The Admirals lost 5-4 on the road against the Charlotte Checkers Saturday night. The game was by far and large the nuttiest and most dramatic game of the season. Nine goals. One-hundred and eight penalty minutes. One line brawl. One goalie fight. The tagline can simply read, “If you loved Slap Shot. You’re going to love this.”

Despite a hot start for the Admirals in attack – it was the Checkers that popped in the opening goal from their first push on offense. Trevor Carrick blasted a shot from the right point that was just narrowly deflected by Chris Terry in front of Magnus Hellberg for a goal. Terry has scored four goals from seventeen-games in the NHL for the Carolina Hurricanes in 2014-15. This goes down as his first in the AHL this season.

The second period certainly didn’t lack for entertainment. The two teams scored five goals. All goals were scored from special teams scenarios. One of the goals came from a shorthanded penalty shot. And, just for good measure, why not a fight while we’re at it?

With a Checkers power-play nearly expiring they tossed a puck from long range in the hopes of a junk goal and were rewarded. Phil Di Giuseppe threw a shot on Hellberg that got coughed out in front of him. The Admirals defense was unable to clear out the front of the net and it allowed Justin Shugg to dump in the garbage for his sixth goal of the season.

The Admirals received a power-play immediately following the goal by Shugg. Taylor Aronson was in two-minds at the point and it sent Ben Holmstrom off on a shorthanded breakaway. Pontus Aberg caught up with him and took him down to draw a shorthanded penalty shot for the Checkers. Holmstrom ripped a wrister underneath the left pad of Hellberg to score his second of the season.

Then, off of that same power-play, the Admirals made it a one-for-one. Anthony Bitetto hit Austin Watson on a stretch pass that sent him in off the right wing on a break. Watson dished off in front of the net to Garrett Noonan to score a power-play goal and his fourth tally of the season.

Mike Liambas then got the boom show going with a nice fight against former Rockford IceHog Kyle Hagel. Plenty of punches from the two landed. Liambas punching Hagel’s helmet off may have been the heaviest blow thrown. I say mark it 10 each in your fight cards. Nice tilt.

The Admirals power-play continued their lightning fast passing and it resulted in two goals for Aberg off of one-timer shots. The first power-play goal by Aberg was set up by Brendan Leipsic on a half-wall to half-wall feed. The second was set up by the point man Aronson to draw the game equal at 3-3 after the Admirals trailed by three-goals only 7:24 of ice time prior.

If the second period wasn’t crazy enough – the third period took things up to eleven. Rasmus Rissanen, who ended the second period by mugging Colton Sissons, caught Rich Clune with a knee on knee it that sent him flying. Liambas went to go get him. The Checkers gathered. And then all hell broke loose.

Every player on the ice started swarming around the Checkers net and, as soon as metminder John Muse went to grab Liambas, Hellberg raced in from center ice and went to brawl with his opposition in net. There were twenty-six penalty minutes prior to this incident taking place. This line brawl resulted in eighty-two total penalty minutes. Liambas was ejected as a result of two fighting majors. And both goalies were given game misconducts for persisting a fight.

Last season, after Scott Darling fought Sami Aittokallio, I talked to Hellberg about goalie fighting for an edition of the Chatterbox. He said, “I think it’s awesome. I love goalie fights. I don’t think I’m the guy who is trying to fight guys all the time but I think that’s a thing that every goalie wants to experience in their career. I don’t think I would say no but it has to be at the right time. I won’t jeopardize a win or a tight game or something like that.”

Then came some of the dramatics on the ice from the second period in the goal scoring department. Bitetto turned the puck over right in front of Marek Mazanec and it fell kindly to Brock McGinn who beat the fresh goaltender for his fourth goal of the season to restore the Checkers lead after losing a 3-0 advantage.

For those watching this game live at home on Time Warner Cable Sports Channel – you didn’t see the Admirals equalizing goal by Sissons to make it a 4-4 game. Aberg whipped a backhander wide of the net but Leipsic was able to gather it behind Drew MacIntyre’s net before feeding the puck to Sissons for his fifth goal of the season.

With 1:30 left in the game the Checkers scored the game-winner. Carrick’s initial shot kicked up on Mazanec and he didn’t know where the puck spilled to. Di Giuseppe was able to bash in the loose puck in the crease for his third goal of the season – putting an end to a dramatic 5-4 defeat for the Admirals in Charlotte.

Ramblings: Tonight’s healthy scratches were Frederick Gaudreau and Jimmy Oligny. With the scratch tonight Gaudreau has now played in less games this season than any current Admiral forward.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Is the scoreline a reflection of two teams just trying to be too up-tempo? What are your thoughts on the Admirals line brawl and subsequent goalie fight by Magnus Hellberg? What should be expected in tomorrow’s rematch?

