Milwaukee got its look at the vaunted Oklahoma City Barons in back-to-back Friday and Saturday night action.

The Barons were as good as advertised defeating Milwaukee 2-1 in overtime on Friday and flexing their offensive muscles in Saturday’s 5-2 win.

The Admirals seemed to be riding their recent hot streak high in the first game, taking OKC down to the wire. The Admirals scored first when Austin Watson got a nice feed from Gabriel Bourque (great to finally see him back).

But despite putting 43 shots on Yann Danis, the goalie was solid and kept Milwaukee off the board for the rest of the contest.

Danis ended the weekend stopping 77 shots and only allowing three goals.

 

Former University of Wisconsin talent Justin Schultz was an Admirals killer all weekend. He assisted on both Taylor Fedun’s equalizer and Marc Arcobello’s game-winner 3:18 into the extra period Friday.

After the Admirals got the early lead again on Saturday when Daniel Bang scored his second of the year, Schultz tied the game later in the first period.

The real stars of Saturday were OKC’s more famous NHL talents. Taylor Hall assisted Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ goal with 48 seconds left in the first period to put the Barons up for good.

Hall assisted RNH again on an empty netter with 53 seconds left in the game that put OKC up 5-2.

Things got chippy early in the second game with both teams combining for 60 minutes of penalties in the first period, 20 of those minutes coming from a continued altercation between Milwaukee call-up Charles-Oliver Roussel and Dane Byers.

The Admirals’ penalty kill wasn’t up to its high standards as two of OKC’s three power play opportunities resulted in goals. Milwaukee meanwhile couldn’t capitalize on the three man-advantages it received.

Maybe the worst sight of the weekend, however, was Taylor Beck laying motionless on the ice Friday night. Beck, who’s been one of the Admiral’s top producers, crashed headfirst into the boards in the third period and was carried off in a stretcher. Fortunately he displayed hand motions and was talking to his teammates after the game. It’s not known how much time Beck will miss with the injury.

The Admirals will hope to get their offense back on track heading to Rosemont to take on the Wolves. After starting the rivalry off with a 7-4 blowout win at home, part two comes with the Admirals in need of a big rebound.

 

Saturday night was a big night for Admirals captain Mike Moore and an even bigger night for exorcising some of last season’s demons.

As Ads fans know, the Rockford Icehogs have been a historically tough out for Milwaukee, and before Saturday night’s game Rockford had owned a nine-game win streak in the series.

The suspension of last week’s player of the week, Kyle Beach, earlier that day put the Admirals in prime position to end that streak.

Jeremy Smith stopped 24 of 26 shots against him while the now rolling Admirals offense snuck four goals past Alec Richards.

Milwaukee quickly got on the board first when Chris Mueller scored his fifth goal of the season 1:54 into the game. Daniel Bang and Taylor Beck got the assists.

Rockford tied it up about halfway through the period when Brandon Pirri tallied his sixth score of the season.

The rest of the scoring for the game took place in the second period, as Milwaukee built a three-goal lead.

Moore scored two goals within four minutes, with Patrick Cehlin getting both primary assists.

Jeremy Morin added a goal for the Icehogs at 13:07, but Smith held strong in the third period stopping all of Rockford’s last nine shots.

The Admirals penalty kill again played to its top-five status, and the team played a more disciplined game overall collecting only four penalties. That’s a tough feat against a team like Rockford, as last season’s matchups were chippy to say the least.

The win was a great way to end a successful weekend for the Admirals as they started off both of their biggest Illinois rivalry series with wins. What’s more, the team has built substantial momentum offensively heading into two games against arguably the best team in the country, the Oklahoma City Barons.

Maybe a renewal of the Amtrak rivalry was just what the Admirals needed. An offensive explosion marked the best game Milwaukee has played all season as it crushed the Chicago Wolves 7-4.

Coach Dean Evason said he wanted his team to come out fast, score some early goals and get out to a big early lead. On any other night, that would’ve been a difficult task against Eddie Lack. But for once the story wasn’t the Chicago goalies’ sweet pads. It was what went past them.

Evason said he was happy to see a lot of his key guys finally get rewarded for their efforts.

Magnus Hellberg got his third start of the season, and even though he got the same goal support he’s become accustomed to (and that Jeremy Smith has dreamed of), both goaltenders didn’t last long.

The first period was as high scoring as most of the Admirals’ complete games this season.

