The Admirals lost on the road 4-2 against the Hamilton Bulldogs Friday night. Things started off badly with quick penalties taken and two power-play goals scored by the Bulldogs to give them an edge early on.

“When you have to kill six minutes in the first seven you lose a lot of guys,” cited assistant coach Stan Drulia after the game on Sports Radio 1250 WSSP. “You have to work so hard on the PK. We had a couple of guys miss some assignments and they were fortunate enough to score. We had a hard time recovering from that.”

The game started off poorly for the Admirals with two quick penalties taken inside of five minutes. The opening penalty kill from a Charles-Olivier Roussel hooking call went well – with no shots on goal. The following penalty kill from another hooking call, this time to Patrick Cehlin, led to the Bulldogs opening goal. Michael Bournival beat a sprawling Marek Mazanec for his first goal the season.

Then we had a fight between Mike Liambas and Nick Tarnasky following a hit along the boards. It ended with a takedown by Tarnasky and an additional roughing minor to Liambas.

With that extra roughing penalty to Liambas added – the Bulldogs were able to score their second power-play goal of the first period. Greg Pateryn’s shot from the blue line was able to whistle over Mazanec to make it 2-0 Bulldogs off of two power-play goals inside nine-minutes. It was Pateryn’s eleventh goal of the season.

In the second period the Bulldogs kept the pressure on. Taylor Beck was forced into a turnover and the puck came to the tape of Bournival on a breakaway. Miikka Salomaki took him down and Bournival was awarded a penalty shot. On his attempt, he beat Mazanec to the glove side with a wrister from between the circles for his second goal of the game to make it a 3-0 scoreline.

The Admirals finally had a response and a response from an unlikely source. Mathieu Tousignant held the puck behind the net after a Roussel feed down low. He passed it out in front of the net and picked up Mike Liambas who fired a quick shot for his third goal of the season.

Any momentum that could have been gained from that was quickly squashed when the Bulldogs tallied their fourth goal of the game less than two-minutes later. There was a small pile up around Mazanec and Tarnasky was able to slide a puck underneath the Czech netminder for his twelfth goal of the season.

“That’s tough,” said Drulia. “You just get a little bit of a spark there to make it 3-1. Even on their fourth goal we do a lot of good things. [Patrick Cehlin] gets in a shooting lane, blocks a shot, and [the puck] manages to find an open guy in the slot. Pretty tough to rebound from there.”

With the game winding down, Tousignant was getting his chirping game going and found himself on the receiving end of an elbow with a scrum unfolding around the incident. Subsequently, the Admirals wound up with a five-on-three power-play opportunity with 5:18 remaining in the game.

Taylor Beck was able to score quickly on the initial five-on-three to make it a 4-2 game. Beck received a pass from Bryan Rodney and flicked a wrister past Dustin Tokarski, off the post, and in for his thirteenth goal of the season.

That’s how this game would end. It would seem the real undoing in this game comes from a poor start that allowed the Bulldogs to grab three quick power-play chances and get two goals off of those chances. They might have entered the game with the second worst power-play in the AHL but, if you give any team chances like that in quick succession, it is asking for trouble.

Ramblings: Taylor Beck, who was questionable heading into this game, did play tonight. This meant the lone scratches were Michael Young (healthy) and Joonas Jarvinen (injured). In Calgary, Calle Jarnkrok made his NHL debut with the Nashville Predators – and picked up his first NHL point with an assist. Also in Calgary, former-Admiral Victor Bartley scored his first career NHL goal. In Cincinnati, Magnus Hellberg made his first start returning from an ankle injury he sustained in January. Hellberg allowed four goals from thirteen shots, was pulled from the net, but did pick up the win in a 7-5 thrill ride in Cyclones-land.

Thoughts on tonight’s performance? Was the absence of Calle Jarnkrok and Colton Sissons that big of a factor? What needs to change by tomorrow afternoon’s contest against the Toronto Marlies to change the tide?

The Admirals won 4-2 over the San Antonio Rampage Saturday night. Calle Jarnkrok continued his hot start with the Ads by scoring his fifth goal with the Admirals. Also making a major dent in tonight’s game was goaltender Scott Darling who stopped twenty-five of twenty-seven shots on goal in his first win since January.

“Tremendous,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason of Darling’s performance. “[Darling’s] game was in control – really in control. To not play for as long as he did and then have the composure that he did in that hockey game – clearly we feel comfortable with either [goalie].”

Calle Jarnkrok continued his incredible start in an Admirals sweater by netting his eighteenth goal of the season to make it 1-0. Jarnkrok’s initial shot, right on the goal mouth, was kicked out by Scott Clemmensen to the front of the net. After some skipping and knuckling the puck found its way right back to Jarnkrok who tipped it by for a power-play goal – and his fifth goal as an Admiral.

The Rampage did have an answer goal in the first period. And boy was it a good one. John McFarland was able to take advantage of Charles-Olivier Roussel as he was skating backwards, deked him to the outside, and flew across Scott Darling – beating him post to post. That’s McFarland’s seventh goal of the season. I doubt he scores a better goal than that one.

With their power-play just set to expire, Anthony Bitetto whipped a wrist shot towards the net and found a redirection from Austin Watson to give the Admirals a late 2-1 second period lead. It’s Watson’s fifteenth goal of the season – and first scored in five games.

Controversy decided to make an appearance in the third period in the form of a shorthanded breakaway and call for a penalty shot. The Admirals lost their zone and Ryan Martindale was off to the races. Patrick Cehlin was the closest man to him and reached out with a stick, catching Martindale ever so slightly on the arm, and it drew the call for a penalty shot – and also robbed Darling of a magnificent save. On the penalty shot, Martindale was able to best the Ads netminder – outwaited him and elevated the puck high once Darling spread out – and it gave him his seventh goal of the season.

