The Milwaukee Admirals 3-2 in shootout against the Chicago Wolves Friday night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

After trailing 2-0 in the second period the Admirals clawed back with a pair of goals on the power-play from the Swedes Max Gortz and Pontus Aberg. The game required a shootout and in the end Aberg had the game-winning tally with Juuse Saros getting the stop on Brett Sterling to secure the first win at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena since the 1986-87 season.

“We’re just getting our feel here,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason of playing at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. “It’s such a wonderful building. So disappointed that we couldn’t get it done on the home opener for Harris [Turer] and the city. The guys are jacked, I know, to get it done.”

After an Adam Payerl tripping minor the Wolves were able to score from their second power-play opportunity in the first period. A low shot from the right wing circle by defenseman Brad Hunt kicked off the pads of Juuse Saros and into the path of Landon Ferarro for a rebounder. The goal for Ferraro was his second of the season.

In the second period the Admirals looked to have a prime chance to equalize after Félix Girard and Mike Liambas were set with a two-on-one from close range in the low right wing. Liambas was all alone in net but Girard’s pass was prevented by a sliding Hunt. In the following rush down the ice the Wolves made it 2-0. A tic-tac play from Ivan Barbashyov teed up Justin Selman for his first goal of the season and Selman’s second career pro goal.

On their fourth power-play of the night, having gone 3/37 on the man advantage this season entering the chance, the Admirals finally notched a goal. The passing by the Ads from the low right wing set the stage as Matt White pass to Trevor Murphy gliding across the front of the net before backhanding a feed to Max Görtz in the left wing where the net was wide open for him to score his first goal of the season and make it a 2-1 game.

The Admirals power-play struggles weren’t restarting anytime soon, either. The Admirals equalized with yet another Swede smacking a puck past Pheonix Copley and this time it was Pontus Åberg with a rocket from the left point that smacked the crossbar and went straight down for his third goal of the season to make it 2-2 late in the second period.

This game would fly through the third period and require overtime. The overtime period featured incredible end-to-end action including a save of the year candidate from Copley to rob Trevor Smith as well as a great stop by Saros on Hunt. It needed a shootout.

Copley was extremely aggressive in leaving his crease to track shooters. Gaudreau used that to his advantage to dangle in a backhander past him for the first Ads tally. Saros was a perfect 13/13 in shootout attempts last season. On his first shootout of the 2016-17 season he allowed a shootout goal from the first attempt as Magnus Pääjärvi slipped a shot underneath the pads to level the shootout at 1-1. After successive misses from Justin Kirkland and Kenny Agostino the overaggressive play by Copley came back again as Åberg’s backhand to forehand move had him way out of position to glide the puck through the crease and in. Saros was set at match-point to stop Brett Sterling’s chance and the Admirals earned a 3-2 shootout win after trailing 2-0 in the second period.

“It’s kind of 50-50,” said Juuse Saros after the game. “I always want to be good at those but it was good that our guys scored a couple there so I didn’t have to make every save.”

Although it is not ideal for the Admirals to spend so much time on the penalty kill their penalty killing group was terrific in tonight’s game. The Admirals went 8/9 on the PK against the Wolves and have improved their overall penalty killing percentage to 84% (42/50).

“It was a funny game,” commented Evason. “Clearly we can’t continue to kill penalties like we are. Having said that, I love to run our guys up on being undisciplined but we’re not. We’re giving the refs opportunities to call them, so it’s on us, but there’s so many penalties in the game that the flow of the hockey game is not fun.”

Saros did allow his first shootout goal in his AHL career tonight but he is still 15/16 and is a perfect 5-0 in shootouts. His twenty-seven save night helps him improve to 5-1-0-0 in net this season with a 1.82 goals against average and 0.933 save percentage.

The Admirals return right back to the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena tomorrow night at 6pm CDT against the spoilers of last weekend’s three-in-three the Iowa Wild. It will be the second game of a five game homestand for the Admirals.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played on Sunday the team assigned defenseman Jonathan Diaby to the Cincinnati Cyclones (ECHL). Diaby played in both of the Cyclones wins on Wednesday and Thursday while registering an assist in his Cyclones debut this season. With Diaby playing at the ECHL level the Admirals roster was trimmed such that there were no scratches for tonight’s game. In uniform number news, Admirals forward Justin Kirkland switched from #24 to #19.

What are your thoughts on tonight’s game? Was that the most entertaining/excruciating three-in-three overtime the Admirals have played yet?

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The Milwaukee Admirals won 7-3 on the road against the Rockford IceHogs Sunday evening at the BMO Harris Bank Center. After countless chances came and went in back-to-back outings against the Iowa Wild the Admirals lit up the IceHogs on the road. This was the second consecutive loss for the IceHogs in which they allowed seven goals. Meanwhile, the Admirals are just happy to have tallied more than three goals in a game for the first time all season in an effort that snaps a three game winless skid.