At 3:44 of the first period Victor Bartley fed the puck to Kevin Henderson on a break, but instead of collecting it Henderson was able to simply tap and redirect it right past Lack for the first goal of the game.

The Wolves’ equalizer was scored less than two minutes later by Jordan Schroeder, but Anton Rodin did most of the work. Rodin took the puck with his back facing Hellberg, weaved his way through two defenders and gave it to Schroeder who one-timed it in.

Not to be outdone, Chris Mueller started a two-on-one rush and led Taylor Beck with a beautiful pass that Beck took right to the front of the net and fired past Lack’s left side.

Evason had also mentioned putting a greater emphasis on setting up plays behind the net, and the Admirals third goal of the night was a prime example.

Watson battled for and won the puck behind Lack, and fed a wide-open Cehlin right in front of the net. Lack never had a chance as Cehlin picked up his fifth goal of the season.

After showing brilliance on that play, however, Watson showed something else in the next scoring sequence. A Mattias Ekholm holding penalty put the Ads on the kill, and Watson got a little too cute taking the puck into the offensive zone all by himself.

He lost it and the result was a 3-on-2 rush in which Mark Matheson took a feed from Bill Sweatt and beat Hellberg badly right through his five-hole.

Scott Valentine brought the lead back to two goals when he fired a dagger from right around the blue line that deflected off a Wolves’ player into the back of the net.

At the end of the first period it was 4-2, which was the final score of the Admirals last game.

Chicago wasted no time pulling Lack for Matt Climie to start the second, but he did little to help the Wolves climb back in.

Hellberg left the game as well about halfway through the second period when Brett Sterling made it a one-goal game with a seemingly nonchalant wrister from the top the left circle.

Here’s Hellberg on his disappointing night overall.

The big goalie stopped 13 of 16 shots before Smith took the ice in relief.

Watson helped the Admirals start to rebuild their cushion with 10 seconds left in the second. Juuso Puustinen chipped the puck between legs of a Wolves’ defender and Watson knuckled it past Climie.

Evason said scoring to get back to a two-goal lead before the intermission was huge.

In the third period Milwaukee kept piling on. Captain Mike Moore fed Beck who had a clear lane to the net. Beck skated in, put on a few dekes and scored his second goal of the game and third of the year to make it 6-3, 2:05 into the period.

In a mirror image of the earlier Cehlin goal, Puustinen found Moore from behind the net at 11:12 of the period to take a commanding four-goal advantage.

The Wolves added a goal at 12:35 when Bartley lost the puck in the far right corner behind Smith and Natan Longpre fired to Tim Miller who beat a stunned Smith.

That would conclude the scoring for both teams, however, as Milwaukee improved to 5-6 on the season.

Of course the game didn’t end until Michael Latta roughed up somebody, as he got into it with Steve Pinizotto with around two minutes left.

The Admirals take on an even bigger rival and consistent thorn in their side tomorrow night in Rockford, before back-to-back road games against the vaunted Oklahoma City Barons next weekend.

With Milwaukee needing all the help it can get, Evason updated the status of Bourque and Ellis.

Here’s Coach’s full press conference along with the highlights and lowlights of tonight’s game.

Grand Rapids got some early morning revenge on the Admirals Wednesday. The Griffins’ 4-2 victory kept the Ads from winning consecutive games, which Milwaukee has yet to do this season.

On the flip side, the Griffins got their third win in a row thanks to goalie Petr Mrazek’s solid debut in net.

The game was a lot closer than the score suggests as the shot battle was even at 26. Jeremy Smith got his third straight start and kept the Admirals within a goal or tied throughout the game, stopping 22 of 25 shots.

The Ads’ special teams units were as up-and-down as the momentum of the game, and it made the big difference.

Ryan Sheehan scored first for the Griffins on the third shorthanded goal Milwaukee has surrendered this season 13:54 into the first period.

Then a few minutes later the Admirals tied the game on a five-on-three power play when Jon Blum slapped one past Mrazek. Mattias Ekholm and Taylor Beck picked up the assists.

Francis Pare retook the lead for Grand Rapids 6:15 into the second period, and again the Admirals rallied with 7:22 left. Juuso Puustinen got his first goal of the season and Jack MacLellan and Austin Watson assisted.

Joakim Andersson gave Grand Rapids the lead for good 11:28 into the third on a power play, and the Griffins tacked on an empty-netter from Gustav Nyquist with 30 seconds left.

