In a game with first place in the division on the line, it was a pretty exciting match for 59:40 of the game.

But two ghastly defensive lapses in those twenty seconds in the third period were the difference in the game, as the Charlotte Checkers came from behind to sink the Admirals 4-3 Saturday night.

Anders Lindback gave up the textbook definition of a “soft goal” 9:01 into the third period that tied the game at 3.  With the play heading back up the ice, the Admirals never did clear the zone.  Zac Dalpe picked up the puck just inside the blue line, turned, and fired the puck on net.  And it went in.

Lindback says that he obviously wants to have that one back.

I’m not fond that he used the word “assuming” in there.  But I’m not sure if there’s ever a good explanation when you are caught snoozing.

On the next shift, the regularly reliable Tyler Sloan turned the puck over in the Admirals zone, and it turned into a 2-on-nobody rush.  Matthew Pistilli fed the puck across the low slot to Zach Boychuk for the easy goal.

Sloan takes full responsibility for it.

Outside of that, Coach Herbers thought the team played pretty well.

That’ll do it for Lindback’s vacation to Milwaukee.  He’ll be going back to Nashville tomorrow morning, and Jeremy Smith will be sent back down.  Here’s Coach Herbers on Lindback’s weekend.

The teams exchanged power play goals in the first period.  With Zac Dalpe in the box serving a tripping penalty, Kyle Wilson was the toe of a tic-tac-toe passing play, and his shot from the top of the near circle beat Checkers goaltender Mike Murphy.

Dalpe got his revenge a little later in the period while Scott Valentine’s holding penalty was winding down.  A pass from Zach Boychuk didn’t make it through the crease to the intended recipient.  Instead it kind of bounced around  in between Lindback’s pads that were down on the ice.  The puck wasn’t secured and squirted out to the right doorstep, and Dalpe found it first.

The Checkers took a 2-1 lead on a goal that took a couple of bad bounces, as the initial shot from Derek Joslin was deflected  by an Admiral on its way to the net.  The shot ended up going wide, but caromed off of Lindback’s stick, which was laying on the ice behind the net for some reason.  The puck came back out front, and Nicolas Blanchard put it in the net.  Surprised that the post wasn’t sealed there.

About seven and a half minutes later, Taylor Beck tied the game on a great offensive rush.  Ryan Flynn’s penalty had just expired, and the two of them led the rush into the offensive zone on the right wing. (see video)

Jon Blum crashing the net helped open things up a bit, and after Murphy committed to the poke-check, it was a great play by Beck to bring the puck in front and around the goaltender.

Later in the period, the Ads regained the lead on a Chris Mueller goal.  Pistilli couldn’t control the puck in the high slot, and it kicked behind him to Zack Stortini, who found Mueller all alone in front of Murphy.

——–

Lines:

Wilson – Mueller – Thang
Geoffrion – Latta – Puustinen
Beck – Van Guilder – Flynn
Champagne – Lajunen – Stortini

– Playing the Checkers makes you realize how slow the Admirals are.  They go on lots of odd-man rushes…they don’t always execute well, and some of the credit for that goes to the other team pushing back…but they had a lot of chances to have good things happen.

– The Admirals didn’t get their second shot on goal in the third period until there was 7:33 left in the game.

– Here’s a positive.  I really like the way Taylor Beck is playing right now.  I was pretty critical earlier in the season, but he’s arguably grown as a player more than anyone else on the team.  In his last 15 games, he’s totaled 4 goals, 10 assists, and has gone from being -9 to being +1 defensively.  He hasn’t been a minus since November 27th.

– Here’s a negative.  Blake Geoffrion.  Not an impact.

– Jon Blum.  Mixed bag again.  There are some heady plays, there are some plays where he tries to force things, and there are X’s and O’s plays that just aren’t being made.

– I thought Chris Mueller played one of his best games of the season on both ends of the ice.

– And for our friends in Windsor…..mazel tovs are in order for Ryan Ellis, as he scored his first NHL goal tonight against Kirk and the Canes.  It was a power play marker with 5:32 left in the game, which gave the Preds a 5-1 lead.

