The Predators signed Zach Budish to a two-year entry level tryout contract Wednesday. He’ll make his Admirals debut along with Paul Crowder tonight against Rockford.
The Minnesota Golden Gophers captain was drafted by Nashville with the 41st overall pick in 2009.
Budish played in 129 games at Minnestota recording 94 points, scoring 35 goals. He helped the Gophers to two consecutive MacNaughton Cups as Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) regular-season champions along with two NCAA tournament berths including a run to the Frozen Four in 2011-12.
After he gained captaincy in 2012-13, Budish’s Gophers led the WCHA in scoring offense, scoring defense, power play and penalty kill while the program ranked in the top ten nationally in all four categories.
As we said in an earlier post, Crowder’s also coming off a successful 2011-12, as the 28-year old Victoria, BC native scored 23 goals and recorded 27 assists in 53 games played for the Wheeling Nailers.
Roundtable, what do you think of these signings, and which one do you see having the bigger impact both immediately and down the stretch?
On a night that Rockford used to celebrate being named the third most “Miserable City” in the U.S. by Forbes Magazine, the home fans got something to smile about.
In a sloppy game for both sides the IceHogs grabbed a 2-1 win over the Admirals Tuesday night in Rockford.
The loss dropped Milwaukee (75 points in 67 games) from seventh to ninth place in the Western Conference and moved Rockford (73 points in 67 games) to within closing distance of the Admirals in the division standings.
Magnus Hellberg got the start and had a decent night in net with 21 saves, and the Admirals’ offense outshot the IceHogs 32-23. Unfortunately, it didn’t add up to a win as Milwaukee missed some golden opportunities to tie the game in the third period.
Kyle Beach got Rockford on the board at 18:02 of the first period with his 15th goal of the season. Beach fired a low shot from the high slot that beat Hellberg stick side.
A too many men on the ice call late in the second period gave the Ads their third power play chance of the game, and Milwaukee would take advantage to tie the game 1-1 at 15:31.
Brad Winchester started a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing play feeding Juuso Puustinen from the far dot. Puusty tipped the puck right to Michael Latta in the slot, and Latta put it past Henrik Karlsson.
Rockford came right back to retake the lead after a questionable turn of events. Scott Ford thought he had his stick knocked away by an IceHog and pleaded for a penalty.
Meanwhile, Rockford started a rush into the Admirals zone, and a furious Fordo looked on as Ryan Stanton scored on a snapshot from the top of the right circle at 18:47. Even Milwaukee assistant coach Stan Drulia said his team “thought they’d be going on the power play” after Ford lost his stick.
The Admirals responded with a good final push in the last twenty minutes, but Karlsson stopped all 14 shots he saw down the stretch to get his first win against Milwaukee.
At 9:23, Brad Mills ran into Hellberg knocking the big goalie to the ice. Magnus got right back up, Mills went to the box for goalie interference, but the Ads couldn’t captialize on their fifth and final power play chance.
With around five minutes to play, Josh Shalla had a great chance against a fallen Karlsson, but couldn’t find the puck.
Hellberg hit the bench with 1:44 to play, but the Ads couldn’t nab the equalizer despite two more good chances in the final minute.
Karlsson stopped a Winchester shot, but couldn’t handle the rebound cleanly resulting in a scramble in front that was eventually covered. Later, Mark Van Guilder had a wide open shot roll right off his stick.
From there, Rockford was able to clear twice and run out the clock.
Notes:
Kevin Henderson left the game right around the second intermission with an undisclosed injury, and Drulia said he will be reevaluated tomorrow.
Rockford continued a dominant trend improving its record when leading after two periods to 19-1-0. Milwaukee meanwhile has won just five games when trailing after two.
Latta’s goal was his ninth of the season, third power play goal and second in Milwaukee’s last three games.
Peeking up at Nashville, Taylor Beck grabbed two assists in the Predators’ 3-1 win over Colorado tonight.