“The ref will see it when he watches the replay,” said Scott Darling of the penalty shot call. “It’s just unfortunate, but the Hockey Gods shined on us tonight.”

Hockey Gods, indeed. The Admirals had a karma boost moments later when Mark Van Guilder, sitting on Clemmensen’s blocker side of the net, was in the perfect place at the perfect time. Bitetto’s shot on goal couldn’t be contained by the veteran goaltender and it was a tap in for Van Guilder’s twelfth goal of the season – and restored the Admirals one goal advantage.

The game was capped off by a rather bizarre empty net goal. Miikka Salomaki ended up getting credited with it. If so, he scored the empty netter with the net off of its moorings. There was some discussions from the refs in regards to the play and it could well see a scoring change if they ruled San Antonio intentionally pushed the net off. No matter who receives final credit for the goal – it sealed the Admirals sixth win in seven games.

Ramblings: With their victory tonight – the Admirals have leaped the Rockford IceHogs in the standings. Scott Darling made his first appearance in net for the Admirals since 2/23/14 at Grand Rapids. In that game he earned his fourth shutout of the season, making twenty-nine saves, but losing in the shootout. Calle Jarnkrok now has seven points in five games with the Admirals: five goals and two assists.

Thoughts from tonight’s win? Is the team finally starting to find their identity and groove? Does the effort tonight by Scott Darling have you wanting more or should the balance in net remain as is?

The Admirals won 6-5 in a shootout against the Rockford IceHogs Friday night. It wasn’t as physically destructive as last weekend – but it was one heck of a game to watch.

“We knew that they were going to come hard at us,” said Calle Jarnkrok. “We beat them pretty big two times. Great battle today. Good win for us. Big win.”

The game was fairly wide open from the first period forwards, saw many quick response goals, and trucked into the shootout where the Admirals took the final point after a Vinny Saponari game-winner.

Marek Mazanec stopped all three shots he faced in the shootout to win his first career shootout on North American ice. In the game he stopped twenty-four of twenty-nine shots on goal for his twelfth win of the season.

Francis Wathier scored his first career goal as an Admiral to kick off a first period that saw seven-combined goals. Mark Van Guilder tied up with Terry Broadhurst in the low left wing and caused the puck to flip up. When it settled back down on the ice Wathier was in a shooting position and smacked it by Jason LaBarbera for his sixth goal of the season.

“It was nice to get the first [goal],” said Francis Wathier. “You always want to help your new team to succeed. To get the first one – was a little bit over-excited but that’s how much I wanted that one.”

The IceHogs managed to score the next two goals off of the tape of Jeremy Morin. His first goal of the night came from a left wing drive where he barreled in on Marek Mazanec and coolly slid the puck between the wickets. On his second of the night, he was able to cash in on one-timer on the power-play following a Mathieu Tousignant faceoff violation. Morin now has twenty-four goals on the season – five of which came against the Admirals

The Ads responded thirty-three seconds after the second Morin goal with a beauty of a passing play. Wathier dropped the puck behind him as he entered the zone to Anthony Bitetto. Mark Van Guilder was working his way down the slot – and was greeted by a phenomenal shot pass at the blue line from Bitetto. It was begging for a redirection to goal – something Van Guilder did with ease for his eleventh goal of the season.

Brad Mills, the pest from last weekend’s festivities, picked up a goal for the IceHogs following a sloppy shift from the Admirals in their own zone. Scott Ford and Scott Valentine were both in scramble mode following failed clearances – and it put Mills right between then for his fourth goal of the season.

The Admirals were able to equalize and claim a late first period lead after successive goals in the span of seventeen seconds.

Patrick Cehlin marked his return to the ice with a power-play goal. LaBarbera allowed a rebound to get away from him and, after much grinding on the side of the net, Cehlin was able to squeeze the puck past the veteran netminder for his fifth goal of the season.

“I felt good,” said Patrick Cehlin on his return to the ice. “I was a little bit out of shape but I got to play with two great guys. So, it was easy coming in. It felt good.”

Only seventeen seconds later, an Austin Watson pass found Taylor Beck all alone in front of LaBarbera. Beck actually seemed to freeze in front of the net – but had the time and space to get a shot off. It might not have gone in, but LaBarbera’s initial save gave Vinny Saponari plenty of net to shoot on as he belted in the rebound for his thirteenth goal of the season.

“I can’t even remember it,” laughed Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason about the wild first period. “My gosh, we were just reeling. We were up. We were down. Up. Down. Emotionally we were all over the place.”

In the second period the IceHogs were able to equalize from an impossible angle shot. Joakim Nordstrom was skating down the left wing wall, almost right in the corner, and tossed a puck to the net. It appeared to catch Mazanec off guard and he allowed the puck to jump up and by him to make it a 4-4 game. It was Nordstrom’s sixteenth goal of the season.

Calle Jarnkrok was able to net his fourth goal against the IceHogs in a week at the start of the third period. Filip Forsberg found his fellow Swede all alone on the left wing faceoff circle, fed him, and Jarnkrok’s wrister beat LaBarbera far post and down. It’s his seventeenth goal of the season – and he now has six since becoming an Admiral.

The IceHogs were able to score yet another lightning quick power-play goal to level the game at 5-5. Following the faceoff win, Adam Clendening’s point shot took a redirection by Mills for his second goal of the game.

After some really open hockey to finish off the third period, and overtime, the game required the shootout.

Milwaukee chose to shoot first and put Tousignant out for the opening attempt. It was Patrick Kane-like on the stickhandling. No joke.

“[Mathieu Tousignant] is cocky enough,” said Evason on selecting Tousignant first in the shootout. “He doesn’t care where he is. What he is doing. He has confidence that he is going to score a goal. That’s what we love about him.”

That set the stage for a Mazanec save followed by a Beck shootout goal – swinging from the left wing and softly placing a shot against the grain on the near post.

Mazanec, never having won a shootout on North American ice, did not allow allowed an IceHogs goal during the shootout.

