour on the tape for a backhanded redirect that flicked up past Juuse Saros on the blocker side to make it a 1-1 game with 29.8 seconds remaining in the second period.

For all the power-play struggles that both teams had in this game it would seem ironic that that’s what would be the game-winning goal for the night. That just so happened to be the case. Having been blanked on their first five chances on the power-play the Admirals scored midway through the third period when Harry Zolnierczyk netted his second goal of the season to restore the Admirals lead. Vladislav Kamenev took a chipped pass by Payerl and wound up for a slap shot, faked the shot, and delivered a perfect feed to Zolnierczyk as he roamed across Stalock for a redirect. It was nearly a mirror image of the Wild’s goal and it put the Admirals out in front 2-1.

As the Wild were getting closer to needing an empty net push the Admirals scored with 2:02 remaining in regulation. Cody Bass was trying to hit Matt White with a pass from the right wing wall as the California native was driving back post. Wild defenseman Zach Palmquist got in the way of the feed but ended up botching his clearance and the puck trickled through the legs of his goaltender and White was alone on the doorstep to push it across for his team leading eighth goal of the season.

After an empty net push was attempted the final horn sounded and the Admirals earned a 3-1 win in Iowa. This game had two great efforts in net between Saros and Stalock. Saros made twenty-saves in the game to earn his ninth win from eleven starts and his seventh consecutive win. Stalock allowed the three goals but did stop thirty-one Admirals shots tonight. He earned a tough luck loss as the Admirals defense really stepped up to prevent much of anything offensively for the Wild to be created. The Wild registered just three shots on goal in the third period.

The Admirals improve their AHL best record to 14-3-2-1 (31 points, 0.775 points percentage). They are the first team in the Western Conference to reach the thirty point plateau and join Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Lehigh Valley, and Hershey for the most points in the league. The difference being that the Admirals have played one to two less games than those teams resting at 31 points.

Next for the Admirals will be a travel day tomorrow. They go from Iowa to Chicago to Grand Rapids. They will then practice in Grand Rapids on Thursday before logging the first road game against the Grand Rapids Griffins this season. That will end the four-game road trip as the Admirals finally return home this Saturday night when they face-off against the Chicago Wolves.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Saturday there were quite a few roster moves made. The Nashville Predators recalled Marek Mazanec and reassigned Mike Liambas, Juuse Saros, and Pontus Åberg. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: White-Smith-Åberg, Zolnierczyk-Kamenev-Payerl, Liambas-Girard-Bass, Florek-Kirkland-Görtz, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Dougherty, Diaby-Kessel. Tonight’s scratches were: Anthony Richard (healthy) and Derek Army (healthy).

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Do you feel like the Milwaukee Admirals actually are a different team when Juuse Saros is in net as opposed to the other goaltending options that have played? Do you feel an NHL recall could be in the future for Adam Payerl and Harry Zolnierczyk given how steady and well they have played 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.

The Milwaukee Admirals won 4-1 on the road against the Cleveland Monsters Saturday night at the Quicken Loans Arena.

This was a return to form effort by the Admirals. They were able to sandwich a less than stellar second period by scoring goals in the opening minute of both the first and third periods tonight. Vladislav Kamenev had himself a three point night scoring a goal and two assists. Trevor Murphy contributed his second multi-goal game of the season. And Harry Zolnierczyk was just about everywhere on the ice as he picked up a pair of assists for good measure.

After a lethargic performance last night the Admirals looked to instantly buck the trend right out of the starting blocks tonight. It took them just forty-one seconds to notch the game’s opening goal and it came from a blast from the left wing face-off dot by Trevor Murphy. The Admirals second-year defenseman’s slap shot zipped past a great screen by Harry Zolnierczyk in front of Anton Forsberg to make it a quick 1-0 game.

During a four-on-four stretch in the first period the Monsters would answer back with a goal of their own. A rush into the Admirals defensive zone saw Daniel Zaar drop off to the on-rushing Blake Siebenaler who stepped up from the blue line to catch out Matt White defensively. Siebenaler caught the drop pass on his backhand, glided in on the backhand, and snapped off a powerful backhanded shot that beat Marek Mazanec on the near post and the Czech’s glove side for the defenseman’s first pro goal.