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The Admirals won 4-1 against the Chicago Wolves Wednesday night. This was a solid bounce back effort for the Admirals who really controlled the contest from the opening puck drop.

Goals from Pontus Aberg, Rich Clune, Miikka Salomaki, and Austin Watson were more than enough to help Marek Mazanec return to the win column for the first time since 10/24/14 against these very same Amtrak Rivals. The Czech stopped 22/23 shots on goal and was an anchor as the team went a perfect 4/4 on the penalty kill.

“[Marek Mazanec] competed his ass off tonight,” said head coach Dean Evason. “Tonight was probably the best game that I’ve seen him play.”

After a dominant start to the game – the Admirals capitalized on all that breakaway practice that they must have worked on after missing out on multiple chances this past weekend. Anthony Bitetto hit Pontus Aberg on a home run feed that sent him loose behind the Wolves defense and in on Matt Climie. It was a crafty finish with speed for the young Swede who buried his sixth goal of the season to give the Admirals a 1-0 first period lead.

In the second period the Admirals scored off of another breakaway chance. Rich Clune was able to collect a puck out of the Wolves bench-side area of the ice. It looked as if the Wolves defense thought the puck was still along the wall when Clune broke in off the right wing wall for a breakaway that he finished through the five hole of Climie. It’s his first goal as an Admiral and first AHL goal since 12/8/12 as a member of the Manchester Monarchs scoring against the Connecticut Whale.

“Like a kid in a candy store,” said Rich Clune of getting a breakaway opportunity. “It’s probably the most exciting thing for a forward to get a one-on-one with about a full-zone to think about what you are going to do.”

Clune’s excitement spilled right into a fight only seconds after scoring. He and Petteri Lindbohm met up along the left wing boards and dropped the mitts. Clune was nearly punching Lindbohm into his own Chicago bench. Give the win in your fight cards to Clune.

The Wolves managed to pull back a goal before the close of the second period. Brent Regner’s shot was redirected in-close by Dmitrij Jaskin. Marek Mazanec had little to no time to react on the deflection and Jaskin had his third goal of the season.

The Admirals got their two-goal cushion back midway through the third period. Felix Girard had an impressive drive off the left wing wall and cut all the way in on net. All Girard could do, whilst being defended, was chuck a one-handed shot on Climie. The drive and save bowled over Climie and he wasn’t able to deny Miikka Salomaki from scoring his fourth goal of the season on the follow up.

Austin Watson scored the empty netter to seal this contest at 4-1. Watson scored off of Lindbohm making a last ditch effort to become a professional goaltender. The shot went off his leg and in for Watson’s eighth goal of the season and fiftieth of his AHL playing career.

In the on ice post-game interview Clune described the Chicago Wolves as a soft hockey team.

“I would be nice to them if they just shut their mouths and took what was coming to them,” said Clune of the Wolves. “But they seemed to like to throw personal comments out toward me. None of them are really tough enough to really deal with me in a fight. They just don’t match up with us at all, toughness and speed. I love running them over every night.”

Ramblings: Prior to the game, the Milwaukee Admirals announced that Patrick Cehlin would be assigned to the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL. It will mean Cehlin logging his first games of the 2014-15 season after off-season hip surgery. The St. Louis Blues goaltending situation impacted the entire organization: Brian Elliott suffered a lower-body injury, Jake Allen assumed the top netminding role, Jordan Binnington was called up from the Wolves to back-up, and Cody Reichard was signed to a PTO by the Wolves from the Indy Fuel of the ECHL – all that without mentioning Martin Brodeur’s comeback on try-out basis with St. Louis starting on Friday. Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were all healthy scratches and included Frederick Gaudreau and Jimmy Oligny. The win for the Admirals tonight puts them ahead of the Wolves in the Midwest Division and Western Conference standings.

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The Admirals lost in a shootout 2-1 on the road against the Iowa Wild Sunday evening. There were no goals scored until the final two-minutes of play and the Ads needed a goal from Austin Watson, with the extra attacker on the ice, to force overtime with forty-eight seconds remaining. Sadly for the Ads – earning that lone point would be the best they could do tonight as the Wild claimed the lot from the shootout.

There was no score after the opening twenty-minutes. Yet, the shooting output that we saw from the Admirals last night in Rockford appeared to spill over into Iowa. The Ads ripped fourteen shots on Wild goaltender John Curry in the first period. Curry came up huge with a late Admiral surge coming from a five-on-three power-play opportunity to make sure the game stayed deadlocked heading into the first intermission.

Through two periods of play there was still no goal scoring. The teams traded quality chances within seconds of each-other just as an Admirals power-play expired. Triston Grant had an opportunity to score his first goal of the season as he was stationed out in front of Curry. The Wild defended the centering pass well and instantly countered with a home run feed to Jordan Schroeder as he exited the penalty box. He had a clean breakaway but Magnus Hellberg was able to shut the door on him to keep things scoreless.