Questions:
Things are pretty close in the bottom half of the Western Conference playoff picture. Just six points separate the fifth-place spot from the eleventh-place spot. Right now there are three teams (the Heat, the IceHogs and the Admirals) on the outside looking in but still in contention for postseason spots with Chicago currently holding the final spot with 75 points.
What advantages do you think the Admirals have over the teams left in the field, if any? Do you foresee the Ads reemerging from the pack? They are still 7-2-1 in their last 10.
A year and a day ago the Ads and IceHogs engaged in a massive, memorable bench-clearing brawl at the Bradley Center. Some saw it as a turning point for that Milwaukee team, others saw it as just two frustrated teams hashing things out.
Do you think the Ads need a similar sort of rallying point as the season winds down?
Where does Rockford rank on your list of “most miserable cities” in America? Was Forbes too harsh or too generous?
Juuso Puustinen scored a late power play goal to give the Admirals some breathing room. And they needed every inch of it.
The Wolves answered with a score of their own after pulling their goalie, and then the Admirals found themselves killing a penalty in the final minute. But Magnus Hellberg and the Admirals defense held on to knock off Chicago 4-3 Saturday night in Rosemont.
The win gives the Admirals sole possession of 7th place in the Western Conference, and was their EIGHTH of the year against the Wolves.
Puustinen’s goal made it a 4-2 lead with 3:35 left in the game, and Coach Evason says that it was a huge conversion.
It was the second power play goal on the night for the Admirals, as earlier in the game the Mattias Ekholm-Austin Watson connection scored again. Ekholm with the shot from the point, Watson deflected it past Matt Climie. I’d say it’s about the third time we’ve seen that scenario in the last few weeks. Here’s Watson on their success.
That power play goal gave the Admirals a 1-0 lead 8:54 into the game.
Darren Haydar evened it up about five minutes later with a wrist shot from the top of the far circle that while well placed, I think Hellberg would want back.
In the second period, Daniel Bang got credit for a goal, but Patrick Cehlin did all the heavy lifting. Moments after a Cam Reid penalty expired, Cehlin got around Brad Hunt on the left wing and made a strong move to the net. He couldn’t get the shot on net once he got there, but the puck came right to Bang, who was there to finish.
I mentioned that there was a Cam Reid penalty. That was the first of five Chicago power plays that the Admirals had to kill that period. Reid for a hook. Latta for a trip. Jarvinen for a board. Winchester for giving Brett Sterling what he deserved, but getting called for it. And then Ford for a retaliation fist swing at the back of Guillaume Desbiens’ head (that one carried over into the third).
The Admirals killed off all of them but one. A Kevin Connauton shot from the point that beat a screened Hellberg at 15:27 of the second.
Coach Evason was overall happy with the penalty kill, but not so happy about how often they were needed.
The Wolves dominated play early in the third, and the Admirals didn’t get their first shot on goal until the 7:25 mark. But it was a goal. Austin Watson intercepted a pass in the Wolves zone, and then sent the puck towards the net from the right wing. It went off of Jeremie Blain’s skate and in the net.
An interference penalty on Jim Vandermeer set up the late Milwaukee power play, and Puustinen’s shot from the bottom of the far circle just dribbled past Climie.
They dressed seven defensemen tonight. Winchester was double shifting early on, but others took their turn to center that last line.
– The was a scare at the end of the game, as once again, our goaltender was at the bottom of a pile of hockey players. As the final seconds ticked off, Brett Sterling took a healthy whack at Hellberg after a save with no rebound. Then with the help of some Admiral defenders and the laws of physics, Sterling ended up on top of Hellberg. And that little scrum is how the game ended. It’s in the replay package below.
– Sterling was a pest all night, and was responsible for drawing multiple Admiral penalties.
– This was the Admirals’ 24th win against a division opponent. That’s tops in the league. They’re 8-1-1-0 in their last 10 games.
