Toronto Marlies forward Nazem Kadri had no interest in allowing the Admirals a second straight comeback win.
The former 2009 first-round draft pick’s game-winning goal with just over three minutes left in regulation thwarted Milwaukee’s attempt at back-to-back come from behind victories. Toronto spoiled St. Patrick’s Day for Milwaukee with 3-2 victory at Ricoh Coliseum.
It was Kadri’s second goal of the game. The first in the opening minute of the middle frame gave Toronto a 2-0 edge. After Admirals Mark Van Guilder and Scott Ford couldn’t handle a long rebound from Engren, Kadri buried the loose change.
The Marlies grabbed their first lead 13:51 into the first period as Ryan Hamilton scored his 23rd goal of the season by wiring a point blank blast past Admirals goaltender Atte Engren.
Admirals forward Brodie Dupont got Milwaukee back into the game with a goal 52 seconds before the end of the second period (his third on the weekend). Ryan Flynn setup the play, wrapping the puck around and taking a backhanded shot. Dupont fought his way through a pile of bodies to bang in the rebound. Kyle Wilson’s 18th goal of the year tied things at 2 piece with just over 12 minutes to play in the game. After Jon Blum hit Wilson in stride with a 150-foot stretch pass, Wilson turned to his side and slammed home a backhander on a beautiful effort.
However, unlike the night prior Milwaukee was unable to complete the heroics and pull off the win as Kadri closed the door on the Admirals comeback bid with his 2-on-1 deflection goal la.
Engren stopped 23 of 26 Toronto shots to take the loss, while Jussi Rynnas made 24 saves to earn the victory for the Marlies.
The loss drops Milwaukee to 31-27-2-2, good enough for 66 points. The Admirals remain in 11th place, five points behind eighth place Lake Erie.
To watch highlights of the game click here. To read the Milwaukee Admirals recap here. Finally, check out the official AHL game sheet here.
So Roundtable . . . Two out of four points on the weekend makes the road to the playoffs that much tougher. However, did you see any positives in the team’s resiliency all weekend? Or were these efforts too little to late?
The last 8 minutes of the third period, and then all of the overtime period…..bottle it.
Late in the third period, the Admirals scored two special teams goals to force overtime, and Taylor Beck had the game-winner to give the Ads the extra point in the standings — a 5-4 OT victory over the Lake Erie Monsters Friday night in Cleveland.
Entering the third period tied with the Monsters, the Admirals gave up a pair of goals in the first eight and a half minutes. Things looked bleak.
And then the leadership stepped up.
Scott Ford scored shorthanded, crashing the net after a strong shorthanded play by Kyle Wilson. And then Victor Bartley scored his second of the game four seconds into a power play with a shot from the slot off of the face-off, to tie the game back up at 4.
The Admirals dominated play the rest of the way. In the OT, after a friendly carum kept the puck in the offensive zone, Taylor Beck was all alone in front of Cedrick Desjardins, and scored on a backhander up high.
Also notable? Brodie Dupont scored his first as an Admiral on the power play in the second period, banging in the rebound of a Beck shot. Beck finished with three points on the night.
Season-saver? We’ll see. Would have been nice to avoid giving one point to Lake Erie, but we needed the two for sure. Another two points tomorrow against Kelsey Wilson and the Toronto Marlies would help. (Toronto shutout Grand Rapids 2-0 tonight in GR)
Here is a montage of Aaron Sims’ goal calls from the game, for your listening pleasure.
UPDATE: Scoring change. Sorry Victor Bartley. They gave the game-tying goal to Dupont on a deflection. So Dupont had the two-goal night tonight, after not scoring at any is his first 25 games.
Let me be clear: I’m not sour on the season. You shouldn’t be either. There’s lots of hockey still left. And this team is able to play well. We’ve seen it. Resist the temptation to throw in whatever towel you have. Five points out of the playoffs, with games in hand.
I am very sour about this game though. The IceHogs continue to own the Admirals, and they took this one 4-1 in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 15,888 at the Bradley Center.