With 2:23 remaining in regulation the game received its first goal. Schroeder was racing in on another breakaway for the Wild and Hellberg flew from his net for a flying poke check. The puck went over to Tyler Graovac who outwaited Hellberg’s last ditch dive and fired past the make-shift goaltender Anthony Bitetto for his sixth goal of the season.

Hellberg came to the bench and the Admirals burned their timeout to press for a final minute attack in the hopes of avoiding a backbreaking defeat. It may not have been exactly what they drew up but we’ll all take it. Brendan Leipsic’s shot from the point was coughed up by Curry and right into the path of Austin Watson as he crashed the net. He popped home his team leading seventh goal of the season to force overtime with forty-eight seconds remaining in regulation.

Considering how the game was played, it may have been fitting that the game would go all the way to a shootout so that either Hellberg or Curry could decide things in goal. Unfortunately, like their recent string of bad luck from breakaways, the Admirals were not able to score a single shootout attempt against Curry. Zack Phillips would score the lone shootout goal from a snapshot low to the blocker side of Hellberg.

This is the first time the Admirals have lost to a team in Iowa since 2/28/09 when the Chops were around. The Ads were a perfect seven-for-seven dating back to last season against the Wild in Iowa prior to tonight’s shootout loss. The Wild have now won three-straight games against the Admirals this season. It also means that Hellberg’s perfect start to his 2014-15 season has come to an end.

Ramblings: After last night’s defeat in Rockford – the Admirals decided to rotate some players. Joe Pendenza came back into the lineup in-place of Frederick Gaudreau and Jonathan Diaby stepped in for Jimmy Oligny on defense. All went as healthy scratches. Patrick Cehlin still remains out as he regains fitness from off-season hip surgery.

Is there cause for concern that a team like the Iowa Wild are getting the better of the Milwaukee Admirals? With each team playing the last of a three-in-three, was the inability to find the back of the net down to fatigue or was John Curry just good enough tonight?

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The Admirals lost 3-2 on the road against the Rockford IceHogs Saturday night. It was a shooting gallery tonight as the two teams tallied seventy-three shots on goal. Brendan Leipsic was able to score the first goal in his professional playing career to help the Admirals climb out of a 2-0 hole. Yet, T.J. Brennan’s late power-play goal in the second period would be enough to seal things in Rockford tonight.

Entering tonight’s game, the Admirals were a perfect nine-for-nine in penalty killing against the IceHogs in their previous three meetings this season. That spell was broken in the first period after a double screen blocked Marek Mazanec’s sight line for Kyle Cumiskey’s blast from the point. It’s his first goal of the season and first as a member of the IceHogs.

In the second period the IceHogs were able to extend their lead to two-goals. Zach Miskovic’s shot between the circles was aimed low and he forced a rebound off of Mazanec that went straight to the stickblade of Dennis Rasmussen. It was a simple finish for his fourth goal of the season.

Don’t be too surprised if the Admirals start working on breakaways in the near future. After missing three breakaways last night – Pontus Aberg had a breakaway from the defensive blue line all the way in on Scott Darling. His shot was pushed aside by Darling. And it left another clean chance for the Ads begging.

Garrett Noonan would help ease the sting of the Aberg miss by ripping in a one-timer for his third goal of the season and second scored against the IceHogs. Just as an Admiral power-play was coming to an end, Anthony Bitetto slid a pass on from the point to Noonan on the right wing circle which he took first time. Darling was down and out getting to the placement of Noonan’s shot but he couldn’t get there.

Then came a decent fight between Mike Liambas and Ryan Schnell. This bout spilled over after the two jawed their way to the penalty box following a Liambas goaltender interference that pulled in Schnell for an unsportsmanlike. When they got out of the box they let fly a really passionate facepunching fest. I say give them both a ten in your fight card.

Brendan Leipsic has been leading the Admirals in scoring most of the way this season and doing it by assists alone. Tonight was finally his night to score his first career goal as a professional hockey player. The Ads had a four-on-three odd-man rush on a four-on-four. Taylor Aronson passed from the center lane off to the right wing where Leipsic blistered a shot while down on one knee to beat Darling and level the game a 2-2.

Craziness continued in the second period with another fight. After Stephen Johns was tagged with an interference call, for clobbering Frederick Gaudreau, Garrett Noonan stepped up and decided to drop the mitts. While Noonan may have been coming to the aid of his teammate he lost the fight to Johns pretty badly. Pro, being a great teammate. Con, getting knocked around until you’re off your feet.

The second period ended with the IceHogs regaining their lead. With another four-on-four coming to a close, the IceHogs gained a skater and got a short but sweet power-play chance. T.J. Brennan held the puck and pinpointed a shot high over the shoulder of Mazanec and beneath the crossbar to make it 3-2. It’s Brennan’s fourth goal of the season.

