Pekka Rinne and Marek Mazanec combined for a shutout in the Nashville Predators second pre-season game. Yet, it was Filip Forsberg putting in another sharp performance in his efforts to make the NHL roster to start the season. He scored the lone goal in the 1-0 contest Thursday night and is starting to make a legitimate case that he’s up in Nashville to stay.

Forsberg has now scored a point in every pre-season competition he has taken part in: the rookie tournament and two of two in the NHL’s pre-season. He played on a line with James Neal that was centered by Mike Ribeiro. Compared to the first pre-season game, where he unleashed nine shots on goal, Forsberg only had two last night but was the difference on the scoresheet.

Rinne made his first start of the pre-season and stopped all twelve shots he faced before a goaltending switch in the second period. Mazanec, who had a tough third period in the opening pre-season fixture, rebounded with a ten-for-ten effort to seal the shutout in Nashville.

The Predators next pre-season games are tomorrow and it includes two games against the Florida Panthers. That should mean a stretching of the roster for each of the two games and plenty more talent we should see in Milwaukee this season should get pre-season hockey in the NHL.

Notes-worthy Notes: Taylor Beck registered 15:17 of ice time and had two shots and a giveaway… he might be seeing that wing role that didn’t exist in the first place being claimed by Forsberg. Joe Piskula made his triumphant return to Nashville after his two game NHL stint last season… he was out on the ice for 17:08 and was on the ice when Forsberg scored. Austin Watson recorded the least amount of ice time, 9:42, of anyone in last night’s game… he registered two shots.

Have we seen the last of Filip Forsberg in Milwaukee? Is Forsberg earning himself an NHL roster spot? If so, what does that mean in terms of the “glass ceiling” to make it from the AHL to the NHL this year in Milwaukee… Can anyone break through it without some sort of injury on the Predators roster? Does Forsberg’s perfomances mean “sayōnara” for Taylor Beck in the Predators organization?

The Nashville Predators pre-season festivities started last night with a road game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. In Peter Laviolette’s first outing behind Nashville’s bench he saw his team cough up a 2-1 lead by conceding three third period goals. Who was the man in net for the third period you ask? Marek Mazanec.

Filip Forsberg scored the game’s opening goal in the second period. He’s coming off of a rookie tournament in which he scored two goals and a point in each game in the tournament. It’s worth adding he had a whopping nine shots on goal. Nine. After a goal by the Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov – Craig Smith tallied for the Predators to restore their advantage ahead of the third period.

Tampa Bay took the pre-season opener during a seven minute stretch midway through the third period. Jonathan Marchessault, Mark Barberio, and Marchessault (all over again) put pucks behind Mazanec to make it a 4-2 final. Mazanec stopped 12/15 shots on goal while the man who started the night, Carter Hutton, went 19/20 in saves.

Notes-worthy Notes: Austin Watson was slotted on the wing and played a forward low for time on ice with 8:17. Jonathan-Ismael Diaby registered the least amount of ice time with 6:35 -but- he did drop the gloves with Luke Witkowski. Taylor Beck, who remains unsigned, played the most ice time of any forward, 21:28, and played more time on the power-play than anyone on the Predators… he also contributed four shots on goal and was a +1 on the night.

The next pre-season game for the Predators is on Thursday night in Nashville against these very same Lightning. After that, they get three more home pre-season games before a stop in Columbus and the season opener on Thursday October 9th.

Thoughts from Nashville’s pre-season opener? Will Taylor Beck get a new contract worked out prior to either the NHL or AHL season? Does Beck deserve a one-way contract or should he end up back here in Milwaukee as the Predators go-to call-up?

The Admirals season officially came to an end tonight with a 2-0 shutout defeat against the Toronto Marlies Thursday night.

“Obviously the best game that we played in the whole series,” said Milwaukee Admirals assistant coach Stan Drulia after the game on 1250 Sports Radio WSSP. “We had a couple of pretty good scoring chances. I thought the guys put it out there. There were some things that happened that were out of our hands tonight but, for the most part, we did a pretty good job today. We could have done some better things in games one and two that wouldn’t have put us in this position but, when you can’t score, they really shut us down.”

