The Admirals lost 4-1 in Rockford against the IceHogs Saturday night. Despite outshooting their opponent 37-26 – the Admirals came up short again for their third consecutive loss. The IceHogs are now on a points streak of nine-games. They are one of the hottest teams in the entire AHL at the moment.

“I think we played a pretty good game,” said Milwaukee Admirals assistant coach Stan Drulia after the game on Sports Radio 1250 WSSP. “There were a couple of situations that could have went our way early. It could have been a different outcome. Overall, I thought it was a pretty good work ethic. We maintained some offensive zone time. We got pucks to the net. Then LaBarbera played real good.”

Just halfway through the first period – the IceHogs were able to put a puck past Hannu Toivonen for a goal. The former-Admiral Brad Winchester fired a slap shot that snuck through Toivonen’s glove arm to make it a 1-0 game. It’s Winchester’s sixteenth goal of the season.

Later in the first period the Admirals were caught for having too many men on the ice. It was a mental error that caught them out twice in last night’s game against the Abbotsford Heat – and tonight the IceHogs burned them for it. A great cross-ice feed from Pierre-Marc Bouchard was one-timed by Brandon Pirri. His shot flew by Toivonen for a power-play goal that made it a 2-0 game. For Pirri, it is his tenth goal – first scored on the power-play – this season.

Despite the Admirals doubling-up the IceHogs in shots, 12-6, in the second period they not only didn’t score – they conceded a goal with thirty-two seconds remaining in the frame. Jeremy Morin was able to score his eighteenth goal of the season by zipping one by Toivonen on the shortside post to extend the IceHogs lead to 3-0. For Morin, he now has scored points in nine-straight games.

Before the puck dropped in the third period the team decided to pull Hannu Toivonen in favor of Scott Darling. Toivonen allowed three goals on nineteen shots on goal before exiting.

“Dean and I talked before the second period,” said Drulia. “It’s 3-0 and do we really push these guys or do you kind of save some energy for tomorrow? We thought the only way we’re going to get out of this slump is to work hard.”

Six minutes into the third period – the IceHogs were also able to put a puck behind Darling to push the lead into rout territory, 4-0. Terry Broadhurst chipped a puck towards the net and, after some scrambling, Mark McNeill managed to put in the garbage for his sixteenth goal of the season.

Having endured a power-play drought of no goals from their last nineteen opportunities with the man advantage – Vinny Saponari finally ended the drought by scoring his eleventh goal of the season. Bitetto slid a pass to Saponari who kicked the puck from his skate to his forehand – beating a very phenomenal Jason LaBarbera to end his shutout bid.

Nothing more would come from this one. The Admirals have now lost three straight games and the IceHogs are on a streak of points in their last nine games – and a winning streak of four games. The gap between the Ads and IceHogs is now up to six points in the division.

Ramblings: Simon Moser made his return from Olympic hockey where he represented Team Switzerland. His last game played was with the Swiss against Latvia on 2/18/14. His last game before leaving for the Olympics came with the Nashville Predators on 2/8/14 against the Anaheim Ducks. His last game with the Admirals was on 1/31/14 at Iowa.

How do you think the Admirals can turn games like these into wins? It seems like many good things happen in these games but fail to earn them the win. Why? What’s alluding them here? And can it be solved tomorrow in Grand Rapids?

The Admirals lost 4-2 against the Abbotsford Heat Friday night. It was a solid effort for the Ads through two periods but the Heat stuck around to haunt them in the third to take the win.

“We continually shoot ourselves in the foot,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “We’re not happy with obviously our situation here.”

The Abbotsford Heat were able to score an opener in the first minute of the game. A puck in the slot, played by Ben Street, fumbled on towards Sven Baertschi on the right wing side of the cage. He had no one around him by the net – and essentially scored on an empty net for his fifth goal of the season on the Heat’s first shot.

It didn’t take the Admirals long to find an answer goal. After a hard drive to the net by Colton Sissons, Vinny Saponari cradled the rebound, spun, fired, and the puck flew past Olivier Roy. It was the tenth goal of the season for Saponari.

There have been some flat offensive efforts for the Admirals in recent games. It wasn’t the problem in the first period. Despite that opening goal, the Admirals really controlled the period and outshot the Western Conference’s top team 20-8 in the period.