After T.J. Tynan was called for slashing Murphy behind the play, which negated a Monsters rush that was breaking into the Admirals defensive half of the ice, the Admirals picked up their third power-play chance of the opening period. The Admirals entered the night with the worst road power-play in the AHL and only registered a single shot on goal from their previous two chances earlier in the frame. This would chance once Zolnierczyk swooped around the net to deliver a pass in the left wing circle for Murphy who’s one-timer deflected off Ryan Craig’s stick and flew past Forsberg for his second goal of the night and fourth of the season to restore the Admirals lead.

There wasn’t much of anything going for the Admirals in the second period. In fact, the lack of offensive output by them was the lowest in any frame all season. The Admirals registered a season low three shots on goal in the second period against the Monsters tonight. It was one fewer shot than the previous low coming on the road against the San Antonio Rampage in the third period of the second game of the season.

Despite that poor second period for the Admirals they did keep the scoreline at 2-1. Whatever was said at the second intermission must have made an impact because the Admirals scored in the opening minute of the third period to give themselves a two-goal lead. Vladislav Kamenev scored his sixth goal of the season off of a wicked backhander. The goal for Kamenev gave him a three point night as he picked up assists on both Murphy goals.

With the roster activity being wild today it seems almost fitting that two players, signed on PTO contracts earlier this morning, would earn assists on the same goal. That would happen when the Admirals made it 4-1 through Justin Florek’s second goal of the season which was assisted by the newly added Derek Army and Blake Kessel. Florek’s shot appeared to catch Forsberg by surprise as Florek ripped it to the near post from the low left wing. That puck had to have had eyes and Forsberg didn’t allow for much space to his blocker side.

If were a different night, different game, different team, or just a different set of officials Kamenev might have picked up the fighting major in the third period that’d have given him the Gordie Howe hat trick. After a hooking call against Jimmy Oligny was whistled down Monsters forward Justin Scott proceeded to continue on with the puck towards Mazanec. Kamenev went right for him and the two landed some pretty solid punches. Perhaps these referees couldn’t be bothered with the new AHL fighting policy like the rest of us as it resulted in a pair of roughing minors.

The final horn would sound to signal in a 4-1 win for the Admirals tonight in Cleveland. This was their final game on the road to face the Monsters this season and the Admirals won three of the four contests. The Monsters have yet to travel to Milwaukee. That won’t happen until January 24th.

A tip of the cap can be given to Admirals goaltender Marek Mazanec tonight. He was making effectively his second start in two nights against last year’s defending Calder Cup champions and looked real sharp in both games. Tonight was the better of the two performances for the Czech. He made twenty-eight saves tonight and only allowed the lone goal coming from Siebenaler on the rush during a four-on-four. The win for Mazanec was his third in five starts with the Admirals this season.

The Admirals road trip keeps on rolling. The team will not return home once during this four game road trip. Now that the first two legs have been completed the Admirals will travel to Iowa tomorrow, practice in Iowa on Monday, and then go to work against the Iowa Wild on Tuesday night at 7:00 PM CST. Wednesday the Admirals travel to Grand Rapids, they practice there on Thursday, play against the Grand Rapids Griffins on the road for the first time all season on Friday night at 6:00 PM CST, and finally return back home to Milwaukee on Saturday when they get the Chicago Wolves at 6:00 PM CST.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played last night there were actually a number of roster moves. The Nashville Predators recalled defenseman Adam Pardy as well as forward Miikka Salomäki. For Salomäki the recall ends his conditioning assignment but he left last night’s game at the midway point due to a lower-body injury and never returned. As a result of those moves the Admirals signed forward Derek Army and defenseman Blake Kessel to PTO Contracts this morning. Army plays for the Wheeling Nailers (ECHL) and Kessel, related to both Phil and Amanda, was recently traded to the Kalamazoo Wings from the Atlanta Gladiators (ECHL). Kessel is the current top scoring defenseman in the ECHL. He has yet to report to Kalamazoo and has since been suspended by the team for doing so. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were White-Smith-Bass, Zolnierczyk-Kamenev-Payerl, Florek-Kirkland-Army, Richard-Girard-Görtz, Oligny-Carrier, Murphy-Dougherty, Diaby-Kessel. Mike Liambas made his NHL debut today in the Nashville Predators 5-4 overtime loss at home against the New Jersey Devils. Liambas became the 607th former ECHL product to reach the NHL.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? How impressed were you by the Milwaukee Admirals response on the ice tonight given just how depleted the team actually is 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.