– Referee Shaun Davis.  The King of calling a penalty that has nothing to do with the actual infraction that took place on the ice.  Do you think it’s stage fright, or he just isn’t watching all that closely?

Questions:

Okay — you saw two games of Anders Lindback this weekend.  Of the seven goals he gave up this weekend, how many of them would you consider GOOD goals?  Any other thoughts on his play?

Would Chet Pickard have made that save on the game-tying goal?

How do you fix Blake Geoffrion?  Linemates?  Is it an attitude thing?

Ryan Thang.  One assist in his last 5 games.  Is he snakebitten, or is he not having as much of an impact as he did the second half of last year and out of the gate this year?

Can they rebound in Peoria tomorrow night?  The Rivermen were off tonight, so they won’t be finishing a 3-in-3 set like the Admirals will be.  Taking two of three games this weekend sounds better than losing four of their last five.

Trying to bust a two game losing streak, the Admirals jumped out to a 3-0 lead, and cruised to a 6-3 victory over the visitng Lake Erie Cleveland Monsters Friday night.

Michael Latta had a Gordie Howe Hat Trick, and Anders Lindback stopped 30 of 33 shots in his first start of the season for Milwaukee.

Pretty good night.

The Admirals were the first to light the lamp and Michael Latta was the one to do it. Victor Bartley gathered the puck in the Admirals zone and fired a pass just outside the Monsters zone where it struck Blake Geoffrion and was sent chest high to Latta who was along the far side boards. Latta snagged the puck out of the air, tossed it in front of himself and skated it in the zone, firing a shot that beat Trevor Cann. Good play by Latta getting into the zone and getting a shot on net, and in the spirit of youth sports and over celebrating “good plays”, YAY BLAKE, you got on the score sheet.

The second period erupted in a fury of goals and fights.  Here’s the coach.

The Admirals got the flood gates to open with a goal scored by someone who had yet to do it in the year. Taylor beck found the puck at the far side point and fired a shot towards the Monsters’ net minder. Ryan “dont call me Matt” Flynn was down low screening Cann when he put his stick to rubber to redirect the puck right past the goalie for the 2-0 lead. The “No Goal Club” just got one member smaller and who knows, this could be just the begining for Flynn, who had been playing pretty well in pretty much every other facet of the game.

The Admirals, refusing to ease up “blasted” another goal home giving them the 3-0 lead. 4:30 into the period Blake Geoffrion fired a puck into traffic (not towards the net). After pin-balling around, it fluttered to the slot where El Capitan Scott Ford swiped at it, sending the puck very slowly towards the net, where Cann could not recover enough to get a pad on it.

Then it was the Monsters’ turn to score a goal and it came with Kyle Wilson in the sin bin for a high-sticking call. 9:11 into the period Patrick Rissmiller attempted a pass acorss the crease to a teamate. It never found said teamate as it instead found the skate of Teemu Laakso, which in turn found the back of the net giving the Monsters their first goal.

The Admirals answered back just under 5 minutes later and Kyle Wilson found the net to atone for his previous infraction. While the Ads were on the Mountain Fury Power Play, Wilson got the puck and was in the lower far side circle when he fired a snipe top shelf beating Cann, and giving the Ads the 4-1 lead. The awesome thing about this goal was the Chris Mueller was celebrating the goal before it went in as he was right behind the net watching the puck the whole time. I guess he knew it was going in.

After the goal by Wilson, the Monsters switched goaltenders putting in James Reid, hoping for a little better result. It didn’t work, as the Admirals scored just over 2 minutes later, and just 6 seconds into another Mountain Fury Power Play. With the Admirals winning the face off, Geoffrion passed it to Taylor Beck who was down-low near-side. Beck then fired a no-look pass across the slot to a crashing Victor Bartley, who buried it the open net. Now all joking aside this WAS a great play started by Geoffrion, and I am glad Bartley is getting some lamp time as he has been playing lights out all year. (See what I did there with the light fixture joke?)

Towards the end of the period Evan Brophey tallied a power play goal for the Monsters. To be honest I really dont remember what happened and all we need to know is that it was a goal against.