I’m tired of tipping my cap to IceHogs goaltender Carter Hutton. This is the fifth straight game that the Admirals have scored just one goal against the IceHogs. Some of that is Hutton. Some is his defense. Some of that is the Admirals have not been able to adjust.
In the season series so far, the Admirals have 5 of a possible 16 points so far.
Here’s coach Herbers with the High Level Overview, presented by Google Maps.
The IceHogs scored the only goal of the first period, seconds after Juuso Puustinen went down along the nearside boards near the top of the circle after blocking a shot. The referee let play continue and was even talking to Juuso as the play was progressing. Shifting into a power play mode, Brandon Svendsen had the puck at the goal line on the far side, and his pass to the slot went off of Kevin Henderson’s skate, and right to Chris DiDomenico right in front of Jeremy Smith. DiDomenico’s stuff beat Smitty’s poke-check.
After a scoreless second period, the IceHogs doubled their lead courtesy of Svendsen. Scott Valentine was caught snoozing, and Svendsen sped past him along the right wing, and he rifled a shot that beat Smitty up high.
Shortly after that goal, Wade Brookbank was called for interference (Ryan Thang did push him into Smith, but Brookbank took advantage of that real estate to go high up on Smith). And seven seconds into that power play, a Jon Blum shot from the far point had eyes and made it past Hutton to make it a one-goal game. Mueller won the face-off back to Victor Bartley, who had a nice hold-in at the point. He fed Blum on the other side and his wrister was good.
But about three minutes later, Philippe Paradis put the IceHogs back up by two with a shot from the top of the near circle that made its way through a DiDomenico screen, and it looked as if it went off of Smith’s stick and up and in.
Here’s coach on the deflating goal.
Peter LeBlanc had an empty netter, although there are some whispers that we’ve heard that say that it may be changed to DiDomenico for his second of the night, and third of the year. Linesman Roger Behling with the assist, as he got in the way of Jon Blum’s clear, and the puck went straight to LeBlanc/DiDomenico/whoever.
Rematch tomorrow in the land of Beef-A-Roo. Here’s Coach on what’ll need to be different.
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– Michael Latta is back! Could do without the penalties though…
– Man, what a loss Puustinen is. It always seems to be early in the game that the Ads lose a guy, and then have to shuffle the rest of the night. We didn’t expect specifics from Coach when we asked him afterwards, and from this soundbyte, it sounds like he knew it was coming. Next question please.
Scott Ford missed some time in the second period after getting his lip cut.
– The Ads had a 5-on-3 in the second period cut short with a Zack Stortini penalty in the offensive zone.
– The officiating was awful. Worst of the year in my opinion, at least from the home games I’ve seen. Marcus Vinnerborg was the man in the stripes tonight, and he was Jeff Smith in the first period, Shaun Davis in the second period, and then Ian Croft in the third. It’s not a reason for the loss, and he was pretty awful for both teams, but it’s still frustrating to watch.
– Scoring by committee? The players who scored for the IceHogs tonight….DiDomenico had his 2nd or 3rd goal of the season. Paradis had his 3rd. Svendsen had his 2nd. It wasn’t their offensive stars that beat the Admirals tonight.
And then on the other side….Chris Mueller won the face-off that led to Blum’s goal, and doubled his scoring output in the season series to two points, with a -7 defensive rating. Victor Bartley also had an assist, and leads the team with six points against the IceHogs. Kyle Wilson still only has one assist, and is -5 defensively. Thang has a goal and an assist. Brandon Pirri, who didn’t play tonight, has 11 points in the series….which is more than Mueller, Wilson, Puustinen, and Beck combined in the series.
QUESTIONS:
– When will stick-tossing become an Olympics event, and who has the early edge, Mueller or Hutton?