– We had a goaltender dress as #1 for the first time since….geez, I don’t know. Drew MacIntyre? Andrew D’Agostini was signed to an ATO today after Jeremy Smith was injured in Rockford last night. D’Agostini was a former teammate of Austin Watson, and he was surprised when he heard that D’Agostini got the call today.
This will probably be D’Agostini’s only game with Milwaukee for now. Here’s Coach Evason with an update on Smitty, and what they’re looking at for this week.
So this week? It’s the Rockford and Charlotte show, is what it is. A pair of games against each. Home game Friday, and then fly to Charlotte for a game on Saturday. One of the more unpleasant schedule quirks this season, but I’m sure there are some Western Conference teams that have those quirks a little more often….so we’ll just make it work.
Questions:
– What do you attribute this in-division success to? Is it just rivalries giving them a little extra push in their compete levels?
– Do you think Magnus Hellberg is ready for it to be the Magnus Hellberg Show around here if Smitty is out for a long stretch?
– With the team playing so well right now, do you want to tell Nashville to just keep Mueller and Beck and Bartley? We’re fine?
– Sterling is a nuisance….but do you think you could ever love him if he wore an Admirals uniform?
Jeremy Smith played a solid 59 minutes in net for the Admirals, but had to be helped off the ice with 13.4 seconds to go.
Magnus Hellberg filled in, and the Ads withstood a big third period from the IceHogs to get back on the winning track with a 3-2 victory.
Milwaukee’s offense was the story of the first two periods as the Ads held a 3-1 lead and a 34-19 shot advantage heading into the second intermission.
Ryan Ellis gave the Admirals the 1-0 lead right at the end the first period scoring with a tenth of a second left on the clock. Michael Latta whipped a quick pass to Ellis whose shot from the right circle beat Rockford goalie Carter Hutton.
The Ads carried momentum into the second period, scoring just 11 seconds after the break. Latta took the puck into the Rockford zone and freed it up for Mark Van Guilder. MVG hit Kevin Henderson at the left dot and his shot cleared Hutton’s right shoulder.
The Admirals grabbed a 3-0 lead at the 12:31 mark with a power play goal from Latta. Hutton made a few big time saves in front, before Latta was able to poke the puck past him for his eighth goal of the season.
The IceHogs finally got one past Smith about five minutes later, however, as Brandon Svendsen picked up his third goal of the year. Smitty had to move hard from left to right to take away a shot opportunity from Adam Clendening, and unfortunately that left Svendsen wide open in the slot.
The game was far from over at the second break, as Rockford had won an AHL-best nine games after trailing in the first two periods entering the matchup.
The IceHogs displayed some of that knack to come from behind outshooting the Admirals 18-10 in the final period.
At 9:14 Martin St. Pierre cut it to a one-goal deficit with his 22nd of the season, but for the final ten minutes Smitty stood tall to keep the Ads ahead.
Kenndal McArdle was all alone with nine minutes to play, but Smith was able to poke check his shot away. He then gobbled up a Jeremy Morin slapper with 8:01 to play in a nice sequence.
With just under 45 seconds left and Hutton on the bench, Smitty gloved a Brad Mills shot.
Later, the puck was tipped in front of Smith and a mad scramble ensued. Smitty made the save, but was piled on top of after Rostislav Olesz shoved an Ads defender into him.
After laying face-down for a few minutes, Smitty had his right leg worked on by trainer Doug Agnew and had to be assisted as he went to the bench.
Hellberg didn’t face a shot in the final 13 seconds, as Mike Moore blocked Rockford’s only attempt and the Ads were able to clear it away.
Notes:
Milwaukee finished with 44 shots on net with Latta’s seven and Juuso Puustinen’s five leading the way.
Smitty stopped 35 of 37 shots in one of his more impressive outings of the season. He’ll see a doctor tomorrow and will most likely be out. No idea on the weight of his injury yet. We’ll keep you updated on his status as we learn more.