With the net emptied, and both teams burning timeouts in the closing of the third period, the Admirals were not able to get the equalizer on their former-goaltender Darling – who stopped thirty-eight of forty shots on goal tonight. Mazanec also had himself a busy night: thirty saves on thirty-three shots. The win for the IceHogs snaps a winning streak that the Admirals had running on them of eight-straight games dating back to last season.

Ramblings: Marek Mazanec made his first start since 11/12/14 when the Admirals lost 3-2. Apart from the goaltenders being rotated – the roster and line combinations were the same as it has been for a while now. Scratches were Jonathan Diaby (healthy), Joe Pendenza (healthy), and Patrick Cehlin (hip). The Rockford IceHogs were without Mark McNeill for the IceHogs tonight. In his absence they dressed an extra defenseman.

Thoughts from tonight’s game? Is this a difficult loss to take for the Admirals or a case of just getting slightly bested by another quality team? What were your impressions of Marek Mazanec’s return to the Admirals net? Would this game have been all that different if Magnus Hellberg played? What will Brendan Leipsic’s first goal do for his confidence moving forward?

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The Admirals won 3-2 in overtime against the Chicago Wolves Friday night. It is the third time this season that the Admirals have experienced the three-on-three AHL overtime format. And, just like the first time around, ended with an OT victory over the Amtrak Rivals. Pontus Aberg secured the win with his fifth goal of the season.

“I freakin’ hate it,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason on the AHL’s overtime format. “It’s so nerve-racking. I guess it’s exciting. I guess it’s fun. As soon as a guy gets a tad bit tired you’re in trouble. Or at least Stan [Drulia] and I are in trouble because we’re scared to death that something is going to happen.”

Despite Brent Sopel clanking a shot off the post in the opening minute of play. It took the Chicago Wolves 7:19 of ice time before registering their first shot on goal. It wasn’t until 16:11 into the first period until their second shot. The Admirals defense was relentless in closing down passing and shooting lanes. They even resorted to some 1-3-1 neutral zone trap to disrupt Chicago’s breakouts.

Austin Watson put the Admirals puck possession to good use by scoring his sixth goal of the season. The Ads were cycling the offensive zone hard and Mark Van Guilder put together a quality shift behind Matt Climie’s net. Even more quality was the pass that Van Guilder dished up for Watson’s goal. He raced from behind the left wing side of the net, spun off a no look backhander in front of Climie, and right to the tape of Watson on the opposite post for a slam dunk of a goal.

The Wolves came into tonight’s game as the best second period team in the AHL. They had outscored their opponents 25-10 in the middle frame for a league best +15 goal differential. Despite outshooting the Admirals 12-8 in tonight’s second period. It was more of the same in the goal scoring department.

Viktor Arvidsson’s howitzer slap shot made it a 2-0 game late in the second period on an Admiral power-play. The passing cycled from the right wing (Brendan Leipsic) to the point (Taylor Aronson) and on over to the sweet spot of Arvidsson on the left wing circle. His one-timer smoked past Climie for his sixth goal of the season and fourth scored on the power-play.

It’s also worth highlighting a bit of wackiness from the second period. Before Aronson delivered the set-up to Arvidsson on the power-play goal. He served up a solid check to Colin Fraser in open ice. Aronson was instantly jumped by Yannick Veilleux. Instead of fighting majors the officials called them roughing minors. That would make sense given how the tangled mess of Aronson and Veilleux were once gloves dropped. What is odd to me is that there wasn’t an instigator given to Veilleux despite his actions clearly being just that. He received an unsportsmanlike instead.

The Wolves ended Magnus Hellberg’s shutout bid in the third period from a power-play. Philip McRae’s shot from the right point rifled off the post and traveled to his opposite point for Petteri Lindbohm. The follow up chance was also belted off a post but, this time, it was crossbar, down, and in to cut the Admirals lead to 2-1. It is Lindbohm’s fourth goal of the season.

Odd man rushes really started cropping up for the Admirals with the Wolves fighting for an equalizer. Leipsic had a breakaway that he pushed wide left of Climie. Then Frederick Gaudreau had a clean breakaway that saw his backhander to that same left side get shoved off. The Ads even had a three-on-two develop with Colton Sissons but his wingers drew him offsides.

These missed opportunities made the following sting. After a relentless, shift after shift, attack for the Wolves – Brent Regner equalized. The shot from the point was simple enough but the traffic down the slot made Hellberg’s view of it almost impossible with Jeremy Welsh’s net front screen. Regner’s second goal of the season forced the Admirals into their third overtime game of the year.

“They had a heck of a period,” said Evason of the Wolves third period comeback. “They just kept coming at us. Put pressure on us. When you’re down 2-0 that’s how you’re going to play. You’re going to play desperate. And we bent a bit.”