– Give me some numbers…. The success of the IceHogs against the Admirals….what percentage do you think we should attribute to Hutton, the D, and the lack of offense for the Admirals? Here is Sutty’s breakdown as an example:
Hutton: 40% Rockford D: 20% MKE lack of O: 40%
– You have to think we’ll see Hutton again tomorrow? Who do you throw in there for the Admirals?
– Will the return of Latta be enough to offset the loss of Puustinen?
– Would you rather see Jeff Foss or Tyler Sloan on the blue line?
– Think the Boy Scouts are going to come back next year and sell 9,000 tickets for a game?
As great as it felt at the Bradley Center Saturday night when the Admirals shutout Chicago 6-0, the Wolves got their revenge Wednesday night, dropping the Admirals 5-2 in Rosemont.
This also clinched the Amtrak Rivalry trophy for the Wolves again.
Turning point of the game? Probably the third Chicago goal. Trailing 2-1 entering the third period, the Admirals started the final frame with 1:35 of power play time, but could not “Fury The Fury”. And then 8 seconds after the penalty expired, Anton Rodin scored his second goal of the game to extend the Chicago lead — a goal that went off of Jeremy Smith’s glove and into the net.
Still trailing by two in the waning minutes of the game, two empty net goals sandwiched a Kevin Henderson jam into the net with 1:55 left.
Taylor Beck opened the scoring with a power play goal 9:48 into the game that went off the right arm of Chicago goalie Eddie Lack, bounced down to the ice and then over the line. Jordan Schroeder tied it around 6 minutes later. But then the Wolves scored with less than a minute left in the period, as a pass from Roden bounced off of a back-checking Kevin Henderson, and past Smitty.
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NOTES:
– Kevin Henderson, Ben Ryan, and Jeff Foss all suited up tonight…meaning that Michael Latta, Brodie Dupont, and Scott Valentine were all banged up. Ryan, who played very well against Chicago on Saturday night, was involved in the play that Henderson scored on late in the game, but also took stick infraction penalties at 11:28 and 14:02 of the second period. Fortunately, the PK for Milwaukee was strong, as they killed off all three Wolf power plays.
– Peoria also won….they came from behind to top 1st place Oklahoma City 4-3 in overtime. Down 3-0 with two minutes left to go in the second period, the Rivermen scored three power play goals, including a power play marker from new-guy Patrick O’Sullivan in overtime. So both the Rivermen and Wolves extend their lead in the division standings. Not ideal.
– So now it’s back to the drawing board to try and figure out how to beat the IceHogs in a home-and-home series this weekend. 2-4-0-1 is Milwaukee’s current record against Rockford. We sweep, then that record looks better. They sweep, they’re a point behind us in the standings. Yikes.
So Roundtable……are these “must win” games this weekend? Are all games “must win” at this point? Is “must win” an overused sports cliche? Why do you think the Admirals have such a hard time with Rockford? Milwaukee is one of only three teams the IceHogs have a winning record against (5-1-0-1)….the others being Grand Rapids (3-0-0-1), and Houston (1-0).
(Editor’s Note: We’ll have post-game audio tomorrow….We’re enjoying the Styx show tonight)
It’s good to get a laugher every now and then.
Jeremy Smith was solid in net, and the offense showed up in a big way, as the Admirals shutout the Chicago Wolves 6-0 on Saturday night.
Smitty was playing his first game after coming back from a tweeked-non-specific injury, and stopped all 27 shots he faced for his fifth straight win.
The Admirals outshot the Wolves 18-6 in the first period, picking up right where they left off last night in that category. Only tonight, they converted some more of those shots.
37 seconds after coming out of the penalty box, Zack Stortini put the Ads on the board at 9:34. He took a nice cross-ice pass from Mark Van Guilder that missed a couple of Wolves’ sticks on its way across the slot. Stortini was near the bottom of the near circle, and he chipped it far-side past Matt Climie.
Later in the period, Matt Clackson was given a double-minor for high sticking, and then Nolan Baumgartner boarded Stortini, setting the Ads up for a 5-on-3 power play.