The Admirals opened up the scoring in the first period with a great link up between Vladislav Kamenev and Matt White. The two forwards worked onside at pace with Kamenev snapping a pass behind the IceHogs defense to get White breaking behind them down the left wing. White delivered a crafty backhander as he swooped across Lars Johansson to open up the five-hole and let loose to score his third goal of the season.

Following a holding penalty against Justin Florek the IceHogs answered back quickly with a power-play goal. After the IceHogs secured the in-zone face-off Erik Gustafsson passed over to his left where Mark McNeill hammered a one-timer from the point to beat Juuse Saros from long range to make it a 1-1 game from McNeill’s second goal of the season.

The first two goals were separated by 1:03 of ice time. The two teams topped that by trading goals in the space of just thirty-two seconds later in the first period. During four-on-four hockey the IceHogs took a brief 2-1 lead after Martin Lundberg secured his third goal of the season. Then, once the four-on-four and brief abbreviated Admirals power-play ended, Pontus Åberg finally saw his hard work pay off with his second goal of the season to make it 2-2.

Through the Admirals opening six-games of the season they failed to record more than two goals in a game. That trend was finally bucked and bucked hard. The Admirals would score four goals in the second period alone and got the offense started twenty-five seconds into the frame. The Kamenev and White connection synced up again and this time it was the Russian who lit up Johanssan and the goal lamp. A give and go between the two forwards left Kamenev alone in the slot to score his second goal of the season and give the Admirals a 3-2 lead.

Trevor Smith would add his second goal of the season through a very clever veteran play. After IceHogs netminder Johansson fended off Smith’s initial scoring chance the Admirals captain would stick with the puck and bank a shot off of Johansson and in to extend the Admirals lead to 4-2.

Nearing the final six-minutes to play in the second period the goals came in rapid succession. White would add his second of the game following a rebounded shot to make it a 5-2 Admirals lead to increase his season total to four goals in his fourth game of the season. The IceHogs would finally stop the scoring run by the Admirals with a shot by Spencer Abbott that deflected past Juuse Saros for his fourth goal of the season. Unfortunately for the IceHogs, similar to the first period, they appeared to switch off right after scoring. Kamenev scored his second goal of the night just forty-three seconds after Abbott’s goal to restore the Admirals three-goal lead and make it a 6-3 Admirals advantage by the end of the second period.

With 5:21 left in regulation the IceHogs brough Johansson to the bench to get an extra attacker on while trailing by three-goals. The Admirals would cap off the night with an empty netter from Mike Liambas to make it a 7-3 Admirals victory on the road in Rockford.

The Admirals weren’t without scoring chances against the Wild in the first two-legs of this three-in-three weekend. Especially in the home opener last night there were many rebound chances where players just weren’t there to claim a rebound or stir up another rebound opportunity. Tonight it all came good. The line of Kamenev, White, and Frédérick Gaudreau really had a fantastic night. And credit to Saros in net as he stopped 31/34 in net to give the Admirals a foundation to attack from.

I believe a safe assumption would be for a solid day off for the team tomorrow following a three day span of Iowa to Milwaukee to Rockford and back. The Admirals end the October slate today with a record of 4-2-0-1 (9 points, 0.643 points percentage). They currently have the best record in the Central Division.

Next up for the Admirals will be a healthy five-game homestand over the next two weeks. They’ll face-off against the Chicago Wolves and Iowa Wild this coming Friday and Saturday at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played last night there were no roster moves made within the organization and the team featured the exact same lines as the first two games of the weekend’s three-in-three. That meant Jonathan Diaby was once again a healthy scratch. The goal for Mike Liambas tonight was his first in the AHL since 2/5/16 as a member of the Rockford IceHogs. Liambas only scored a single goal all last season from 44 games. Liambas’ last goal as a member of the Admirals came on 3/27/15.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Did the Milwaukee Admirals offense finally put the pieces together? Should all forwards get restored back with the Admirals, like at the start of the season, how do you not keep Matt White in the lineup?

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The Milwaukee Admirals lost 3-2 against the Iowa Wild Saturday night at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. It was a historic night for the Admirals organization but it unfortunately was met with another regulation defeat to the Wild.

“What we have here and what we’ve been given we would like to reward,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game. “I’d like to think that our group did reward Harris [Turer] and the organization with the effort. We just didn’t get the result.”

It didn’t take the Wild long to display similar feats of offensive strength that was on show last night. Colton Beck unleashed a rocket of a wrister from the right wing circle that went against the grain of Juuse Saros and beat him high blocker side off a post and in to give the Wild a 1-0 lead 3:14 into the game. The Wild would hold that lead despite being outshot 12-4 in the opening period by the Admirals.