***** Please see Appendex A for the fights in the period*****

Speaking of fights, the 3rd period started off with a big one that I am guessing the league will be talking to Lake Erie’s Captain David Liffiton about. Zack Stortini finished a check on a Monsters player and Brophey took exception to said check. Storts and Brophey dropped the gloves but the fight while on their feet only lasted a moment but Storts kept firing punches on Brophey while they were on the ice. Liffiton, from the bench, did not like the scenario that was playing out, so he decided to start throwing punches from the bench into Storts’ face. Let me say this again, Liffiton was punching Stortini from the bench while Stortini was punching Brophey. What was the call you ask? Liffiton got 2 minutes for roughing. Yeah, I know, right?  Here’s Coach Herbers…

The third period has a goal by each team and the Monsters’ goal came shorthanded while Liffiton was serving for the above infraction. Talk about salt in the wound.

Puustinen scored for the Admirals to get back the 3 goal lead on a play that gave Latta the Grodie Howe Hat Trick.

NOTES:

Appendix A:  Second Period Fights.

Bordeleau VS Stortini.  Edge Bordeleau.

Fordo VS Stoa.  One of Fordo’s best of the year, I think.  I wish that was more of a compliment than it really is, though.

Brennan vs Latta.  Seemed like a good idea at the time for both of them.  They won’t be confused for Jeremy Yablonski.

– Anders Lindback and Jon Blum were back tonight.  Here’s the coach on their peformances…..happy to have Lindback, and thought it was a mixed bag for Blummer.

– Blake got three assists.  But wake me up when he goes into a battle in the corner.

– Great to see Flynn get that first goal.  That play was a perfect example of why good things happen when you put the puck on the net.  Doesn’t need to be a laser.  Just needs to be on net.

– We talk a lot about how much we like Victor Bartley.  From that beautiful sparkling smile in the Toyota Tundra Race, to the way that he plays well on both ends of the ice.  Great goal for him, and he was stellar late in the game.  Perhaps you remember the Admirals killing off the late power play, and there was a mad scramble in front of Lindback.  Anders deserves credit for finally getting the puck frozen, but Bartley was there blocking shots, blocking passes, and keeping the puck out of the net.

– You know who else has been playing pretty strongly lately?  Taylor Beck.  I liked him on that line with Van Flynder.

– Welcome back Joel Champagne!  4th line was very effective tonight.

– My 3 stars ballot was 1. Latta, 2. Barrie (1g, 1a), and then 3. Stortini.  Bartley was under consideration, but Stortini was a force tonight over the course of the game.

– Game again tomorrow against the 1st place Checkers.  Different style of hockey, says the coach.

Questions:  So you think the Lake Erie captain will get some supplementary discipline for his actions?  Happy to see Hughie?  Surprised that none of the Lake Erie goals were even-strength?  Happy to see so many fights?  Think Blum will be here a longer time this time?

There were two teams at the Bradley Center tonight.  One was victorious, despite playing their third game in three days, and one was playing their goaltender for the third time in three days.

The other team was the Admirals.

The Admirals only managed 18 shots against Ben Bishop, and he stopped them all, vaulting the Rivermen to their first vicotry over the Admirals this season.  1-0 was the final score.

When the highlights of the night were a big clean hit from Scott Valentine and a close Merkt’s Cheese Race, it’s a tough night for the home team.

Milwaukee recorded only 5 shots on goal in the first stanza and Atte Engren stoped the 9 shots he faced. The second period is when the game got its only goal.

With Jeff Foss in the box for interference, the Rivermen skated the puck into the zone along the near side boards when Scott Valentine had a huge hip check on Jay Barribal. Struggling to get off the ice, the Rivermen’s Adam Cracknell regathered the puck and drove into the zone again firing a shot on net from inside the far circle beating Engren for the only goal.  It’s one that I think Engren should have had.

As for the aforementioned check,(in my best Dick Vitale) it was huge baby. The check sent Barribal’s helmet flying and left him on the ice for a couple seconds. The Rivermen were quite upset with the no call but another look at the check proved that it was a clean one. Regardless of the no-call, Stefan Della Rovere wanted to enforce his own justice and dropped the mitts with Valentine a little bit later in the period. Della Rovere even waived off the linesman at one point letting him know that he was not done.  He had some (I am guessing) very nice things to say to Valentine as he was being pulled away. Stuff like “Happy new year” and “I love your twitter posts” and stuff like that.