With their backs up against the wall it seemed as if the tight knit defense of the Marlies, combined with costly penalties from the Admirals, made tonight’s game three a grinder with little to no chance to score. It was the Admirals best performance of the playoffs when it needed to be. It still just wasn’t good enough to top the Marlies who will advance to the next round of the Calder Cup playoffs by completing tonight’s sweep.

Penalties were again an issue for the Admirals. After a good start to the first period they finished with two penalty kills that seemed to slow them down. The third penalty kill for the Admirals came late in the second period and resulted in the game’s opening goal. The Marlies passed themselves into space. When Jerry D’Amigo;s backdoor pass, post to post, hit the tape of Greg McKegg – it was going to be a power-play goal. Marek Mazanec was struggling to make the quick slide to his opposite post and the Marlies, for the third time in three games, had the first goal.

The penalties continued impacting the game for the Admirals. Miikka Salomaki took a high sticking call with 4:27 remaining in the game. With that penalty killed off and the final rush by the Ads being built up – Salomaki again went to the box. This time he went for boarding and it meant the rest of the game was going to be fought on the penalty kill.

Mazanec left his net with 1:09 remaining in the game to make it a five-on-five penalty killing situation for the Admirals. Trevor Smith was able to chase down a puck behind the empty net and cleared out to neutral ice. There he picked out T.J. Brennan who buried the puck into the empty net for a power-play goal that finished off the game, the series, and the 2013-14 Milwaukee Admirals season.

“We run into penalty trouble,” said Drulia. “When you’re killing back to back to back, have six minutes of kills in the last ten minutes of the hockey game, it’s a tough recipe for success. I thought the guys hung in there. They did a good job of battling.”

This was perhaps the best effort out of the Admirals in this series against Toronto. Despite all of the penalties they still outshot the Marlies 29-23 by the final horn. Credit to Drew MacIntyre who stopped all of those shots in tonight’s contest.

“I coached Drew a long time ago,” said Drulia. “He is a good goaltender. He battles. He doesn’t make the prettiest saves but he competes for every loose puck.”

The former-Admiral stopped 85/89 shots in this series for a 0.955 save percentage and a 1.33 goals against average. To the team that manages to figure out how to outbattle that Toronto defense in front of the net and the get pucks past MacIntyre – you’ll have earned yourself something as special as the 2014 Calder Cup.

Ramblings: There were some roster shuffling in regard to line combinations tonight for the Admirals forwards: Forsberg-Jarnkrok-Watson, Moser-Van Guilder-Beck, Salomaki-Sissons-Saponari, Liambas-Tousignant-Wathier. This meant Patrick Cehlin was a scratch in tonight’s contest. The defensive pairings remained the same as it was in the previous two games of the series. Scott Valentine, who has been out with an upper body injury, made his color commentary debut tonight alongside Aaron Sims on 1250 Sports Radio WSSP.

What are your thoughts from this series? Where did it all go wrong? Where did the Admirals composure go in this series?

The Admirals lost 5-2 against the Toronto Marlies Saturday night. This defeat puts them in a 2-0 series deficit heading off to Toronto for the last, if necessary, three games in the best of five series.

After a very strong start to this game by the Admirals – the Marlies scored with 1:09 remaining in the first period to make it a 1-0 game. Despite a shots advantage of 15-7 favoring the Admirals a left wing rip by Brandon Kozun took deflection en route to Marek Mazanec. It may have been the only real sustained attack Toronto had the entire period and they found the back of the net.

The second period became a penalty fest for the Admirals. First Joonas Jarvinen and David Broll engaged each other to get minors for roughing. Then Calle Jarnkrok took a trip. And Joe Piskula was called for boarding.

All things in order, that gave the Marlies a lengthy stint of five-on-three power-play. With five seconds left from that opportunity Toronto worked the puck low around Mazanec, went post to post with a pass by Trevor Smith, and Sam Carrick had a tap in for a 2-0 lead.

It’s worth mentioning the lack of penalty calls for the Admirals in the closing stages of the second period. Mathieu Tousignant and Filip Forsberg were hit in the mouth with high sticks but each weren’t granted under the pretense that they Marlies were following through on shots. Francis Wathier was also barreled over near the Admirals bench – all of whom were livid by the absence of calls going their way in the frame.

