The Milwaukee Admirals won 2-1 against the Rockford IceHogs Saturday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. The game rest almost firmly on the shoulders of Marek Mazanec and the Admirals penalty kill that went a successful 6/6 on the night.

“[Marek Mazanec] was our best penalty killer,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “We’ve talked about this so many times, all coaches do, your best penalty killer is your goaltender when he’s on. Our penalty kill the guys did a lot of right things for sure.”

A puck scramble in neutral ice set up the Admirals for the opening goal in the first period. Stevie Moses was carving through traffic and the puck kicked back to Pontus Åberg who then had both of his linemates past the IceHogs defense for a breakaway opportunity. Åberg saucered ahead on a forehand pass to Vladislav Kamenev down the right wing and the Russian did the rest. He waved the magic wand over the puck before a quick forehand backhand move polished off his fifth goal of the season.

The majority of the first period was a shooting gallery for the IceHogs. At 13:29 of the opening frame they finally put a puck past Marek Mazanec. Following a faceoff win, the towering Viktor Svedberg shot from the point and received a redirect in front of the goal mouth by Dennis Rasmussen. The quick deflection alluded Mazanec and the goal for Rasmussen was his sixth of the season.

He might not have been a teammates of his while he played in Rockford but chalk up yet another fight by Cody Bass against his old team. He paired up with Chris DeSousa and won thoroughly. Bass removed the bucket off DeSousa, gave him the noogies, and kept on delivering until the officials stepped in to call it. Score that round 10-9 for Bass in your fight card.

It wouldn’t be until the third period when the fireworks returned in the goal column. Åberg squirmed into the attacking zone skating center to left, whipped a shot off of Jake Dowell that left him down in pain on the ice, recovered his rebound, and snapped a second shot from the left wing circle off the post and in past Mark Visentin’s blocker side. The goal was Åberg’s fifth of the season.

“I think I hit [Jake Dowell] his knee,” said Pontus Åberg. “He was sitting down on two knees so I think I got him pretty good. I don’t even know where I shot it at first because he was sitting down already. Glad to see it went through him so I could take another shot and it was a great feeling to see it go in.”

It was a hats off performance in net tonight for Mazanec. Both himself and the Admirals desperately wanted to rebound from a rough outing to the Grand Rapids Griffins last night and he responded by stopping 23/24 shots on goal.

“We had a real good bounce back game,” said Evason. “It would have been easy for us just to let last night’s game snowball into something that was not positive. The start of the game wasn’t great but it turned into a real great hockey game. Real intense. Just a hard fought hockey game.”

Ramblings: Following last night’s game there was a frenzy of roster activity across all three levels of the Nashville Predators organization: Viktor Arvidsson and Juuse Saros were recalled by the Predators from the Milwaukee Admirals, Joe Pendenza and Brandon Whitney were recalled by the Admirals from the Cincinnati Cyclones, and the Predators placed Paul Gaustad and Gabriel Bourque in injured reserve. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: Fiala-Gaudreau-Görtz, Åberg-Kamenev-Moses, Payerl-Reinhart-Bass, Devane-Girard-Pendenza, Allen-Oligny, Näkyvä-Aronson, Noonan-Murphy. In Nashville, Saros made his NHL debut starting in net on home ice. Arvidsson was slapped with a five minute major for crosschecking and a game misconduct in his return to NHL action.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? How did you like the Admirals response both to last night’s game and a sluggish first period?

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The Milwaukee Admirals lost 6-0 against the Grand Rapids Griffins Friday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. The defeat ends the Admirals franchise best ten-game winning streak while the Griffins winning streak is now up to five-games. It is the first time the Admirals have been shutout this season.

Andy Miele put the Griffins out in front a little past the midway point of the first period. He was able to beat Kristian Näkyvä with a slick move while maintaining puck control on the backhand before flicking a wrister up and over the blocker of Marek Mazanec. It was a beauty of an individually worked goal and goes down as Miele’s third goal of the season.

The Griffins doubled their first period advantage late in the frame off of a power-play goal. Cody Bass was sent to the box following a minor penalty for an unsportsmanlike conduct. This led to a passage of up close and personal passing that tied up the Admirals defensemen in front of the net. The power-play goal would end up being a tap-in for Eric Tangradi following a setup pass by Mark Zengerle. The tally for Tangradi was his sixth goal of the season.

Following the Admirals first power-play chance of the game, in the second period, the Griffins extended their lead to 3-0. Zengerle was able to feed Miele on a wing to wing pass that put Miele one-on-one with Mazanec’s glove from the left wing. Mazanec remained stationary. Miele whipped his wrister clean past and scored his second goal of the game and fourth of the season.

In the third period the Griffins added yet another goal to push their lead up to 4-0. Conor Allen was sent to the box for a crosschecking minor and, right as his penalty expired, the Griffins scored. A pass from Andreas Athanasiou went to the tape of Mitch Callahan in the left wing circle and the Griffins winger squared up and found space to Mazanec’s glove side to record his fifth goal of the season.

The bad kept on getting bad as a defensive breakdown allowed for the Griffins fifth goal of the night. Max Reinhart was back defending Tomas Nosek with Näkyvä. Nosek dinked a puck free to his right where Daniel Cleary was all alone with Mazanec sat in front of him. The veteran whistled one through Mazanec towards the far post to score his first goal of the season and first in the AHL since the 1999-00 season as a member of the Hamilton Bulldogs.