Notes:

– Tough weekend for the Admirals.  But they played four games this week, and if they want to blame it on fatigue, I’ll buy it.  I won’t like it…but I’ll buy it.  And if that is the case, they’ve got to get that fixed because there are going to be some more weeknight games as the season gets going, and we can’t have them running out of gas on Sunday’s.

– David Leaderer skated in place of Tyler Sloan, who is a bit banged up.  He’ll hopefully be ready to go next weekend.

– Still didn’t like Blake’s game.  I think he’s bringing down the Van Flynder line.

– So who had a good game, and who failed to show up tonight?  Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Call it puck luck, call it a game of inches, and call it a loss tonight.

Five Admiral shots hit metal behind Grand Rapids goaltender Tom McCollum, as the Griffins defeated the Admirals 3-2 on Saturday night.

After a Zack Stortini goal tied the game early in the 2nd period, a Griffins power play goal with 15 seconds left in the frame gave Grand Rapids the lead they would not give up.

The Admirals had just killed off a stretch of 5-on-3 power play time, but couldn’t finish off the second penalty, as defenseman Brian Lashoff’s shot beat Jeremy Smith.

Eight minutes into the 3rd period, the Griffins extended their lead to two goals, as former Badger Brendan Smith’s shot trickled through Smitty’s legs.

With Jeremy Smith pulled for the extra attacker late in the 3rd period, Chris Mueller scored a milestone goal to bring the Admirals back within one.  Working down low in front of goaltender Tom McCollum, Mueller’s shot went high over the goaltender’s glove.  It was his 50th goal as an Admiral and 100th point as an Admiral.

—————————

– Robert Slaney got his first point as an Admiral, assisting on Stortini’s goal by intercepting a pass McCollum tried to make behind the net.  Slaney’s pass to Stortini in the slot led to the goal.

– Mark Van Guilder was whistled for hooking….only his second penalty of the season.  It snapped a 25 infractionless game streak.

– Ads were 0-4 on the power play, and killed off 3 of 4 Griffins chances.

– That’s all for the season series.  Ads finish 2-2.  Griffins officially win the series, going 2-1-0-1, getting five points.

– Milwaukee finishes 2011 with a 44-24-5 record.  Pretty good.

– 5pm game on New Years Day against the Rivermen at the Bradley Center.

Another great crowd, and another great win.  The Admirals took the upperhand in the Amtrak rivalry, defeating the Chicago Wolvds 4-2 Wednesday night at the Bradley Center.

The win was their 9th consecutive victory at the Bradley Center, just one short of tying the team record.

Here’s a high level overview of the game, courtesy of Coach Herbers.  On google maps, this definitely would not be considered street-view.

The Wolves got things started at 5:45 in the first with a power play goal as Scott Valentine was in the sin bin for a hooking call. Kevin Connauton fired a shot from the far blueline that found Jeremy Smith but was not covered up. Smith layed out to recover the rebound but the Wolves’ Steve Reinprecht gathered it first and fired top shelf on the wide open net. Smith sold out to gather the rebound in front of the crease but that gamble didnt pay off as Reinprecht had a 6×4 box to work with.

The Admirals retaliated with a power play goal of thier own. The play got started with Victor Bartley showing us that he doesnt just have a pretty smile. Bartley sent a great two line pass from deep inside his own zone that connected with Chris Mueller in stride. Mueller then left the defenders behind as he skated in and beat Eddie Lack at 17:33 to even the score. Did I mention that it was a great feed from Bartley? Well it was.  So there!

The Ads kept the pressure on in the second as Scott Valentine gave the Ads a go-ahead goal at 2:38. With the puck on the far side point Teemu Laakso found Valentine on the near side point with a pass. Valentine wound up and fired a rocket that beat Lack on the far side for for his second goal on the year.