Having seen Jarnkrok’s bid at ending the game after three shooters go bust – followed by another Mazanec save – it was up to Vinny Saponari to deliver the goods. He skated in, pumped, and went underneath LaBarbera to finish off a fantastic game in the Admirals favor.

What do you take from this game? How are the newbies, Calle Jarnkrok and Francis Wathier, looking the more the settle in?

The Admirals lost 3-2 against the Iowa Wild Wednesday night. The visitors jumped out to a 3-0 first period lead and were able to defend it from there on out – despite goals from Miikka Salomaki and Joe Piskula. The loss for the Admirals ends a four-game winning streak.

“[The Wild] played with desperation,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “They started the game the right way. We did not start the game the right way. We were not ready to play that game and that is on us.”

There is no secret that the Wild did not want a repeat of their last encounter in Milwaukee. They were able to deny the Admirals a hot start – and much more. They skated off after the first period with a 3-0 lead.

With a four-on-four situation, the Wild were able to get numbers on Charles-Olivier Roussel behind his own net and create a turnover that spilled out to the glove side of Marek Mazanec. Brett Bulmer’s initial shot attempted wasn’t doing – but his follow up effort, from his belly, elevated over Mazanec’s blocker and in for his eleventh goal of the season.

Then came the first of two power-play goals by the Wild in the first period. Both goals were rather identical. The goal from Zack Phillips, his eleventh of the season, was scored on Mazanec’s glove side following a wing-to-wing pass by Brad Winchester.

Their next power-play goal was the same story. It was a wing-to-wing pass that finished on Mazanec’s glove side. Kris Foucault set up Stephane Veilleux’s fifth goal of the season to make it a 3-0 first period lead for the Wild.

“We didn’t have desperation,” said Evason. “Is it because we scored all these goals as of late and all of the sudden we think we’re goal scorers? We tried to talk to them about simplifying our game and doing what we do but I don’t know. We’ll address it tomorrow. We’ll watch the tape. We didn’t play a fast hockey game tonight and they did.”

The Admirals were able to get on the board in the second period after a hope and a prayer shot from Miikka Salomaki. The puck was skipping into the left wing corner and Salomaki instantly tossed the puck on net from the red line – almost the Potawatomi graphic outside the trapezoid. John Curry was just getting back in net and the puck beat him to the blocker-side post and in for Salomaki’s fifteenth goal of the season.

In the third period the Admirals were able to make it a one goal game on the strength of a Joe Piskula bomb from the blue line. The Ads were able to win an in-zone face off – Piskula picked up the puck – waited for a shooting lane to open up – and blammo. He was able to zip a shot glove side of Gustafsson for his third goal of the season.

With 1:57 remaining in the game the Ads had a late power-play following a delay of game penalty by Marc Hagel. The pressure throughout the period was great from the Ads, owning the shots on goal in the frame 16-3, but the Wild defense was that much better.

With the man-advantage. With the net empty and the extra attacker on. The Admirals were just not able to get that final goal to force overtime. The Wild escaped the late pressure from the Ads to win 3-2 – holding on to that first period surge – and ending the four-game winning streak for Milwaukee.

“We’ve had a lot of success, as of late, against them on the power-play,” said Taylor Beck. “So, whether they learned from it a little bit and did some things different, we had good looks. I don’t think we can be too upset with the looks that we had it is just cashing in a bit more.”

Ramblings: Zach Budish was called up just prior to tonight’s game. He played on a line with Francis Wathier centered by Mark Van Guilder. Tonight’s scratches were all due to injury: Patrick Cehlin (upper body), Simon Moser (upper body), Joonas Jarvinen (upper body), and Magnus Hellberg (lower body).

Thoughts from tonight’s game? Where was the energy in the first period for the Admirals? Is the lack of Colton Sissons something that heavily detracts from what this team did during the four-game winning streak?

The Admirals won 6-2 against the Rockford IceHogs Saturday night. The rematch of last night’s chippy affair had some similar grit to it but, best of all, a similar lopsided score highlighted by an Admiral offense that is finding its game lately. They’ve now scored twenty-five goals in their last four games.

There were questions whether or not we would have spill over after the events of last night’s game. It took thirty-seven seconds before we had Mathieu Tousignant and Garret Ross drop the gloves. It was a quick little scrap – nothing crazy – and ended with Ross winning the take down on Tousignant. Just a little over two-minutes from there, Kevin Henderson dropped the gloves in an attempt to engage Phillip Danault. There wasn’t a fight between the two – but they did enjoy two minutes in the box for their troubles.

The Admirals managed to score the opener through an in-zone turnover. Vinny Saponari picked up a loose puck and tossed back to the point for Bryan Rodney. His following shot flipped through the net-front screen by Colton Sissons and past goaltender Jason LaBarbera. At game’s end, the scoring on the goal would go from Rodney to Sissons – giving the rookie his twenty-third goal of the season.

Keeping with his Thunderdome nature – Rodney was on the negative end of the game’s next goal as Pierre-Marc Bouchard picked his pocket in the defensive zone en route to a mini-break on Marek Mazanec. Once Bouchard beat Rodney – he set his sights on a slap shot high to the glove side of Mazanec and picked up his eighth goal of the season – and second as a member of the IceHogs.

To start the second period the Ads did a little bit of mimicking. If Bouchard could do it – why can’t we? Filip Forsberg ended up wide in space, skated in on a breakaway, and his wrister burned LaBarbera for his ninth goal of the season to make it a 2-1 Admirals lead just 1:27 into the second period.

Then a major momentum shift. The Admirals had twelve-seconds worth of five-on-three power-play. The IceHogs survived the kill and instantly turned the other way for a goal. Terry Broadhurst’s rush from the wing led to him throwing a puck to the net. It managed to sneak through Mazanec – who might have been paying attention to the center lane drive from Mark McNeill. For the elder Broadhurst of the Rockford Broadhurst Brothers – it is his fifteenth goal of the season.