It probably came too late for the Admirals but a fight did breakout with under four-minutes of regulation to play. Adam Payerl and Colin Campbell dropped the gloves close to the Griffins bench and grappled with one-another until Campbell earned a take down. Not much of a scrap but the win in the fight department goes to Campbell on the take down.

With 0.6 seconds remaining Louis-Marc Aubry won a foot race with Näkyvä and scored five hole on Mazanec to pick up his first goal of the season. The Admirals frustrations were evident following the goal. The Griffins played until the final horn and the Admirals were hoping the game would end. Before it ever came to it the Griffins tagged a sixth goal through Mazanec. The Czech netminder would snap his stick in disgust after the final horn sounded.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played there were some roster moves made. Eric Robinson was reassigned on loan to the ECHL affiliate Cincinnati Cyclones. Then the Nashville Predators recalled Admirals team captain Colton Sissons while placing Miikka Salomäki on injured reserve. Stevie Moses made his return to game action after missing three straight games due to an upper-body injury. Johan Alm remained out, fourth straight game, due to a lower-body injury. Alm was the lone scratch for the Admirals in tonight’s game. Tonight’s line combinations: Arvidsson-Gaudreau-Görtz, Åberg-Kamenev-Payerl, Fiala-Reinhart-Bass, Devane-Girard-Moses, Näkyvä-Aronson, Allen-Oligny, Noonan-Murphy. By getting shutout tonight, Viktor Arvidsson’s thirteen-game point streak officially came to an end tonight. It is the longest points streak in the AHL this season and is so by three-games to the next closest points streak. Arvidsson had scored in every single game he had played with the Admirals this season until tonight.

What is your reaction to tonight’s game? What did the Griffins do that ended the Admirals streak? Was this more a matter of the Griffins coming in stronger than the Admirals beating themselves tonight? Can the Admirals get back to winning ways tomorrow night against the Rockford IceHogs?

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The Milwaukee Admirals have officially set a franchise record. Their 6-3 win tonight against the San Antonio Rampage at the BMO Harris Bradley Center was their tenth straight victory which breaks the record set last season in January.

“It’s fun to get results,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “But it’s more fun I think for the group to recognize that we can play any style of game.”

This game got off to a poor start with the end of last game trickling into the start. The Admirals were on the penalty kill quick due to a high stick minor by Kristian Näkyvä. Right as that penalty was getting set to expire Conor Allen was called for boarding. On the second chance from successive power-play opportunities the Rampage cashed in with a long range shot to the net by Maxim Noreau from the right point getting deflected by Marc-André Cliche and up past Juuse Saros. The goal for Cliche was his fourth of the season.

After a fight between Cody Bass and Duncan Siemens was prevented the two sides played four-on-four until Kevin Fiala’s wheels earned a tripping call and a four-on-three Admirals power-play chance. They won the faceoff, Taylor Aronson patiently waited to feed Viktor Arvidsson’s wicked one-timer, and the Swede cranked his slap shot past Calvin Pickard to extend his AHL best points streak to thirteen games off his sixth goal of the season.

It wouldn’t be long before the Admirals rough first period would see a complete turn-around before hitting the first intermission. The Admirals didn’t have a shot on goal until the final six minutes of the frame but another power-play off of a tripping minor provided yet another goal on the man-advantage. Vladislav Kamenev made a charge towards the front of the net off the right side of the cage and, in the process, lost the handle of the puck which fell out into the slot. Who was there to do the damage? Arvidsson, of course, with his seventh goal of the season. He scored two power-play goals in 2:20 of ice time.

The Admirals would get a non-power-play goal to open up the second period. Their passing appeared to lull the Rampage to sleep and, when the puck made its way to Félix Girard, the puck watching cost them a third successive goal against. Girard easily connected to Pontus Åberg on the opposite post for a tap in and his fourth goal of the season.

The puck watching flipped opposite ends as forty-six seconds later it would be the Rampage lighting the lamp. A long puck carry and eventual shot by Colin Smith hit off of the leg of the net front screen of Borna Rendulic and past Saros to make it a one-goal contest. The tally for Rendulic was his second goal of the season.

Midway through the second period the Admirals captain would restore the two-goal lead. Colton Sissons was flying in from the right point and Bass picked him out in stride. Sissons measured up Pickard’s glove side and whipped a wrister past him for his third goal of the season.

A casual stroll into the attacking zone for Max Görtz was interrupted by a heavyweight fight between Jamie Devane and Daniel Maggio. The two locked up the collars and went to work. Devane started getting some flush fists through and managed to knock Maggio out cold from a solid uppercut. Maggio crashed to the ice almost face first and needed to be assisted off the ice by a pair of Rampage teammates. Bruce Buffer, somewhere around the world, announced it as a first round knockout.

Perhaps looking to sway some energy back into his outfit by making a huge hit, Siemens came off the Rampage bench and attempted to clobber an unsuspecting Adam Payerl as a loose puck made its way up the boards towards neutral. Siemens extended his knee at Payerl who dodged the brunt of the check but still got sideswiped. Payerl headed back to confront Siemens and the two had at it. Nowhere near as theatrical as the first tilt but even none-the-less.

It only took thirty-eight seconds of ice time before the next fight took place. In a post-whistle scrum Bass dropped the gloves with Sam Henley. It wasn’t all that much of a bout as he two were scrambling throughout and fell down to cap it off. I score that tilt two Ben Rothwell’s out of ten.

“That’s hockey,” said Cody Bass of the fights in the second period. “They’re a desperate team. I give [Daniel Maggio] a lot of credit. He’s trying to spark his team and I think other guys are too. I’m proud of our guys and proud of our team. We rose to the occasion.”