Milwaukee finally found the back of the net in the opening minutes of the third period. Jarnkrok took a pass from Forsberg and hammered a one-timer past Drew MacIntyre to the blocker side. Including the playoffs, Jarnkrok has now scored in eight straight games as an Admiral.

The penalty fest continued in the third period with an Austin Watson double-minor dor high sticking, Mike Liambas interference, and a Wathier slashing call. The Marlies failed to convert two five-on-three chances in that spell but converted in the last push of the power-play. A puck popped up above Mazanec, fell at his skates, kicked inbetween his legs, and Brandon Kozun shoved the loose puck across the line for a 3-1 Marlies lead.

Just for good measure, Wathier was called for another penalty as he raced in on the forecheck and was given a minor for boarding. The Marlies won the faceoff and scored seconds into that power-play. A long range wrist shot from the right point by Korbinian Holzer goes went against the grain of Mazanec’s glove to extend the Marlies lead to 4-1.

The Admirals did attempt some late theatrics by scoring another goal. A point shot led to a rare juicy rebound from MacIntyre and Bryan Rodney smacked home a late tally making it 4-2. The Ads emptied their net, Jerred Smithson cleared from long range, Jerry D’Amigo chased it down, and scored the final goal of the game. 5-2 on the scoreboard. 2-0 in the series. Milwaukee has been on the outside looking in from the start.

I feel a lot must be said of the Admirals power-play. They went 0/6 tonight and couldn’t even generate gas. The Marlies blanketed them, boxed out numbers in front of the net, and read all puck movements from the point down low. This game, and quite possibly last night, changes dramatically with an effective power-play. I have to believe the build up to game three in Toronto will mean revisions to how that man-advantage operates because the Marlies have it scouted pass for pass.

Ramblings: Tonight’s lineup change for the Milwaukee Admirals saw Mike Liambas in and Vinny Saponari out. Admirals Scratches: Diaby, Rissling, Vainonen, Pendenza, Pimm, Valentine, Noonan, Saponari, and Rask. Marlies Stratches: Gibson, MacWilliam, Abbott, Ashton, Staubitz, Devane, Holland, Yuen, Herzog, Verhaeghe, Gauthier, and Loov.

What’s going wrong for the Admirals in this series? What has happened to the high-powered depth in the forward position? Are the defense and penalty woes costing Marek Mazanec a wonderful playoff performance?

The Admirals lost 6-2 against the Toronto Marlies in Friday night’s playoff opener. The Marlies really dictated much of tonight’s action and had an answer for everything the Admirals threw at them in game one. The Ads will look for a quick turnaround with game two taking place in less than twenty-four hours.

“We thought we were very tentative at the start,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “We didn’t have our legs. We didn’t get into the hockey game until we scored the first goal. We thought [Toronto] took the game to us. We have to start the game better tomorrow night.”

There appeared to be a few phantom high sticking minors that occurred in the first period. Brad Ross of the Marlies wiped out on a hit attempt on Anthony Bitetto at the Admirals blueline and flopped into him. That was called for the game’s opening penalty. Then a similar scenario occurred when Jarred Smithson came for a hit on the forecheck against Mathieu Tousignant. With five seconds into the Admirals power-play – Taylor Beck was called for a high stick well away from the puck.

During the ensuing four-on-four the Marlies capitalized for the game’s opening goal. Sam Carrick picked up the puck from behind the net. He took a quick look around him, saw no one was there to defend him except for Marek Mazanec, and took his chances. He carried the puck to the front of the net on a backhander and dragged it past the outstretched leg of a Mazanec for the first goal of this playoff series.

After an interference call against Charles-Olivier Roussel – the Marlies were able to extend their lead early in the second period. Josh Leivo skated to the left wing faceoff circle and wired a wrister off the crossbar and down. The shot beat the block attempt by Joe Piskula and went against the grain of Mazanec to the blocker side to make it 2-0 Marlies.

The Admirals finally found the back of the net courtesy of the Swedes. Calle Jarnkrok entered the offensive zone from the right swing and laid a perfect saucer pass off to Patrick Cehlin who took it first time. The quick shot caught MacIntyre off his angle and made it a 2-1 hockey game.