The Ads responded with a stellar link-up between Tousignant and Miikka Salomaki. There was nearly no space for the pass from Tousignant to Salomaki but the feed came through. Equally, there was next to no room for Salomaki to score from the side of the net – but he did anyways. Quick pass. Quicker finish. Salomaki’s fourteenth goal of the season gave the Admirals a 3-2 lead.

One of the central figures in last night’s key incidents was at it again tonight. Having just lost the lead, Brad Mills decided it best to lose his temper as well and smashed Tousignant into the boards. Mills was the man responsible for the hit to the head of Patrick Cehlin. Unlike last night – there was a call made here. It wasn’t a match penalty – but a five-minute major for boarding.

Before the second period ended, the Admirals were able to score on the opening minute of that five-minute “score at will” major penalty. Like last night – the newbie was at it again. Calle Jarnkrok was able to zip a shot past LaBarbera to extend the Admirals lead to 4-2 and give him his third goal in two days as an Admiral. He now has sixteen goals on the season. It would prove to be the only goal scored by the Ads from the major penalty.

In the third period, Sissons made it back-to-back games of scoring two goals. He was in the right place at the right time as Saponari’s initial spot kicked out right to him. He now has twenty-four goals on the season.

Things then got nasty in the opposite direction for a change. Mike Liambas was called for a kneeing major and a game misconduct when he took out the human bull’s-eye Brad Mills. Liambas went to the box, was asked to leave the box, and -as he attempted to exit the ice- LaBarbera tried to engage him. Mills was down for a bit following the hit. You hope the intent isn’t there from Liambas – but he clearly is open for review from the AHL following a hit such as this.

This gave way to the game’s second five-minute major penalty of the game. At the time it was a three goal contest. The IceHogs power-play has been brilliant. The game was by no means over when this penalty was assessed with 6:50 remaining.

During the lengthy non-stop power-play for the IceHogs they played patiently, wound up emptying their net, had a two-man advantage, and still didn’t manage to score a goal on the major penalty to Liambas.

Joonas Rask put the finishing touches to this game by scoring an empty netter to make it 6-2 Admirals. He was a healthy scratch in last night’s game – and, empty net or not, responded with a good performance on the fourth line and his third goal of the season.

I now expect four incidents to be reviewed from the AHL offices following these two games. Mills on Cehlin. Shea on Moser. Mills on Tousignant. Liambas on Mills. It could be a busy day in the office when they get all the materials in front of them.

Ramblings: Patrick Cehlin and Simon Moser, both injured in last night’s game, didn’t take part – and were replaced in the lineup with Kevin Henderson and Joonas Rask (both of whom were healthy scratches Friday night). Calle Jarnkrok now has three goals and an assist from his first two games as an Admiral. Scott Ford has tallied an assist in back-to-back games. The last time Ford recorded points in consecutive games, 12/12/10 vs. OKC and 12/17/10 vs. LE.

Thoughts from this game? What are we looking at in terms of suspensions from these two games? What has happened to the Admirals offense lately? Who or what has changed things to make the offense as dynamic as it has been all season these past four games?

The Admirals won 8-3 against the Rockford IceHogs Friday night. It was another great offensive display for the Ads that was highlighted by the debut of Calle Jarnkrok – who picked up pair of goals in his first game in the Nashville Predators system.

“We thought we did a lot of right things early in the hockey game to give ourselves the chance to be up,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason following the game. “You don’t expect to score eighth goals but we did a lot of good things for sure.”

The game would eventual spiral into a very toxic game – stirred by two cheap shots delivered by the IceHogs that injured both Patrick Cehlin and Simon Moser. The game had 12 fighting majors assessed and a combined 108 penalty minutes. Both Cehlin and Moser are expected to be out long-term following this game.

“We think they’re terrible,” said Evason in regards to the hits against Cehlin and Moser. “Yeah, the game is out of hand – but I just don’t think you go seeking people out regardless of if it’s to the head, or if it’s high, or he leaves his feet. That’s for the league to determine. I just don’t like the factor that people are seeking people out with the intent to hurt them in a game like that. The game should be played the same way.”

The Admirals earned the opening power-play of the game after a holding call against Alex Broadhurst. The unit of Calle Jarnkrok, Colton Sissons, Taylor Beck, Filip Forsberg, and Bryan Rodney hit the ice – and the team’s structure on the man-advantage looked rather the same with the inclusion of Jarnkrok. Rodney at the center of the blue line, Forsberg at the top of the left wing faceoff circle, Beck on the opposite circle, and Sissons and Jarnkrok jamming up the middle. After a set up from Beck – Sissons took a half-slapper from between the circles and was rewarded with his team best twenty-first goal of the season.

In the second period the Admirals were able to strike for their second power-play goal of the game. A terrible turnover on the penalty kill from Theo Peckham trickled out in front of the net. There to pick up the loose puck was Vinny Saponari – who then deked Kent Simpson out of position before scoring on the forehand. It’s Saponari’s twelfth goal of the season.

The next goal for the Admirals came even strength. A solid shot by Mathieu Tousignant in the slot spilled to the side of Simpson. There to crash the rebound was Miikka Salomaki who pushed the puck in from the right wing side of the net and in for his thirteenth goal of the season.

There was plenty of focus put on Jarnkrok’s Admirals debut tonight – but the center that took the show tonight was Sissons. It seemed like he was playing at the work rate and speed of Salomaki tonight all while being in the perfect spot on the ice to do damage. Case and point: the Admirals third power-play goal of the game. The Ads won the faceoff, Forsberg passed over to Rodney – who one-timed it, the puck bashed off of Simpson’s pads, and Sissons was all alone in front of the net for the rebound effort and his twenty-second of the season – and second goal of the game from the power-play.

