The Milwaukee Admirals won 4-1 against the Grand Rapids Griffins Tuesday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

“It’s one game,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game. “Clearly we know where we’re at, the group knows where they’re at, and it was an important game. But we didn’t approach it any differently that any other game.”

In this showdown of the top two teams in the Central Division things were rather tight through two period of play. The score at the start of the third period was 2-1 with the Griffins having scored the last goal in the contest. In the opening 1:39 of the third period the Admirals raced out to score a pair of goals that would see them through to the finish line. The Admirals point streak is now up to seven-games. The Griffins losing streak is now up to four-games.

“Real happy the way we competed,” said Evason. “We did a lot of real good things in order to give ourselves a chance to have success.”

Despite a slow start the Admirals appeared to find their groove after a great play on the penalty kill by Félix Girard earned a penalty against the Griffins and changed momentum. The Admirals wouldn’t cash in on their abbreviated power-play chance that Girard provided but would on their first crack at a full-length power-play opportunity.

Martin Frk went to the box for a holding minor that took place in the Griffins attacking zone. Setting his sights from the right wing circle was Vladislav Kamenev and his slap shot buzzed through traffic, and Jared Coreau in net, to record his thirteenth goal of the season and provide the Admirals with an early lead.

The Admirals ended the first period on an extended five-on-three penalty kill. Adam Payerl sat down in the penalty box for slashing and he would be accompanied by Jimmy Oligny after a boarding minor against Mitch Callahan which put the Griffins on a 1:09 long five-on-three power-play. Taylor Aronson was laying out repeatedly in front of Juuse Saros to negate back-post passes from in-close and the Admirals were able to survive the rest of the opening stanza with a 1-0 lead. At the start of the second period, they took care of the last six-seconds of the two man advantage for the Griffins and the final fifty-one seconds of Oligny’s penalty to get out of an early jam.

“We had a lot of kills in the first,” said Pontus Åberg after the game. “That sucks for us guys that are not playing on the penalty kill but the guys did a good job out there and kept them from scoring. That was huge for us.”

After being part of a great penalty kill Aronson decided to add yet another primary assist to his night by helping see Matt White reach double-digits for goals this season. Aronson raced around the boards from the right wing and, just before he was about to wrap around the net, delivered a pass to the tape of White for a one-timer that Coreau never saw coming.

“We talked about it right before the draw,” said Taylor Aronson of the set play off the face-off. “We talked about where to go and made it work. Luckily it worked out.”

The Griffins were able to respond quickly to White’s tenth goal of the season. 2:22 of ice-time elapsed saw Mark Zengerle tag Any Miele to his opposite wing to give the Griffins leading points scorer add to his total. Miele’s wrister from the left wing circle was blistered into the top shelf past Saros’ glove side. So much so, the officials had quite a bit of trouble retrieving the puck that wound up getting stuck in the netting from Miele’s fifteenth goal of the season.

A mere twenty-seven seconds into the third period and the Admirals re-established their two-goal lead. Stefan Elliott hopped up from the blue line, faked out Eric Tangradi, and proceeded to fling a wrist shot through traffic for his sixth goal of the season and his first being scored not on an Admirals power-play.

Things went from bad to worse for the Griffins third period start. Pontus Åberg forced a really bad turnover out of Martin Frk and it sent Max Reinhart off on a breakaway where he dusted off Coreau with a backhander over the glove to score his twentieth goal of the season. The goals from Elliott and Reinhart were scored 1:12 apart from one another.

“Our group has been resilient,” commented Evason of the Admirals coming back strongly to start the third period. “That’s something that has been a real positive for us. When we’ve had situations where we could possibly have a let down we’ve been able to find something. Maybe it’s not even a goal. Maybe it’s a penalty kill – a momentum swing. Certainly a key factor is our leadership group.”

Ramblings: Prior to the start of tonight’s game the Milwaukee Admirals announced that they had signed goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris to a PTO contract to serve as an emergency back-up with Marek Mazanec out of the lineup. Tonight’s line combinations were: Reinhart-Gaudreau-Åberg, Murphy-Kamenev-Payerl, White-Girard-Görtz, Devane-Bass-Pendenza, Elliott-Mullen, Oligny-Potter, Näkyvä-Aronson. Tonight’s Scratches: Kevin Fiala (suspended by team for a violation of team rules), Cody Hodgson (upper-body), Marek Mazanec (undisclosed), and Johan Alm (lower-body).

Thought’s on tonight’s game? Seeing this level of a performance against the Grand Rapids – what do you currently think of these Milwaukee Admirals? How important was this win against the Griffins for the race to win a division title?

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

The Milwaukee Admirals lost 5-4 in a shootout against the Texas Stars Saturday night at the Cedar Park Center.

This game had some serious momentum shifts involved in it. The Admirals raced out to a 3-0 lead with well over half the game remaining only to see that lead get dissolved by four-unanswered goals from the Stars including three straight goals scored on the power-play. Patrick Mullen was able to equalize late with his first goal since joining the Admirals to help see the Admirals earn a point to extend their point streak to six-games. Unfortunately, Brendan Ranford would add a game-winning shootout goal to his two-goal night to provide the Stars with the added point.