In the final minute of the sandwich stanza Rendulic picked up his second goal of the period. He made a great effort to fight through persistent pressure by Allen, to which he was going to be penalized over, and outwaited Saros before firing a shot to the net. Saros was down and out. Rendulic’s snapshot was up and over the pad for his third goal of the season.

The third period provided some more brilliance in goal scoring in the third period and it came from a pair of players that picked up their first goals of the season.

A solid defensive play by Devane to pick the pocket of Mat Clark set up a tight two-on-two between himself, Girard, Chris Bigras, and Troy Bourke. Devane lofted a saucer pass in front of the net and over the diving Bigras that Girard was able to swat out of mid-air whilst battling shoulder-to-shoulder with Bourke and score.

Then came a play that would make the Nashville Predators really proud. Max Reinhart swooped down the right wing, hit the brakes, and found a defenseman leaping way up in the play to get a mini-breakaway. Allen was the man jumping up on the play and finished to perfection over the blocker shoulder of Pickard to net his first as a member of the Admirals. That would be the last play for Pickard in net as the Rampage would pull him for Roman Will.

“We had to play many different ways,” said Evason. “The fights, then it turned into a speed game, and a bit of a track meet. We were able to adjust within the game. Which is good. We didn’t lose our detail. No matter what happened.”

Ramblings: Tonight’s scratches for the Milwaukee Admirals were: Stevie Moses (upper-body), Johan Alm (lower-body), and Eric Robinson (healthy). Both Moses and Alm were injured last week against the Chicago Wolves (11/14/15) and have missed the last three-games. Moses is expected to be available for the Admirals this coming weekend. Tonight’s line combinations were: Arvidsson-Sissons-Gaudreau, Fiala-Reinhart-Bass, Åberg-Kamenev-Payerl, Devane-Girard-Görtz, Allen-Oligny, Näkyvä-Aronson, Noonan-Murphy.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Are you surprised with Nashville’s current lack of goal scoring that they haven’t attempted to recall Viktor Arvidsson?

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The Milwaukee Admirals have matched their franchise record for a winning streak that they set last season. With their 3-1 win against the San Diego Gulls Saturday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center the winning streak has hit nine-games.

Kevin Fiala finally picked up his first goal of the season and did so three and a half minutes into the game. Cody Bass raced forward and around the net from the left wing side. As he moved in the puck kicked out by Fiala on the doorstep of the cage on the right wing side. He banked a shot off of goaltender John Gibson’s glove arm and into the net.

The Admirals quick first period lead didn’t last long. Jimmy Oligny was tagged for a boarding minor after pasting Bryan Moore hard into the boards. Moore stayed down for a moment and would leave down the Gulls tunnel towards the locker room. He would return to the ice in the second period. On the resulting power-play former member of the Admirals Chris Mueller rifled a shot through Marek Mazanec to score his fourth goal of the season. It was also an AHL milestone moment for Mueller. That goal was his 300th career point in the AHL.

In the second period Nic Kerdiles finally got his wish of a dance partner to drop the gloves with. Earlier in the sandwich stanza he had tried to fight Trevor Murphy and received a roughing penalty following what I’d best describe as a tackle. Following a shot at Mazanec long after a whistle had sounded for an offsides call, Conor Allen raced over, dropped the gloves, and the two scrapped it out. The win in this tilt goes to Kerdiles who did more with his fists, causing a cut to open over the bridge of Allen’s nose, and had the take down to finish it.

With 2:23 remaining in the second period Frédérick Gaudreau continued his outstanding run of form by providing a highlight reel goal. Viktor Arvidsson, from the left wing wall, delivered a feed past Matt Bailey and into the center lane drive of Gaudreau who was now one-on-one with Gibson in goal. Gaudreau delivered a move that would make Peter Forsberg proud as he whipped his left arm out with the puck still on his tape to glide past Gibson for his fifth goal of the season. The primary assist from Arvidsson extended his AHL best points streak on the season to twelve-games. He has scored in every game since returning from the Nashville Predators.

The third period saw Mazanec and the Admirals survive extended periods on the penalty kill. In the space of seven-minutes they battled through a five-on-three and yet another minor penalty to maintain their 2-1 lead on the scoreboard. With the last of the minor penalty against Félix Girard completed the Gulls maintained offensive zone control and cycled their way into yet another power-play opportunity. Once more, the Admirals penalty kill survived.

With 1:15 remaining the Gulls brought Gibson to the bench for the extra attacker. Adam Payerl nearly made this pay immediately but his long range empty net bid missed wide left and icing was called. Fortunately he would get a second crack at the empty net following a zone clearance by Arvidsson that sent him free to skate the puck right into the open net. The goal for Payerl was his third of the season.

Ramblings: Prior to tonight’s game the Nashville Predators reassigned Colton Sissons to the Milwaukee Admirals and activated Eric Nystrom from injured reserve. Tonight’s line combinations were: Arvidsson-Sissons-Gaudreau, Fiala-Reinhart-Bass, Åberg-Kamenev-Payerl, Devane-Girard-Görtz, Allen-Oligny, Näkyvä-Aronson, Noonan-Murphy. Tonight’s scratches were: Eric Robinson (healthy), Stevie Moses (upper-body), and Johan Alm (lower-body). Both injured players have been skating and might be returning to the lineup soon. Former Admirals captain and current captain of the Gulls Joe Piskula missed his fourth consecutive game due to injury.

Thoughts on this game? Has Kevin Fiala settled down these first two games back since his suspension and injury? How impressed were you by the penalty killing in the third period?