Marek Mazanec’s shutout bid ended after a second period goal from the IceHogs on the power-play. The fault here could be pinned to Mazanec who was overly aggressive on a skipping puck that was played close to the net between Garrett Ross and Mark McNeill. Mazanec was far from his cage when Ross settled the puck down – and it was as easy of a goal as he will score all season. It goes down as his fourteenth goal of the season.

It wouldn’t be the last piece of action from the second period, either. After Mike Liambas made a fantastic stop while skating back on defense – the counter rush by the Admirals saw Patrick Cehlin wielding the puck with Tousignant racing in on the opposite side wing. Cehlin’s pass from right wing to left was perfect. All Tousignant needed was a bit of elevation on his tap in to beat a sliding Simpson. It’s Tousignant’s fourth goal of the season and first goal since 1/16/14 @ San Antonio.

Jarnkrok made sure to make his debut with the Milwaukee Admirals memorable and did so in the third period while shorthanded. After generating a turnover in neutral ice he managed to skate clean of the Jeremy Morin, pulled forehand to backhand, and beat Simpson over the blocker for his fourteenth goal of the season and first as an Admiral.

“Calle Jarnkrok is a quality player,” said Evason following the game. “You don’t give up a player like David Legwand and not get a quality player. So it certainly helped.”

The IceHogs responded with their second power-play goal of the game just under three minutes later. A great feed from Drew LeBlanc, as he skated around the left wing corner, flew to just above the hashmarks where Brandon Mashinter was waiting to strike. His shot snuck through traffic and Mazanec for his eleventh goal of the season.

After another great play from the Admirals, generating defense directly into offense, Moser was taken down on a breakaway and awarded with a penalty shot. Off of his penalty shot Moser swung wide and looked to sneak a shot past the five hole of Simpson. His shot hit him on the left pad – no goal.

Then came the rough stuff. Where the game all gets out of hand starts with Brad Mills targeting Patrick Cehlin in the attacking end for the Ads. Cehlin never saw him coming – and Mills blatantly targeted him with a forearm to his head. Cehlin remained down on the ice for a long time and required the assistance of athletic trainer Doug Agnew to leave the ice.

“I’m not going to comment on if they’re suspendable or not – that’s not our call,” said Evason. “I guess, as an ex-player, you get what they are doing but you are going out looking to hurt another guy. The fights you can likely deal with. You ask a guy to fight and he either accepts it or doesn’t. But to actually blindside people – I don’t think it is the right way to play the game.”

Mills wasn’t assessed with a penalty for the illegal check to the head.

That meant the Admirals Judicial System took center stage with Mike Liambas squaring off with Mills. It would be the first of two altercations between the two following the Cehlin incident. Next, Scott Ford dropped the gloves with Mashinter. It was only the beginning of a roller coaster finish to the game.

When all was said and done from those fights – the Admirals had a power-play and their debutant had an answer. The Ads passed around the zone rather casually before handing the puck off to Jarnkrok. His finish on the wrister torched Simpson to the roof of the net and gave him a two-goal night on his debut, extending his season total to fifteen goals, and pushing the score up to 7-2 Admirals.

“It was great,” said Calle Jarnkrok of his Admirals debut. “I think we played good the whole game and it was easy for me to fit in. I’m very happy to be here.”

With the game miles out of reach, the league’s newly crowned player of the month Jeremy Morin went toe-to-toe with Anthony Bitetto. Morin’s thirteen-game point steak came to an end in this game and, in hindsight, he probably should have left it at that. Bitetto hit him so flush to the face he knocked Morin’s mouthguard loose.

Clear win for the Admirals in the fight department – just as was reflected on the scoreboard. Perhaps that set the stage and was the answer for the incident that followed.

Moser was racing through the neutral zone when he received another high impact, high to the body hit from the IceHogs. The man responsible for delivering the blow to Moser was Bobby Shea – who was then greeted by no less than three Admirals players who all had their gloves off. It was a line brawl.

“We play them [again] tomorrow,” said Mathieu Tousignant. “So I expect the guys to step up for each other. Mike Liambas did a great job. Scott Valentine. Scott Ford. Charles-Olivier Roussel. All those guys all stepped up for each other. We need to stick together. I think we did a great job of that.”

Both goalies skated out towards their respective blue lines together and, for awhile, not much was going in that department. Then Mazanec gave a little wave, Simpson gave a bigger wave, and the two were off. Mazanec tossed his mask aside ready to brawl at center ice. Both goalies crossed paths on the center faceoff dot – but the officials cut them off before contact could even be made between the two.

“I was laughing all the time, smiled Marek Mazanec about his near-fight. “I just tried to have some fun and make some fun for people here.”

“Of course,” said Taylor Beck when asked if Mazanec would have won the goalie fight. “He’s from the Czech Republic he knows what he’s doing. That’d have been fun to see.”

After that dust settled – an IceHogs goal from the power-play was added to the frenzy. A shot rang off of the post and spilled into the path of the recently acquired, former Iowa Wild d-man, Brian Connelly. He was able to get a shot by a diving Mazanec to get the IceHogs their third goal of the game – and third from the power-play.

There were twenty-seconds remaining in the contest. Just for good measure, Vinny Saponari teed up Tousignant for his second-goal of the game to finish the laughable 8-3 scoreline for the Admirals. Saponari patiently scooted towards the back of the net and pushed a saucer pass to the center lane drive of Tousignant – who just got his blade on the puck for his fifth goal of the season.

The game ended with two more fights. Liambas and Mills, round two. Scott Valentine then rocked the daylights out of Shea. They weren’t ejected for their hits to Cehlin or Moser – but the Admirals continue to prove they are not one to be shoved around. Everyone sticks up for everyone on the Admirals roster. Despite the injuries, that was the statement made from the Admirals tonight against a divisional opponent that they needed to take points from. They did just that and have the opportunity tomorrow, against these same IceHogs, to claw back more crucial points.