A touch of chippy behavior set the foundation for an Admirals four-on-three power-play chance in the first period. Pontus Åberg and Greg Rallo went to the box for unsportsmanlike conduct minors to make it four-on-four which was followed closely by a tripping call against Curtis McKenzie. On the four-on-three power-play Patrick Mullen threw a pass from the point off to the right wing circle where Vladislav Kamenev put some life back into the Russian Space Administration with an absolute rocket of a slap shot taken first-time. The power-play goal for Kamenev saw his season total hit twelve.

Cody Bass has been doing lots of great work on and off the ice for the Admirals with little to show for it in the stat sheet. The veteran forward finally got a pay off in the second period after battling to the front of the net to deflect a hard shot from Kristian Näkyvä at the middle of the blueline. The goal for Bass was his fourth of the season.

This was followed less than three-minutes later by a whirlwind of a shift by Pontus Åberg. The Swede generated a pair of turnovers, pushed the offensive cycle, and capped things off with a toe-drag wrister that whistled through traffic to go into the top shelf over Maxime Lagacé’s blocker shoulder. Åberg’s nineteenth goal of the season signaled the end of the night for Lagacé who stopped just 10/13 shots on goal before Jack Campbell entered the game.

The shake-up for the Stars in net seemed to provide the right spark the coaching staff was looking for as their offense came to life. In the final four-minutes of the second period the Stars scored a pair of power-play goals to draw the Admirals 3-0 lead down to 3-2. Brendan Ranford scored with a wrister from the left wing circle after a high paced rush through neutral zone opened up space for him to score his eighteenth goal of the season. That was followed 2:14 of ice time later by another power-play goal which was crafted behind the net from returning Stars captain Travis Morin and polished off at the side of the net by McKenzie on a backhander for his nineteenth goal of the season. The shot was taken just quick enough that the puck elevated up and over the reaching glove or Marek Mazanec.

Texas was able to equalize in the third period after scoring their third consecutive power-play goal. Patrick Mullen flipped a puck over the glass to put the Stars on the power-play and a Mattias Bäckman shot from the point ricocheted off the tip of Ranford’s stick in front of the net to record his second goal of the game and nineteenth of the season to make it a 3-3 game.

The Stars would score their fourth unanswered goal with 6:16 remaining in regulation to take hold of a 4-3 lead after having trailed by three-goals. A strong rush from the left wing by Derek Hulak put him in on a race to the front of the net where he lost puck control. The way momentum was going in the game it would naturally make sense for the puck to fortuitously slide like a pass to the path of Gemel Smith where he took a backhanded swipe and scored his thirteenth goal of the season.

With all the momentum in the world behind the Stars the Admirals were able to find an equalizer out of nowhere from an impossible angle shot from Mullen with 2:14 left in regulation. Mullen stepped way up into the rush and was near the right wing pocket by the wall when he decided to snap off a shot to Campbell’s near post. The shot managed to hit iron and squeak in for Mullen’s second goal of this AHL season and the first of his Admirals career.

This game would spill into overtime to extend the Admirals point streak to six-games. Unfortunately, the Admirals would fall in the shootout where only Ranford was able to score from the six attempts through three-rounds. Ranford swooped from the right wing and blew a wrister past the glove of Mazanec for the game-winning shootout goal. The loss for the Admirals ends a winning streak of three-games.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Wednesday there were no roster moves made throughout the organization. Tonight’s line combinations were: Reinhart-Gaudreau-Åberg, Fiala-Kamenev-Payerl, White-Girard-Görtz, Murphy-Bass-Pendenza, Elliott-Mullen, Oligny-Potter, Näkyvä-Aronson. Tonight’s scratches were: Jamie Devane (healthy), Cody Hodgson (upper-body), and Johan Alm (lower-body).

Was this a good or a bad result from the Milwaukee Admirals considering the lost a 3-0 lead but did comeback late to earn a point? What happened to the Admirals offense following the third goal and subsequent goaltending swap for the Texas Stars?

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 2-0 on the road against the Texas Stars Wednesday night at the Cedar Park Center.

Juuse Saros was the story of tonight for the Admirals. The Stars were averaging 4.1 goals per game on home ice heading into this game but Saros stopped all twenty-eight shots on goal en route to his fourth shutout and his twenty-third win of the season from thirty-one starts.

For the last three Admirals games there was a scoreless first period of play. It was trending in that direction once again until a hooking call in the Stars attacking zone on Cole Ully put the Admirals on the power-play where they’d cash in from the first chance on the man-advantage. Stefan Elliott let loose on a wrist shot from the top of the left wing circle which got through Maxime Lagacé with Cody Bass standing in front of him. The goal would be credited to Elliott for his fifth goal of the season – all of which have come on the power-play.

In the second period the Admirals penalty kill would get tested three times with key penalty killers all involved with trips to the box. Not only did the Admirals penalty kill hold serve but the Stars were held for well over ten-minutes in the second period without a shot on goal.