Brad Winchester assisted on the Latta goal after re-signing with the Ads today. The power play goal was the only one of the game, as both teams went a combined one-for-nine with the extra attacker.
Questions:
Are you concerned that the Ads let Rockford get off 18 shots in the final 20 minutes? Why do you feel they had a hard time keeping the IceHogs down after mostly dominating the first two periods.
On the other end, what do you think has helped the Ads up their shot opportunities recently. They didn’t appear to be missing Nashville call-up Craig Smith tonight, and the offense looked really good throughout the game.
How big is the potential Smitty loss? Coach Dean Evason has mentioned how great it’s been of late to have both of his goaltenders play at a high level.
After 13 points in seven games, Wednesday night was a head-scratcher for Milwaukee as Lake Erie frustrated the Ads for the fourth time this season.
Sami Aittokallio stopped all 33 shots he faced leading the Monsters to a 1-0 win at the Bradley Center. As good as he was (and he was really, really good) the Ads had a lot of opportunities that they just couldn’t capitalize on.
Milwaukee outshot Lake Erie 33-19 and Magnus Hellberg stood on his head for a few great saves, but it simply wasn’t enough.
A Paul Carey redirection off a slapper from Luke Walker gave the Monsters the only goal they needed 7:10 into the contest. From then on the story of the game was missed chances from the Ads and stellar saves from Aittokallio.
Dean Evason talked about the Ads struggles to light the lamp, and the speed of Lake Erie’s defense.
Before Carey’s goal, Michael Latta had a couple of good chances to give Milwaukee the early lead. He took a pass right in front and tried to hack home the one-timer and then the rebound, but Aittokallio stood tall.
Later Michael Liambas had a bad pass sail out of the offensive zone and Lake Erie would score on that possession.
At the 15:55 mark came the first of five power play opportunities that the Ads couldn’t use to their advantage. After Walker went to the box for interference, Aittokallio made a great glove save to keep Milwaukee off the board.
After that penalty expired, Mattias Ekholm was called for elbowing and it took a fantastic save from Hellberg as the period ended to keep Milwaukee down just one goal.
It looked like the Monsters would make it a 2-0 deficit early into the second period, but upon review a potential goal was waved off. Though no penalty was called, replays showed that Vincent Arseneau clearly shoved Daniel Bang into Magnus Hellberg, taking him out of position for the ensuing shot.
After getting help out by the replay, they got another PP chance with Andrew Agozzino in the box for hooking. The Ads couldn’t score, however, and the period ended with the puck clanging around the posts at least twice before the final buzzer sounded.
The Ads continued to have good entries into the offensive zone in the third period, but they yielded no results on the scoreboard.
Agozzino went to the box again for interference at the 4:22 mark, but the most impressive play of the PP came from Ryan Ellis on defense.
Ellis, who played his first game since being sent back down to Milwaukee Monday, stayed with Mike Connolly on a one-on-one breakaway and shut down the shorthanded scoring chance.
On a later power play, Ellis fired a hard slapper that Aittokallio turned away. Later in the possession, Aittokallio was able to cover the puck just before Joshua Shalla could get to it, after it bounced off the boards and ended up at the left side of the net.
Bang had one of the best chances of the night with about seven minutes to play. He had the puck come to him all alone on a rush, but Aittokallio came up huge to make the save with his right leg.
A Brad Winchester penalty for elbowing was killed off with just one minute remaining, and with Hellberg on the bench, the Ads couldn’t get the puck in the net. An icing call with 19.7 ticks left all but sealed the deal, as the Ads couldn’t get it out of their zone.
Notes:
Smith looked good again, leading the Ads with six shots. Latta put five on net while Winchester and Mark Van Guilder each had four.
Winchester played the final game of his 25-game PTO contract, and a decision will be made soon about his future. He had little to say about it.