I expect Rockford’s phone to be busy with calls from the league office tomorrow morning. It wouldn’t be the first time an IceHogs player would be suspended for illegally hitting opponents of the Admirals to the head either. Theo Peckham was given a two-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Simon Moser on 2/22/14.

Ramblings: Scott Ford played in his 350th game tonight with the Milwaukee Admirals. Mark Van Guilder passed Kelsey Wilson on the Admirals AHL games played list tonight by playing in his 295th for the Ads.

What are your thoughts from this game? What will the suspensions be from this game? How did Calle Jarnkrok look in game number one with the Admirals?

The Admirals won 2-1 in overtime against the Rochester Americans Sunday afternoon.

Pekka Rinne wasn’t tested too much from this game, stopping seventeen of eighteen shots, but exerted himself past regulation and seemed no worse for the wear.

Charles-Olivier Roussel goes down as today’s hero. He entered today’s game having only scored one goal all season. He scored twice today – including a backhander for the game-winner in overtime.

It took the Rochester Americans more than six-minutes to register a shot on Pekka Rinne and their opening ten minutes were rather slow. It wasn’t until 14:14 when they had sustained pressure and that was due to a five-on-three power-play that lasted 0:33 seconds. Mark Van Guilder made a fantastic individual play, while laying down on the ice, to deny a shot and then clear the zone – effectively killing the two-man advantage.

The latter half of that power-play for the Americans was their best play of the period and required the most amount of work from Rinne that he had in the opening frame. It was less about setting up chances and throwing pucks to the net and Rinne held his own. He would finish the first period with six saves – most of which came late in the period.

The second period cruised by with some penalties here and there but neither team could find the back of the net. That came mainly due to an incredible defensive effort put up by both sides making blocked shot after blocked shot. The shots in the period were only 8-5 in the favor of the Admirals.

The Americans did do plenty of good things offensively, lots of plays tight to the front of Rinne’s net, but just couldn’t get their shots on target. Block. Block. Block. It felt a lot like that during the second period.

The deadlock was finally broken in the third period by one of the most ludicrous goals of the season. Charles-Olivier Roussel flew down the right wing wall, tossed a puck on net, was all the way to the end boards by the Wisconsin Vision graphic, threw his rebound off of Nathan Lieuwen and in for his second goal of the season.

During the thrill of that moment the Americans won the faceoff, flew a pass through neutral, found Jamie Tardif, and scored a full seven-seconds after the Admirals goal. There were no defensemen back off the faceoff loss. Tardif’s goal went underneath Rinne for his seventeenth goal of the season.

The game would haul into overtime – the Admirals arch nemesis this season. Rochester had a golden opportunity to bury the game after a rare Rinne fumble behind his net. Having lost the handle on a puck, Rinne was left sprinting back to the front of his cage only to see a puck ping of far post and fly out. Luke Adam had an entire net to shoot at and he missed the winner by just that much.

When it comes to goal scoring – these last two games have been phenomenal for Ads defenseman. Having scored once already in the game, Roussel put the finishing touches on the game after a great pass from Austin Watson turned him loose directly in front of Lieuwen. He whipped a backhander out of the bag and picked up his third goal of the season – second of the game – and gave the Admirals two wins under the Pekka Rinne microscope.

Thoughts from today’s game? What have you made of the Admirals defense in these last two games? Is this level of play something we can expect from the Admirals moving forward? Who starts in net from this point?

The Admirals won 9-1 against the Iowa Wild Friday night. Read that scoreline again a few times. I know I sure did.

“We sensed it yesterday,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason regarding the team’s excitement level for this game. “Lots obviously built around Pekka being here. But yesterday our practice was real good. We really were passionate. We really practiced hard. Competed. Were intense. And I think that carried over.”

In Pekka Rinne’s return to Milwaukee he stopped sixteen of seventeen shots – only allowing a goal after a poor change after the team survived a five-minute penalty kill from a Mike Liambas boarding major.

“I’ll take that,” Pekka Rinne said of his game. “It’s a good way to come back. Guys really made it easy for me. I can’t remember when I’ve been in a game like that. It was a crazy game. A little bit of everything. There’s obviously a lot of goals, lot of scoring, and then the physical element that you don’t really see every day in the NHL. I had a good seat for that. Lot of chances to get a good fight.”

Without question, the real highlight tonight was the offense. In their previous four games the Admirals had only scored four goals. They managed to score four goals in back-to-back periods tonight. It was a shocking display from a team that, entering tonight, was also on a five game winless streak.

The fans were cheering on Pekka Rinne when he led the team out of the tunnel for the pre-game skate. They were loud when he led them out for pre-game introductions. And even louder when he was introduced as your man between the pipes. The building was rocking before the puck had dropped.

“That felt great,” said Rinne of the fan response. “I really appreciate it and, for sure, it made me feel welcome. Made me feel great. I had three good years here and I always thought that I had a good relationship with the fans. And I really appreciate their response.”

Before I go anywhere with the first period it is probably worth noting that the Admirals had only scored four goals in their last four games. So, what do they do with the house rocking? Score four goals in 17:17 of the first period.

After a delay of game penalty taken by Brett Bulmer, the Admirals and their woeful power-play took to the ice and did something that they haven’t done in two games: score with the man-advantage. A very patient play behind the net by Vinny Saponari led to a pass from behind Hannu Toivonen out to Colton Sissons. The result was a quick shot taken first time that found a hole through the recently released former Admiral netminder. It was Sissons twentieth goal of the season.

Then the domino started to fall with two very similar goals scored by Admirals defenseman. Joonas Jarvinen found himself all alone in the slot and took a slick feed from Taylor Beck and smashed it by Toivonen for his third goal of the season. Then Bryan Rodney managed to loop around the Wild, skate wide open on the left wing, and took a Miikka Salomaki pass first time for an easy tap in – his fourth goal of the season.