The Wolves’ very own Admiral killer for hire evened the score at 7:36. Reinprecht sent the puck to Darren Haydar who broke into the Admirals zone. Haydar skated to the near side circle and fired a shot that beat Smith far side. It was a fantasitc shot and there was nothing Smith could do about it but make shadow puppets from the red light glowing behind him.

Wouldn’t you beleive it? Even Scott Ford got a goal in this game. Mark Van Guilder skated into the slot with several Wolves defenders hacking at the puck. He “passed” (lost control) of the puck to Ryan Flynn who was also in the slot. Flynn sent a pass back to Ford who was between the circles at the point, and fired a cannon that beat Lack at 13:10 to give the Admirals the 3-2 lead going into the third.

Here’s Fordo on his goal.

The Admirals extended their lead in the third period with a great pass across the crease to a crashing Michael Latta. At 8:48 Taylor Beck skated the puck into the zone and continued the rush to the crease. Beck, within a couple feet of Lack, sent a beautiful saucer pass to the tape of Latta who just redirected it into the back of the net to give the Ads the 4-2 lead.  Probably a play they have done a million times together back on their junior team.

———

Happy trails to Gabriel Bourque, welcome back Blake Geoffrion.  Here’s Coach Herbers on the swap, and how he thought Blake did on the Van Flynder line tonight.

Bourque played 8:05 of the Preds game, took 10 shifts, was credited with one blocked shot.  That’s all the box score had for him.  Played on a line with Halischuk and Smithson, but early returns are that it was a good debut.  Read the Preds blogs tomorrow….there will be a ton of positive reaction to Bourque.  Here’s a taste from Coach Trotz:  “I can guarantee you this: If [Bourque] plays like that … night in and night out, I know he’s gonna play a lot more.”

– 4 goals, 8 assists, 12 Admirals with one point on the night.  Would that be the definition of scoring by committee?

– Robert Slaney.  On the 4th line.  Holding his own, I think.  Good on him.

– This home streak?  The Admirals are outscoring their opponents by Taylor Beck to Chris Mueller.  41-18.  What does the coach think the team needs to do to be successful at home?

– I asked Scott Ford about the warm-up music change.  He’s the one that put the request in.

He’s on twitter now, if you didn’t already know…

Soooooo….questions…… In a game where none of the Admirals had multiple points, who would you have voted for three stars?  (Ryan edit:  Reinprecht probably should have made the final list for Chicago…had a goal and an assist).  How cool was Matt Kenseth to do that trike race?  What a good sport.  What did you think of Blake’s game tonight?  Everyone will be done with their hangover by the New Years Day game, right?

Santa brought the Admirals a new power play for Chirstmas, apparently.

Milwaukee went 5-for-7 with the man-advantage, and dropped the Rockford IceHogs 7-3 Monday night at the Bradley Center.  The win vaulted Milwaukee to 1st place in the division.

The last time the Admirals scored 5 power play goals in a game was March 1, 2008 at Chicago.  Goals by Santorelli, Peverley, Laliberte, Ellison, and Niskala.  The Ads won that game 6-4 behind Pekka Rinne in net.

It was a long break between games for the Admirals, but Coach Herbers liked the way they came out.

The Admirals were the first to put up a crooked number, and it came on the Mountain Fury Power Play. Scott Valentine got the puck to Teemu Laakso whos skated it into the near side circle and fired a shot that connected with all three pipes and in. Oddly, that wasnt the most impressive part. The impressive part is that he sniped it in where the smallest of openings was. If asked how he hit that “impossible” shot i am sure he would have said something like “I used to bullseye wombats in my T-16 back home, they’re not much bigger than [that opening].”

The second period had a light show, as 5 goals were scored in the stanza. The Ice Hogs got the show started when Jimmy Hayes put away a wide open goal off of a great pass from Rostislav Olesz, leaving Scott Ford in no-mans land. Ford did have a great view of the goal as he was doing his best Pete Rose impression towards the net.

The second goal came :58 later on what looked to be the very same play just with different actors.  This one stared David Gilbert as “The Passer” and Ben Smith as “Light the Lamp-er”.  Teemu Laakso played the role of “Scott Ford”, and Jerry Mathers as “The Beaver”, as the Ice Hogs took the lead 2-1.