Evason said he’s selfishly hoping Winchester will stay an Admiral.
The coach said his team came out a “little flat” in defense of its seven-game point streak, and didn’t know if it had anything to do with how the streak had recently played out.
Questions:
What was Milwaukee’s problem with Lake Erie this season, and what did you notice this game that ended the point streak?
What did you think of Ryan Ellis’ return? Will it keep the Ads’ playoff hopes burning even brighter?
Do you think we’ll see Winchester in an Ads jersey again? How do you think his possible departure would impact the team?
The Craig Smith points parade continued in Rosemont on Sunday afternoon with a goal and an assist, as the Admirals clinched the Amtrak Rivalry title with a 4-1 victory over the Wolves.
Smith’s goal turned out to be the game winner, and he was on the ice for all four Admiral goals.
Brad Winchester opened the scoring with his third in as many nights (all with primary assists from Craig Smith), as Smith picked off an errant pass from Kevin Connauton, and fed a wide open Winchester for the first goal.
Smith then finished off a tic-tac-toe passing play with the man advantage at 1:28 of the second period.
Connauton got some redemption as he made it a one-goal game at 13:41 of the second with a shot from the point that made its way through a screen.
Later in the period, with Jeremie Blain serving a double minor for high sticking Patrick Cehlin, Austin Watson deflected another Mattias Ekholm shot for another power play goal. It was the second time we’ve seen that routine this weekend.
Michael Latta got the empty netter in the final minute.
—-
Notes:
– The win bumped the Admirals up to 7th place in the Western Conference, and they now have points in seven straight games. (6-0-1-0 in that span)
– Special teams were special again. Admirals were 2 for 6 on the power play, and killed off all four Wolves chances.
– The Admirals outshot the Wolves 38-20, but that large differential is deceiving. The Wolves had a lot of shots attempted and some phenomenal chances…but they had a tough time getting them through to Jeremy Smith. Lots of them were blocked or simply missed the net. Still, to see that kind of a number for the Admirals in the third game of a 3-in-3 is outstanding. Over the weekend, they put 115 shots on net. Sustainable? We’ll see.
– High marks for Jeremy Smith, who had his first action since March 8th, also a win against the Wolves.
– They’ve been doing this Amtrak Rivalry thing since 2009, and this is the first time the Admirals have won it. And they did it with three games against the Wolves still to go.
– Still waiting for the Badger Trifecta…. with a scoring play including Smith, Winchester, and Piskula. We’ve come close a few times this weekend…
– Coach Evason had said that they were going to reevaluate Craig Smith’s situation after the games this weekend. That may be the last we see of him. Or maybe we’ll see him back at the Bradley Center on Wednesday night against the Lake Erie Monsters. Preds play Monday and Thursday this week.
– Latta and Mike Liambas both were involved in fights in the first period. Liambas fared a little better than Latta did…but check out the very thorough game highlights below…the fights went on a very long time.
For the second game in as many nights, the Toronto Marlies forced extra time after trailing at the start of the third period. This time, they finished the job, as Greg Scott made a sick move around Juuso Puustinen, and fired a perfect shot top shelf to give the Marlies a 3-2 overtime win over the Admirals.
The Admirals outshot the Marlies 41-26 on the night, and had the better of the scoring chances. But a few lost battles and mental errors were the difference in the game.
With the overtime loss, the Admirals remain in 8th place in the conference with 69 points, tied with Chicago and Oklahoma City. And Rockford. And Abbotsford.
The Admirals did get off to a quick start. Brad Winchester had the empty-netter with 1:34 left in the third yesterday. And he netted the first one tonight 1:23 into the game. A shot from the point by Joonas Jarvinen made it through to Marlie starting goaltender Jussi Rynnas, and Winchester was there to put in the rebound to give the Admirals the early lead.