It was another tough day for the Admirals’ power play, as they only mustered one goal out of six opportunities. From the way things have gone for the unit this season, it almost seems like Milwaukee would prefer to skate five-on-five rathter than have the extra attacker.

The team’s discipline was low again, as they surrendered eight power play opportunities, and it was one of the later calls, Scott Valentine for roughing, that led to the game-winning goal.

It was a frustrating day for Milwaukee’s big forwards with Beck and Chris Mueller going 0-11 combined in shots. Michael Latta was a minus-three with zero shots coming off some good performances the last three games.

Inconsistency has been the theme for Milwaukee’s start, but hopefully that means it’ll be due for a home win over Chicago on Friday night.

The Admirals have fallen victim to some great performances in net this season, but Saturday night, they got one of their own.

Jeremy Smith stopped all 34 shots he faced against Peoria, and Milwaukee gave him some offense in a 3-0 road win.

The current captain, Mike Moore, outshone the former captain, Scott Ford. Moore got his first goal of the season 15:09 into the game to put the Ads up 1-0 and from then on it was all Admirals.

Despite giving up six power play opportunities, the Ads’ penalty kill continued to excel killing off all six.

Michael Latta continued his recent production assisting on the Moore goal and on a Mark Van Guilder strike that made it 2-0 30 seconds into the second period.

Chris Mueller got the late empty-netter to seal the deal in the third period.

Quality, rather than quantity got the job done for Milwaukee. Unlike the 2-1 loss to Lake Erie the night before, the Admirals pulled off the win despite being outshot 34-23. Coach Evason had talked about trying to utilize the “dirty areas”, and the team seemed to take that to heart, getting more action in front of the net Saturday.

Yes, it helped that Peoria has been a pretty lousy team so far this year at 2-5. But after a loss as frustrating as Friday night’s, it was important for the Ads to get a win against an inferior opponent.

With a matchup against a high-scoring Grand Rapids squad Wednesday morning, and a home battle against division-leading Chicago on the horizon, Milwaukee will take all the momentum it can get.

Two nights after Milwaukee scored five goals in a win over Charlotte, the Admirals had a hard time getting anything past Calvin Pickard.

While the Ads launched a season-high 43 shots on goal against the Lake Erie Monsters, good, quality shots were few and when they were there Pickard swallowed them up.

Things were looking good for Milwaukee early in the game as it got the first goal for the first time this season courtesy of Michael Latta.

Latta was able to position himself in front of Pickard and put back a rebound off a hard slap shot from Mike Moore at 12:24 of the opening period.

The goal came on a power play that then allowed the Admirals to infiltrate what coach Dean Evason calls the “dirty area.” For the rest of the way, however, the Monsters’ defense was thick in the middle, forcing the Admirals to try and engineer chances from the perimeter.

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The Monsters crashed the net and tied the game with 47 seconds left in the first when Brian Lerg collected the bouncing puck and put it past a diving Jeremy Smith.

Smitty had a tough night holding onto the puck, but Evason was hesitant to blame the loss on him given the fact he only allowed two scores.

After a scoreless second period, the game came down to a costly turnover by Mattias Ekholm that led to a wild shorthanded goal with 11:56 left to play.

After Ekholm coughed it up, a sprawling Luke Walker kept a 2-on-1 chance alive by flinging the puck to Paul Carey who knuckled it back to Walker cross-ice to beat Smith at the other end of the net.

Here’s Ekholm on the play.

Smitty headed for the bench with a little under two minutes remaining, but Pickard wouldn’t be beat and the tight Lake Eerie defense kept the puck out of the offensive zone as the final seconds ticked away.

As they often do in close contests, Evason said the turnovers made all the difference.

Some positives from the night: Laata picked up the third star after a solid showing. He was at the center of some good scoring chances and was rewarded for one, and in an early scrap he landed some big blows on Brad Malone.

Evason said the team is obviously looking forward to putting this one behind them but learning from it.

The Ads won’t have long to dwell on the 2-1 loss anyway, as they head to Peoria tonight to take on their old buddy Scott Ford and the Rivermen.

Milwaukee finally returned to the Bradley Center after a four-game road trip, and got to exact a little revenge on the team that spoiled its home opener.

Going into the Halloween showdown the spookiest thing might’ve been starter Magnus Hellberg’s save percentage, but the Ads were able to keep pace with the Checkers on offense and help the big goalie to his second career win.