That was all the Ice Hogs would get that frame, as the remainder of the second period belonged to the Admirals. It started with the Ads on the “2-Man Fury” and Mark Van Guilder getting the goal. At 11:08 Juuso Puustinen fired a shot on net form the slot that was initally stoped by Carter Hutton but MVG was there to pick up the loose change and cash in a goal. The tying goal was MVG’s 8th goal on the year.

The Fury kept flowing as it was Juuso Puustinen’s turn to light the lamp. 14:36 into the period with the Ice Hogs down a man, Victor Bartley and Gabriel Bourque played catch a couple times and then Bartley sent the puck over to Puustinen who fired a one timer that found its way though Hutton. The goal gave the Ads the lead and they kept the pedal down.

Exactaly one minute later with both teams at even strength, Gabriel Bourque was fighting for the puck down low and dished it a few feet to Ryan Flynn who was just behind the net. Flynn found MVG who was in front of the net took a stride to his right and fired a shot top side to beat Hutton for the second time in the game and gave the Ads the 4-2 lead.

Another 2-goal game for Van Guilder.  We asked Coach the obligatory why-is-MVG-so-awesome question after the game.

The lightshow continued in the third period. At 6:51 Chris Mueller put the puck in the twine after a shot was fired from the slot that was stopped but not covered.  Before Matt Moore could announce the goal the Admirals tacked another one on off of a redirect from Zack Stortini giving the Admirals a 6-2 lead and ending Hutton’s night. Alec Richards, his replacement, didnt stop the bleeding as Ryan Thang netted the Ads another Mountain Fury Power Play goal.

Byron Froese had a goal for the IceHogs during garbage time.

——–

NOTES:

Apparently, Ryan Ellis was just holding the power play back this whole time.  Here’s Coach Herbers on the power play unit.

– Jeff Foss was called up, and skated tonight with Tyler Sloan.  We asked Coach about that pairing.

I thought he held his own pretty well.

– Ellis did debut tonight for the Preds against the Red Wings.  He did not register a point.  He was -1 defensively, two minutes of penalties, three shots, two blocked shots, and two hits, according to the box score.  I cannot comment on how he played, as I was watching a more entertaining game here.

– What a great crowd!  You’re all coming back on Wednesday okay?  Also, did you notice they changed the warm-up music?  I guess they can keep the new mix.

So what do you think?  Is the power play fixed, or were they just fortunate tonight?  Did you miss Ryan Ellis?  Always enjoy the skating juggler?  And other thoughts you’d like to share on the game?

After a less than stellar effort against Rockford last night, the Admirals were able to hit the holiday break on a high note, after a 3-1 victory over the Peoria Rivermen Sunday evening.

Kyle Wilson and Chris Mueller both had a goal and an assist, and Atte Engren was solid in net for the Ads, stopping 29 of 30 shots.

This moves the Ads record to an unprecedented 5-0 against Peoria this season.  We asked Coach Herbers what he attributes the success to.

The Admirals hit the holiday break with a 17-8-0-1 record, putting them in second place in the division, one point behind the Charlotte Checkers…who have played four more games.

With 3:02 remaining in the game, Tyler Sloan went to the box for a cross-checking penalty, and the Rivermen pulled goaltender Jake Allen for the extra attacker, setting up a 6-on-4 power play.  1:17 later, Teemu Laakso went to the box for a holding penalty, so Peoria had some time to skate 6-on-3.  But the penalty killers did a great job getting into passing lanes, and were able to kill everything off.

The penalty kill had been a weakness for the Ads of late…Coach Herbers talks about their effort tonight at the end of the game.

The Rivermen scored first, and it was courtesy of Admirals nemesis/pest Brett Sterling. TJ Hensick had a shot from the top of the far circle that was saved.  After drawing a delayed penalty, Sterling won the battle in front of the crease, and put it in past Atte Engren.

The Admirals tied the game about midway though the game while on a delayed penalty of their own.  It had to have been about 40 seconds with the extra man when Kyle Wilson scored from a sharp angle at the bottom of the near faceoff circle.  Chris Mueller had the pass from behind the net before Wilson scored his 5th of the year, and first one since being returned from Nashville.