Yet again, the Admirals found themselves in the midst of the AHL’s three-on-three overtime format. And, just as they did on 10/24/14 in Chicago, they took down their Amtrak Rivals. Hellberg forwarded a puck on to Johan Alm who dinked onto Pontus Aberg. The young Swede raced through neutral ice on the right wing wall, toe dragged, released a shot out of the stickhandle, and beat Climie against the grain to seal the contest in OT.

The goal for Aberg helped out his fellow countryman Hellberg in securing his sixth win from six starts on the season. Hellberg stopped 27/29 shots on goal tonight. It was the first time all season that he allowed more than one-goal.

Ramblings: Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were Jonathan Diaby (healthy), Joe Pendenza (healthy), and Patrick Cehlin (hip). Magnus Hellberg made his third-consecutive start tonight for the Milwaukee Admirals. It is the first time since 11/19/13-11/20/13-11/22/13 that he has made three-consecutive starts for the Admirals.

Thoughts from tonight’s game? What happened to the Admirals in the third period? What are your opinions of the AHL’s new overtime format so far and would you like to see it get adopted by the NHL?

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The Admirals won 2-1 against the Rockford IceHogs Saturday night to narrow the gap in the Midwest Division to two-points between the top three teams. The Magnus Hellberg Show continued as the big Swede only allowed one-goal from twenty-nine shots. And the blue liners did the scoring tonight with both Garrett Noonan and Joe Piskula lighting the lamp.

“That is a good hockey team,” said head coach Dean Evason of the Rockford IceHogs. “Magnus definitely played great yesterday. And we weren’t very good today. Certainly early in the hockey game and he kept us in the hockey game. Allowed us to find our legs after the first period. He played as good as they played as of late.”

Tonight was the IceHogs turn to score the opener. The IceHogs had a power-play that just expired as T.J. Brennan passed off to the right wing circle for a Teuvo Teravainen one-timer that scorched through Magnus Hellberg. It’s his second goal of the season.

Then came the fisticuffs. Mike Liambas popped Brennan with a check behind Scott Darling’s net. This attracted the attention of Garret Ross and the two tied up. Liambas got bloodied a little bit in this tilt. That’s enough for me to give the edge in the fight card to Ross.

The fighting continued in the first period when Rich Clune and Cody Bass dropped the mitts. This bout had a heck of a Rock Em Sock Em Robots start. Plenty of punches landed flush and Clune ended up getting a take down to make it 1-1 in the fight department through twenty minutes.

In the second period we saw a Colton Sissons cast himself into the running for the biggest hit in the AHL this season. During his shift, Sissons was all over the place after requiring a new stick from the bench. Once he settled back in he had Dennis Rasmussen in his crosshairs. The IceHog defenseman was swooping in behind his own net with his head down and Sissons buried him.

“We’ve talked about [Sissons] a lot just being a pro but he has played a really heavy game as of late,” said Evason. “Stan [Drulia] just mentioned upstairs that it’s as heavy a game as he’s seen him play these last two. And they’re hard games.”

The direct result of the check was Sissons first career fight as a pro. Klas Dahlbeck instantly came to the aid of his defensive battery-mate. And the end result was two extra penalties on the Rockford d-man. Sadly, the Admirals failed to capitalize from the four-minutes worth of power-play time that followed the Sissons check and fight.

After several times of holding the puck too long, and passing instead of shooting, the Admirals finally found the back of the net. Garrett Noonan blistered a wrister against the grain, right wing to blocker side of Darling, to score his second goal of the season and equalize for the Ads – making it a 1-1 game through forty-minutes.

With 7:32 remaining in regulation the Admirals took their first lead of the game on the captain’s first goal of the season. Felix Girard fed Joe Piskula the puck and he hammered it first time from the right point. It belted on by Darling and the Ads went ahead 2-1. It’s Piskula’s first goal since 3/12/14 against the Iowa Wild… or was it?

“It wasn’t Piskula’s goal,” smiled former-Admiral netminder Scott Darling. “Just so he doesn’t get a big head. [Triston] Grant tipped it in.”

With Darling to the bench on for the extra attacker – the IceHogs pressed hard for a solid 1:45 of ice time. The Admirals were able to hold on and Magnus Hellberg was once again the man in the win column. He stopped twenty-eight of twenty-nine shots on goal to record his fifth win in five starts. He currently has an AHL best for goals against average (0.78) and save percentage (0.969).

“All weekend Magnus was solid,” said Darling. “He did his job but the guys were really good in front of him. The [Admiral] forwards were pretty dynamic. Miikka, it’s nice to have them on your team. It’s not as much fun to play against them.”