A sloppy Admiral turnover in the defensive zone led to the tying goal. Mike Liambas couldn’t find the puck in his skates. But Jamie Devane did. He then fed a pass to Sam Carrick, who fired a nice shot in the corner of the net.
On the next shift, Liambas was on tilt, and then started looking for a dance partner. He found one…the aforementioned and much taller Jamie Devane. 5’9 vs 6’4. Not only did Liambas not really have that great of a showing, he got an extra two minutes for roughing out of it. Couple that with a goaltender interference penalty that Josh Shalla was assessed just before that sequence, and it turned into a full two minutes of 5×3 time for the Marlies.
The Admirals killed off all the full two minutes. They were in the passing and shooting lanes, and Austin Watson even had a shorthanded scoring chance…and hustled back nicely to get back into position.
In the second period, Liambas got some redemption, by drawing an elbowing penalty from Korbinian Holzer. On the ensuing power play, Anthony Bitetto scored his first career AHL goal. A shot from the point through a nice screen by Watson, Shalla, and defenseman Dylan Yeo. I don’t think Rynnas ever saw it.
Later in the period, Rynnas was injured after a collision with Austin Watson. But it wasn’t a Lucic-Miller type collision. Watson was guided off balance and into the side of the net by a Marlie defender, and there was a little bit of contact made with Rynnas as he was hugging the post. Drew Mac-In-Tyre returned to the Bradley Center ice for the rest of the game, and eventually, picked up the win.
In the third period, the Magnus Hellberg from October made a brief appearance, as he let in a softie goal from Jerry D’Amigo.
You can tell by listening to him….he feels pretty bad about that one.
Other than that play, it was another solid outing from Magnus. His rebound control was very good, and with the exception of that second goal, his glove was very good all night too.
He wishes that he could have extended the game to a shootout.
NOTES:
Lines:
15-29-17
10-16-11
20-51-71
8-43-25
Another good showing for special teams overall. They killed off all five Toronto power plays, and went 1-4 on their own. Still would have been nice to get that last one in overtime, though. Here’s Coach Evason on that last power play chance.
Craig Smith played his second game with the Admirals, and Coach gave him a little more work tonight.
A win in Rosemont tomorrow afternoon would get the Admirals five out of a possible six points this weekend, without the help of Bartley, Mueller, and Beck….who, incidentally….got his first NHL goal tonight.
Questions:
– Craig Smith — Do you think he was better tonight? There is obvious skill there, but I’d like to see the puck not get knocked off of his stick when he tries to do some stickhandling.
– Do you think the Admirals deserved a better fate? Did they get the momentum that they deserved when the killed that 5-on-3?
– Great to see Bitetto get his first goal. Are you surprised that we’re seeing more of him than Scott Valentine these days?
Brendan Burke, the play-by-play man for the Peoria Rivermen, tweeted earlier today that “We could be in for another low-scoring affair tonight in Milwaukee. The 2 teams have combined for 4.4 goals-per game (lowest for Rivermen).”
That number went down a little bit.
Tied going into the third period, the Admirals took advantage of power play in the middle of the frame, and went on to beat the Rivermen 3-1 Friday night in front of 12,047 customers at the Bradley Center.
We’re going to break this recap into three sections for three different audiences.
1. For the locals.
2. For the Austin Watson fan club
303. For the Preds fans who want to check on Craig Smith
Section 1: Keep on rollin’
Mark Van Guilder opened the scoring with his 12th of the year. He gets credit for crashing the net, but check out Michael Latta tying up two Rivermen on his own. A lot of Rivermen just watching the play.
After Brett Sonne scored from a tough angle in the second period, a Peoria bench minor for being too manly on the ice gave the Admirals a power play at the 9:57 mark of the third. Austin Watson deflected a Mattias Ekholm shot to snap his 16 game goal-less streak.
Great deflection, but there were some great things that led to that play too. Josh Shalla dove to keep possession and send it over to Ekholm. And then Ekholm was able to reset and get a great low shot on net that Watson was in a perfect position to re-direct. Great stuff.