The Marlies answered back almost instantly. With the Marlies pushing back hard it seemed as if the Admirals were in a panic mode defending. Then the AHL’s top defenseman T.J. Brennan fired a shot from the point that knuckled off in and past Mazanec to restore the Marlies two-goal advantage. The goal came only 1:08 after Cehlin’s at the other end. It simply felt like a sucker punch.

“It was kind of a Keystone Cops there,” said Evason of the quick response goal by Toronto. “Van has it on his tape and the it jumps over Wathier’s stick. You gain the momentum and all of the sudden it shifts right away back. For sure it was the turning point.”

If the end to the second period wasn’t painful enough the start to the third period wasn’t any better. The Admirals won the opening draw for the period but the puck was forced into their zone, the Marlies, buzzed around for nearly one minute, and then Jerry D’Amigo powered a shot past Mazanec to make it 4-1 Marlies.

Needing a serious lifeline – the Admirals tallied on the power-play to draw a goal back. Filip Forsberg smashed a slap shot at ice level and it was underneath the pads of MacIntyre. Not knowing where the puck went, the former-Admiral took a quick turn and actually managed to kick the puck into his own net.

With a late power-play on, the Marlies added two empty netters to finish off the Admirals in game one. Kenny Ryan scored from behind his own net just as Mazanec left to get on the Admirals bench. And, for the heck of it, the Ads went empty net again and Carrick added the Marlies second shorthanded empty netter in a matter of forty-eight seconds.

“It’s frustrating,” said Francis Wathier. “Obviously we don’t want that kind of result. 6-2 doesn’t dictate the type of game we played. We didn’t play bad. I think we have a little bit more in the tank that we can do. That’s going to be playoff hockey. It’s going to be tough. It’s going to be rough. It’s going to be intense every shift. It’s a good lesson for everyone.”

What are your reactions from game one? Was this a blip or a wake up call that this could be a short playoff series for Milwaukee?

The Admirals were shutout 6-0 by Jake Allen and the Chicago Wolves Saturday night in Rosemont. The Admirals sat out a few of their top players for this game, held things together through the first period, and were promptly throttled the rest of the night by the Amtrak Rivals.

“That’s obviously not the way we wanted to end [the regular season] with the outcome today,” said assistant coach Stan Drulia following the game on 1250 Sports Radio WSSP. “But, we’ve had a really good finish here. The guys are playing really good hockey. The regular season is now behind us and we have to move forward.”

In the first period the Wolves came out with speed. They had their chances, outshooting the Admirals 17-6 in the opening frame, but goaltender Scott Darling made some incredible saves to keep things scoreless through the first period. You can consider that, all things considered, as a small victory for the Admirals – who sat out some top players in tonight’s contest.

The Wolves eventually got their reward from a shorthanded goal. A poor exchange between Anthony Bitetto and Taylor Beck in neutral ice led to a Sebastian Wannstrom breakaway. The Swede went backhand-forehand and managed to reach around the outstretched body of Darling for his fifth goal of the season. That was the Wolves twelfth shorthanded goal of the season and the thirteenth shorty that the Admirals have allowed all season.

Ty Rattie continued his impressive rookie campaign by reaching the thirty-goal plateau. Admirals d-man Jonathan Diaby had a puck knuckle up on him in the attacking blue line. Rattie poked it free and was off to the races with Charles-Oliver Roussel in pursuit. Rattie stayed to the right wing and fired to the short-side to beat Darling. Rattie becomes the first member of the Wolves to hit thirty goals since Mark Mancari did it in the 2011-12 season.

Rattie wasn’t done there. A great transition by the Wolves led to a one-two played about between Christian Hanson and the stellar rookie. When Hanson’s pass reached the tape of Rattie – there wasn’t much space between himself and Darling but still found a move to beat him five hole for his second goal of the game and thirty-first of the season.

In the third period the bounces just kept falling right for the Wolves. Roussel’s attempted clearing attempt fell to Eric Selleck. The moment that puck appeared in front of him he was letting a shot loose. That rapid choice to fire surprised Darling and a puck went sailing past his mask and in for Selleck’s fifth goal of the season.