We also had a fight in the closing seconds of the first period between Mike Liambas and Carter Bancks. This fight happened after a huge hit by Liambas on defenseman John Ramage in the corner on the forecheck. There were some good punches landed by Liambas. Bancks was able to tug Liambas to the ice for the take down. For a quick bout – I’d call that one even.

In the second period the Admirals were able to claim the lead after a fantastic play from Taylor Beck. The 22-year old winger skated in one-on-one with defenseman Shane O’Brien. He skated right in on him, deked to the right towards the slot, used O’Brien as a screen, and fired a wrist shot hard over the glove of Roy. It was Beck’s twelfth goal of the season.

The Admirals lost their brief lead midway through the second period after Ben Street’s twenty-first goal of the season. The Heat, just earning a power-play for a questionable too many men on the ice call, broke into the zone with a two-on-zero rush led by Street. He took it all the way in on Scott Darling, flipped a backhander, and his shot hit off the cross back and down. Once that puck was in the crease it rolled back towards Darling’s right leg and he slid it into his own net.

Abbotsford was able to break the deadlock past the halfway marker of the third period in a goal very similar to their opener. Max Reinhart was able to allude Charles-Olivier Roussel and get to Darling’s doorstep with space around him. He took a pass from Markus Granlund and scored to the blocker side of Darling for his thirteenth goal of the season.

That goal would be the game-winner for the Heat – who added an empty netter from distance by Brett Olson for good measure with 0.8 seconds left on the clock. The Admirals have now lost four-straight home games.

“I think right now we’re beating ourselves,” said Anthony Bitetto. “I think we’re better than most teams. It says on the board every day playoff hockey. It’s the little things that are going to make us a playoff team and hopefully go far in the end.”

Ramblings: Scott Ford missed tonight’s game with an upper body injury. In his absence Bryan Rodney wore a third “A” patch for the Admirals alongside fellow alternate captains Mark Van Guilder and Joe Piskula.

The Admirals lost 3-2 in Rosemont against the Chicago Wolves Sunday afternoon. A lightning strike by the Wolves in the third period, scoring two goals in twenty-eight seconds, proved to be the kicker today. Ads goals by Vinny Saponari and Colton Sissons weren’t enough – as the Admirals officially lose the Amtrak Rivalry series this season to the Wolves.

“That’s the way these games have gone against this team,” said Milwaukee Admirals assistant coach Stan Drulia after the game on Sports Radio 1250 WSSP. “It’s been a break, or a bounce, or something for one of us to get that extra goal.”

Despite the Admirals being outshot mightily in the first period, 13-3, they were the ones to score first. Vinny Saponari made a great play skating in from the left wing and hard to the net to beat AHL All Star netminder Jake Allen over the left shoulder for his ninth goal of the season.

There were plenty of penalties exchanged in this game and, for the first time all season against the Admirals, the Wolves were able to bite on the power-play. Michael Davies spun away from Scott Ford, moved in towards Marek Mazanec from the far faceoff circle, centered a shot to the goal mouth and it found a way in. It’s Davies fourth goal of the season. That was the Wolves first power-play goal from thirty-two chances against the Ads this season.

In the third period things got out of hand fast and it all starts with a blunder from Mazanec. It’s been rare at times to look at Mazanec and think “he’s a rookie” but this was perhaps his first real big rookie mistake as an Admiral. With the puck behind his net, he skated in around the cage and tried to play the puck out in front of the net. The error from Mazanec went right to Cody Beach who scored easily for his second goal of the season.

“Obviously it hurts,” said Drulia. “You’re in a 1-1 game. [Marek Mazanec] plays the puck so well. Beach gets fortunate enough to knock it out of the air but we could have got back to [Mazanec] a little bit quicker to give him a little bit more time with the puck.”

The trend of conceding quick goals continued again tonight. The past two games goals were scored within a minute of an Admirals goal. Tonight the Ads conceded back-to-back goals to the Wolves in the space of twenty-eight seconds. After a short set up from Davies – Jani Hakanpaa banged in a one-timed rocket to make it a 3-1 game. It was Hakanpaa’s third goal of the season. It was also the end of Mazanec’s night in net as he was pulled for Hannu Toivonen after conceding his third goal from twenty shots.