Read ahead to section 303 for the empty net goal….
The Admirals special teams came to play again, as they went 1-2 on the power play, and killed off all three shorthanded chances. They’re 15-8-0-1 on the season when their power play connects. On this current five game winning streak, the power play is a 25%, and the PK is at 90.5 percent. Yeah, you can point to the sample size, but that’s certainly an improvement.
And Magnus Hellberg? Another outstanding performance. And the defense did their part too. They only allowed four shots in the third period. That’s the opposite of a prevent defense. (Though, one could argue that Peoria was in prevent offence…)
And with the win…The Admirals move to 8th place in the conference. A long time coming.
Section 2: Elementary, Watson
Solid game from Watson all-around, taking some important shifts down the stretch while nursing the 2-1 lead, blocking shots and making plays. And while it had been a long goal-less drought, Coach Evason says that he’s still been a very effective player — especially lately.
And Watson himself? While it’s nice for one to go in, he is quick to credit the hard work of his teammates.
When Matt Halischuk was sent down on his conditioning assignment, he was the best player on the ice. By far. He was a difference maker. Craig Smith was not the same difference maker. But he had a very strong play that led to the empty net goal, scored by fellow Badger Brad Winchester.
Here’s Coach Evason’s detailed evaluation, and then a video of the play.
Will he be here awhile? Longer than the 3-in-3 this weekend?
OK Roundtable: What did you think of the AHL debut of Craig Smith? Are the special teams noticeably better to your eyes? And do you want to see Hellberg again tomorrow against Toronto?
Magnus Hellberg’s confidence has got to be sky high right now.
Hellberg recorded his 9th win in his last 11 games, and the Admirals won a season high fourth game in a row, dropping the Grand Rapids Griffins 3-1 Saturday night.
With the win, the Admirals jump to 9th place in the conference, tied in points with 8th place Oklahoma City…who have played one less game.
Mark Van Guilder opened the scoring with his first goal since February 10th. Taylor Beck’s shot from the right point had a huge rebound that kicked to MVG, who was skating along the left wing. From a tough angle, Van Guilder swept a backhand shot around a sliding Chad Billins, and that shot ended up beating Petr Mrazek. (Van Guilder called a “sixth grade changeup” after the game)
The Griffins tied it up about two minutes into the second period, illustrating again why it’s important to win defensive zone face-offs. Austin Watson lost a defensive zone face-off, and then a good low shot from the top of the left circle by Andrej Nestrasil beat Magnus Hellberg stick-side.
I know there are lots of folks that love to dump on the Milwaukee power play…but they’ve scored a power play goal in four of their last five games. Juuso Puustinen had the honors tonight, with a shot from the point that went off of the right post and into the net at 10:19 of the second period.
About four minutes later, Triston Grant and Max Nicastro made like a scene from Benny Hill, colliding with each other and falling down. Josh Shalla picked up the puck and went in on a breakaway. His shot went 5-hole on Mrazek for his first career AHL goal (he previously scored the game winner in a shootout….also against Mrazek).
Michael Latta grabbed the puck for him.
And then the Admirals threw a parade. There were floats, high school marching bands, and Admirals players following the parade route to their penalty box. The officials (the ever popular Shaun Davis and Mark Lemelin) hadn’t called a ton of stuff to that point, but whistled the Admirals at 16:36, 18:24, and 19:18. The Griffins had a couple of 5-on-3 chances there, but the Admirals did well to kill everything off. Hellberg was sharp, and shots were being blocked before they made it to him.
What a momentum changer that was…after that last penalty was killed off.
Coming into tonight, the Griffins sported the 3rd best road power play in the league, and had scored a power play goal against the Admirals in all six of their previous meetings. They went 0-5 tonight.
NOTES:
-Here’s one of Hellberg’s best saves of the game, stopping a short-handed chance in the second period.