At 16:31, Victor Bartley fired a shot from the top of the far circle that beat Climie through a Stortini screen. But what I’d like to highlight is what a good shift it was. Bartley did a nice job playing goaltender at the blue line, blocking multiple clear attempts.
The second period started with the Wolves on an extended power play due to Teemu Laakso’s 2nd and 3rd penalties of the game…but the Ads PK did a nice job blocking shots and not allowing prime scoring chances.
The Wolves did dominate the play for a good chunk of the period, but Ben Ryan was the only person to score in the frame. After he tipped a Victor Bartley shot on net, he poked the unsecured puck below Climie’s arm pit.
The Ads sailed away in the third period with three more goals. Juuso Puustinen led a 2-on-1 rush with Kevin Henderson against former Admiral Mark Matheson. Puustinen’s feed across the slot was deflected by Matheson, but it still made its way through to Henderson, who was able to control and fire past Climie for his first with the Admirals.
After a scuffle in front of Jeremy Smith netted the Ads a power play, Chris Mueller was able to ‘Fury The Fury’ on a play where he skated along the goal-line, and flipped the puck around and over Climie.
And then while Tyler Sloan was serving a tripping penalty, the Admirals cleared the zone just after the face-off, and Kevin Henderson won the race for the puck against Adam Polasek, who kind of lost his balance for a moment in front of the Milwaukee bench. Henderson went in all alone and beat Climie five-hole.
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Notes:
– A very strong game for both Ben Ryan and Kevin Henderson — two guys that may or may not be on the clear day roster on Monday. Ryan had some great chances, and it was great to see him convert on his goal. And Henderson….man, he shifted into another gear on the shorthanded goal.
– Didn’t see it happen…but I’m told someone tossed something into the Wolves penalty box. Not cool. Ever. Doesn’t matter who it is. Not cool.
– Special teams: Chicago went 0-6 on the power play. Ads went 2-4.
– Playoff picture: Ads sit in 9th place after tonight with 64 points. Houston is in 8th with 64 points, having played one less game. Peoria and Chicago have 65 points. San Antonio and Abbotsford have 67 points. 4th place in the conference is just three points ahead of us.
– I hope this game quiets the people who like to say that the Admirals play bad in front of big crowds.
– Styx is opening with Blue Collar Man.
QUESTIONS:
– Was this as close as you’ve seen to the cliched “60 minute game”?
– This was the last audition for Henderson and Ryan before the clear day roster. Do you think either of them make it?
– Should we consider re-naming Johnson’s Office something like Teemu’s Tent? Or something along those lines? The amount of trips he’s taking lately, it may be time to pass the torch….
– Were the Admirals that good or were the Wolves that lackluster? Do you think that Climie played a lot better than the score suggested?
The Admirals tied a season high with 45 shots on goal, but could only get one past Hutton, as the IceHogs sank the Admirals 3-1 Friday night.
Here’s the Coach Herbers High Level Overview, presented by Google Maps…
Hutton is now 5-1 against the Admirals this season.
Over the first two periods, the Ads out-shot the IceHogs 33-13. So the first 40 minutes can be summed up by two words. 1) Missed 2) Opportunities.
At 12:27 Icehog’s D-man Ryan Stanton gathered the puck and fired a shot on net from just above the near-side circle. The puck found its way to Teemu Laakso’s knee and was re-directed enough where a set and ready Atte Engren could not recover in time. This goal was Stanton’s first on the year. It was also a first for Laakso’s knee, which has been held scoreless, while his skates have gotten all the credit for past goals scored on his own net.
The Admirals were able to answer back in the second, and it was Victor Bartley playing deep in the offensive zone that got them on the board. The play of the puck brought Bartley down low inside the near circle. He received the puck off the back boards and dished a pass to Juuso Puustinen in the slot. Juuso tried to receive the pass, but as soon as it hit his stick it was slapped away by an IceHogs’ defender. The puck bounced right back to Bartley, who had a 6’x4′ box to work with as all defenders including the goalie sold out on the pass.