The rout continued when Shane Harper picked the pocket of Joonas Rask on the backcheck. His lead pass to the center-lane drive of Michael Davies was pinpoint. All Davies had to do was flip it up and over the big frame of Darling, which he did, for his thirteenth goal of the season.

With Scott Ford just exiting the box following a successful Admirals penalty kill – Selleck scored his sixth goal of the season and second of the game. The initial point shot by Jani Hakanpaa was kicked out by Darling right to the net front presence of Selleck. The net was open, Darling couldn’t recover, and it became a massive 6-0 scoreline for the Wolves.

The game would end there and meant that Jake Allen, this year’s Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award winner as the league’s most outstanding goaltender, took the lead for shutouts this season with seven. Entering tonight’s game he was tied with Darling at six-shutouts. Allen may not have needed to do too much tonight but he stopped all twenty shots he faced tonight. His performances against the Admirals this season have just been lethal.

The win for the Wolves, paired with a shootout loss by the Griffins, meant that the Amtrak Rivals won the Midwest Division tonight. Grand Rapids led the division for 167-days until tonight’s decisive switch in the standings.

The loss by the Admirals meant their streak of consecutive forty-win seasons ended at ten-straight. The loss also meant they will be the sixth seed in the Western Conference standings and are going to play against the Toronto Marlies in the first round of the playoffs. The first two games will be played in Milwaukee on Friday and Saturday.

“We’ve been preparing the last week for three teams that we thought we could possibly play,” said Drulia. “Now we have it narrowed down. We know exactly what’s going on. We know what our schedule is. There is no easy match up. But we’re excited. We are really looking forward to it. I thought our young guys and our group have come a long way this year. They’ve played all seventy-six games to get this opportunity to get to the playoffs. We’re excited about that.”

Ramblings: After rolling out the expected playoff line combinations last night we saw a different look tonight in Chicago: Beck-Sissons-Moser, Wathier-Van Guilder-Watson, Salomaki-Tousignant-Saponari, Pimm-Pendenza-Rask, Bitetto-Piskula, Vainonen-Ford, Diaby-Roussel. That meant no Forsberg, Jarnkrok, Cehlin, Liambas, Jarvinen, Rodney, or Valentine tonight.

Does this loss concern you? Would the result have been different with the Swedes and top defensemen playing? What are your expectations for an opening round playoff match-up against Toronto?

The Admirals won 5-1 against the Charlotte Checkers Friday night. They have now won five straight games and are powering into the playoffs playing the best hockey they have played all season.

“We have four lines that could be -maybe- other teams first lines,” said Taylor Beck. “If we play four lines like we’re going to and just keep rolling – the way we’re playing right now we’re peaking at the right time for playoffs for sure.”

A line combination that proved to be really successful for the Admirals was reunited tonight: Francis Wathier, Mark Van Guilder, and Austin Watson. In the late goings of the first period Watson continued his recent goal scoring surge with his twenty-second goal of the season. The Ads were jamming the net and a loose puck made its way to Wathier in front of netminder John Muse. Rather than take a shot – Wathier lightly passed behind the net to put Watson on a wrap around where he would come out on the other side and whip a wrister home for the game’s opening goal.

“It was certainly fun up front,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason of the forward group tonight. “We planned on kind of checking and doing what we’re going to do to start the playoffs. And then we just started rolling the lines. I’d be hard pressed to find a number one line on our group right now.”

Miikka Salomaki reached the twenty-goal plateau in the second period. He received a beauty of a pass from Mathieu Tousignant that found him on the tape. Tousignant was stationed in the right wing pocket, fired a pass through traffic, and Salomaki popped it home.

Then some bouncy fun times going the Admirals way. A skipping puck went from behind the net to the front of Muse in net. Filip Forsberg was in the right place to swat in the loose puck for his fifteenth goal of the season. Picking up an assist on that play was Calle Jarnkrok – which extends his AHL point streak to six games – all of which came with the Admirals since his trade from the Detroit Red Wings organization.

The final regular season home game may have provided us with the goal of the season out of the Admirals. Taylor Beck took a pass heading towards neutral ice from Bryan Rodney. The rest was all down to Beck. He undressed Rasmus Rissanen, was in on goal, and cut back to the near post on the forehand to beat Muse for his seventeenth goal of the season. It was just a stunning individual effort from Beck.