After the goalie-swap, the Admirals had a quick goal of their own. Colton Sissons whistled a knuckle puck past Allen for his nineteenth goal of the season only twenty-nine seconds after the Wolves had scored. It was yet again a one-goal Admirals against the Wolves hockey game.

The Ads emptied their net with 1:07 remaining in regulation. In the closing seconds of the game they had two near chances to equalize and force overtime. Taylor Beck had a shot that hit the side of the net. Austin Watson rang one off of the crossbar. The Wolves were able to survive the final second threat and win by the final of 3-2… all Amtrak Rivalry games this season, and there have now been eighth of them, have been decided by one-goal.

Ramblings: This was the Milwaukee Admirals fifth three-in-three scenario of the season. They have yet to win the final leg of the three-in-three this season, 0-2-2-1. Anthony Bitetto, who was the lone scratch yesterday, was a late addition to today’s starting roster and took the place of Zach Budish. By doing so, the team dressed seven defensemen – something they’ve been doing a fair bit this season. Mike Liambas celebrated his twenty-fifth birthday today (send your well-wishes here, @mliambas).

Thoughts from this game? What do we all make of the recent string of performances for Marek Mazanec? Is it safe to assume Scott Darling will return to the Admirals and start this Friday? The offense was again rather well tamed throughout this game – what needs to change to spark some quality scoring chances for the team?

The Admirals won 3-2 in overtime on the road against the Chicago Wolves Saturday night. Austin Watson scored the game-winner with twenty-two seconds remaining in OT to end the Admirals three-game losing streak. Hannu Toivonen made his first start of the season for the Ads and made twenty-eight saves in the OT win. 

The Admirals were able to score the opener from a rare even-strength goal by Filip Forsberg. Austin Watson did the dirty work and fired a shot off of Matt Climie’s pads – spilling the puck into the net front presence of Forsberg. It’s Forsberg’s eighth goal of the season with the Admirals and his third scored from even-strength play.

Much like last night’s contest against the Iowa Wild, the opponent quickly flipped the script seconds after an Admirals goal for one of their own. A mere thirty-one seconds after Forsberg’s opening goal a shot from Ty Rattie ricocheted off some bodies in front of Ads netminder Hannu Toivonen. The puck, which squeaked past Toivonen, was given a tap in from Shane Harper his seventh goal of the season.

We did have a quasi-fight between Mathieu Tousignant and Mark Cundari. I would say this was slightly like last night’s bout for Mike Liambas. The real victor would be the helmets – if anything. It was quick and nothing really seemed to land flush. Helmets, 1. Players, 0.

The Wolves took the lead in the second period off of a beautiful play by Ty Rattie. Vinny Saponari deflected a point shot and Rattie, from the left wing faceoff circle, smashed it baseball-style. The midair shot has enough juice on it to beat Toivonen to make it a 2-1 game. It was Rattie’s nineteenth goal of the season – and undoubtedly his best this season.

Five minutes later the Ads tied things up 2-2 from an odd man rush. Colton Sissons and Vinny Saponari broke into the zone on a two-on-one. Saponari passed over to Sissons whose shot hit crossbar and down for his eighteenth goal of the season.

For the fifth time in seven contests of this season’s Amtrak Rivalry – we headed into overtime. In those previous contests the Admirals had only won a single contest – Nov. 22, 3-2 (SO). With just twenty-two seconds remaining in overtime Austin Watson won it with a blind backhanded shot to the front of the net that took a deflection off a defenseman’s skate and past Climie near post. It’s Watson’s thirteenth goal of the season – and perhaps one that could jump start the Ads. The win tonight ended a three-game losing streak.

Ramblings: Hannu Toivonen made his first start as an Admiral tonight, first appearance in net since subbing in for Magnus Hellberg in San Antonio on Jan.16 (stopped four of six in a shootout loss – where he faced no shots in regulation or overtime), first start since Jan. 12 with the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL (a thirty-three save shutout), and first AHL start since Apr. 10, 2011 with Rockford in Chicago (a thirty-seven save overtime win). Anthony Bitetto was a healthy scratch tonight. Scott Darling made his second start in as many days and won again. Darling made 27 saves in a 5-2 Cyclones win.