The Admirals started the game the same way they have every game this season: giving up the first goal. But this time they didn’t wait to start their comeback.

Jared Staal capitalized on a turnover by Mike Moore to whip an unassisted goal past Hellberg’s left shoulder 6:33 into the game. But the Admirals answered about two minutes later after a Jerome Samson hooking penalty provided a power play chance.

Chris Mueller got the puck from Taylor Beck at the bottom of the right circle and fired a backhander that snuck under Dan Ellis’s right pad to tie the game.

The Ads took the lead at 11:22 when Beck fired a shot on net that was too much for Ellis. Patrick Cehlin scooped up the puck and lifted it over the sprawling goalie.

These were the first two goals Milwaukee has scored in the first period all season, and for Coach Dean Evason it meant that his team had finally started competing right off the bat.

Within the next two minutes, however, Charlotte ensured that this game would be a dogfight. Drayson Bowman got the puck at point blank range of Hellberg and delivered an equalizer after a few good hacks in front.

At 14:45 of the second period Kevin Henderson gave the Ads the lead again with a devastating slapper set up by Michael Latta.

Again, the Checkers weren’t to be outdone as Brett Sutter got a nice cross-ice feed from Michal Jordan and put it past Hellberg two minutes later to tie it at 3-3.

Austin Watson gave Milwaukee the lead 8:59 into the third, deflecting in a Jusso Puustinen shot, but Justin Faulk tied it again a few minutes later, setting the stage for a dramatic game-winner.

It was Daniel Bang, returning after missing a few games with an injury, that sealed the deal for the Admirals after a great assist from Puustinen.

Bang was a man of few words after scoring the eventual clincher.

Evason was pleased with Bang’s comeback performance and the element of speed he brought to the roster in his return.

After the team’s disappointing run in Texas, Evason admitted he’d made some shifts in the lineups and they ended up paying big dividends.

Some scratches and injury notes:

Joonas Jarvinen was a healthy scratch after some tough showings in the Texas series, and Evason said he needs some time to work things out.

Coach also said Bourque has been missing some time with a “lower body” injury and he has “no idea” on his status.

With the big win, the Ads will try to keep rolling into their next home bout with Lake Eerie Friday night.

Unlike Wednesday night’s loss to Texas, Milwaukee outshot its opponent 33-28.

Like Wednesday night’s loss to Texas, however, another solid performance from an opposing netminder frustrated the Admirals.

Darcy Kuemper stopped all the shots he faced to avenge Houston’s 5-4 overtime loss to Milwaukee a week ago as the Admirals finished their Texas road trip 1-3-0.

Six power play chances were fruitless, and it was a tough night for Jeremy Smith at the other end of the rink. Like Magnus Hellberg had the last time the teams met, Smitty surrendered four goals, but the offense was unable to keep pace with the Aeros.

Jack MacLellan had a busy night with a game-high eight shots on goal and Milwaukee definitely played with the discipline it had lacked the past few contests. The Admirals only had to kill off two penalties, but for once they had a hard time playing up to speed in five-on-five hockey.

After keeping the lead within reach at 2-0 through the second period, the Admirals gave up two more in the third to put the game out of reach.

Charlie Coyle scored a pair of goals for Houston, his second coming at 4:54 of the final period. Johan Larsson, Mikael Granlund and Brian Connelly also recorded multi-point games for the Aeros.

The Admirals will resume action on Halloween night, finally returning home after a four-game road stretch. Milwaukee will look to get some revenge of its own against a Checkers team minus Chris Terry.

Terry was suspended Sunday for three games after an elbowing incident against Grand Rapids on Friday.

The Admirals have yet to get on the board first this season, so they’ll no doubt be looking to get out to a fast start in front of a home crowd Wednesday.

Wednesday night’s matchup pitted Jeremy Smith and the Admirals against former Team USA World Junior goalie Jack Campbell and the Texas Stars.

Campbell looked like he was back in Juniors stopping 23 of the 24 shots he faced, while Smitty made 25 of 27 saves.

It marked the first time the Admirals have been outshot this season, as they fell 3-1 and dropped to 2-3-0 overall.

The Admirals had made their living so far this season by coming back after surrendering the first goal. But Campbell’s finesse combined with a lot of time in the box built too big of a mountain for Milwaukee to climb.

The Ads came into the game ranked second in the league in penalty kill percentage on the road (88.2 percent). Nevertheless, following a tripping call on Patrick Cehlin, an early power play goal gave the Stars the lead.