Here’s Bartley with some chalk talk about the goal.
The play of the 2nd period came in the last 2 minutes. As the IceHogs were skating into the zone Paul Zanette had the puck. Scott Valentine turned around and started to skate backwards though the neutral zone. He never took his eyes off Zanette and started to cheat to his side. I thought he was out of place and in danger of letting a man free but he honed in on the puck carrier and leveled him with a shoulder to the chest. Zanette’s helmet came flying off, which aided his view of the ceiling as he was flat on his back. Shawn Lalonde took exception to the hit and came over to give Valentine his thoughts. Lalonde received 4 minutes to think about what he had done while the Admirals received no penalty, and rightfully so.
No-go on that 4 minute power play. The team went 0-4 for the night with the extra man.
After the power play expired a couple minutes into the third period, Admiral killer Brandon Pirri scored after a Tyler Sloan turnover in the neutral zone. It was an odd man rush for the Hogs. Rockford’s Ben Smith skated the puck into the zone with Pirri on the other side of the slot. The Admirals last line of defense was a chasing Laakso. Smith flipped a pass to Pirri, who took a couple strides and snapped a wrister past Engren, busting his water bottle to add insult to injury.
Then an offensive zone penalty on Joel Champagne, and a defensive zone penalty on Laakso gave the IceHogs a 2-man-advantage. While on that power play, Jeremy Morin was down low when he gave the puck to Rostislav Olesz inside the near circle. Olesz passed the puck right back to Morin, who fired a one timer from a tough angle to beat Engren and extend the IceHogs lead to 2 goals.
And the Ads couldn’t really get anything going the rest of the way. They put 12 shots on net in the third, but nothing like the high quality chances earlier in the game.
NOTES:
Brandon Pirri = Admiral killer. 11 points on in the season series. 5 goals, 6 assists. Olesz has 8 points. Bartley leads the Ads in points….1 goal, 4 assists. Chris Mueller has one goal. Kyle Wilson has one assist.
Here’s Coach Herbers on the chances we see Smitty tomorrow, and what he thought about Atte tonight.
The IceHogs have killed 38 of their last 40 penalties. Pretty good.
Admirals and Wolves tomorrow…don’t forget, 7:30 scheduled start…but Marquette has senior day…..so we’ll see how quickly they get in and get out.
QUESTIONS:
– Was Hutton good or lucky or both? Lots of rebounds out there.
– Thoughts on Valentine’s big hit?
– What made you pull out your hair more….the lack of success on shots, or the lack of success on the power play?
– Hutton has played 28 games for the IceHogs…. If they had him all year long, do you think they’d be in first place?
– How big is the game tomorrow? A 4 point week sounds a lot better than a 2 point week.
It had been 12 losses in a row against Division foes. The last win was against Chicago on December 28th of 2011. You may remember it because you still thought the Badgers had a chance to win (Editors Note: Sutty is an Oregon fan).
Tonight, Kyle Wilson was yet again the hero for the Admirals.
Wilson had two third period goals to lead the Admirals to a 3-2 victory over the Peoria Rivermen, snapping a five game losing streak to the St. Louis Blues affiliate this season.
Here’s Coach Herbers with the Google Maps High Level Overview.
Atte Engren was in goal for the Admirals tonight, and he played well. Here’s Coach on why we saw Atte tonight.
It took over 35 minutes before there was a goal in this game and one team had 21 shots before they did it. Would you believe me if I told you it was the Admirals with the majority of chances? To say Jake Allen was having a good game would be an understatement.
It was Taylor Beck who broke the stalemate with a great wrist shot short side that beat Allen in close. Beck and Brodie Dupont were charging into the zone with Riverman Danny Syvret as the only line of defense (save the goalie). Beck never needed his mate as he scored the goal unassisted to give the Ads the 1-0 lead.