The Wild would claim a 2-0 lead just twenty-seven seconds into the second period. Alex Tuch measured a pass to the tape of a center lane racing Jordan Schroeder. The shot got to the tape of Schroeder but the shot attempt wasn’t clean and fooled Juuse Saros enough to get past him. The goal for Schroeder was his fourth scored this season and third scored against the Admirals in twenty-four hours.

Matt White would start to bring some momentum to the side of the Admirals with a great individual effort to score his second goal of the season. White raced into the attacking zone with pace and rifled a wrister past Steve Michalek. The Wild goaltender was unusually far from his crease when the shot by White was taken and it beat him top shelf to make it a 2-1 contest.

As far as christening the ice with a fight it just had to be Mike Liambas for the Admirals, didn’t it? The Admirals scrapper matched up with the Wild’s Kurtis Gabriel and Liambas quickly dropped him with a right hook to the helmet. Before Gabriel could get up off one knee and keep going the officials jumped in and called it right there. That’s a 10-8 round for Liambas in your fight cards.

Following a high sticking minor against Mike Weber the Admirals were able to level things up at 2-2 with a power-play goal. A fast cycle worked back to the net front presence of Justin Florek. His initial jam play was kicked aside by Michalek but into the path of Adam Payerl to score from the rebound for his second goal of the season.

The second period ended with the Wild regaining their lead. A loss in defensive zone coverage allowed Sam Anas to break free for a shot on Saros. The Anas shot was blockered off by Saros lost sight of the puck completely and froze. Adam Gilmour managed to find the puck loose between the pads of Saros and poked it through for his second goal of the season to give the Wild a 3-2 lead.

With 1:54 of regulation remaining the Admirals brought Saros off to bring the extra attacker on. The Admirals nearly capitalized right away with a jam play in front of Michalek but the puck was finally ushered into the left wing pocket and away from danger. That would be the last solid piece of attacking pressure from the Admirals as they dropped the home opener to the Wild by a final score of 3-2.

“We just did a quick count and maybe there is five scoring chances against us in the entire game,” said Evason. “Clearly we’ll watch and go over it but boy we played good. It’s unfortunate we didn’t get the end result for Harris and for everybody that has worked so hard on this but it’s a long year. It’s just the first game here.”

This is two regulation defeats for the Admirals in two days against the Iowa Wild. The Admirals went 6-1-1-0 against the Wild all last season. The Ads complete the three-in-three weekend tomorrow with a 4pm contest on the road against the Rockford IceHogs.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played last night there were no roster changes made throughout the organization. The same couldn’t be said of the Iowa Wild who saw Tyler Graovac recalled by the Minnesota Wild while Teemu Pulkkinen was assigned to Iowa after clearing waivers from Minnesota. Pulkkinen was not available for tonight’s game. This was the Milwaukee Admirals first game in the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena in twenty-nine years. The last Admirals game in the building was 4/25/87 in a 7-4 playoff win over the Lake Golden Eagles back when it was still known as the MECCA. Tonight’s home opening attendance was 6,458.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Are the Milwaukee Admirals offensive struggles starting to become a glaring problem? What did you think of the home opener of the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena and how would you describe your experience?

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The Milwaukee Admirals lost 6-1 on the road against the Iowa Wild Friday night at the Wells Fargo Arena. This was the Admirals first regulation loss of the season and their first regulation loss in Iowa under the Iowa Wild banner. The Admirals entered tonight’s game with a 10-0-2-1 record against the Iowa Wild at the Wells Fargo Arena. The Admirals last regulation loss in Iowa came back on 2/28/09 in a 2-1 defeat to the then Iowa Chops.

Despite a surging start for the Admirals offensively it was the Wild getting on the board first. The Wild were able to utilize a counter attack that saw Mario Lucia zip down the left wing and dish a spin-o-rama pass to the center lane drive of Tyler Graovac who kept his shot along the ice to beat Jonas Gunnarsson five-hole for his second tally of the season. The Wild would enter the locker room after the first period ended up 1-0 while being outshot by the Admirals 14-5.

In the second period, following a slashing call against Alex Carrier, the Wild made it a 2-0 game through a power-play goal from Jordan Schroeder. Christoph Bertschy was able to move in from the right wing and tee up Schroeder in the slot before Adam Pardy could close him down. The quick release shot by Schroeder beat Gunnarsson near-post glove-side for his second goal of the season.

The Wild would add a second goal in the sandwich stanza to extend their lead to 3-0. A long range shot from the point by defenseman Gustav Olofsson deflected right in front of the Admirals netminder Gunnarsson by Colton Beck. The deflected shot trickled through the Swedish goaltender and the Wild’s Beck was credited with his first goal of the season.