The dagger moment of this game came in the third period when the Admirals scored once again on the power-play. Gemel Smith tripped up Corey Potter and set the stage for yet another blistering shot by Max Görtz to be unleashed for his sixteenth goal of the season and ninth scored on the power-play. His wrister beat Lagacé and then managed to beat up the crossbar before directing down and in to give the Admirals a two goal cushion.

With the shutout tonight the Admirals now have sole possession of first place in the Central Division and are second place to the Ontario Reign in the Western Conference standings. This was the eighth shutout of the season by the Admirals and only the second time all season that the Stars were shutout on home ice. The last time the Stars were shutout at Cedar Park Center was back on 10/21/15 against the Stockton Heat.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Sunday there have been no roster moves made throughout the organization. Tonight’s line combinations were: Reinhart-Gaudreau-Åberg, Fiala-Kamenev-Payerl, White-Girard-Görtz, Murphy-Bass-Pendenza, Oligny-Potter, Elliott-Mullen, Näkyvä-Aronson. Tonight’s scratches were: Jamie Devane (illness), Cody Hodgson (upper-body), and Johan Alm (lower-body).

Reaction to tonight’s game? How good was the Milwaukee Admirals defensive performance tonight as well as Juuse Saros in net? Is this the style of hockey the Admirals need to play to have long term playoff success?

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 Chicago Wolves Sunday afternoon at the Allstate Arena.

Entering the third period the Admirals trailed 1-0 but saw a goal from Kevin Fiala in the opening minute of the frame level the playing field. Then it became the Russian Hammer show as Vladislav Kamenev got involved in his first fight in professional hockey during the third period. The teenager would then be the closer to tonight’s game as he put away a rebound with 2:12 remaining in regulation to cap off a three-in-three weekend for the Admirals where they claimed five out of a possible six points.

As has been the featured story of the weekend the first period came and went without a goal being scored. The opening goal wouldn’t come until midway through the second period and would come the way of the Wolves on the power-play. Jordan Schmaltz was priming to fire a shot to the net from the left wing but opted to set his sights off to the side of Marek Mazanec where Jeremy Welsh was crashing from the low right wing. The Wolves defenseman let loose on the shot pass and caught Welsh clean on the redirect for the forward’s thirteenth goal of the season.

Of note, the Admirals road power-play this season has only allowed fifteen power-play goals from one-hundred-and-four penalty kills. The Wolves have accounted for eight of those power-play goals by doing that damage at the Allstate Arena this season.

Only two-minutes after the power-play goal for the Wolves and the Admirals earned themselves a penalty shot that could have drawn them back to level terms. A fast sequence of passes put Félix Girard on a breakaway from the face-off circles in on Pheonix Copley but was taken down from behind by Zack Phillips. On the penalty shot Girard swooped down the left wing side of the ice, held forehand, and tried to snap a wrist shot over the pads blocker side of Copley but didn’t get the elevation he was looking for.

The Admirals were able to equalize just fifty-seven seconds into the third period after a terrible defensive zone turnover by Ivan Barbashyov. The Wolves had four men back in their own zone looking to breakout while the Admirals had Adam Payerl trailing behind them. Barbashyov lost the handle and it led directly to a quick one-two with Payerl passing across Copley to find Kevin Fiala on the backdoor where he’d score his sixteenth goal of the season.

It wouldn’t be much of an Amtrak Rivalry game without a fight, right? Out of all of the possible combatants I don’t think many would have picked out Vladislav Kamenev versus Danny Kristo to go down but it did after the Russian laid out Kristo behind the Admirals net. Kristo had Kamenev’s number following the hit and the two locked horns long after a whistle came. It wasn’t a long scrap at all but Kamenev landed a clean overhand right that dropped Kristo and, in the fall to the ice, the two actually managed to mangle the right ankle of linesman William Hancock. Thankfully the linesman would skate off the pain and carry on for the rest of the game.

With 2:12 remaining in regulation the Admirals scored to take a 2-1 lead. Stefan Elliott hammered a low shot that spilled out in front of Copley. The man quickest to react to rebound was Kamenev to smacked the puck around the right pad of Copley to score his eleventh goal of the season.

The Wolves went empty net with 1:24 remaining in regulation and ended up getting a power-play with twenty-seven seconds remaining. With effectively two extra attackers the Wolves ran out of time as the Admirals held on to the 2-1 lead for their second win in less than twenty-four hours.

The win today for the Admirals pushes their record to 40-20-3-1 (84 points) with a points percentage of 0.646. It is the first time since the 2012-13 season that the Admirals have hit the forty wins plateau and there are still eleven games remaining on the 2015-16 season schedule.

Ramblings: Prior to today’s game the Nashville Predators recalled both Gabriel Bourque and Eric Nystrom from their long-term injury loans. Today’s line combinations were: Reinhart-Gaudreau-Åberg, Fiala-Kamenev-Payerl, White-Girard-Görtz, Devane-Bass-Pendenza, Elliott-Mullen, Näkyvä-Aronson, Oligny-Potter. Today’s scratches were: Trevor Murphy (healthy), Cody Hodgson (upper body), Johan Alm (lower body).