With under a minute left in the second period the Rivermen returned the favor and netted a goal of thier own. Jonathan Cheechoo was down low causing problems for Atte Engren when the puck was sent to Derek Nesbitt at the point. Nesbitt let go a shot that Atte missed short-side shoulder-level. As soon as the puck crossed the line Atte displayed his dismay, contesting that he was interfered with by Cheechoo. Upon review it seemed to be a good no call. The Ref came over to Atte and said what I am sure was “No, no, he didn’t slam you, he didn’t bump you, he didn’t nudge you… he *rubbed* you. And rubbin, son, is racin’ hockey.”
In the third period, whilst on the Mountain Fury Power Play, Kyle Wilson had a nifty move to separate from a Rivermen defender and fired a wrister that beat Allen to give the Ads the 2-1 lead. Wilson was attacking the zone along the near side wall when he was approached by Brennan Evans in the near circle. Wilson gave a jump-move inside leaving Evans Pee-oria-ing in his pants ***, and fired a shot from near the slot that beat Allen high glove side. This was a great move from Wilson and an equally good finish on the play. Boom went the dynamite!!!!
(*** zing courtesy of John “The Colonel” Bitter)
Here’s Wilson on that play.
That wouldn’t even be Wilson’s best goal of the game. That would come about 12 minutes later in the 3rd as he had a backhander that beat Allen to give the Ads the 3-1 lead. Wilson gathered the puck in the slot and was skating towards the near side boards. He got just inside the near circle and flicked a backhanded shot that beat Allen on the far-side. Pretty impressive shot from Wilson and that goal took Allen off my 3 star balloting.
Oh, here’s Wilson on that goal too.
The Rivermen pulled Allen with just over 2 minutes left in the game for the extra attacker. That move paid a dividend as the Brett “I take dumb penalties” Sterling was able to stuff the puck home through Engren’s legs. The Rivermen even had a delayed penalty which probably would have been an interference call on Jon Blum…but the goal wiped that away like a windshield wiper wipes away a bug. And smears it all over your windshield. And then you have to stop at a gas station because the windshield wiper fluid is out and you gotta use that squeegee that’s already more dirty than my window already was. Okay, maybe that wasn’t a great simile. Hindsight. I wish I could delete what I just wrote. But you know, there’s no edit button on this thing.
That would be as close as the Rivermen would get as Atte and the D stayed strong in the final minute.
NOTES:
Kevin Henderson continues to do well. And we may be able to remove that “PTO” status next to his name on the lineup card. Here’s the coach.
Latta may be back this weekend. He’s day-to-day. Good to see Laakso and Van Guilder back out there, don’t you think?
Ok, Rockford comes to town Friday. Roscoe garden gnome giveaway? Count me in! Oh, and the game. Here’s what Coach is looking forward to.
QUESTIONS:
Did you notice Ryan Thang tonight? Is he getting better?
Engren’s win….was it more him being sharp, or more his defense only allowing 21 shots?
What was sweeter: Kyle Wilson’s deke and goal on Evans, or Sammy Stephens’ dance moves?????
Five out of a six possible points? That’s a good weekend.
With both teams playing their third game in three days Sunday afternoon, the Admirals were able to capitalize on Rampage mistakes, and win the matinee 3-1.
Here’s the Coach Ian Herbers High Level Summary, sponsored by Google Maps.
After a scoreless first period, Kyle Wilson put the Admirals on the board. Scott Valentine carried the puck from the goal-line to just about the offensive blue-line, and he fired a wrister on net. Former Admiral Dov Grumet-Morris didn’t send it to the corner or cover it….it kicked right out to the left face-off circle, where Wilson was crashing. Grumet-Morris was far out of his net challenging Valentine’s shot, so he had some distance to get back in the net, and Wilson had lots of room to shoot.
The Rampage tied it up later in the second period while on a 5-on-3 power play. Recent acquisition Jon Matsumoto was the recipient of a nice pass from Bill Thomas in the slot, and he finished a bang-bang play for the goal.