After outshooting the Admirals 7-0 in the first five minutes, Texas got on the board when Travis Morin deflected a Francis Wathier pass in on the left post.

After becoming the first team in the AHL this season to not register a shot on goal in the first 15 minutes, the Ads quickly responded with seven in the final five.

The score stayed the same for the rest of the period and through the second, as more penalties from the Ads kept them out of the offensive zone longer than they were in it.

Coach Dean Evason had said he was happy with team’s discipline going in, but that was before the Ads allowed seven Texas power play opportunities after giving up just 17 all season.

On the other side of the ice, the Stars’ PK started the game last in the league at 60 percent, but the Admirals still couldn’t capitalize on their four power play opportunities.

Jamie Oleksiak scored his first professional goal at 10:46 of the third period to put the Stars up 2-0. He smartly trailed play, the puck dropped to him and he fired a wrister past Smith’s glove side.

The Admirals did finally get on the board late in the third.

A shot from the left point by Mattias Ekholm deflected off MVG’s skate and found the back of the net at 15:33 to cut the Texas lead in half.

Smitty headed for the bench with 56 seconds left, but Antoine Roussel quickly picked the puck off at center ice and fired home the game-clinching empty netter a few seconds later.

The loss wasn’t without its positives.

Captain Mike Moore had a nice night putting Francis Wathier on his back in his first fight with the Ads and taking a team-leading 4 shots for the game.

Van Guilder added to his hot streak picking up his second goal in as many games, and Ekholm recorded another assist. Ekholm continues to be one of the bright spots for the Admirals as a brilliant two-way threat thus far.

Milwaukee will finish up its Texas trip with a Saturday night rematch in Houston, before returning home on Halloween for its second game against the Checkers.

The Admirals finished their second of four games this week in the Lone Star State, improving to 2-2-0 with a 1-0 loss on Saturday night and a 5-4 overtime win in Houston Sunday.

Jeremy Smith was on his game against San Antonio, but was outshone by former Admiral goalie Dov Grumet-Morris. Grumet-Morris stuffed Milwaukee’s offense all game long, stopping all 25 shots he faced.

Jared Gomes scored the only goal of the game on a close call. It appeared that Gomes’ wrister had bounced off the post, but upon video review, it was confirmed that the puck crossed the line.

The bad break ended up being the difference as the Ads failed to score despite outshooting the Rampage 10-3 in the final period. Milwaukee couldn’t take advantage of its four power play opportunities thanks to Grumet-Morris’ lights out performance.

Heading into the Houston game, Coach Dean Evason said his team needed to get more shots on net by getting more involved in the dirty areas.

Magnus Hellberg’s first AHL start certainly wasn’t pretty out of the gates. The big goalie let in the first two shots he faced giving Houston an early lead. The Ads battled back, like they have in each game so far this year.

On a 5-on-3 power play, a Chris Mueller shot deflected back to Taylor Beck who tapped it in to cut the Aeros’ lead in half with 20 seconds left in the first period. It was one of those dirty goals that the Ads desperately needed, and they kept on coming.

Austin Watson did a good job keeping the puck alive in the Houston zone and freed it up for MVG who tallied his first goal of the year 17:54 into the second period to knot the score at 2-2.

Houston retook the lead in the third period when Chad Rau won a faceoff and fed Jonas Brodine who shot it over glove of Hellberg.

Less than a minute later, Mueller gloved the puck out of the air and fired a backhander between the right leg of Matt Hackett and the post to tie the game.

Milwaukee found the back of the net again at 12:19 of the third, when Watson forced a turnover and Kevin Henderson found himself alone in the right circle. His shot bounced off Hackett and in for his  first of goal of the year, and Milwaukee’s first lead of the game.

Houston pulled Hackett with 63 seconds left and forced overtime when Nick Palmieri deflected the puck through Hellberg’s legs to tie it with 57.8 to go.

A delay of game penalty on Rau ended up giving the Admirals a power play that extended into the overtime period, and Milwaukee took the opportunity to seize the win.

51 seconds into overtime, Mattias Ekholm fired a blast from the slot past Hackett to send the Ads to their first overtime victory of the season.

Milwaukee outshot Houston 31-18 for the game, and a majority of those shots weren’t pretty. But it was that “dirtier” approach that came through and gave the Ads a new winning streak to work with in the upcoming second half of the Texas trip.