Thoughts on today’s game? What did you think of the Milwaukee Admirals ability to battle back late in today’s game? How impressed are you right now with the line combination of Kevin Fiala, Vladislav Kamenev, and Adam Payerl?

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

The Milwaukee Admirals won 6-2 against the Charlotte Checkers Saturday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

Tonight’s meeting between the Admirals and Checkers wasn’t at all like the struggle that last night. Instead, the Admirals offense unloaded thirty-nine of shots on goal and went on a string of scoring four unanswered goals to leap back into the win column tonight.

“Certainly, we’ve talked about five-on-five not having the success as of late,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game. “Fortunate our [power-play] got a real big goal there as well. Penalty kill was good again. Hopefully that gives our group confidence that we can score five-on-five and, if we do the right things – which we thought we did, that we’ll get rewarded for it.”

Similar to last night’s game the opening goal wouldn’t come until the second period. Unlike last night’s game it came the way of the enemy in red. A rapid-fire start for the Checkers gave them a two-on-one rush and goal just fifty-eight seconds into the second period. Ethan Werek passed over to Checkers top scorer and team captain Derek Ryan who snapped a one-timer off from the left wing and past Juuse Saros for his nineteenth goal of the season.

In the final four-minutes of the second period the Admirals finally found rewards for all their attacking pressure. Kevin Fiala made a strong drive from the left wing wall, caught John Muse getting low with his paddle down early, and snapped a shot off his back and in for his fifteenth goal of the season.

“I mean, a goal is a goal,” smiled Kevin Fiala. “It counts but it was not beautiful. Not every goal is beautiful but it was important I think. To score 1-1 is very important to get us going.”

The Admirals needed 2:43 of ice time to tack-on to Fiala’s tally and take the lead. Kyle Hagel was called for tripping to get the Admirals on their fourth power-play of the night. This set the stage for Max Görtz to whip a wrister from the top of the left wing face-off circle and score his fourteenth goal of the season. The shot by Görtz appeared to take a glancing touch off of Keegan Lowe’s stick and sent it fluttering up and over the blocker of Muse into the roof of the net.

The Checkers scored in the opening minute of the second period. The Admirals decided to mirror that and score their third unanswered goal to start the third period. Stefan Elliott threw a puck to the net where Eric Nystrom was battling for the front of the crease with Mike Cornell. The puck deflected off the traffic in front of Muse and Nystrom was credited with the deflection for his first goal in the AHL since 2/17/08 when he scored twice as a member of the Quad City Flames.

Following the goal the Checkers decided to yank Muse from net in favor of Daniel Altshuller. It may have been a harsh move against Muse but his night ended with him stopping 23/26 shots on goal.

Altshuller was given a rather quick introduction to the game. The Admirals continued to pour pressure on offense and then came the fourth unanswered goal. Patrick Mullen blistered a head hunter of a shot from the point and Matt White caught a piece of the puck as it whistled past with his stick. The puck flew in and there were immediate calls for that deflection by White to have been played with a high stick. The referees talked it out and decided against it. The goal counted and counted as White’s eighth of the season.

The run for the Admirals finally came to a halt when Checkers captain Ryan scored his second of the night. Werek’s initial shot on Saros appeared to be saved but the puck had enough juice on it to keep motoring behind the Finnish netminder and fall into the crease. Ryan continued his drive to the net and was rewarded with his twentieth goal of the season.

The Admirals would re-establish their three-goal lead once again and do so off of an incredible piece of skill by White. The Admirals forward dangled from the right wing, across the slot, dodging stick-checks, and bending a wrist shot against the grain and through Altshuller for his second goal of the game and ninth of the season.

“I wanted to pass it to [Adam Payerl],” commented Matt White of the goal. “He made a nice play at the blueline so I kind of wanted to return the favor. But I just tried to make a move, the goalie was sliding over, just tried to hit the net, and it went in.”

For good measure the Admirals smacked in one more goal and it would be a second tally for Görtz. The Swede fought off a defender, nearly fell down while doing so, but regained his balance to unload a wrister to the near post from the left wing face-off circle that smoked past Altshuller for Görtz’s fifteenth goal of the season.

“We actually reinforced after the game that if we get pucks deep and we cycle and get that part of our game in order – we’re going to score goals,” said Evason. “Because we have enough skill level once we get the puck in their zone to the middle of the ice but, a lot of times, we take it to the middle too quickly and then look for that opportunity. That’s where the blocks come in. If we can cycle, get people out of their position defensively, and then bring it to that core area we feel we are going to have a chance to have success.”

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played last night there were no roster moves made throughout the organization. Tonight’s line combinations were: Reinhart-Gaudreau-Åberg, Fiala-Kamenev-Payerl, Nystrom-Bass-Bourque, White-Girard-Görtz, Oligny-Potter, Elliott-Mullen, Murphy-Aronson. Tonight’s scratches tonight were: Kristian Näkyvä (healthy), Jamie Devane (healthy), Cody Hodgson (upper body), Joe Pendenza (healthy), and Johan Alm (lower body).

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Was this a return to form for the Milwaukee Admirals offense? How does a game like this bode for tomorrow’s game in Chicago?