In the third period, it was a bad play by Nolan Yonkman that sparked the game-winner. (We’ve seen that movie before, haven’t we?) Yonkman tried to feed Scott Timmons to start a rush, but Kyle Wilson was able to control the puck and send it towards the net. Ryan Flynn was all alone in front of Grumet-Morris, and was able to deflect it past him.
Two home games in a row where we’re talking to Flynn after the game.
Another two point night for Kyle Wilson, who coach said has been playing very well for quite some time.
Chris Mueller added his team-leading 24th goal of the season into an empty net with 40.3 seconds left. The Ads iced the puck, but Mueller won the race, and had an easy tap-in after a friendly bounce from the end boards sent the puck back in front of the crease.
NOTES:
Same lines we’ve seen for a bit.
Henderson – Lajunen – Puustinen
Dupont – Mueller – Beck
Flynn – Wilson – Thang
Champagne – Ryan – Stortini
– Great to see them finish a team off in the third period. Coach saw a lot of things that he liked tonight.
– Smith very sharp again in net. Good weekend for the goalies. One goal against in regulation each night. Still being out-shot though….
– That’ll be the last we see of Ellis for awhile. Here’s coach on his status, along with Laakso, Latta, and Van Guilder.
– This was my favorite moment from the post-game chat with the Coach. Sorry Dave Boehler, I have to play the whole exchange.
Discussion Questions:
– You got three games with Ellis this weekend. It was nice to have him back. Do you think he’s going back to Nashville to pack his bags again in the next 24 hours? Do you think the Preds have the cahones to deal him?
– Yonkman. Did his play give you flashbacks
– Surprised Sloan got five minutes for his hug? I kid….but he actually had a pretty good game, we thought.
– What’s wrong with Ryan Thang? Too many coulda-woulda-shoulda’s from him. He’s not finishing, and he needs to be finishing.
– Do you feel better about the team after this strong weekend?
For the second straight night, the Admirals were able to keep their opponent scoreless after 40 minutes. But after Rockford tied the game at 1 with 3:47 left to play, the IceHogs scored on three of their four shootout attempts, while the Admirals didn’t get any past Carter Hutton, and the IceHogs skated away with the 2-1 win.
Atte Engren stopped 35 of 36 shots and deserved a better fate. Hutton stopped 23 of 24.
Jani Lajunen got the Admirals on the board first, after he intercepted a pass from Joe Lavin at the far circle in the offensive zone. With his proceeding goal, it gave Lajunen a point in four straight games, as he continues his very strong play, especially in on the forecheck.
That 1-0 lead held up for most of the rest of the game, but Brandon Bollig put a rebound in off of Engren with 3:47 left in the third.
In overtime, Jon Blum took a tripping penalty just 53 seconds into the extra period after he failed to clear the zone. But the PK was strong late in the game, as it was the whole game. The Ads killed off all six IceHog power plays.
On the flip-side, the Ads were 0-6 on their own power plays, including some time on a 5-on-3, and a 4-minute power play in the start of the 3rd period that came up empty.
Ads were out-shot 37-24 tonight. They were out-shot by 9 last night. Out-shot by 19 in their two games in Oklahoma City last weekend. Quite the burden being put on their goaltenders, and Smitty and Engren have done a nice job. But the offense needs to pick it up and make the most of their shots. One goal isn’t going to cut it most nights.
Still, good to get a point, and if they take down the San Antonio Rampage tomorrow, it’d make for a successful weekend. 5 out of 6 points would be nice. Teemu Laakso will likely still be out tomorrow, and we’ll see how Scott Ford is feeling in the morning….he didn’t make the trip tonight as he’s fighting a flu-bug.
So the Rampage tomorrow. It’ll be their 10th game of an 11 game road trip. They’ll also be playing their third game in three days, after two 2-1 wins over Peoria tonight and last night. Former Admiral Dov Grumet-Morris was in net on Friday, Jacob Markstrom was in net tonight….so we’ll see who gets the green light tomorrow afternoon. We may also see former Admirals Nolan Yonkman, Bracken Kearns, and Wacey Rabbit.