– Admirals dressed seven defensemen again…same lineup as Wednesday night. There’s a good chance Mike Liambas will be ready to go next weekend.
– Admirals now 14-8-0-1 when scoring a power play goal.
– Griffin’s five-game win streak is snapped. Admirals lead season series against the division leader 4-3, with one game left in Grand Rapids on April 12th.
– Austin Watson….now 16 straight games without a goal. Hope he snaps out of it next weekend. Had 8 shots on goal tonight, though. For a team that sometimes tends to pass up shots, it’s nice to see a crooked number like that from a guy.
Scoreboard watching:
The Rivermen did us a favor and shutout the IceHogs 4-0….Andre Bouvet-Morrissette netted his first AHL goal in that one. Toronto dropped Rochester 6-1, and that helps us too. Even though we don’t play Rochester during the regular season, we’re chasing them in the conference standings, and sit just two points behind them now. We’re just two points out of 6th place.
(Editors note: There will be no Uranus jokes in this recap. There were enough at the game for our quota to be filled for awhile…but it was silly and fun. I enjoy the over-the-top humor. Hope you enjoyed it too.)
For the third time in his last ten appearances, Magnus Hellberg was perfect. He stopped all 30 shots he faced tonight for his third shutout of the season, and the Admirals won their third in a row, defeating the Peoria Rivermen 2-0 on Wednesday night.
Coach Evason thought the team was getting great looks over the course of the night, but he tips his hat to Peoria goaltender Mike McKenna for keeping the game as close as it was.
“We had to make perfect shots tonight to beat him. He was absolutely on fire tonight. It was a big goal to get that second one. He was in the zone for sure…we had so many chances here tonight. It was one of those games where you thought ‘are we ever going to score that second goal?’ But we stayed the course and we didn’t deviate from what we thought we had to do to win the hockey game.”
One of the perfect shots came off of the sticks of Austin Watson and Brad Winchester at 11:45 of the first period. After Winny had a good chance in front of the crease, the rebound was kicked out to the point, right to Watson who was coming in on a line change. Watson’s shot was deflected by Winchester into the net. Originally credited to Watson, they changed the scoring to Winny after the game.
Sorry Watson fans…the goal drought continues. 15 games now. But he did plenty of other things to be an effective player tonight, for sure.
Here’s the first goal.
Mattias Ekholm netted the HUGE second goal with 3:14 left in the second period, after some nice sustained pressure in the offensive zone while the teams were skating 4×4. Taylor Beck and Watson had some good opportunities, before the puck came to Ekholm along the far boards. Pinching down, he won the race for the puck against Sergey Andronov, and then made a great move to make Jeff Woywitka look silly, before firing a shot into the corner of the net. Perfect shot.
I like how TJ Hensick (#7) was just watching most of that shift. Just a spectator. Best seat in the house. Even if he was just KIND OF paying attention, he might have been able to at least disrupt Ekholm’s shot.
NOTES:
From the I-Bet-Don-Tanner-Knew-This File, Magnus Hellberg became the first Ads goalie to shutout the same team in back-to-back meetings since Mark Dekanich did it in 2010 against the Aeros. On the season, Hellberg has stopped 94 of 96 Rivermen shots.
Speaking of shots….the Admirals put up 19 shots in the second period alone. It wasn’t a season high, but that’s a nice crooked number on the scoreboard, as they say. They only had 4 in the third period while nursing the two-goal lead. But I don’t think Peoria’s desperation level really resulted in that many solid scoring chances down the stretch.
Questions:
It was a nice effort tonight. How much of it do you think was the Admirals playing well, versus the Rivermen playing poorly?
Does Hellberg look like a completely different goaltender than the one that wore his jersey in the first two months of the season?
Did you notice Jani Lajunen on the ice? Or did he continue to be the invisible man? How about Andre Bouvet-Morrissette?
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