Ramblings: Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals included Patrick Cehlin, Joe Pendenza, and Jonathan Diaby. Also, tonight the Milwaukee Admirals retired Zombie Nation’s “Kernkraft 400” as their goal song. It was replaced with a song called “Slapshot” that is very familiar to those of you New York Rangers fans. The change came via player request. The next time we see these Rockford IceHogs will be on 11/22/14 in Rockford. The next home meeting between them isn’t until the start of December. I can’t wait for more of the same.

Has this weekend made you feel more confident in your 2014-15 Milwaukee Admirals? How important has the play in net from Magnus Hellberg been behind these two wins against Rockford?

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The Admirals won 4-1 on the road against the Rockford IceHogs Friday night. Miikka Salomaki scored twice from the power-play and Taylor Aronson had a four-point night – including his first career AHL goal. All of this in front of yet another smooth night in net for Magnus Hellberg – his fourth win in four starts. The victory snaps a franchise best eight-game winning streak for the IceHogs. The rematch is all set for tomorrow night.

After a post-whistle slash by Ryan Schnell, delivered to Mike Liambas, the Admirals took the game’s opening power-play and picked up a first period lead. Taylor Aronson fed a pass off to the left wing circle for Viktor Arvidsson to one-time it on net. Former-Admiral goaltender Scott Darling kicked it out in front to traffic where Miikka Salomaki was able to push the puck across for his second goal of the season.

In the second period the Admirals extended their lead to two. Taylor Aronson scored his first career AHL goal through a long range wister from the right point. That puck had eyes through traffic and Darling to give the Ads a brief 2-0 cushion.

Rockford finally cracked the Admirals defense and Magnus Hellberg midway through the second period. Ville Pokka was able to pinch the puck and get the puck over to Mark McNeill who backhanded a feed for Phillip Danault on the one-timer. The Ads were sucked into the passer, McNeill, and failed to close down Danault – who had a clean look breaking in on goal down the hashmarks to score his third goal of the season.

It wouldn’t be a Midwest Division game without a fight, right? Anthony Bitetto and Ryan Hartman locked up just nine seconds of ice time after the IceHogs goal. More tugging and wrasslin’ than clean punches landed. Still, I give the win on my fight card to Bitetto (10) over Hartman (9).

The Admirals picked up another power-play goal from Salomaki in the third period to restore their two-goal advantage. The set up was very similar to their first power-play goal. Aronson slid a one-time feed for Arvidsson to hammer on net. Except, this time, Salomaki was able to redirect it right in front of Darling to record his third goal of the season.

Then, after stifling the IceHogs attempts to get an extra attacker on in the closing of this game, Arvidsson tacked on the empty netter to seal this game a 4-1. It’s Arvidsson’s fifth goal of the season. And, perhaps more impressively, it was the fourth point of the night for Aronson – who had only three assists entering tonight’s game.

Hellberg was again a vacuum for the Admirals. Rebounds were a rarity for him tonight. He stopped twenty-five of twenty-six shots on goal to improve to four wins from four starts on the season with a 0.73 goals against average and 0.970 save percentage. Interestingly enough, it was his first ever win against the IceHogs from nine tries. When your hot you’re hot, eh?

Ramblings: Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were Joe Pendenza, Patrick Cehlin, and Jimmy Oligny. The loss tonight for Scott Darling was his first of the season in the AHL. It was the first time in his career that he played against the Admirals.

Was this the best Admirals performance to date? Who is this Taylor Aronson and what did he do with the real one? Is it time for the Admirals to give Magnus Hellberg the steering wheel and guide the team in net?

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The Admirals lost 3-2 against the Iowa Wild Wednesday night. It took thirty-seconds for the Wild to get on the board tonight. Despite a brief Admirals lead in the second period, courtesy of Mike Liambas, it would be answered and bettered from the visitors. It is the Wild’s first win in five games. And their first win since the last time they played the Admirals, in Milwaukee, on Wednesday night.

“They played good,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason of the Iowa Wild. “We struggled getting pucks to the net. Getting pucks through. They blocked shots. They played a real good game. Give them more credit than giving our group negativity.”

In the last meeting between these two it was the Wild picking up the opening goal in the first three minutes of the game. Tonight it took them only thirty-seconds. Danny Syvret’s blast from the left point elevated all the way to the inside post of Marek Mazanec and beat him off the crossbar and down.

The rest of the first period was really well managed from the Wild. The brightest spot for the Admirals in the opening twenty may have been Anthony Bitetto plowing Zack Phillips through a pane of glass. The Wild forward was racing in on the forecheck when Bitetto polished him off. The glass didn’t shatter but the pane was knocked loose.

Hits kept coming from there and, after Johan Gustafsson was clipped around his cage, we saw a fight between Mike Liambas and Curt Gogol. This was of course in response to the goalie getting knocked over and the refs let this battle drag on a bit. Give the win to Liambas for at least getting the hat off his opponent – but I don’t think all that many punches landed flush.

In the second period, during a spell of one-minute and twenty seconds, there were two goals scored for the Admirals and an equalizing tally for the Wild to knot the game at 2-2.