I know a lot of you made the trip to Rockford tonight….how did it look? Was Engren as sharp as Aaron Sims’ cell phone made it sound? (if you didn’t know, there were some technical issues in the press box). How dumb was the Blum penalty in OT? Do you feel confident saying that the penalty kill is now off of life-support?
The Milwaukee Admirals, led by Juuso Puusitinen, defeated the Abbotsford Heat on Friday night at the Bradley Center. Not to be outdone Jeremy Smith stood on his head at times and stopped 36 of 37 shots to back the Admirals to the 4-1 win.
Here’s the Coach’s high level overview, which we’re proud to say is being fictitiously sponsored by Google Maps.
The Admirals got things started while on the Mountain Fury Power Play. At the 9:11 mark of the first period and only 32 seconds into the Fury, Kyle Wilson gathered the puck in the far circle and carried it behind the Heat’s net. Wilson spotted a crashing Puustinen and dished him the puck. Puustinen finished off the play beating the Heat netminder Leland Irving to give the Ads the 1-0 lead. Nice looking power play.
Puustinen would have his time in the spotlight yet again and in the same period, and oh yeah, it was on the Fury Power Play, AGAIN! At 13:35, Juuso was inside the far circle and fired a shot on Irving which was initially stopped and sent into the slot. None of the Heat players were able to react to the rebound quick enough, leaving Puustinen a second chance to shoot and score. Wilson had the behind-the-goalline feed again.
So after one period, it was Puustinen 2, Abbotsford 0.
In the second period, both teams had some time on the power play, and both goalies were the best players on the ice. Irving made a huge save on Chris Mueller who tried to go around Irving. And then Jeremy Smith had one of his best saves of the year, stopping a Greg Nemisz chance on a 2-on-1 rush.
Coach Herbers liked Smitty’s performance.
Teemu Laakso left the game in the second period after a hit in front of the Heat bench. Here’s Coach on the play.
The Heat got on the board in the 3rd period with a great shot that ruined Smith’s shot at the shut out. Greg Nemisz won a battle for the puck against Tyler Sloan in the corner, and then skated towards the net. His shot from the bottom of the circle caught Smitty cheating a little bit towards the center, and found the little daylight Smith created short-side.
Later in the third, the Ads were down a man due to another Yonking penalty (nice one Sloan), but that didn’t stop Ryan Flynn from adding a goal. It started with Jani Lajunen fighting for the puck in the neutral zone, and after winning the battle, he broke free into the O-zone on a 2-on-1 rush. He then sent a pass over to Ryan Flynn who fired a shot past Irving short side for short handed goal.
Flynn is happy to give all the credit in the world on that play to Lajunen.
Flynn added an empty-netter, after a sloppy pass from Brian Connelly.
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LINES
Dupont – Mueller – Beck
Thang – Wilson – Flynn
Henderson – Lajunen – Puustinen
Champagne – Ryan – Stortini
Sloan & Ellis, Bartley & Laakso, Fordo & Blum
– Welcome back Ryan Ellis. I think he looks much improved over last time we saw him. He assisted on Puustinen’s second goal. But don’t get used to seeing him back there.
– Great to see Puustinen shooting, eh? Coach agrees.
– Mixed bag on Sloan tonight. He made a couple of really nice plays, but you probably only remember him giving up on the goal and then the yonking penalty in the 3rd. Mixed bag.
– This was one of Smitty’s best games of the year, I think. Good goalies make all the saves they’re supposed to, and some of the ones they aren’t supposed to. I think he saved some of those tonight.
QUESTIONS:
-Thoughts on the maturation of Ryan Ellis? – Would you go with Smith tomorrow in Rockford or Sunday against San Antonio? – Jani Lajunen – think he’s playing his best hockey of the year right now? – Did you like Beck’s new spin-o-rama move? Not as effective as Hugh Jessiman’s move, but still…. Did you notice Hughie at all tonight? – Would you ever have a staredown with a security guard?
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