This was Toivonen’s first game in net for the Iowa Wild since joining them on a PTO contract that he signed shortly after his release from Milwaukee. He never looked settled in net and, more than three times, found himself flat on his back scrambling while the Ads circled the zone.

The fourth goal of the period for the Admirals came from a loose puck that fell before Toivonen. Austin Watson was Johnny-on-the-spot to tag it through for his fourteenth goal of the season – and a season high for goals scored in a period by the Admirals this season.

Season high for goals in a period with four goals in the first? Better match it. And the Admirals actually did. Having set that season high they equaled it in the second period to make it a bananers 8-0 hockey game through two frames.

After a faceoff win by Sissons, the puck traveled back to Joe Piskula whose wrist shot flew through massive amounts of traffic and in. I can’t imagine Toivonen ever saw the shot taken by Piskula – who scored his second goal of the season.

Then the first of many rough goings in the second period. Patrick Cehlin and former Admiral Jon Blum. The result of this fight led to Cehlin’s dismissal from the game due to his fight strap not being tied down – and his jersey coming off in the fight. According to Cehlin on Twitter following the game – it was a wardrobe malfunction. According to his coach, this should have been a no-brainer to the officials on the ice.

“There is no way that Patrick Cehlin cuts his tie-down,” exclaimed Evason. “He’s never been in a fight. They say that it came off too easy. Which is indication that they feel that we doctored it in some way. I don’t understand it.”

With the game set on a four-on-four, Jarvinen decided to match his season total for goals in a game with his second of the night. The typically “hanging back” defenseman held the puck to the backhand as he moved down the slot. He flipped that backhander on net – and Toivonen couldn’t get to it.

Scott Valentine was listed as a healthy scratch in favor of Anthony Bitetto last game. Tonight they decided to flip the two d-men and Valentine responded with his first goal of the season. The part-time winger, part-time defenseman swung down the right wing and whistled a shot to shelf to the far side post and in to make it a 7-0 game.

The game became less about hockey for the Wild from this point forward and more a matter of pride. Corbin Baldwin was an absolute pest for the Wild in this game. He had a booming hit on Saponari and began locking horns with anyone willing to do it. After getting after Jarvinen with a roughing call – Mike Liambas took exception and looked to step it up a notch against Baldwin with a fight. It wouldn’t be the last for Baldwin either – he fought Scott Ford later in the game as well.

The Admirals would finish up the second period by scoring their second power-play goal of the game. It was another juicy rebound off of a scrambling Toivonen that allowed Mark Van Guilder to deposit his tenth goal of the season.

Four goals in the first period. Four goals in the second period. Hannu Toivonen, allowing eight goals from twenty-five Admirals shots, needed a serious hug… and a new PTO for a different team. He was mercifully replaced prior to the start of the third period in favor of usual starter for the Wild, Johan Gustafsson.

A flashpoint took place in the third period when Liambas took a five-minute major for boarding after a massive hit in front of the Ads bench. There was a long delay to sort out all the penalties. Before you knew it, you guessed it, the Admirals scored another goal! No joke. Joonas Rask blazed down neutral ice and beat Gustafsson to the five hole for his second goal of the season and the Admirals ninth of the game.

The Ads survived the five-minute major for boarding with a shorthanded goal of their own but, just as it had expired, the Wild finally ended the shutout bid after 55:35 of play. The newly acquired Zach Miskovic fluttered a puck from the point that found a lane through traffic to beat Rinne. It’s Miskovic’s first goal of the season.

“It’s my fault on that,” said Evason. “We had seven forwards on our bench and we tried to wait to put a guy in the box. But, it’s totally my fault. After we scored – we tried to stop the play before they dropped the puck. Too late. It’s 100% my mistake. We should have had a guy out there.”

Pekka Rinne wasn’t tested all that often in this game, making sixteen saves from seventeen shots on goal, but because of that it may have been that much more impressive. When the puck is spinning around in the opposite zone for so long – the concentration levels and focus he displayed with some great saves when finally called upon were fantastic. After the game he said that he felt tired in the early goings of the game despite the minimal chances he faced. He settled back down. Allowed the lone goal during a bad change following the major penalty – and that was it.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Where did this offense come from? How do you feel Pekka Rinne handled himself during limited pressure from the Iowa Wild? Can the Ads maintain this sort of effort heading into Sunday’s game or perhaps even longer?

The Admirals lost 5-1 against the Grand Rapids Griffins Wednesday night. The lone saving grace from this game may have come in the form on Kevin Henderson’s late third period goal that ended a scoreless streak of 127:18 for the Admirals – who fell behind by 5-0 prior to that happening. The season long losing streak for the Ads is now at five games.

“I don’t know singularly offense was the problem tonight it was our entire game,” said head coach Dean Evason. “We were as flat and as dead as our group has been.”

After their meeting on Sunday where no goals were scored through regulation and overtime – Grand Rapids was able to score the opener inside of five minutes of the first period tonight. A great pass from right wing to left wing by Teemu Pulkkinen picked out a breaking Andrej Nestrasil. His shot went across the grain of a sliding Marek Mazanec to beat him high blocker side. That’s Nestrasil’s sixth goal of the season.

Then some rough stuff. Mike Liambas dropped the gloves with former-Admiral Triston Grant. They scrapped along the bench and, if we’re scoring this one, it was a solid win for Liambas who landed countless blows to the top of Grant’s exposed noggin. Fight Card: Liambas 10, Grant 9.

The Admirals power-play woes continued as they saw a two-man advantage for more than one-minute go to waste. The Admirals best chance from that came from Taylor Beck to, in close, beat Petr Mrazek high but nailed the far post. There was far too much passing, too much skating, and not enough shooting. It’s been the story of the Ads power-play all season long. To see it continually happen from a five-on-three situation is honestly a sad, sad sight to witness.