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The Admirals won 2-1 in a shootout against the Rockford IceHogs Friday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. It took until the third period before the action really shot off. Both defenses were great tonight but the tip of the cap belongs to Marek Mazanec who stopped 28/29 shots and both shootout attempts en route to the Admirals eighth straight win.

“We didn’t anticipate this game being a patient game,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “We anticipated it being more of an aggressive game as opposed to the Chicago game but it turned out to be a lot like that. Both teams kind of counter punched a little bit. We were able to hang in there and get in the shootout.”

This game was a stalemate from the opening puck drop until five-minutes into the third period. A pass off the left wing wall by Max Görtz picked out Viktor Arvidsson atop the slot. His shot was fended off by Mark Visentin but pushed aside to Frédérick Gaudreau at the side of the cage for a rebound goal. The tally for Gaudreau is his fourth of the season and first not scored on the power-play. By picking up the primary assist on the goal Arvidsson set the new benchmark for longest points streak in the AHL this season at eleven-games.

With 3:42 remaining in regulation the IceHogs had a goal disallowed. A puck was thrown in on Marek Mazanec and fell to the glove side of him. He didn’t see it. Jeremy Morin did. Fortunately for the Admirals the tight space of the situation forced Morin to try and use his skates to get the puck onto his stick and he wound up kicking it in. The play would be reviewed and the call on the ice stood as a no goal due to the use of a distinct kicking motion.

Sadly, this temporary high of the Admirals maintaining a 1-0 shutout would be squashed moments after the video review. Ryan Hartman zipped around the cage and threw a wrap-around from Mazanec’s right side and the puck got underneath him for his fifth goal of the season.

Then came controversy as a shot by Kevin Fiala appeared to sneak through the pads of Visentin and go in with less than a minute remaining. The goal light came on, Kirill Gotovets swiped the puck out of the goal, and then the whistle blew. As the referees saw it, or rather didn’t, those events that were just listed didn’t happen in that order. They blew it. Plain and simple.

“It’s a tough call,” said Evason. “We see it all the time in the NHL. It’s the intent to blow the whistle. It’s clearly in. We get the luxury of watching on the big screen. One referee probably hurts. If there’s a second guy he maybe makes that call in the neutral zone. But they talked so it’s tough. It’s frustrating some times but you got to live with it. We’ve had calls that come our way. That one didn’t but it didn’t hurt.”

The game was then sent to overtime where the Admirals picked up a power-play chance with three-minutes left in the frame due to an IceHogs too many men on the ice penalty. That came and went so the shootout was required. Kevin Fiala stepped up first and delivered with a slick bit of puck handles before wristing home blocker side. Erik Gustafsson stepped up for the IceHogs but flubbed up his late backhander attempt and missed entirely. Gaudreau then stepped up and fired in a snap shot to make it match point for the Admirals. Garret Ross was aiming blocker side the entire time and Mazanec shut him down to provide the Admirals the shootout win.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played they recalled defenseman Garrett Noonan from the Cincinnati Cyclones (ECHL). Tonight was Noonan’s first game in the AHL since 4/18/15. The move came following a lower-body injury that Johan Alm sustained against the Chicago Wolves on Wednesday. Joining Alm on the scratch front due to injury was Stevie Moses who didn’t play due to an upper-body injury. Kevin Fiala marked his return to the ice following his two-game suspension by the AHL and missing Wednesday night’s game due to an upper-body injury. Tonight’s line combinations were: Arvidsson-Gaudreau-Görtz, Fiala-Reinhart-Bass, Åberg-Kamenev-Payerl, Devane-Girard-Robinson, Allen-Oligny, Näkyvä-Aronson, Noonan-Murphy.

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The Milwaukee Admirals winning streak has made it to seven following a 5-3 victory against the Chicago Wolves Wednesday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

From the second period forwards this game had everything but a fight and a shorthanded goal to offer up. The second period started scoreless, saw the Admirals lead 3-0, and then head into the second intermission tied at 3-3. After goals were waved off for both teams in the third period Frédérick Gaudreau’s power-play goal would provide enough breathing space until Max Reinhart’s empty netter closed the game out. The Wolves nine-game points streak is done. The Wolves eight-game winning streak over the Admirals is also a thing of the past.

“Real good test,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “We talked about [the Chicago Wolves] being a veteran group that stays patient. We challenged our group to play a patient game, to play a mature game, to play a veteran game against a veteran team. We thought we did that.”

As far as first period highlights go there was only one standout sequence worth plunging into. The Wolves top line of Ty Rattie, Pat Cannone, and Danny Kristo put on a passing display that led to seven shots on goal from a single shift. Massive credit can be given to Juuse Saros who came up huge in net for the Admirals a number of times from that passage of play alone. His work helped see both teams enter the first period scoreless.

“[Juuse Saros] continues to have big moments in hockey games were we’re not so good and he is,” said Evason. “He’s got a mental strength in him that he just tightens up and plays the game hard and intense and gets the job done when maybe we’re not doing it in front of him.”

In the second period the Admirals finally made the Wolves pay for putting them on the power-play so often. On power-play chance number four of the game, Frédérick Gaudreau won the opening faceoff draw and the puck fell back into the slap shot of Viktor Arvidsson who hammered a puck past Jordan Binnington to score his fifth goal of the season. Arvidsson now has a ten-game points streak which ties Wolves’ captain Cannone for the longest points steak in the AHL this season.