Thoughts from tonight’s game? What do you make of Hannu Toivonen’s performance tonight? Is this the sort of a game that can give the Ads a boost moving forward?

The Admirals lost 3-1 against the Iowa Wild Friday night. It was another grinding effort from a visiting team that minimized Ads scoring chances and walked out with a win. It is now the third-straight home loss for the Ads.

“It’s such a hard game to get the pucks back in today’s game because there is no clutching, grabbing, hooking, holding,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game. “So, once you have the puck, let’s hang onto it a little bit until we get a real good scoring chance. If you just throw it away most teams are collapsing to the front of the net and you’re not going to get pucks to the net if you just throw it there. That was an area of concern for us here and as of late.”

After both enjoyed some time away from the rink during the AHL All Star break the start to this game was always going to be a question mark. Fast? Slow? One better than the other? In truth, both sides came out of the gate fairly slowly – as if to play a mistake free opening period.

The Wild did manage to fire more shots to the net in the opening period, 14-7, but one in particular stung. A smooth entry into the attacking zone for the Wild put the puck on Kyle Medvec’s stick. He passed over to the left wing where Jim McKenzie was breaking in and took his shot first time. His blast beat Marek Mazanec high to the glove-side to give the Wild a first period lead. For McKenzie that was his third goal of the season.

We did have a bout in the second period and it was brewed from some first period antics. The combination of Mathieu Tousignant and Mike Liambas weren’t shying away from the verbal side of the game. After a good whack against Tousignant – Liambas and Curt Cogol dropped the gloves. It didn’t last long. Not many blows it flesh – mainly the helmets took all the good ones – but it was a high charged little scrap. Both wanted to get up and keep swinging. The refs made sure that we’d not see it go any further… shame.

In the third period Erik Haula beat Joe Piskula in the neutral zone and carried all the way on the right wing for a goal. After skating by Piskula Haula had numbers and options with him – it became a three-on-one rush. He kept the puck, maintained a shooting position, and whipped a shot by Mazanec to make it a 2-0 Wild lead.

The Admirals were able to get on the board courtesy of another one-time slapper by Filip Forsberg on the power-play. Bryan Rodney slid a pass into Forsberg’s wheelhouse and his shot just about bowled Iowa netminder John Curry over. It’s the Swede’s seventh-goal of the season and his fifth scored from the power-play.

Then came a real backbreaker. The Admirals get the goal to make it a 2-1 game with just over ten-minutes remaining. A mere twenty-five seconds after Forsberg’s goal the Wild blitzed through the Ads for a response. It was a beautiful effort from Haula to generate his second goal of the game – and eleventh of the season.

“We struggled to find scoring chances,” said Evason. “Then you get one. You want to continue that momentum. Certainly that goal hurt us. We should have had more scoring chances earlier and didn’t.”

With twenty-eight seconds left on the clock the Ads did have a desperation chance in the form of a penalty shot. Corbin Baldwin closed his hand on the puck while behind Curry in the crease – resulting in the officials’ decision for the penalty shot. Taylor Beck was the man up to take it… skated in wide from the left wing… moved to the slot… and his wrister was stopped with a left pad save.

“We need to simplify our game,” said Evason after the game. “Simplified doesn’t mean brain dead and just throwing pucks away. You need to simplify your game as far as short passes, putting them into areas where you could get pucks back, get pucks through to the net.”

Ramblings: Marek Mazanec made his twelfth-consecutive start for the Admirals tonight. In that span he has gone (4-4-1-3). Bryan Rodney returned to the Admirals lineup for his first game since Feb. 1 vs. Grand Rapids. He had been out of the lineup due to the birth of his first child (a baby girl). Scott Darling, reassigned by the Admirals today to the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL, did make a start for Cinci. He made thirty-five saves, including five-of-seven in the shootout, to earn a win in his return to game action.

What do you feel is wrong with the offense recently? What needs to change? And can they solve the problem in time for tomorrow’s game in Chicago?

The AHL All Star Classic pitted the league’s top stars against the professionals from the Swedish Elite League – Färjestad BK. The result turned out to be far more shocking than I was expecting. The AHL All Stars absolutely skated circles around Färjestad BK and won by a hefty 7-2 scoreline. Yeeeeeek!