The third period is where this game went into overdrive for the Wild. Schroeder was left all alone in front of the net for a one-timer feed from behind Gunnarsson’s net by Zach Palmquist to record his second goal of the game. The Wild were then put on a five-on-three power-play for 1:17 of ice time after a hooking call against Trevor Murphy and tripping call against Trevor Smith. The Wild cashed in from both sides of the two-man advantage: first from rebounder by Graovac for his second of the night and then a deflection off the leg of Bertschy to get his second goal of the season. It was 6-0 Wild before the halfway point in the third period.

By game’s end it seemed a moral victory for the Admirals was to -at the very least- break up Steven Michalek’s shutout bid. The Admirals were able to do that and did so shorthanded. Adam Payerl worked behind the net and swung out towards the left wing side of the net to get a pass out to an unmarked Adam Pardy down the slot. Pardy’s shot snuck past the blocker of Michalek to see Pardy record a shorthanded goal in his Admirals debut and his first AHL goal scored since 3/19/13 as a member of the Rochester Americans.

The final scoreline of 6-1 is tough to take. I’d imagine it’s even tougher to take for Gunnarsson who was making his North American pro and Admirals debut tonight. He stopped 25/31 shots on goal tonight and was left really exposed on a number of the goals allowed in tonight’s game. His opposite number in net for the Wild, Michalek, made thirty-six saves in tonight’s game and lost the shutout with 3:11 remaining in regulation.

These two teams lock horns once again tomorrow night. Depending on what bus you’re in tonight it is either a long bus ride from Des Moines to Milwaukee or a cruise. There will be plenty to dissect for the Admirals ahead of the rematch and the hope would be for the home opening crowd at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena to provide an extra spark.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played last Saturday the organization has made numerous moves. Trevor Smith, Frédérick Gaudreau, and Juuse Saros were reassigned to the Milwaukee Admirals while the likes of Austin Watson and Harry Zolnierczyk remain topside. The Admirals released Shawn O’Donnell and Dov Grumet-Morris from their PTO Contracts. The Nashville Predators then recalled defenseman Matt Irwin to join them for their on-going West Coast road trip. The Admirals then made a trade that saw them acquire Adam Pardy from the Springfield Falcons in exchange for Eric Robinson, Teddy Doherty, and Brandon Whitney. The Admirals then assigned defenseman Jaynen Rissling to the Cincinnati Cyclones where goaltender Mark Visentin was also recalled earlier in the week. Tonight’s only scratch for the Admirals was a healthy scratch for defenseman Jonathan Diaby.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Was this a loss of composure for the Milwaukee Admirals? Where is the Admirals pace and skill offensively? Is there concern that Jonas Gunnarsson’s North American transition will be this shaky all season and, if so, is Mark Visentin the answer rather than playing Juuse Saros for every single game this season?

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The Milwaukee Admirals lost 3-2 in a shootout on the road against the Rockford IceHogs Saturday night at the BMO Harris Bank Center. Despite all the roster activity that took place today the Admirals delivered a really inspired performance on the ice tonight. Mark Visentin made thirty-four saves in a relief start for the Admirals while Juuse Saros earned his first career NHL win for the Nashville Predators. It was a solid performance. The Admirals earn a point. They just come up short in the shootout.

After a steady first period the entertainment provided by the second period more than made up for the scoreless opening frame. Mark McNeill opened the scoring up for the IceHogs after being unleashed on a counter attack from the Admirals defensive zone. He had a full head of steam before Ville Pokka fed him the puck. McNeill’s pace burned through Matt White and Jonathan Diaby before he managed to beat Mark Visentin with a low wrister for his first goal of the season.

The IceHogs would make it a 2-0 second period lead after a bomb from Carl Dahlström. The Admirals vacated the point as a puck trickled back to Dahlström who hammered a shot first-time that buzzed through a screen and Visentin to record his first North American pro goal.

It seemed that the second tally for the IceHogs was finally enough to awake the Admirals. In a span of 1:12 the Admirals went from trailing 2-0 to being on level terms. Félix Girard scored his first of the season just twenty-one seconds after the IceHogs had made it 2-0 and did so in the middle of a scrum out in front of Lars Johansson. Before any control by the netminder could be had Girard popped past the loose puck to get the Admirals on the board and make it 2-1.

Matt White was able to level things for the Admirals fifty-one seconds after Girard’s goal to make it 2-2. White was ranging down the right wing and appeared to be getting set to pass off to his opposite wing. After dragging the puck and cutting towards the center White unleashed a wrister that wired into the top shelf past Johansson’s glove for his first goal of the season in his 2016-17 debut. White had been a healthy scratch for the Admirals in the first three-games of the season.

The game would stay deadlocked through the third period and overtime for both team’s first shootout of the 2016-17 season. The IceHogs were able to score their first chance of the shootout through Spencer Abbott. After misses by White and Anthony Richard for the Admirals, and a failed attempt by Brandon Mashinter, the chance came for McNeill to finish what he started – and he did. He beat Visentin with a wrister blocker side to give the IceHogs the 3-2 shootout win.