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

The Milwaukee Admirals lost 2-1 in a shootout against the Charlotte Checkers Friday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

This was the first shootout loss for the Admirals from eight shootout games on the season. It also marked the first loss for the Admirals after leading the game through two periods of play. Previously the team was 27-0-0-0 until tonight’s shootout loss.

It wouldn’t be until the second period when the game had its opening goal. Corey Potter snapped a stretch pass from deep in the Admirals defensive zone that bounced around Frédérick Gaudreau and Dennis Robertson. The two went to swat the puck at the same time and the path the puck chose to go was fortunate for the Admirals as it went directly into the path of an on-rushing Pontus Åberg. The speed that the Swede was carrying while Mike Cornell was caught puck watching left only John Muse in net to beat – and beat him he did. Åberg slammed on the breaks and flipped forehand to score his eighteenth goal of the season.

The AHL isn’t immune to some bizarre moments but what happened as soon as the second period came to an end has to stack up there as the wackiest moment of the 2015-16 season. The horn sounded, the Admirals left for the locker room, but the Checkers remained with their coaching staff seemingly upset. After a lengthy delay the announcement was made that they were using their challenge to see whether or not they had scored a goal with two-minutes remaining in the period. The Admirals coaching staff walked back out of the locker room to see what was what. The only players of the Admirals that stayed present through all of the delay were Marek Mazanec and Juuse Saros and all members of the Checkers stayed on their bench. The call came in and it was announced as, “no goal.” This delayed the start of the second intermission for a good amount of time but, hey, that was extra recovery time for the Admirals who were already in cooldown mode in the locker room as this challenge from the Checkers came and went with them losing and losing their timeout.

The third period was close to providing yet another dazzling goal from Åberg but instead left the game level with 5:10 remaining. Åberg cut through several members of the Checkers but Muse was able to fend off his shot this time. On the following counter rush from the Checkers they finally put a puck past Mazanec to end the shutout streak of the Admirals over the Checkers that lasted 115:40 of ice time over the course of three-games. Jake Chelios delivered a snapshot from the high slot that missed the sliding block attempt of Patrick Mullen and flew over the top of Mazanec’s gloves for the defenseman’s sixth goal of the season.

This game would be pushed into overtime and it was there that saw an incredible amount of nearly-almost moments. Derek Ryan whipped a backhander that beat Mazanec and banked off the crossbar, into the path of Keegan Lowe, and the follow up shot missed wide.

The game fell to a shootout where the Admirals would lose their first shootout of the season. The lone goal scored in the shootout came in round four where Justin Shugg beat Mazanec five-hole for a Checkers shootout victory.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Sunday the organization agreed to a new ten-year lease to make the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena the team’s home starting in the 2016-17 season. The Admirals also saw two members of the Nashville Predators, Gabriel Bourque and Eric Nystrom, arrive on long-term injury loan. The conditions of their loan should be fulfilled by completing this weekend’s games for the Admirals. Tonight’s line combinations were: Reinhart-Gaudreau-Åberg, Fiala-Kamenev-Payerl, Nystrom-Bass-Bourque, White-Girard-Görtz, Oligny-Potter, Elliott-Mullen, Murphy-Aronson. Tonight’s scratches were: Kristian Näkyvä (healthy), Jamie Devane (upper body), Cody Hodgson (upper body), Joe Pendenza (healthy), and Johan Alm (lower body).

Reactions to tonight’s game? Was this a slow offensive performance because of the time off you think? Despite the shootout loss, are you still satisfied with Marek Mazanec and the defense’s effort tonight?

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

The Milwaukee Admirals won 5-1 on the road against the Sunday evening at the Wells Fargo Arena.

It wasn’t the prettiest of games but the Admirals power-play unit made sure to take advantage of the opportunities presented to the today. The Admirals scored four power-play goals from seven chances against the Wild. It’s the most power-play goals scored by the Admirals all season.

Unlike when these two locked horns on Friday night the opening period was slow paced and sloppy across the board. The same tags can be slapped to the Wild who on a few occasions were nearly caught out with bad changes to the bench. They’d be caught for too many men on the ice midway through the first period and it would be the opening the Admirals needed to get on the board.

Trevor Murphy had just allowed a puck to skip through him as he held the point. When the Admirals power-play re-established the zone it nearly happened all over again but Murphy whipped a pass to the low left wing for Max Görtz who would pass back post for Max Reinhart to score on a tap in.

There was a fight in the first period. After Joe Pendenza was clocked in the Admirals defensive zone it started a chain of invites for dance partners to mix it up. Cody Bass would pair with Kurtis Gabriel and the two didn’t do too much damage to one-another. Gabriel removed Bass’ helmet and landed a glancing punch to the top of his head as they fell down but that was about it.

It wouldn’t take the Admirals long to get off the mark in the second period. Just sixteen-seconds after puck drop the forward line of Reinhart, Frédérick Gaudreau, and Pontus Åberg raced down the throat of the Wild and delivered with a second goal of the night for Reinhart. The second tally for Reinhart extends his team lead in goals scored to nineteen now on the season. His career high in the AHL came during the 2013-14 season as a member of the Abbotsford Heat when he scored twenty-one goals.