I think we’re all far more interested in two key players: Colton Sissons and Pontus Åberg. Let’s start with the latter – whose team had a hard enough go of things in the first place.

Åberg, a second round draft pick of the Nashville Predators in the 2012 NHL Draft, didn’t have the sharpest of nights. Good news? He wasn’t alone in that respect for Färjestad BK. In truth, he made plenty of good looking plays – particularly working in and out of the neutral zone. Where all his good work seemed to fall flat was that he appeared to want to pass the puck more than shoot it. He was creating some space for himself – but then looking for a teammate. When he would pick out his teammate it seemed to take them by surprise. I was expecting to see more of this from a hodgepodge of AHL talent than a team that played together for a half-season so far.

It might have been a very small sample size – but it was my real first chance to view what Åberg is capable of. What I was left with from this game was the feeling of a player that does very much with very little. Still, that could be extremely harsh considering the circumstances of a game like this. He appears to move, skate, and stickhandle well enough. Should he find himself in Milwaukee in the near future… I’m hoping to see a mix of Miikka Salomaki and the next guy we’ll talk about.

If you didn’t get to watch last night’s AHL All Star Classic, but have watched Sissons play before, good news! You didn’t miss anything. Perhaps what is most impressive of his night might just be that. Regardless of the stage – he played just like he always does: smart, contained, aggressive while on the puck if he has the room to go for it, and defended well around the net. He never looked like anything more or anything less than what we’ve all seen before – and I count that as a plus!

Sissons highlight of the night included earning a plus while being on the ice for the AHL’s third goal of the game scored by Ben Street. Annoyingly, he didn’t get a point from the play – but probably deserved a primary assist as much as Jason Jaffray did. Sissons movements off of the puck created the goal. He was set up on the right faceoff area while the puck was behind the net – moved forward to goal – which sucked in Magnus Nygren from his left wing spot before being drawn back – then, with Nygren abandoning him, he was surrounded by Linus Froberg and Tomas Hyka. Him getting Nygren’s attention, all by skating in on the slot, allowed Street to be all alone on the left wing for a one-timed shot. I talk about it time and time again with Sissons. He just finds the perfect soft spots on the ice to create. In this case, his movement drew in three members of Färjestad BK and freed Street up for a shot. No assist for Sissons – but he did much to set the play up.

The rigorous travel will continue for Sissons now. He flew out to St. John’s late Sunday night after the Admirals played against the Chicago Wolves. Now, he basically has one day off – probably used to travel back – before the team plays on Friday against the Iowa Wild. Busy? Yes. Rewarding? Absolutely.

Catch the AHL All Star Classic? Surprised to see the AHL All Stars rock Färjestad BK like they did? What do you think about Colton Sissons and Pontus Åberg? Where do you see their careers going and could they end up playing together in the near future?

The 2014 AHL All Star Skills Competition was a rather good show last night. It pitted the AHL All Stars up against professional players from Färjestad BK of the Swedish Elite League. On the Nashville Predators organization side of things: this entire head-to-head is fun to watch because we get to see two young up and comers in the system. Colton Sissons and Pontus Åberg.

I’m very familiar with Sissons and what he can do, but this was really my first chance to sit down and watch Åberg play – and he took part in the Skills Competition a whole lot more than Sissons. So, how’d our boys do?

Åberg took part in the first event of the night: the puck control relay. This event featured a burst of speed down to one end and then a series of cones to stickhandle through en route to the finish. Åberg competed in the opening three-man relay and was the second of his group to go out. When he took off he was trailing Frederic St. Denis of the Springfield Falcons. After his turn through the course Färjestad BK had a very good cushion that helped them go on and win that first relay race. I was rather impressed by the 20-year old Swede’s explosiveness from out of the gate. His start gave him a good gap, but it was his smooth stick work on the cones that helped him out even more. Simple event. Lots of little qualities that could be measured. I liked what I saw.