A little over two-minutes after breaking the scoring open the Admirals gave themselves a two-goal cushion. Stevie Moses spin-around wrister fell out in front of Binnington and to the tape of net-front man Cody Bass for a follow up shot. Bass’ follow up actually managed to get past Binnington and tickle towards the goal line but Max Reinhart was in the right place at the right time to push the puck across to score his fifth goal of the season.

As far as replacements go Eric Robinson is making it difficult for the Admirals to send him back to their ECHL affiliate the Cincinnati Cyclones. With no one around him on the left wing Jamie Devane picked out his linemate for a one-timer that Robinson fired high and past the blocker of Binnington to score his third goal of the season. Robinson has scored a point in all four-games he has played with the Admirals this season.

The Wolves would answer back to the Admirals three goal onslaught less than a minute after Robinson’s goal. A real crafty piece of stick handling by Peter Harrold allowed him to carve his way on the right wing side of Saros before teeing up Rattie opposite post for a tap in. The goal for Rattie is his seventh of the season. He has scored a goal in six out of the seven games he’s played with the Wolves this season.

Well, who doesn’t love a little bit of controversy? After a clear cut penalty against Max Görtz for a high stick Wolves forward Cody Beach hit Arvidsson from behind into the boards after the whistle. It could have been called for boarding or even an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty considering it came after the whistle blew. The only man that would go the box would end up being Görtz and the net result would be a puck heading into the Admirals net off a Wolves power-play. A point shot hit off the pads of Saros and right to the free man Kristo on the left wing side of the cage for an easy goal – his seventh of the season.

That Wolves power-play kept bringing the damage against the Admirals as a second period that started scoreless, and became 3-0 Admirals, would end tied up at 3-3. Gaudreau would head to the box on a delay of game penalty after playing the puck with a broken stick. With that penalty almost fully killed off Reinhart got overly aggressive attempting to win a puck in neutral ice and picked up a tripping call. The Admirals made it through the eight-seconds of five-on-three penalty killing thanks to a big shot block by Bass and cover by Saros. Unfortunately, it was the second penalty against Reinhart that would end up costing them as a patient play by veteran blueliner Chris Butler allowed him to pick his spot on the wrist shot and beat Saros up and over the blocker-side shoulder to tally his first goal of the season. The power-play goal from the Wolves was their sixth scored from eleven chances against the Admirals in two-games this season.

Just past three minutes into the third period it looked like the Wolves comeback would keep pushing forward and give them their first lead of the game. Jacob Doty looked to have scored his second of the season but the officials waved it off because of reasons. The same could be said moments later when an Arvidsson howitzer rolled through Binnington but the officials said Bass hit the goaltender. The video replay shown did not show any contact made between Bass and Binnington. It was a clear wash of “who knows” for the boys in stripes.

“[Cody Bass is] screening him,” said Evason of the Admirals no goal call. “He’s in front of him. I can see if he fell into him or he was right in his crease but it’s too bad. Cody Bass does all the right things. He checks before he goes in there to see where his feet are. He obstructed the goaltender from seeing it but not from playing it.”

Following a crosscheck by Wolves defenseman Butler the Admirals regained the lead from a power-play goal. Gaudreau had somehow missed the net from a point blank chance right wing side of Binnington’s cage. Luckily, he’d get a chance to redeem himself by getting another opportunity on the right wing and labeled a wrister off of the Wolves netminder and in to score his third goal of the season.

With 1:08 remaining Binnington hit the Wolves bench to bring out the extra attacker. The Wolves were clawing for a late equalizer but with seconds remaining Reinhart backhanded a shot from the neutral zone to score the empty netter, his second goal of the game, and sixth goal of the season.

The Admirals have finally solved the mystery that is Binnington in net. Prior to this game he won won each and every start he’s ever had against the Admirals posting eight wins, 1.47 goals against average, and 0.936 save percentage. The loss is his first ever against the Admirals and the win by the Admirals was their first over the Wolves in almost a calendar year.

“It was pretty impressive how we obviously got up three-nothing, the gave them three back, but there was no panic,” said Eric Robinson. “It just shows that we have a lot of mental toughness. We trust our systems, we trust ourselves, even with a couple of calls we’d have like to have go our way. We didn’t get too upset, we focused on the job, and got it done.”

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played Saturday night they received Marek Mazanec back from the Nashville Predators so that they could activate Carter Hutton from injured reserve. The counter move that came from that was Brandon Whitney being reassigned from the Admirals down to the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL. Kevin Fiala’s two-game suspension by the AHL was fulfilled following the completion of the Admirals contest in Charlotte Saturday. Unfortunately for him he is currently sidelined due to an undisclosed injury and was scratched for tonight’s game. Speaking of injuries, Johan Alm left the game with a lower-body injury and Stevie Moses left the game with an upper-body injury. Neither returned to the game following their injuries and aren’t expected to feature next time out for the Admirals. Trevor Murphy’s four game goal scoring streak came to an end tonight.

Thought’s on tonight’s game? Was this the nuttiest game of the season? How clutch was Juuse Saros in the first period and late in the third period? What can you say about Viktor Arvidsson’s effort in this game?

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The Admirals won 3-1 on the road against the Charlotte Checkers Saturday night to push their points streak up to seven-games and their winning streak up to six-games. In the midst of a challenging first period the Admirals skated off the ice with goals from Eric Robinson and Viktor Arvidsson. It would be all they needed on the night as Juuse Saros held the fort and was thirty-seconds away from getting a shutout to end the weekend.