Tyson Strachan was put in the penalty box shortly after Reinhart’s second period goal after setting a pick on offense and being whistled for interference. The Admirals would make it two-for-two on the power-play after a howitzer of a slap shot by Åberg in the left wing circle beat Steve Michalek to the near post. Åberg now has seventeen goals this season – four of which have come from the Admirals power-play.

The Wild were able to break up the shutout bid for Marek Mazanec tonight thanks to a shorthanded goal inside of three-minutes of the third period. Former-Admirals defenseman Conor Allen put a shot to the front of the net that Rob Bordson was able to deflect in to score his ninth goal of the season. The Admirals weren’t too thrilled by the cross-check that Bordson appeared to get away with on Murphy that generated the space Bordson had for the deflection in front of Mazanec but there was no call made on the play.

Perhaps karma would come in the form of a few penalties that let the Admirals power-play get back to form. Scott Sabourin caught Corey Potter with a high stick that left the Admirals defenseman wounded and racing to the bench for repairs. Gaudreau would fire a quick release shot to score on the first half of the double-minor to score his fifteenth goal of the season and seventh scored on the power-play to make it a 4-1 lead.

As the second half of the double minor against Sabourin continued the Wild chucked a puck into the stands for a delay of game penalty. With the extended five-on-three power-play Görtz teed up Murphy at the point for a slapper that clanked iron an went in for his tenth goal of the season.

The win for the Admirals comes at the end of a day that saw the IceHogs lose and Griffins win. The Admirals remain in third place of the Central Division which is now led by the Griffins who are on an eleven-game winning streak at the moment. The race between the three up top, in terms of points percentage, is separated by 0.019.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played last night there were no roster moves made throughout the organization. Tonight’s line combinations were: Reinhart-Gaudreau-Åberg, Fiala-Kamenev-Payerl, White-Girard-Görtz, Murphy-Pendenza-Bass, Oligny-Potter, Näkyvä-Mullen, Elliott-Aronson. Tonight’s scratches were: Jamie Devane (upper body), Cody Hodgson (undisclosed), and Johan Alm (lower body).

All things considered, the Admirals were able to snag four out of six-points this weekend. Are you happy with that or are some of these games troubling to you?

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The Milwaukee Admirals lost 4-2 on the road against the Chicago Wolves Saturday night at the Allstate Arena.

Despite getting the right opening twenty-minutes that they wanted the Admirals weren’t able to do what they did last night and shut the door for the remaining two periods of play. The Wolves were able to comeback from a two-goal deficit in the first period by scoring four unanswered goals. All three wins for the Wolves against the Admirals this season have come at the Allstate Arena.

With last night’s start to the game in mind, the Admirals made certain that tonight’s first period would be more direct and precise. Following a boarding minor by Cody Beach, that drove Corey Potter into the glass, the Admirals cashed in on the power-play less than five-minutes into the game. Pontus Åberg was able to create a lane to pass from the left wing to the back post where Max Reinhart zipped a shot first time past Jordan Binnington to notch his seventeenth goal of the season.

The first period then saw even more penalty box action and it really started to build around a fight between Adam Payerl and the aforementioned Beach. The fight wasn’t anything too special, plenty of jersey pulling and grappling, but Payerl received an instigator on the tilt. That put the Wolves on a power-play which would prove to be short lived following back-to-back penalties from Patrick Cannone and André Benoît. For good measure, one-time Admiral from last season Jared Nightingale also got involved with a slash and the Admirals had an extended five-on-three power-play. This set the stage for Kevin Fiala to smack home a one-timer from the right wing circle to score his fourteenth goal of the season to give the Admirals a 2-0 first period lead.

As the Admirals did in the first period the Wolves did in the second period. A pair of power-play goals from the Wolves in the sandwich stanza made it a 2-2 game through two periods. It started with a Ty Rattie shot that smoked through Juuse Saros that was pushed behind him by Evan Trupp for his fourth goal of the season. That power-play goal for the Wolves was their first scored against the Admirals from twenty-one previous power-play opportunities.

At the end of the second period the Admirals were back on the penalty kill following a tripping minor against Åberg. With just 6.3 seconds remaining in the frame the Wolves found an equalizer to make it a 2-2 contest. A long range backhander by Jordan Schmaltz from the left point deflected off of the net front traffic of Stefan Elliott and Jordan Caron. The harsh redirect left Saros sliding to his left as the puck darted right. The goal would be credited to Caron for his fifteenth goal of the season. The young Finn really could do little to stop that piece of puck luck from beating him.

In the opening minute of the third period the Wolves scored their third unanswered goal to claim their first lead of the game. Jeremy Welsh forced a bad turnover out of Kristian Näkyvä in the Admirals defensive zone and the puck laid free for Rattie. The Wolves sniper went bardown shooting from the right wing against Saros for his twelfth goal of the season.