“A group that struggles in to score needs to certainly score on the power-play,” said Evason. “In the five-on-three, the shot from [Bryan Rodney] he has no idea where it is – hits him – Beck hits the post. We have a couple other opportunities throughout that sequence to score – we don’t. Our confidence level – you could just feel it on the bench it just was a sag. If a team that can’t score all of the sudden can’t score five-on-three on the [power-play] it really compounds your psyche right now. The littlest thing is hurting our mental outlook right now.”

The second period was cruising along until the final five minutes of the period. Grand Rapids was able to score two-goals against Mazanec in the space of 2:11 of ice time.

The Griffins second goal of the game came from a play that looked dangerously offsides as both Nestrasil and Calle Jarnkrok broke into the zone. Jarnkrok broke in hard and straight to the net and appeared ever so slightly offsides ahead of Nestrasil on the puck. The result was no offsides, a fluttering pass in-line with Jarnkrok from Nestrasil, and a chip over Mazanec for Jarnkrok’s twelfth goal of the season.

2:11 later, David McIntyre ripped a slaper from the left wing faceoff circle and the puck kicked out from Mazanec and into the net front presence of Trevor Parkes. It was a tap in after Mazanec made the initial save on the McIntyre shot. That was Parkes third goal of the season and it extended the Griffins lead to 3-0.

“It’s obviously frustrating,” said Anthony Bitetto. “You work so hard in practice. Played them Sunday – zero-zero tie – and then you come out and a couple bounces don’t go your way and it feels like you’re clawing the whole night.”

It was always going to be difficult for the Admirals to crawl out of a two period deficit of 3-0 against the likes of the Griffins. What happened in the opening minute to the start of the third period seemed like the Ads bought into that notion of hopelessness. They allowed two goals by Teemu Pulkkinen in the space of nine-seconds. Yes. Nine-seconds.

The first of the Pulkkinen bomb shots came off of a speed rush from the right wing. He hammered a slap shot to the high blocker-side, near post, and had Mazanec fooled completely.

Only nine-seconds later, same man – same spot on the ice – different choice to finish the slap shot. Pulkkinen wired another slapper by Mazanec and, this time, beat him low to the glove as Mazanec was cheating to the blocker side. When the puck went through Mazanec he was visibly irate with himself. For Pulkkinen he had goals twenty and twenty-one on his season before some fans returned to their seats with their late game burgers and chips.

“That’s what happens when your group is fragile,” cited Evason. “You come out of the intermission and think, if we get one here it’s a two-goal hockey game, and all of the sudden  boom they score and it’s just game over.”

It was the third time this season that the Grand Rapids Griffins held a 5-0 lead over the Milwaukee Admirals: 11/20/13 @ Grand Rapids, 5-0… 12/14/13 @ Grand Rapids, 5-0.

“[Grand Rapids] is a good team,” said Bitetto. “They are well coached. They have four-lines that can play the game. Good goaltending. It’s going to take that extra step. Our hardest win right now is getting that first one back under our belt. That’s where we have to bear down and get that first win. We have a good team here. If every guy believes in that we’ll be fine.”

The Ads finally ended the scoreless streak at 127:18 when Kevin Henderson beat Mrazek with a huge assist to a screen from Mark Van Guilder. Henderson spun off of the right wing wall, scaled back around the faceoff circle, and tossed a puck to net. Mrazek clearly never saw the puck as he had his own defenseman and Van Guilder blocking his sight-line on Henderson – allowing for his seventh goal of the season.

Ramblings: Scott Ford and Marek Mazanec returned to the lineup tonight after missing last weekend’s three-in-three. Joonas Rask also returned to the team’s roster tonight after missing eight games with a left shoulder injury. The healthy scratches for tonight included Zach Budish and Scott Valentine.

Thoughts of this game? What needs to change? How do they get out of this funk? Can Pekka Rinne score goals?

The Milwaukee Admirals lost 1-0 in a shootout against the Grand Rapids Griffins Sunday afternoon.

This game was a thriller and all about goaltending. The game stormed on through regulation and overtime without a goal – needing a shootout to find the break through. Both starting goalies, Scott Darling and Petr Mrazek, earned themselves 29-save shutouts for their efforts in this game. It wasn’t until Martin Frk in the first round of the shootout until a puck trickled past the goal line. These goalies were that good today.

In the shootout there were some great goals scored. It’s always cheeky to pull off five hole dekes on the shootout and the Admirals were able to do it twice on Mrazek. Both Mathieu Tousignant and Taylor Beck scored with strikes through the fivehole – and the Admirals found themselves even at 3-3 entering the fifth and final round of the shootout. Simon Moser, only two games into the flow of things state-side since returning from the Olympics, was stopped by Mrazek’s blocker – giving Brendan Evans a chance to seal it. Darling squared him up – but Evans was able to win it for the Griffins in the shootout.

This was a phenomenal game. Both the Admirals and Griffins tend to play very tight, structured, dump and chase, forechecking games. Today things were a bit open throttle and it came down to quality goaltending to disrupt odd-man rushes and five-on-three power-play situations.

Both teams went  0/5 on the power-play. The Admirals had two chances of five-on-three power-plays – one being 1:17 long – another being around 0:24 seconds. The Griffins also had their chance on a two-man advantage but Mark Van Guilder’s work killed it off and nearly found Austin Watson, fresh from the box, for a one-timer. Again, the goalies were there to deny quality chances – time and time again.

The shootout loss means the Admirals have now gone winless in their last four games. They do earn a point today – but it is a loss nonetheless. It is their longest losing skid of the entire season. I must say though, between yesterday and today, there are plenty of good things for the team to take out of these defeats moving forward. I feel the results are soon to follow.

What are your thoughts from today’s game? Are games like this a reason why you’d rather see the game go on or do you prefer it finishing in a shootout? How do you feel about Scott Darling moving forward? Is Darling the starter over Mazanec?