Mike Liambas scored a rebounder after Rich Clune dinked a puck around the front of the Wild cage. Liambas had Gustafsson in scramble mode and he was nowhere close to stop the Admiral bruiser from popping in a backhander.

Liambas and Clune linked up again only forty-two seconds later. Clune delivered a perfect saucer pass to the center lane drive of Liambas. He made the redirect of the Clune pass look easy and the puck skipped out of reach of Gustafsson’s glove side for Liambas’ second goal inside a minute’s worth of play.

“It happened so fast,” said Mike Liambas. “I was pretty excited. Great plays by Clune both times. And Joe Pendenza working it down low.”

Then came the response for the Wild only thirty-eight seconds later. Marc Hagel was able to fire a pass to Tyler Graovac in the slot. From there, it was all a matter of getting a shot on net as quickly as possible from that prime scoring position. Graovac did just that by spinning a shot off that managed to find a hole through Mazanec for his second goal of the season.

“Momentum was shifted and we did a couple of bonehead things to allow them right in,” said Evason. “We should just be tight there and get pucks deep. We’re trying to make an offensive play and it bites us.”

Iowa wasn’t finished with scoring in the second period, either. Zack Phillips was able to pop home a rebound after a point shot was coughed out to him by Mazanec. It was the Wild’s second goal scored in four-minutes and three seconds of ice time and Phillips’ third of the season.

Despite a late push for the Admirals in the third period, with the extra attacker on in the final fifty-eight seconds, the Wild held off for the 3-2 final. It’s the team’s first win under new head coach John Torchetti. It breaks a losing streak of five-games that dates back to the last time the Wild played in Milwaukee.

Ramblings: Tonight saw the return of Pontus Åberg to the Milwaukee Admirals lineup. The young Swede missed the Ads previous three games after a collision with Viktor Stalberg the last time the team played the Iowa Wild in Milwaukee on 10/29/14. The scratches tonight included Jonathan Diaby, Frederick Gaudreau, and Patrick Cehlin – who is still on the comeback trail after off-season hip surgery.

Any concerns from the team losing to the Iowa Wild twice in a row at home now? Is this more a matter of the Wild winning than the Admirals losing? What do you make of Marek Mazanec’s performance tonight? Would you give him the net against the Rockford IceHogs this weekend? Is the AHL schedule, and the lack of games played to this point, hurting the Admirals form?

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The Admirals won 4-0 against the Grand Rapids Griffins Friday night. Magnus Hellberg recorded his eighth career AHL shutout by stopping all twenty-two shots on goal. Colton Sissons also scored twice tonight to double his goal scoring output to four on the season. The Griffins have now lost five-straight games.

“We talked afterwards that we’re able to play any game,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “If it becomes a physical game we feel we have that group. If it’s a skill game, and up and down, we think we can play that as well. It’s great to know that you can play any way the other team wants to play.”

Joe Pendenza put the Admirals on the board first with a crafty defensive play to set it all up. The 23-year old rookie intercepted a breakout play from the Griffins and linked up with Viktor Arvidsson. The puck trickled in on goal and Pendenza has a few cracks at it before getting it behind Tom McCollum for his third goal of the season.

It was then Colton Sissons turn to score his third goal of the season. A great rush into the zone, started by Brendan Leipsic, ended with Viktor Stalberg tossing a pass into the center lane drive of Sissons. The Griffins may have had a chance to intercept and clear the puck but failed at doing so. In turn, Sissons benefited from the fumbled clearing attempt because McCollum’s hesitation on the play opened up the five hole. It was 2-0 Admirals after 12:26 of play.

The chippy element was then brought to the fore front in the first period after an ugly hit by Brennan Evans. The Griffins defenseman slid over from the right side of defense and hit Felix Girard in the head with a shoulder. There wasn’t a penalty on the play until Rich Clune instigated a fight. The referees didn’t seem to inclined to let these two swing for the fences and, instead, wrapped it up rather quickly.

Mark Van Guilder made it 3-0 and three-for-three on the night for Admirals goal scorers notching their third goals of the season. After a failed swatted clearing attempt foiled the Griffins defense, Austin Watson was able to swoop to the right wing walls and claim the puck. He dropped a pass off behind him to Van Guilder who fired from an awkward angle. McCollum was standing in the net when the shot was taken and it hit him off the right skate and in. It looked as if he never knew Van Guilder had shot on goal.

Evans was at it again in the second period for the Griffins. He leveled Stalberg low with a hip check and got him airborne. Stalberg, who was on the last game of his conditioning assignment, remained down for a long time before Admirals trainer Doug Agnew came to assist him off the ice. Before that could happen – Jonathan Diaby became the second Admiral to instigate a fight with Evans.