Saros made his way to the bench a few times in the closing staged of the game. Following the Admirals’ use of their timeout he made his way to the bench with forty-two seconds remaining to get the extra attacker on. The Admirals late rally was thwarted by an empty netter from Danny Kristo for his nineteenth goal of the season. This was the first time in nineteen-games that the Wolves scored four goals in a game.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played last night there were no roster moves made throughout the organization. Tonight’s line combinations were: Reinhart-Gaudreau-Åberg, Fiala-Kamenev-Payerl, White-Girard-Görtz, Murphy-Pendenza-Bass, Oligny-Potter, Näkyvä-Mullen, Elliott-Aronson. Tonight’s scratches were: Jamie Devane (upper body), Cody Hodgson (undisclosed), and Johan Alm (lower body).

Where did tonight’s game fall apart? Why were the Admirals unable to mount any serious attacking pressure in the third period? Will a loss like this spill into tomorrow in Iowa or is it better for the Admirals to erase this game instantly?

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 4-2 against the Iowa Wild Friday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

In the opening to this game a pair of defensive mistakes led to the Admirals quickly being down 2-0. The difference maker came in the form of the timeout from Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason following the second Wild goal as forty-seconds later the Admirals found the back of the net. By the end of the first period the Admirals scored four unanswered goals. That’s precisely where the game would end after the mayhem of the opening twenty-minutes calmed down for the remaining frames.

“The gist was to simplify our game,” commented Evason of what was said to the team during the timeout. “All we’ve talked about is how hard Iowa was going to work. Which they did. We tried to make cute skill plays in our zone trying to come up our zone trying to come up the ice, didn’t get pucks deep, and all we wanted our group to do was simplify our game and work. Because that’s what Iowa is going to do. If we matched that we would have been fine.”

This game did not have the greatest of starts for the Admirals as a pair of defensive errors led to two Wild goals in the space of a minute. The game’s opening goal followed a mistake behind the net by Corey Potter that gave the puck up to Scott Sabourin who passed out in front of the net to Colton Beck. The initial shot was stopped by Saros but Beck pushed forward and popped in his own rebound to record his fourth goal of the season.

Just one minute later the Wild cashed in on yet another mistake by the Admirals in their own zone. A puck kicked free and into the high right wing for Brett Bulmer to scoop up and create a two on one with Rob Bordson to his left. The pass from Bulmer hit Bordson clean and the veteran finished with a backhander to beat Saros for his eighth goal of the season.

It was at this moment when a change was needed. Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason always preaches that there are two methods that a coach can do when his team needs a wake up call: you can either pull the goaltender or take a timeout. Just 4:04 into the first period the Admirals used their timeout and proceeded to get the proverbial hair-drier from Evason at the bench. The results that followed spoke volumes as the Admirals exploded for four unanswered goals to end the first period.

“I don’t care how skilled you think you are or that you actually are – it doesn’t work. It doesn’t beat the work and competitiveness of another team and another player,” said Evason. “We weren’t prepared to do that. That’s all. We were just trying to let them know that we needed to do that and they did. So, that’s a credit to them.”

Following the Admirals’ timeout it took forty-seconds for the team to get an answer goal. Matt White snapped a wrister on Leland Irving that was spilled in front of the mouth of goal where a pair of Admirals were crashing. Max Görtz was able to get a stick to the puck which trickled in just before Félix Girard could get in on the scramble. The goal for Görtz was his thirteenth of the season.

“He just had to wake us up,” said Görtz of the timeout taken by his head coach. “We weren’t ready at the start so that was a good timeout.”

Vladislav Kamenev went to the box for four-minutes following a double minor for high sticking at 8:05 of the first period. Within the first minor penalty the Admirals penalty kill delivered with a shorthanded goal. Adam Payerl won a footrace in neutral ice against Maxime Fortunus, fended off the veteran blueliner, and ripped a low wrister that powered through the pads of Irving to score his tenth goal of the season.

The Admirals managed to claw all the way back from their early deficit to claim their first lead of the game thanks to Cody Bass’ third goal of the season. 10:35 of ice time after the Wild scored their second goal of the game Bass delivered a wrist shot along the far left wing wall that beat Irving near post and in blocker-side to make it a 3-2 Admirals lead.

In the final minute of the first period Kevin Fiala’s scored his thirteenth goal of the season to make it a 4-2 Admirals advantage. Kamenev was able to hit Fiala with a home run pass from deep in the Admirals own zone. From there, Fiala had enough time and space to square up Irving, shoot, get the rebound off of Irving’s right skate, and pop the it home.

For all the fireworks that the first period provided it wouldn’t be until midway through the third period until the next bit of thunder hit. Cody Bass and Kurtis Gabriel paired up for a fight and the two traded some hard rights. The scrap ended with Bass losing his balance and Gabriel landing on top of him. That came just after Bass popped Gabriel’s helmet off with an overhand right. This one could go pretty much either way in the fight cards.