The third event of the night was the Rapid Fire competition and our first look at Sissons on the Skills stage. I have to be completely honest with you. Whoever organized this event really set him up to fail. The setup of the Rapid Fire competition was two shooters, both on the opposite sides of the crease, five pucks, one shooter at a time, as quickly as they can hammer a shot. Sissons, a right handed shot, was paired with another right handed shot in Brenden Kichton of the St. John’s IceCaps. Where would the ideal place on the ice be for a right handed shooter be in this situation? The left wing. Where was Sissons placed? The right wing. Kichton went three-for-five of his attempts for goals while Sissons missed all five shots against Frederik Pettersson-Wentzel‘s glove-side. Seeing how that turned out, when most shooters after that where paired lefty and righty, seemed a bit daft.

Åberg then took part in the Hardest Shot competition and hammered a shot at 99.5 mph. Each shooter had three chances. He accomplished that on his first shot and each of his next two were weaker than the next. Nothing to really learn from something like this – but gosh darn was his teammate Magnus Nygren‘s shot of 104.6 mph awesome!

The Åberg Show continued in the next event, Accuracy Shooting. This was somewhat of a disappointment out of him. He hit the four targets on net on eight chances. That put him on equal footing for second lowest in the competition with the Rochester Americans’ Luke Adam – and one better than Ben Street of the Abbotsford Heat (who went three of eight).

The last rodeo for the two Nashville hopefuls came on the Breakaway Challenge. Sissons. Admirals. Shootout. Hey, he has some experience for this scenario at least right? In truth, this season in the shootout for the Admirals he has missed all three chances he has taken and hasn’t factored into the last four shootout games. So, up he went… forehand to backhand and stopped by Pekka Tuokkola.

Speaking of which…

Notice anything from Tuokkola’s mask yet? Well you should, because Magnus Hellberg certain does… not just once… but twice. The reason being is that Hellberg is from Uppsala, Sweden – where the story of Pelle Svanslös, aka Peter No-Tail, originates from. So, why would the Finnish goaltender Tuokkola use Pelle while playing for a Swedish team that is on the opposite side of Sweden from Uppsala? Hurm… Perhaps Hellberg is just a trendsetter? (I digress)

Next up was Åberg. He was actually forced to shoot against a familiar foe to us Admirals fans in Chicago Wolves netminder Jake Allen – the bloke who shut the door on us just this past Sunday in a shootout. Åberg skated in straight, maintained his shooting stance on the forehand the entire way in, did a shoulder pump, and fired right through Allen’s glove. It was rather impressive. I guess, so much so, he tried doing the same move later on in the sudden death portion of the event… where he fooled no one.

The AHL All Stars managed to win the Skills event against Färjestad BK in the sudden death scenario of the shootout. In heroic fashion too – I might add. With the event held in St. John’s it was cool to see captain Jason Jaffray not only score the shootout goal to force sudden death – but also the clincher. Pretty fun for the fans up there – and a great way to set the table for what should be a competitive and exciting AHL All Star Classic.

Did you catch the AHL Skills Competition? If so, what did you make of our two members of the Nashville organization? Will you be tuning in tonight for the AHL All Star Classic?

The Admirals lost 4-3 in a shootout against the Chicago Wolves Sunday afternoon. The Admirals held a two-goal lead twice only to see them fall in the shootout to their Amtrak Rivals.

The Admirals were able to jump on the board first after a great solo effort from Miikka Salomaki. In his return to the ice after his match penalty on Friday, he was able to fly in off of the right wing wall, put a shot on Jake Allen, skated around David Shields, and popped in his own rebound. It was a great showcase of Salomaki’s relentless hustle. That goes down as his twelfth goal of the season.

In the second period the Admirals tallied for a power-play goal with two great passes setting it all up. Marek Mazanec, yes. Marek Mazanec with a pin-point saucer pass from his goal crease all the way to Filip Forsberg on the blue line. The great feed caught the Wolves as they were changing and set Forsberg into the zone with plenty of time to operate with. He patiently waited towards the left wing faceoff circle, found Patrick Cehlin on the opposite wing, passed through traffic, and it was a tap in for Cehlin on the power-play. It’s Cehlin’s fourth goal of the season.

As the period crawled to the end, both teams decided to engage each other in a “who can have the ugliest power-play” contest. The Wolves had a brief five-on-three chance – that they killed off themselves on a missed shot that cleared the zone. Then the Admirals rallied on the second half of that chance – basically controlling the puck possession while killing off the penalty.