A tip of the cap can be given to Visentin in net for the Admirals tonight. After a slow start to his season with the Cincinnati Cyclones at the ECHL level he was given the start tonight with the Admirals amidst the chaos going on in the organization. He delivered a great performance against the team he played for a season ago by stopping 34/36 shots on goal. He and the Admirals came up short in the shootout, yes, but after what took place earlier in the day I’d say taking a hard earned point such as this is a solid result and something to build off of.

The Admirals first loss of the season has them at a 3-0-0-1 record dropping only a single point out of a possible eight these first four games of the season during a five-game road trip. That road trip ends next week when the Admirals face-off against the Iowa Wild on Friday. The Admirals then look to make their mark at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena the next night against the Wild. They’re then right off to Rockford that Sunday to complete the three-in-three weekend and their October slate.

Ramblings: Prior to tonight’s game a massive situation broke out regarding food poisoning for the Nashville Predators. The Predators officially recalled Frédérick Gaudreau, Austin Watson, Trevor Smith, and Harry Zolnierczyk from the Milwaukee Admirals. The Predators also recalled Juuse Saros from the Admirals under emergency conditions and placed Cody Bass on injured reserve due toan upper-body injury. The Admirals in response recalled Justin Kirkland, Eric Robinson, Jaynen Rissling, and Mark Visentin from the Cincinnati Cyclones (ECHL). They also signed forward Shawn O’Donnell and goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris to PTO Contracts. The Admirals scratches tonight were Shawn O’Donnell (healthy), Jaynen Rissling (healthy), and Dov Grumet-Morris (healthy). By recording an assist on Félix Girard’s goal tonight Alex Carrier earned his first career point as a professional hockey player. In addition to Juuse Saros earning his first career win in the NHL tonight’s contest for the Nashville Predators also saw the NHL debut for Frédérick Gaudreau.

Thoughts on tonight’s performance? All things considered do you feel taking a point from this game is a positive result for the Admirals? Did any of the new blood out of the ECHL impress you?

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The Milwaukee Admirals won 2-1 on the road against the Chicago Wolves Wednesday night at the Allstate Arena. The Admirals were able to hold to a power-play goal in the second period by Austin Watson all the way to the finish line to start the season off with three consecutive 2-1 victories.

The penalty woes that turned an ugly head in San Antonio manifested in Chicago early. The Admirals found themselves shorthanded four times in the first period and the Wolves were able to cash in off one of those opportunities. A feed from the left point by Brad Hunt went over to the right wing circle where Kenny Agostino hammered a one-timer on goal. His short appeared to deflect a touch off of Admirals defenseman Matt Irwin before getting past Juuse Saros to give the Wolves a 1-0 lead from a power-play goal.

The Wolves lead didn’t last long at all. Just thirty-nine seconds after the Wolves scored on the power-play a skillful piece of puckhandling by Pontus Åberg ended with a wicked shot at the top of the right wing circle. Pheonix Copley blockered the Åberg shot in front of the net and Ads captain Trevor Smith was able to pop home the rebound to level things at 1-1.

Penalties continued to mount and finally the Admirals were able to cash in for their second power-play goal of the season. Vladislav Kamenev completed a circle-to-circle pass to Austin Watson in the right wing. Watson measured up his wrist shot and beat Copley to the far post and in to record his first AHL goal since 4/7/15.

The Admirals would hold to that 2-1 scoreline yet again to secure their third win from three games to start the season. All wins have come at the 2-1 scoreline. Saros came up really big down the stretch in tonight’s contest. He ended the night with thirty saves and quite a few big time stops as the Wolves went empty net and extra attacker in the dying seconds.

As nice as these wins have been for the Admirals a major talking point remains to be the issue with taking trips to the penalty box. Last season the Admirals through three games had sixty penalty minutes from nineteen infractions with a 7/13 penalty kill. This season the Admirals have fifty-nine penalty minutes from twenty-eight infractions with a 21/24 penalty kill in their first three games of the season. That penalty kill has been fantastic, no doubt, but the amount of penalties being taken is laboring to the penalty kill and breaks up so much of the flow for the offense to roll when so much of the game is spent on special teams. In short: it has to change.