With plenty going against them, and the ice practically tilted in the Admirals favor, the Checkers tallied a goal with eleven-seconds remaining in the second period to make it a 4-1 game. Zach Boychuk’s shot on Marek Mazanec was spilled out into net front traffic. The final decisive touch to beat Mazanec would come from defenseman Ryan Murphy for his second goal of the season.

The last time Anthony Bitetto scored a goal was on 12/29/13 in Iowa. Why not break the drought in the regular season home finale? Forsberg was gaining the attention of the Checkers while on the puck from the left wing. He found Bitetto racing in from the point, fed him, and the New Yorker carried down the slot before letting the wrist shot fly for his eleventh goal of the season.

“We’ve got a good team,” said Anthony Bitetto. “I said that a couple of weeks ago. I believe that we have something special and it’s starting to show.”

The game would finish at the 5-1 scoreline with Mazanec continuing to shine for the Admirals. He stopped twenty-nine of thirty shots on goal en route to his eighteenth win of the season and fourth in a row. Not a bad way to follow up a night where you receive your CCM/AHL Player of the Week award before puck drop.

“He’s competing,” said Evason of Mazanec’s recent performances. “He’s competing. He’s fresh. A lot like our group. They’ve continued to develop and learn throughout the season and get better. [Mazanec] is hopefully peaking at the right time going into the playoffs.”

Ramblings: Mark Van Guilder returned to the lineup after missing six games due to a lower-body injury. In truth, this is the roster and line combinations I expect to see in the playoffs… Beck-Sissons-Moser, Forsberg-Jarnkrok-Cehlin, Wathier-Van Guilder-Watson, Salomaki-Tousignant-Saponari. Tonight’s scratches were… Diaby, Vainonen, Pendenza, Pimm, Liambas, Roussel, and Rask. Of the scratch list only Liambas was due to injury. With the loss tonight – the Charlotte Checkers are officially eliminated from the playoffs.

Thoughts on tonight’s win? Is this team getting on fire at the right time of the season? What is this team’s top line? Does it matter who the Admirals play in the first round of the playoffs?

The Admirals won 3-0 against the Iowa Wild Sunday night. In his twenty-fifth game of the season Scott Darling picked up his sixth shutout of the season. He has faced 113 shots on goal against the Wild and has only allowed one goal. It was his third shutout against the Wild this season

“Darling has Iowa’s number for whatever reason,” said assistant coach Stan Drulia after the game on 1250 Sports Radio WSSP. “We didn’t give him a whole lot today but there was a big breakaway that he stopped in the second period that kept it at 1-0. There were a couple flurries there in the third that he was big and strong. He defended the net real well.”

In the second period, following an interference call taken by Steven Kampfer, the Wild nearly scored shorthanded. Tyler Graovac picked the pocket of Filip Forsberg in the neutral zone. Standing tall, as he has all season against the Wild, was Scott Darling – who stopped the shorthanded breakaway and froze the puck.

Just as that very same penalty came to a close – Charles-Olivier Roussel scored his fourth goal of the season to give the Admirals a 1-0 lead. Roussel took care of this whole play by himself. He raced through neutral, carried the puck down the slot, and wired a wrist shot past goaltender Joel Martin to score unassisted.

The Admirals picked up two more goals in the third period – both coming from pucks that were skipping around Martin in the Iowa net.

Mathieu Tousignant scored his eighth goal of the season after an initial shot by Vinny Saponari was pushed out into the left wing. Tousignant was in the right place at the right time to corral the puck and put a shot on target to make it a two-goal game.

When Dylan Labbe was called for a hook over halfway through the third period – Francis Wathier scored his ninth goal of the season and fourth since joining the Admirals from the Texas Stars. A solid shot from Saponari from the left wing wall caused a loose puck scramble in front of the net. Wathier, like Tousignant before him, was in the perfect spot to snag a goal – and that would be the final tally of the game.

The Admirals win today, combined with a shootout loss for the Abbotsford Heat, means that Milwaukee has officially leaped into fifth place in the Western Conference standings. The Admirals have two-games remaining (home/road) while the Heat have three remaining road games to end the season.