The Wolves did one better when the Admirals went to the power-play at the end of the second period. The Ads had a race down the slot at one end, missed a scoring chance, and then conceded a two-on-one shorthanded break down at the other end. Taylor Chorney was able to get his pass right to the tape of Nathan Longpre – who one-touched it over Mazanec’s left pad for his fifth goal of the season.

Just moments after that Longpre has a clean shorthanded breakaway. His shot missed high and wide to the glove side of Mazanec. In total, the Admirals have given up ten shorthanded goals this season. All of last season they only conceded five shorties.

The Admirals were able to restore their two-goal lead in the third period after a rebound effort from Kevin Henderson. Mathieu Tousignant’s net front shot stayed low to the ice and hit off of Allen’s pads. The puck spilled down the slot and right to Henderson who cleaned up the garbage for his sixth goal of the season.

Directly after the goal from Henderson the Wolves fired a beautiful pass through the Admirals that sent Keith Aucoin behind a Mike Liambas and Joonas Jarvinen. Liambas had a slash on his arm. Jarvinen practically tackled him. The referees rightly called for a penalty shot – and Aucoin delivered with a soft shot that went through the five-hole of Mazanec.

Of the two previous goals allowed by Mazanec – it’s hard to really fault him. Shorthanded odd-man break. Penalty shot. The one he would probably lost like to have back came on goal number three when the Wolves went wing to wing and saw Cade Fairchild beat him moving to the far post. The game was equalized from Fairchild’s second goal of the season – and it remained 3-3 all the way through regulation and overtime.

When it came to the shootout the Admirals went with: Salomaki, Saponari, Cehlin, and Beck… Wolves: Rattie, Aucoin, Jaskin, Wannstrom, and Cracknell. If you couldn’t tell, the Admirals didn’t use as many skaters because the Wolves buried the game with shootout goals from Wannstrom and Cracknell. The Admirals failed to convert a single goal from the shootout.

The Admirals have now played in sixteen games that have gone to overtime or further. No team in the AHL has lost more time in overtime than the Admirals – who have lost six times. In the shootout, the Ads have now lost five times out of eight opportunities. Playing past regulation has been a very rough area for the team all season long – and it continued again tonight.

Ramblings: Colton Sissons returned to the Milwaukee Admirals after his late afternoon recall to the Nashville Predators yesterday. Bryan Rodney was a scratch for the third straight game due to personal reasons.

What are your thoughts from this game? What needs to be addressed over the AHL All Star break for the team to comeback strong next weekend?

The Admirals were shutout 3-0 by the Utica Comets Friday night. Miikka Salomaki was given a game misconduct for boarding late in the first period and, from that point forward, the Comets really throttled the Admirals. The visitors scored three-goals in the second period and cruised to victory from there. It was either the best performance against the Admirals this season – or the most lifeless game played by the Admirals this season.

The first period was controlled by the Utica Comets’ dump and chase game. Their defense was also very impressive. Despite being so aggressive on Admirals skaters, the Comets were generating bad passes from the Admirals and blocked plenty of shots.

Opening frame flashpoint came when Miikka Salomaki took a major penalty and a game misconduct for boarding. The young Finn has been well known for how hard he plays the game. On this circumstance, he may have let his style of play get the best of him when Peter Andersson stopped by the end boards, braced for an impact, and was blasted in the upper back and into the glass. Andersson didn’t return to action in the first period. And the Ads had a five-minute major penalty that needed killing over the space of two periods.

The Admirals were able to kill off the long major penalty. Yet, the Comets were able to get on the board shortly after power-play ended. Darren Archibald’s snipe from the left wing faceoff dot flew over Marek Mazanec’s glove-side shoulder and into the roof. It was a difficult angle shot but he came up with the goods on the game’s opening goal – Archibald’s eighth of the season.

Then came two more goals for the Comets in a second period that they dominated. A quick rush from the Comets sent Colin Stuart and Kent Huskins in on a two-on-two. Stuart’s pass squeaked by the stick of Roussel, got to the tape of Huskins, who then buried his first goal of the season.

Goal number three for the Comets in the second period came just after a successful penalty kill for the Admirals. Scott Valentine was in the box for a hooking call and was just joining the action when Alex Biega’s blueline blast took a deflection in front of Mazanec and in. The man with the deflection was Archibald who scored his second goal of the game – and his ninth of the season.