Next up for the Admirals will be a road tilt against the Rockford IceHogs this Saturday night at 7:00 PM CDT. They will then get a relatively nice spot of downtime before a home-and-home between the Iowa Wild with a game in Iowa next Friday. That sets the stage for the Admirals home opener against the Wild next Saturday at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Sunday the team assigned forward Justin Kirkland to the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL. Kirkland made his pro hockey debut last night in the Cyclones 5-0 shutout defeat to the Toledo Walleye. The line combinations for the Admirals was exactly the same as it was in the weekend opening set in San Antonio. That meant healthy scratches for Matt White and Jonathan Diaby. Austin Watson’s goal tonight was his sixty-ninth career AHL goal and it was scored in his two-hundred and thirty-second AHL appearance. All AHL goals scored by Watson have come with the Admirals. He is fourth in the team’s AHL history in goal scoring behind Darren Haydar (110), Chris Mueller (87), and Mike Santorelli (74).

Are you concerned by the volume of penalties being taken by the Milwaukee Admirals out the gate this season? How impressive has Juuse Saros looked in net these first three-games? Are you underwhelmed at all by the lack of offensive output thus far? 

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

The Milwaukee Admirals won 2-1 on the road against the San Antonio Rampage Sunday afternoon at the AT&T Center. It was a similar feeling game as the opener and the result is just that. A late third period goal scored by Adam Payerl put the Admirals over the top in a tight penalty filled contest to complete the weekend sweep on the road.

Today’s scoring started off with a goal that mirrored last night’s game-winner for the Admirals. A great defensive play in neutral ice that speared a counter attack that ended with a goal. This go-round it was Matt Irwin who forced a turnover with a stick check and pushed the puck up ice in-line with Justin Florek. The newly signed Admirals forward went with a low wrister from the right wing that blazed against the grain of Spencer Martin to open Florek’s goal scoring account with the Admirals.

The penalty bug from yesterday’s contest trickled into today. And just like yesterday a 1-0 Admirals lead heading into the second period was erased by a power-play goal for the Rampage. The home-side were on their fourth power-play in the when A.J. Greer picked out Rocco Grimaldi in the low left wing circle who wired a wrister top shelf on Juuse Saros for his first goal of the season.

After a whistle during an Admirals five-on-three power-play the first fight for the Admirals in the 2016-17 season broke out. If you had Austin Watson as the man to do it? You probably had decent betting odds. Watson was grabbed by Duncan Siemens and Watson obliged. He never really managed to free himself up to throw anything flush and was subsequently taken down rather quickly in more of a scrum than a fist fight.

It was tough sledding for the Admirals in the third period. They weren’t able to record a shot on goal until 8:23 of the frame had elapsed. Despite that, much like yesterday’s game again, the Admirals found an edge. Adam Payerl provided a brilliant piece of puck control to maintain a backhanded stance as he carved past the front of the net before whipping a no-look backhander between the pads of Martin to score his first goal of the season and make it a 2-1 Admirals lead.

The Rampage’s late empty net push came with essentially five-on-five hockey taking place. Sergei Boikov was called for boarding when he caught his fellow Russian Vladislav Kamenev from behind as the Admirals were forechecking. Nothing came of the Rampage’s 1:50 worth of extra attacking play and the Admirals secured back-to-back 2-1 victories in San Antonio to start the season.

Juuse Saros made twenty-nine saves for the Admirals today. He came up really big on a number of occasions and especially when the Admirals were penalty killing. It was yet another rough game in that regard, as far as penalty accumulations are concerned, but the Admirals penalty kill still did a strong job. In two games the Admirals have 14/16 on the penalty kill. I’m certain getting the amount of trips to the box minimized need to be addressed but the penalty kill has had a decent workout and performance out the gate.

The Admirals next game will be this Wednesday where they’ll travel to Chicago for the first Amtrak Rivalry game of the season against the Chicago Wolves. That game starts at 7:00 PM CDT. The Admirals will be hosting a viewing party of the game at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena that evening.

Ramblings: Tonight’s line combinations were the same as they have been the past week. That meant the healthy scratches named last night were repeated once again: Matt White, Justin Kirkland, and Jonathan Diaby. The Admirals winning streak over the San Antonio Rampage is now up to six-games. As mentioned yesterday, the Rampage’s last victory over the Admirals came on 3/25/15 in Milwaukee on a 4-3 shootout victory when the Rampage were part of the Florida Panthers organization.

All things considered, are you happy enough with the Milwaukee Admirals taking wins in their first two games of the season? What are some of the more glaring problems that stood out to you this weekend? Do you think the penalty bug is concerning or is it simply early season sloppiness?

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The Milwaukee Admirals won 2-1 on the road against the San Antonio Rampage Saturday night at the AT&T Center. Vladislav Kamenev scored the game-winner midway through the third period off a partial breakaway from a neutral ice turnover and the Admirals would hold to that until the final horn sounded.

Things kicked off with a bang as the Admirals were able to capitalize off of their first power-play opportunity of the season. An incredible series of passes by the second power-play unit was finished with a wing-to-wing feed from Trevor Smith right into Pontus Åberg’s wheelhouse for the first goal of the season.