It felt like the Checkers were in firm control of the action in the first period but, thankfully, that control didn’t impact the scoreboard. With 4:59 remaining in the first period Eric Robinson slipped through the Checkers defense, caught a pass from Jamie Devane, and scored up and over the shoulder of Rasmus Tirronen to tally his second AHL goal of the season. Robinson has scored a point in all three-games he’s played with the Admirals.

With a late power-play in the opening frame the Admirals gave themselves an early two-goal cushion. The Ads worked themselves into a quickfire Swedish two-on-one with Max Görtz sliding a pass to Viktor Arvidsson over on the left wing. Arvidsson whipped a wrist shot against the grain and beat Tirronen to the far post to score his fourth goal in the AHL this season and extend his AHL points streak to nine-games.

In the second period, following a big check along the boards, Conor Allen and last night’s two-goal scorer for the Checkers Mike Cornell dropped the gloves. There was some grappling between the two but some solid shots landed for Cornell who I’d give the edge in my fight card to. Score that one 10-9 for Cornell.

The second period also provided yet another Admirals goal. Directly off of a faceoff win for Vladislav Kamenev the puck fell back to Trevor Murphy who wristed it home from distance. The Admirals top scoring defenseman all of last season was Anthony Bitetto with four goals scored. Murphy has four goals, all scored one-by-one these last four games straight, and he has only played eight-games this season.

After a late icing call in the third period the Admirals and Juuse Saros lost the shutout bid with thirty-seconds remaining in regulation. The Checkers won the faceoff and a long shot by Drayson Bowman deflected off of Kamenev and past Saros for his first goal of the season. The Checkers took away the shutout but the Admirals took away all points available to gain in Charlotte this weekend.

Give a huge tip of the cap to Admirals netminder Saros. It’s funny to think with an ice surface bad enough to warrant a comparison to the grass surface of Solider Field that a shutout was even possible. Saros was only a half a minute away from the feat. The puck was skipping everywhere tonight but Saros was able to stop thirty of thirty-one shots on goal including some dandies that kept the Admirals afloat in the first period. He now has six-wins this season including wins in his last five consecutive starts.

Ramblings: The Admirals utilized the exact same personnel and lines from yesterday’s game against the Charlotte Checkers: Arvidsson-Gaudreau-Görtz, Åberg-Kamenev-Payerl, Devane-Girard-Robinson, Moses-Reinhart-Bass, Näkyvä-Aronson, Allen-Oligny, Alm-Murphy. This was game was also the last of Kevin Fiala’s two-game suspension by the AHL.

Reactions to tonight’s game? What have you noticed that is different between the Admirals right now and the team that started this season? How good has Juuse Saros been? Now that Fiala’s suspension is over what sort of direct response do you want to see out of him next game?

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The Milwaukee Admirals have extended their winning streak to five-games after a 4-3 roller coaster of a game on the road against the Charlotte Checkers Friday night. The Admirals and Checkers flipped between leading and a level scoreline twice from the second period to the final horn. Juuse Saros and the Admirals were just able to survive a final second flurry from the Checkers with the extra attack on to earn the victory and also extend a points streak up to six-games.

For only the second time during the Admirals four-game winning streak they allowed the game’s opening goal. Out of a ball of players stationed in the right wing pocket Derek Ryan was able to get the puck, turn, and pass back to the point. When Mike Cornell wound up to shoot Zach Boychuk glided in front of Juuse Saros in net to provide a perfect screen as the shot entered low and in for Cornell’s first goal in his first game of the 2015-16 AHL season.

With 4:22 remaining in the first period the Admirals were able to equalize through Jamie Devane’s second goal of the season. Félix Girard took a shot in neutral ice as he dished a pass up to Eric Robinson on the right wing. Robinson’s shot came in hot and must have surprised Drew MacIntyre in net as he tumbled backwards from a stand-up position. Devane arrived down the left wing side of the net to push across the loose puck to make it a 1-1 game.

The Admirals took their first lead of the game in the second period when Trevor Murphy polished off a rebound opportunity to tally his third goal of the season. Stevie Moses had the initial shot in the slot for the Admirals but MacIntyre was able to fend it off. Unfortunately for MacIntyre he placed the rebound into a charging Murphy who skated up from the blueline to bury the garbage. Murphy now has scored a goal in three consecutive games.

Checkers defenseman Cornell would repeat his first period feat in the sandwich stanza. Heavy net front traffic screened Saros who never saw Cornell’s wrist shot from the right point. The puck flew in clean past four bodies out in front, as well as Saros in net, to give Cornell a second goal in the contest.

The 2-2 second period scoreline would last less than two-minutes. The Admirals caught the Checkers in the middle of a line change and Murphy hit a home run pass to Viktor Arvidsson on the attacking blueline for a breakaway chance. Arvidsson’s initial shot hit MacIntyre flush but the rebound trickled in-line with Arvidsson’s run towards the right wing side of the cage. He had the net open to score off his own rebound. Arvidsson now has three goals in the AHL this season.

2:33 into the third period the Checkers would tie the game up at 3-3. David Wohlberg won an attacking zone faceoff and Justin Shugg hammered a shot directly from the draw. There might not have been the screen like the first two-goals scored but Saros probably never saw that shot coming. The goal for Shugg was his second scored this season.

As was the ebb and flow of this game the Admirals weren’t letting the game stay level for long. 2:22 after the Checkers equalized in the third period a Cody Bass dump in fell nicely back in-line with Max Reinhart for a slap shot. MacIntyre dropped low. Reinhart blasted his shot high and scored his fourth goal of the season to make it a 4-3 Admirals lead.