The game never really went anywhere from that second period. Chances were absolutely nowhere to be found tonight for the Ads. The result was a shutout by the Comets. The last time the Admirals were shutout at home was Mar 27, 2013 versus the Lake Erie Monsters.

Ramblings: Former Admiral Cal O’Reilly did not play tonight for the Utica Comets – he was out with an upper body injury. Joonas Rask was also out for the Admirals after re-injuring his shoulder on Wednesday night against the Hamilton Bulldogs.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? What happened? Was Salomaki’s major penalty deserved or should it have only been a minor? How can this team rebound for Sunday afternoon’s game against the Chicago Wolves?

The Admirals won 4-2 against the Hamilton Bulldogs Wednesday night. The game-winning goal came in the third period from Charles-Olivier Roussel – his first career AHL goal. A long range empty netter from Colton Sissons, fresh off of his first stint in the NHL, sealed the deal on an Ads victory in regulation.

After a high-tempo rush into the Admirals zone, Joonas Jarvinen was called for a holding-the-stick penalty for the game’s opening power-play chance. The result? An opening goal for the Bulldogs. Defenseman Greg Pateryn smashed a slap shot from the point that whizzed through bodies and beat Marek Mazanec to the glove-side. From the looks of the goal – Mazanec never saw that puck. The shot was to the glove-side and he didn’t even move his glove. The goal for Pateryn was his ninth of the season.

The Admirals responded just five-minutes after the Bulldogs opening goal in the first period. After a shot was tossed on Robert Mayer’s net – he lost the puck to his blocker-side. Mark Van Guilder was Johnny on the spot to pop in the loose puck and tie the game at 1-1 with his ninth-goal of the season.

In the second period we had a scrap between Mathieu Tousignant and Nathan McIver. If you’re an Admirals fan – you turned away. If you were a Bulldogs fan or liked the film Fight Club – you watched. Let’s just say Tousignant was given the business. My fight card reads: McIver, 10. Tousignant, 8.

Austin Watson broke the deadlock later on in the second period for his twelfth goal of the season. A great pass from Anthony Bitetto picked out Watson who snuck behind the Bulldogs defense. Watson has an extra step, mini-break, and fired a wrister to the low glove of Mayer for the goal.

The second period and start of the third period feature plenty of minor penalty calls. During this stretch of power-play, four-on-four, penalty kill, repeat… the Bulldogs scored from a four-on-four situation to equalize in the third period. Gabriel Dumont’s wrist shot snuck past Mazanec to make it a 2-2 hockey game. On the play, Austin Watson was attempting to make a flying poke check on Dumont – and his speed carried him towards the end boards, where he collided with a Bulldogs forward, turned, and impacted the end boards knee first. It was a loud impact and he was slow to leave the ice. He did, however, make a return to the game – something that could not be said of Joonas Rask who also left the game in the third period after a shoulder injury.

Midway through the third period the Admirals cashed in on a power-play. Charles-Olivier Roussel’s shot from the point took a big deflection from Dumont – who was playing directly on Roussel’s point spot. The puck knuckled and flew through Mayer for Roussel’s first career AHL goal.

With the Bulldogs net empty and the extra attacker on – Colton Sissons sealed the game from a long rang shot from his own zone for his seventeenth-goal of the season. Joe Piskula chipped the puck forward to him and, perhaps just trying to clear the zone, Sissons snapped at the puck – which skipped on down the ice and in.

Ramblings: Tonight’s lone scratch was defenseman Bryan Rodney for personal reasons. From Twitter chatter I received on him in the last week or so it sounded like he was close to becoming a dad. If that’s the reasoning behind the scratch – congratulations yo the Rodney family! Scott Ford played in game number 341 tonight as an Admiral – giving him sole possession of ninth all-time for games played in team history. Mark Van Guilder also moved up on the games played list. Van Guilder is now tied for fourth place in the AHL history of the team, with former captain Nolan Yonkman, with 283 games played as an Admiral.

What are your thoughts from tonight’s game? How well has Roussel played this season and was tonight’s goal a long time coming? If both Watson and Rask are hurt badly enough to miss Friday night’s game – what course of action takes place?