It became apparent around the second period that the rarity to tonight’s game would be seeing these two teams playing at even strength. By the end of the second period both sides had six power-play opportunities and a total of fourteen penalty minutes.

Naturally, this wave of penalties eventually led to a breakthrough for the Rampage on, what else, the power-play. A shot by Mikko Rantanen knuckled in on Juuse Saros and trickled out for A.J. Greer to pop in the rebound and make this a 1-1 contest at the midway point.

In the third period the game finally saw a goal scored at even strength. Harry Zolnierczyk caught Chris Bigras with a check in neutral ice that freed the puck up for Vladislav Kamenev to race down the right wing on a partial breakaway. Former Admirals goaltender Jeremy Smith appeared to be leaning to his right as though Kamenev was going to pass to his left wing but he instead fired a shot on goal. The initial attempt was stopped by Kamenev shoved the rebound across for the go-ahead goal to make it a 2-1 Admirals lead with 11:22 left to play in regulation.

With 1:01 left to play in the third period the Rampage looked to take advantage of an icing from the Admirals by taking their timeout and pulling Smith to put the extra attacker on. Unfortunate for them nothing came of it. The best scoring chance in the final minute came with an empty netter bid by Admirals captain Trevor Smith spanking the crossbar off a shot from the blueline. The Admirals would basically cycle the puck in the offensive zone until time expired to secure win one in game one.

This was a slop fest of a game in the penalty department. The Admirals had seven power-plays while the Rampage had nine. The two teams combined for forty penalty minutes.

What can be taken away from the opener was a solid performance in net by Juuse Saros who, while not facing too much pressure, came away with a twenty-two save performance while just allowing the power-play goal that came off a rebounder. It was also a strong performance from defenseman Matt Irwin who looked every bit the part of the veteran defenseman he was brought in to be.

These two lock horns once again tomorrow afternoon in San Antonio. That game starts up at 3:00 PM CDT. I have to imagine both teams will be looking to minimize trips to the penalty box.

Ramblings: Tonight’s line combinations were exactly as they have been throughout this past week of practice. That meant that your healthy scratches on the night were Matt White, Justin Kirkland, and Jonathan Diaby. The Admirals have won the last five straight meetings against the San Antonio Rampage which spans tonight and all of last season. The last time the Rampage defeated the Admirals came on 3/25/15 in Milwaukee on a 4-3 shootout victory when the Rampage were part of the Florida Panthers organization.

Reaction to tonight’s season opener? How did you feel the team played? Do you get the impression it is going to take a few games before this Admirals team will really start to dial everything in?

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The Milwaukee Admirals lost 4-1 against the Rockford IceHogs in an exhibition game Friday night at the MSOE Kern Center. Justin Florek scored the lone goal for the Admirals but it came long after the damage was already done by the visiting IceHogs.

“We talked after that our execution wasn’t good,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game. “Our desire was real good. Our entries were fine. We just didn’t execute. And their goaltenders played real well. So, combine that all together, we didn’t get the result but our effort certainly was there.”

This game didn’t take long to look ugly. The IceHogs were able to take a 2-0 lead in the opening 1:30 of the first period. The first tally came on the rush with Pierre-Cedric Labrie sliding a puck past Juuse Saros. Bryn Chyzyk scored just shy of a minute after the opening goal to provide the IceHogs with a two-goal cushion they’d maintain cleanly through the rest of the opening period.

“That felt really weird,” commented Juuse Saros on the fast start for the IceHogs. “But it’s good to learn from those in these games so it won’t happen again in the games that count.”

6:23 into the second period and the IceHogs added a power-play goal to push their lead to 3-0. After Jonathan Diaby headed to the box for interference Sam Carrick hammered a slap shot against the grain of Saros from the right wing that went up and over the Finn’s blocker.

Through an onslaught of penalty calls a fight broke out between Shawn O’Donnell and Carrick. The tilt seemed to give a lift to the crowd and transfer into the players because it wasn’t long after that Justin Florek scored a shorthanded goal for the Admirals to make it a 3-1 contest just before the midway point of the third period.

“Our penalty kill was fine,” said Evason. “It’s unfortunate to have that many penalties because you can’t truly evaluate your group when your lines are all messed up. It’s unfortunate there were that many. Hopefully tomorrow night there won’t be so many.”

The Admirals took Saros off to bring the extra attacker on late. Sadly, with the Admirals on the penalty kill at the time, that extra attacker advantage didn’t exactly mean much. The IceHogs would pop in their fourth tally through an empty netter by Martin Lundberg which would finish the game off at 4-1.

Ramblings: Prior to the game, the Milwaukee Admirals announced that they had signed forwards Eric Robinson and Justin Florek to AHL contracts for the 2016-17 season. The Admirals play on the road tomorrow night against the Chicago Wolves at 7:00 PM CDT at the Triphahn Center Ice Arena. It will be the team’s last taste of game action before the 2016-17 AHL regular season begins on Saturday when they play the San Antonio Rampage on the road in Texas. Practice this coming week is schedule for Tuesday through Thursday before they travel to San Antonio on Friday.