“He’s a physical guy,” said Triston Grant of his former Griffins teammate Evans. “Those hits ten-years ago maybe aren’t as questionable as they are today, but he’s a great guy who just plays hard.”

The third period saw two more fights. Clune psyched out Chris Bruton off a faceoff. Bruton tossed his mitts into the air and Clune left him high and dry. However, Liambas decided to give him a bout. The final fight from the night was with Griffins captain Jeff Hoggan locking horns with Jimmy Oligny. The Admirals ended the night with sixty penalty minutes and the Griffins had twenty-eight penalty minutes for a combined eighty-eight minutes worth of penalties.

After Colton Sissons capped the game off with an empty netter it was time to exhale for Magnus Hellberg. He missed out on a shutout in the dying moments in Sunday’s game against the Chicago Wolves but got it tonight.

“I think I’m more relaxed,” said Magnus Hellberg of his start to the season. “I know it can go either way pretty fast but just be relaxed. Try to play my game and I’ve been doing a lot of good with David Rook now.”

It was the eighth career AHL shutout for Hellberg. He stopped all 22-shots he faced tonight. And now has gone three wins in three starts with only two goals allowed for a 0.64 GAA and a 0.973 SV%.

“He’s playing great,” said Evason of Hellberg. “He’s playing like he did two-years ago. Credit to him. He stayed sharp, deserved to get in there tonight, and got the job done.”

Ramblings: Scratches tonight were Pontus Aberg, Frederick Gaudreau, Patrick Cehlin, and Garrett Noonan. Stalberg, who did not return to the ice after injuring his knee in the second period, was walking around without crutches in the Admirals locker room. It was the last day of his conditioning assignment and he is due back to Nashville tomorrow – regardless of injury.

Thoughts from tonight’s game? Are all games in the Midwest Division going to be this physical this season? What will Marek Mazanec need to do now to earn time in net over Magnus Hellberg?

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The Admirals won 4-1 against the Chicago Wolves Sunday afternoon. Magnus Hellberg picked up his second win of the season in net as Viktor Stalberg, Felix Girard, Colton Sissons, and Mike Liambas all registed goals in front of him.

“We did like how we responded,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “Certainly we played a different game than we played last night. We played with a lot of energy tonight. Lot of competitiveness.”

Viktor Stalberg opened up the scoring for the Admirals in the second period from the power-play. The goal was beautifully set up by Viktor Arvidsson with a shot-pass that fooled everyone but Stalberg on the back post. It was a tap in. And Stalberg’s first AHL goal since the 2009-10 season as a member of the Toronto Marlies.

Arvidsson’s presence on the ice continued with a fantastic shift that lead to the Admirals second goal of the contest. After cycling the boards with Triston Grant, a shot on goal was kicked out by Matt Climie right to the tape of Felix Girard – who scored his second goal of the season. The two goals were scored 2:21 apart from each other.

There was also a fight in the second period. Jake Chelios had a run at Rich Clune that caught the eye of Jonathan Diaby. The bout wasn’t anything close to the spectacle that Grant vs. Maggio was. Still, it’s great to see the Admirals willingness to stand up for one another.

The Admirals offense was back in attack during the third period courtesy of Colton Sissons. It was a tic-tac-toe play from neutral ice all the way to goal. Brendan Leipsic picked out Stalberg breaking down the left wing, Stalberg dished up a pass across Climie to Sissons, and Sissons smacked it home for his second goal of the season.

With a late power-play given, the Wolves emptied their net and ended Magnus Hellberg’s shutout bid with 1:03 remaining in regulation. A shot to the net was spilled out to Terry Broadhurst – whose low shot got through traffic and Hellberg to deny the Swede from what would have been his eighth career AHL shutout.

“He seems real calm,” said Evason of Hellberg. “He’s taking away a lot of net. When Magnus is good, and I have no idea about goaltending, but it sure seems that when he looks big he’s big. You don’t see a lot of net. He’s done a good job.”

The net was emptied again by the Wolves. This time they paid for it. Clune passed up to Mike Liambas who, after gaining neutral ice, fired into the empty net for his first goal of the season. Finishing this game off with a 4-1 win that ends the Admirals two-game losing skid.

Ramblings: Today’s scratches included Pontus Aberg, Patrick Cehlin, Garrett Noonan, and Frederick Gaudreau. Both teams rotated their goaltenders from the previous night. That meant a second start of the season for Magnus Hellberg. The goal for Viktor Stalberg was his first AHL goal since 2/20/10 as a member of the Toronto Marlies. The team he scored on? The Manitoba Moose. With their 31 shots on goal, the Milwaukee Admirals pushed the Chicago Wolves to a new season high for shots allowed in a game.

Thoughts from today’s game? Was this a return to form for the Admirals? Should Magnus Hellberg start being given a chance to start more games? Did we see the last of Viktor Stalberg on his conditioning assignment here today?

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