Ramblings: Tonight’s lineup saw the professional debuts of Mikko Vainonen and Kirill Gotovets. In addition to the roster tonight: Mike Liambas (scratch, upper body injury), Mark Van Guilder (scratch, lower lody injury), Taylor Beck (healthy scratch), Scott Ford (healthy scratch), Joe Piskula (healthy scratch), Bryan Rodney (healthy scratch), and Joonas Jarvinen (healthy scratch). With the Admirals captains all out today the team gave the “A” patches out to Scott Valentine, Austin Watson, and Francis Wathier.

Thoughts on today’s game? What more can be said about Scott Darling this season? How well do you think the newbies all played today for the Admirals? How do you feel about the Admirals now becoming the fifth seed in Conference?

The Admirals won 4-1 against the Chicago Wolves Saturday night. Austin Watson was front and center in this installment of the Amtrak Rivalry. He scored the teddy bear toss goal and scored two more to get the hats flying in the Admirals first regulation win against the Wolves this season

Jonathan Diaby recorded his first fight as a pro hockey player tonight. He squared up with recent Wolves signing Yannick Veilleux. It wasn’t a lengthy bout. Not nearly as exciting as you would have hoped the big man Diaby’s first fight would have been. Still, he and Veilleux did each other a favor with this one. I’m certain both are trying to make a quick impression.

The first period finished with a flurry of open ice activity. Filip Forsberg was turned loose on a breakaway against Wolves netminder Matt Climie. The shot was pushed wide but, shortly after the clearance, Austin Watson and Forsberg raced right back in on a two-on-one. Watson’s shot whipped past Climie. The first period shots, despite the late action, were only 7-6 in the Admirals favor.

After a high sticking call from Chris Chelios’ kid against Simon Moser – Austin Watson’s power-play goal gave the Admirals the opener. Vinny Saponari passed down towards the left wing side of the net to Patrick Cehlin – who quickly stepped up – passed acorss Climie – and found a one-time shot by Watson who scored for his nineteenth goal of the season. It wasn’t just a power-play goal. It was the teddy bear toss goal! Great turnout from the Milwaukee fans in that respect.

Excitement levels jacked up following some Finn on Finn crime. Jani Hakanpaa was given a boarding minor as he hit Joonas Rask behind Climie’s cage. We then saw a shorthanded goal and power-play goal scored thirty-six seconds apart from one another.

The Wolves shorthanded goal was scored, for all intensive purposes, from a two-on-zero break by the Wolves. Nathan Longpre pushed a puck over to Christian Hanson and he beat Marek Mazanec to tie the game. It is the Wolves fourth shorthanded goal of the season. They have twice as many shorthanded goals against Milwaukee as they do power-play goals.

Only thirty-six seconds later Watson scored his second power-play goal of the game. The play was incredibly similar to the first Watson goal: Saponari to Cehlin to a one-timer from Watson – same spots on the ice.

The Watson show wouldn’t end there either. He scored his twenty-first goal of the season to complete his hat trick to finish off the second period. Taylor Chorney’s clearance attempt hit Watson square in front of the net. The Michigan native gathered himself and flipped a wrister past Climie for his first professional hat trick – each goal scored from the power-play – and the Admirals first hat trick since Watson’s former linemate Juuso Puustinen did it last season against the Oklahoma City Barons on 1/25/13.

The Admirals scored their fourth goal of the game just moments after a another power-play chance expired. This time it was Miikka Salomaki doing the damage as he smashed in a skipping puck that trickled between two Wolves defensemen. It goes down as Salomaki’s nineteenth goal of the season.

Mazanec continued to perform big time in net for the Admirals. If not for Watson’s hat trick he would have easily been tonight’s first star. He stopped twenty-eight of twenty-nine shots on goal – including numerous breakaway chances by the Wolves. This is the first time since the opening five-game winning streak in which Mazanec has won three straight games.

Ramblings: Tonight’s scratches included Scott Ford, Mikko Vainonen, Mike Liambas, Scott Valentine, Kirill Gotovets, Mark Van Guilder, and Francis Wathier. Of the players listed as scratches tonight – only Vainonen participated in the pre-game skate. Teddy Bear Toss Total, 1,195 teddies.