The Checkers finally got MacIntyre to the bench to bring on the extra attacker with forty-five seconds remaining in regulation. A late frenzy around Saros in net almost saw a last second equalizer as the puck was pinballing around the crease. Fortunately for the Admirals, the Checkers would airmail a pass up and out of their own zone while Girard was being tabbed with a delayed penalty for interference. The puck made it down to the opposite end of the rink as time expired to give the Admirals points in six-straight games and push the winning streak up to five-games.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played on Wednesday the team received the news that forward Kevin Fiala would be suspended for two-games in relation his game misconduct for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against the Lake Erie Monsters. Admirals’ radio broadcaster Aaron Sims confirmed that Fiala did not join the team for this weekend’s trip to Charlotte. In his place, the team recalled forward Eric Robinson from the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL. Sims also finally provided confirmation of Robinson’s contract status: he signed an AHL deal with the Admirals this summer and is not with the team on a professional try-out basis but a full standard player contract. With those roster notes taken into account the Admirals line combinations were once again bare bones with no players available to scratch: Arvidsson-Gaudreau-Görtz, Åberg-Kamenev-Payerl, Devane-Girard-Robinson, Moses-Reinhart-Bass, Näkyvä-Aronson, Allen-Oligny, Alm-Murphy. The Admirals streak of scoring a power-play goal ended at nine-games. They went 0/3 on the power-play tonight.

Thoughts on the Admirals performance tonight in Charlotte? Was this the grittiest effort by the Admirals this season to keep being able to answer back after the Checkers tied the game up?

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The Admirals won 6-3 against the Lake Erie Monsters Wednesday afternoon. This was the Admirals inaugural school day game and saw an attendance of 11,047 students hit the rink for a 10:30 AM puck drop. They were treated to a quick start for the Admirals who opened up a three goal lead in the first period and never looked back.

“I think it is absolutely awesome,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason of the school day game. “The one in Iowa was incredible. The kids were screaming. It gets so loud. It creates such a wonderful atmosphere. It’s fun for the players to play and it’s fun for us.”

Pontus Åberg opened the scoring in the first period with his second goal scored on the season. The Swede made a heads up defensive play in the neutral zone as he intercepted a pass to set up his own scoring chance. He carried on down the right wing before unleashing a wrist shot against the grain to beat Anton Forsberg far post and blocker side.

After a few missed blind passes the Admirals kept pressing on and found a second first period goal. Adam Payerl entered the attacking zone and left the puck behind him where the on-rushing Trevor Murphy was racing up from defense. A quick swoop towards the left wing, with Jamie Devane setting up in front of the net, allowed for a great shooting angle and Murphy ripped a wrister high blocker side past Forsberg to score his second goal of the season and second in as many games.

Perhaps after being beat blocker side twice in the first period the Monsters netminder Forsberg was being a little protective of his right side of the cage. As Vladislav Kamenev moved up the right wing wall and passed up on the right point for Taylor Aronson the Admirals would answer for the third time in the opening frame. Aronson’s long range wrister beat the glove of Forsberg to pick up his second goal of the season.

At the start of the second period it was announced that Forsberg had been pulled from the Monsters net. In stepped Finnish netminder Joonas Korpisalo to face what was left of an Admirals power-play that trickled over into the start of the sandwich stanza. A mere thirty-eight seconds and a few passes later the Admirals would beat the new goaltender. Max Görtz was on the tail end of some quick passes to score from the slot high glove for his second goal of the season.

With a four-on-four taking place the Monsters picked up their first goal of the game eight minutes into the second period. Alex Broadhurst was in the right wing pocket and picked out a wide open Michael Chaput breaking in on goal. The pass connected and it was a crisp finish for Chaput’s fifth goal of the season.

It wouldn’t take long at all for the Monsters to cut the Admirals lead in half. Payerl was whistled for a hooking minor as he was being a little overly aggressive in the attacking zone for the Admirals. Only seven seconds into the Monsters power-play and Markus Hännikäinen scored his third goal of the season with 11:01 remaining in the second period to make it

Just because there were mainly school children in attendance doesn’t mean a good ol’ fashion fight isn’t allowed to take place. After Justin Falk lit up Kamenev into the glass his Admirals linemate Payerl was quick to make Falk answer for his crime. The fight, while fists were thrown, was more of a wrestling match with the two grapping at the collars of one-another.

In the third period, moments after failing to convert on their sixth power-play opportunity of the game, the Admirals and their Swedish winger Åberg were on the board once more. Payerl sent a puck loose behind the net where Kevin Fiala got up on his high-horse and raced a wrap-around attempt on Korpisalo off his glove side of the net. The loose puck trickled out and over to Åberg for a quick smack home for his second goal of the game and third of the season.

“Four games in a row we’re playing really good right now,” said Pontus Åberg after the game. “Sticking up for each other and just playing a solid game. It’s nice to have in a group.”

Fiala would get tagged with a double minor for charging and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty with 8:38 remaining in the third period. There were goals for both teams on each of the minor penalties. A solid piece of defensive work by Frédérick Gaudreau on the penalty kill jarred a puck loose and allowed him to tee up a quick snipe for Max Reinhart to score shorthanded. It was Reinhart’s third goal of the season. Moments later on the second half of the double minor against Fiala a tic-tac-toe passing play gave Sonny Milano a power-play goal to make it a 6-3 contest off of his second goal of the season.

With nineteen seconds remaining Brett Gallant attempted to take a run at Fiala and succeeded with a check to the head. This caught the eye of Cody Bass who dropped the gloves and went after Gallant for their second fight in six days. It was once more a grappling based bout but the message was sent. As was the subsequent repeat fight between Jamie Devane and Oleg Yevenko that took place directly on the next faceoff out of the penalties being added up from the previous altercation.

Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played there were a few roster moves made: Marek Mazanec and Colton Sissons were recalled by the Nashville Predators as both Carter Hutton and Eric Nystrom were placed on injured reserve. Sissons played in last night’s Predators game and took home first star of the game honors while scoring his second career NHL goal. With Sissons topside the additional alternate captain on the ice was Max Reinhart. This morning the Admirals released Adam Payerl from his PTO contract and signed him to a standard player contract that will keep him with the team for the rest of the 2015-16 season. Today’s line combinations were: Arvidsson-Gaudreau-Görtz, Åberg-Kamenev-Payerl, Devane-Girard-Moses, Fiala-Reinhart-Bass, Näkyvä-Aronson, Allen-Oligny, Alm-Murphy. Admirals roster today was bare bones meaning there weren’t excess players outside of the lineup to necessitate a scratch. Today’s official attendance was 12,972.

Reactions to this game? Were you in attendance for this game and, if so, what did you think of the Admirals first ever school day game? What did you think of Kevin Fiala’s extracurricular activities today? 

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The Milwaukee Admirals came away with a 3-2 overtime victory on the road against the Rockford IceHogs Saturday night. Marek Mazanec came up huge several times and allowed for the Admirals to have a foundation to build from and attack. The overtime hero tonight was Trevor Murphy who scored the game-winning goal on a power-play to record his first career professional goal. The Admirals have walked away from this three games in three days set with a clean sweep of three wins in three different cities.

“We had contributions from everybody,” said Milwaukee Admirals assistant coach Stan Drulia as he spoke with Aaron Sims after the game on SportsRadio 105.7 FM The Fan. “You look back Thursday morning in Iowa – just a tremendous group effort. Juuse Saros, two big games in net. [Marek Mazanec] was excellent today. Really gave us a chance when we were kind of floundering early to find our legs and get going but he gave us a chance to win.”

Rockford started this game with a flurry of offense. At 7:54 of the first period their pressure would be rewarded with a goal. The puck was rattling around Marek Mazanec in net and, while the Admirals defense was stationary and in puck watching mode, Brandon Mashinter was able to cradle and pop home his fourth goal of the season.

The IceHogs lead would only last 5:51 of ice time in the first period. Against the run of play, Jamie Devane led a rush down the left wing and was able to beat IceHogs netminder Mark Visentin to his near post as traffic barreled down the slot. The goal was Devane’s first of the season, first as an Admiral, and first goal in the AHL since 3/30/14 when he was a member of the Toronto Marlies.

In the second period the Admirals took their first lead of the game and did it from the power-play. Dennis Rasmussen was called for goaltender interference and the IceHogs penalty kill was managing to negate a single shot getting through on goal. This would all go for naught when a fantastic effort by Pontus Åberg on the left wing to deliver a backhanded pass back into the slot teed up Adam Payerl for the power-play goal and Payerl’s second goal of the season.

After a turnover at the Admirals attacking blue line the IceHogs were able to counter attack and equalize midway through the third period. Bryan Bickell drifting along the left wing was able to loft a pass back towards the high right wing where Ville Pokka stepped in and fired a shot through the five hole of Mazanec to score his first goal of the season.

This game would end up going into overtime. Through regulation the two teams were level in the shots department with thirty-six shots on goal each. When it came time for the three-on-three to get going the Admirals were given an opportunity on the power-play when the IceHogs were caught with too many men on the ice. This set the stage for the theatrics of Trevor Murphy’s first career goal as a professional hockey player. Taylor Aronson passed over to Murphy and it was a one-timed bomb on the four-on-three overtime power-play that beat Visentin for the game-winner.

“He’s been itching to get back in the lineup,” said Drulia of Trevor Murphy. “He was injured when [Anthony Bitetto] was sent down. We made some changes on the back-end, with different pairings, and they were playing really well. It’s tough to get him back in the lineup. He’s a young defenseman. He’s only going to get better. Real bright future. He’s got a real good understanding of the game and he shoots the puck so well. He’s probably got the heaviest shot from our d-group back there so it was a pretty obvious spot to put him in the overtime shooting area.”

It would be so very wrong to not heap praise on the performance of Mazanec in net for the Admirals tonight. He made thirty-five saves and so many of them were high quality stops. Especially given the nature of how hard the IceHogs came out in the first period credit must be given to Mazanec for weathering the storm there and onwards in net to allow the Admirals to have a chance for not just a point but the win.

Ramblings: Prior to tonight’s game the Nashville Predators recalled defenseman Anthony Bitetto after he completed his conditioning assignment with the Admirals following the completion of last night’s game. The Admirals also reassigned Eric Robinson on loan to the Cincinnati Cyclones (ECHL). Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: Arvidsson-Sissons-Gaudreau, Åberg-Kamenev-Payerl, Fiala-Reinhart-Bass, Devane-Girard-Moses, Allen-Oligny, Näkyvä-Aronson, Alm-Murphy. The lone scratch for the Admirals tonight was Max Görtz (healthy). The Admirals now have a record of 5-4-1-0 (11 points) on the season which pushes them up to fourth place in the Central Division with a points percentage of 0.550 from their opening ten games.

Reactions from tonight’s game? Did you like the Admirals effort in each of the three games of this three-in-three? Is this Admirals team finally clicking and trending onwards and upwards? What did you think of Kevin Fiala’s return to game action after his benching and one-game scratch? Was this the best performance by Mazanec as an Admiral?

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