The game would end right where it did after all the drama of the first period. Funny to think that Saros may have been two defensive errors shy of yet another shutout tonight. Without those costly mistakes he was sharp in net once again and picked up his twenty-first win from twenty-eight starts this season.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals played on Tuesday night the team reassigned defenseman Garrett Noonan to the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL. Tonight’s line combinations were: Fiala-Kamenev-Payerl, Reinhart-Gaudreau-Åberg, White-Girard-Görtz, Murphy-Pendenza-Bass, Oligny-Potter, Elliott-Aronson, Näkyvä-Mullen. Tonight’s scratches were: Jamie Devane (undisclosed), Cody Hodgson (undisclosed), and Johan Alm (lower body). Prior to tonight’s game there was a late scratch involving forward Jamie Devane. That prompted Trevor Murphy to switch from defense to left wing for the second time this season. Tonight marked the return to game action for Patrick Mullen after missing the previous eight-games due to suffering a skate cut to his right hand against the Iowa Wild on 2/21/16.

What were your reactions to that opening period tonight? How huge was the timeout from Dean Evason? What did you think of the second and third periods of play?

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 5-2 on the road against the Rockford IceHogs Tuesday night at the BMO Harris Bank Center.

Tonight’s game had a crucial point that appeared to change the narrative. The Admirals were leading 1-0 to start the second period when they were awarded a penalty shot. Their main trigger man to lead-off in shootouts, Kevin Fiala, was able to take it but was denied by a blocker save from Michael Leighton. From that moment the IceHogs would score four unanswered goals and receive a hat trick performance from Pierre-Cédric Labrie. The Admirals three-game win streak is over and the gap to the first place IceHogs just broadened.

“Leighton was outstanding,” cited Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game. “You think about the save on Kamenev. Obviously, the save on the penalty shot – that puts us up two – it’s a different game. He made several key saves in the game and was the difference for sure.”

This game opened with a pair of penalties taken by the IceHogs. At the second chance of asking the Admirals were able to come away with the goods. Vladislav Kamenev took a Stefan Elliott pass first-time and blew it clean past Michael Leighton. The goal for Kamenev pushed him into double digits for his debut season in North America.

In the opening minute of the second period the Admirals were awarded a penalty shot after Viktor Svedberg was called for closing his hand over the puck in the crease following a near chance by Adam Payerl. Kevin Fiala was able to take the penalty shot but his typical shootout move was blockered aside by Leighton to keep terms at 1-0 Admirals.

The IceHogs would get on the board not long after the failed penalty shot to level the game up at 1-1. After blocking a Trevor Murphy slap shot Pierre-Cédric Labrie was in some distress and looked to be making his way to the bench until an odd-man break presented itself. Jake Dowell had the puck in neutral ice and Labrie joined him to make it a two-on-zero facing Marek Mazanec. Dowell held back, allowed Labrie to take the breakaway, and he beat Mazanec to record his sixteenth goal of the season.

It took the IceHogs just 3:02 before they would score again to earn their first lead of the night. Jake Dowell was able to score from a redirect off of a Kyle Baun toss to the net from the right wing corner. Dowell’s shot squeaked in for his ninth goal of the season.

After Jamie Devane went to the box for high sticking the IceHogs made it three goals in the space of 4:49. Matt Fraser was able to snap a quick release wrister from the slot that jumped over the blocker side of Mazanec and in for his fifth goal of the season and first since joining the IceHogs as part of the Andrew Ladd trade.

The run for the IceHogs continued into the start of the third period with a fourth unanswered goal. Jonathan Carlsson was able to find Labrie all alone in the left wing on the back door of the net for a tap in. Mazanec had no chance to make any sort of a post-to-post stop to his glove side and Labrie had his second tally of the night and sixteenth of the season.

It had been sixteen games since Adam Payerl last scored a goal but he made the wait worth it. Payerl was able to generate a turnover and maintain the attacking zone before unleashing a backhander that just looped over the blocker of Leighton and fall into the net. Payerl’s ninth goal of the season made it a 4-2 deficit for the Admirals with 9:57 remaining in regulation.

Perhaps looking to get a spark going Félix Girard decided to drop his gloves against IceHogs captain Dowell shortly after a face-off scrum between the two. There wasn’t much to the fight. Girard appeared to lose his balance before much of anything could be done.

With the net emptied and extra attacker on for the Admirals Labrie would complete his hat trick. That sealed this game at a 5-2 scoreline. The Admirals three-game winning streak was snapped and they now have fallen beneath the surging Grand Rapids Griffins in the Central Division standings.

“Our division is so strong,” said Evason of the current battle for playoff spots within the Central Division. “It’s tough every night. It will be a battle right down to the end and we can’t take anything for granted.”

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Sunday the lone roster move made was the recall of team captain Colton Sissons to the Nashville Predators. Sissons will be taking part in the Predators upcoming four-game road swing in Western Canada and doing it wearing a new uniform number. He’ll be switching from #84 to #10. Tonight’s line combinations were: Reinhart-Gaudreau-Åberg, Fiala-Kamenev-Payerl, White-Girard-Görtz, Devane-Pendenza-Bass, Oligny-Potter, Murphy-Aronson, Näkyvä-Elliott. Tonight’s scratches were: Cody Hodgson (undisclosed), Patrick Mullen (right hand laceration), Garrett Noonan (healthy), and Johan Alm (lower body).

Thoughts on tonight’s game? How big of a momentum shift was the penalty shot save made by Michael Leighton to this game?

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