Thoughts on tonight’s performance? Were a lot of the penalty calls warranted? Were you able to take away much from tonight’s game for the team and individual performances? Did any impress or unimpress?

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The Milwaukee Admirals lost 4-1 on the road against the Grand Rapids Griffins Tuesday night at the Van Andel Arena.

After such a highly successful regular season the Admirals have been swept out of the opening round of the 2016 Calder Cup Playoffs. The Central Division champions had a massively successful first period but where stopped in their tracks after a lengthy video review period in the second period put the Griffins equal at 1-1. This was followed by yet another goal that went through open netting that would be ruled as such by replay to give the Griffins a lead they would never lose.

The Admirals have lost their last eight straight playoff games. The last time the Admirals escaped the opening round of the playoffs came five-years ago in the 2011 Calder Cup Playoffs. They end the 2015-16 season having lost five-straight games for the first time all-season. Admirals head coach Dean Evason’s playoff record is now 1-9.

It was a very purposeful start by the Admirals. They were flying in the first period and generating numerous shots to the net. Before the horn could sound in the opening frame the Admirals hard work saw a pay off with Yakov Trenin’s shot from the left wing rebounding off of Tom McCollum and sitting in-line for Adam Payerl to smack in home to give the Admirals their first lead in the series since Game 1. The primary assist by Trenin was his first career pro point.

What happened at the start of the second period can only be summed up with the word insanity. Play was stopped momentarily to assess whether or not a shot by Brian Lashoff was a goal or not. The puck hadn’t hit a post. It didn’t trickle across the line. It evidently flew clean through the netter. After a seriously long video review, with multiple officials looking at the overhead view, the officials determined it to be a good goal. The net wasn’t checked and it was left as is.

Moments later a shot by Anthony Mantha appeared to get through the left arm of Marek Mazanec and sail wide to the right wing corner boards. Mantha celebrated and went to the bench for five-fives amidst confusion. After another video review, a much quicker one, the officials called it a good goal and then checked the net before getting a replacement net in place for the Admirals.

There was no replay needed for Mantha’s second goal of the game coming at the end of the second period. Xavier Ouellet skated out towards the left wing circle and dropped a pass off to Mantha for a bomb from the high slot that whistled through net front traffic and beat Mazanec over the shoulder to make it a 3-1 Griffins lead through two periods of play.

In the third period the Griffins scored their fourth unanswered goal. The Admirals won a neutral zone face-off but Trevor Murphy turned the puck over right to Colin Campbell who immediately raced in on a breakaway where he finished backhand to forehand over the pad blocker-side of Mazanec to make it a 4-1 Griffins lead.

There were still four-minutes remaining when Mazanec hit the Admirals bench to get the extra attacker on. In something that sums up the Griffins defensive structure against the Admirals the majority of this 2015-16 season there wouldn’t be a goal scored despite the Admirals pressure with the added man on the ice. The Griffins would win 4-1 to complete the opening round sweep of the Admirals. The Griffins will now face the Lake Erie Monsters in the Western Conference Semi-Finals.

A tip of the cap can be given to Griffins goaltender McCollum who was the surprise choice in Game 1 of the series over the main man in net for the entire season Jared Coreau. In this series McCollum stopped 91/93 shots on goal in the series for a 0.968 save percentage and 1.00 goals against average in the three-game set.

Ramblings: There were no roster moves made since the last time the Milwaukee Admirals played on Saturday night. The Nashville Predators will be playing in their first Game 7 in franchise history tomorrow night in Anaheim. Meanwhile, the Cincinnati Cyclones lost Game 6 and have been drawn into a Game 7 against the Fort Wayne Komets that will be contested on tomorrow night in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals featured a significant change up in the forward lines: Reinhart-Kamenev-Åberg, Richard-Gaudreau-Görtz, White-Trenin-Fiala, Devane-Girard-Payerl, Oligny-Potter, Näkyvä-Elliott, Murphy-Mullen. Tonight’s Scratches: Jack Dougherty (healthy), Zac Larraza (healthy), Janne Juvonen (healthy), Joonas Lyytinen (healthy), Aaron Irving (healthy), and Alexandre Carrier (healthy). In addition, the Admirals tabbed Marek Mazanec with starting duties tonight marking the first time in 10 years that the Admirals had two different starting goaltenders in a playoff series since Brian Finley and Jake Moreland split the duties in the 2006 Calder Cup Playoffs.

What is your reaction to this game and specifically the controversial moments that occurred at the start of the second period? With how great the Milwaukee Admirals played in the first period did that long first video review delay stop their momentum completely?

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