The Admirals were awarded a power play after Jonathan Cheechoo boarded Chris Mueller along the far boards in the Ads defensive end.  Mueller skated off on his own power, and took his next shift on the power play.  Mueller said after the game that he didn’t see the train coming (sorry….too easy), but chalked it up to a hockey play instead of a dirty play.

Exactly two minutes after the penalty was assessed, Mike Latta scored what would eventually be the game winner.  Taylor Beck had a shot from the top of the circle that deflected off of Ryan Thang in the slot…..right to Latta low in the near face-off circle.  Allen didn’t make it over in time before Latta scored his 9th of the season.

With 4:55 left in the third period, Chris Mueller scored an insurance goal after a give-and-give-and-go play with Kyle Wilson.  I was afraid they were going to get burned for making one pass too many, but Mueller was able to finish for his 10th goal of the season.

————-

Lines:

Bourque – Van Guilder – Flynn
Wilson – Mueller – Puustinen
Geoffrion – Latta – Thang
Beck – Lajunen – Stortini

Blum-Laakso, Sloan-Ellis, Ford-Bartley

In the second period, Herbie shook up his lines a bit…dropping swapping Geoffrion and Beck.  Here’s what he said about it after the game.

I don’t know.  My thought is that it was a promotion for Beck — and it worked, as he assisted on Latta’s goal.  I didn’t like Blake’s weekend.  If he was making these kinds of mistakes in Nashville, he would have been sent down to Milwaukee.  Sloppy passes in his own end and in the offensive zone too…dumb stick infraction penalties… He wasn’t anywhere close to being the best player on the ice.  If he was supposed to come here and dominate at this level, he failed.  Maybe my expectations are too high on that… But if he’s on his way back to Nashville tomorrow, it certainly isn’t because he played his way back.

I asked Coach Herbers which of the guys that were sent down (Blum, Geoffrion, and Wilson) had the best weekend.  He kind of punted.

Blum I thought was better tonight….(although he was the victim of a bum holding penalty when he lifted Sterling’s stick and Sterling tumbled to the ice.  Good to see Sterling get the dive call on that.)  I thought Wilson showed up for the first time this weekend when he scored in that second period, and pretty good the rest of the game.

– Blum tweeted that he’s on his way back to Nashville.  Don’t know if he’s just going to be “in residence” or when he’ll officially be recalled and paid as an NHL guy.  Roster freeze starts tonight, Admirals don’t play again until the 26th.  Whatever happens will be.

– Sterling is such a pain.  Can I just reiterate that?

– Didn’t like Fordo’s game either.  Engren bailed him out a couple of times.  Tough to scratch the captain though.  Sorry, Scott Valentine.

– This is an awfully negative recap after a big 3-1 win.  Let’s get back to Engren.  I’ve figured out his deal.  He’s the Admirals version of Rex Grossman.  The Redskins have Good Rex and Bad Rex.  The Admirals have Good Atte and Bad Atte.  Great to see him rebound after being pulled in his last start.  Here’s more from the Coach.

– So we’re at the break now.  Coach says he’ll get some time to relax, but they’ve got a game to prepare for…

So Roundtable….here are your discussion questions….

– Am I being too hard on Boomer?
– What did you think of Blummer’s game?
– Would you have liked to have seen Valentine out there?
– Thoughts on the penalty scramble at the end of the game?
– Why do the Ads have the Rivermen’s number?
– Anything else you’d like to comment on about the game?

After a great effort on Friday night against Toronto, the Admirals played like a different team Saturday night in Rockford, losing to the IceHogs 4-2.

The Admirals gave up three power play goals, and gave up a season high 44 shots to the last place IceHogs.

Rockford scored first 10:35 into the first period while Tyler Sloan was serving a cross checking penalty.   Peter LeBlanc was working in front of the net, and tipped the puck past Jeremy Smith.

Jon Blum got one back on a power play for the Admirals, with a shot that was deflected over IceHog goaltender Carter Hutton’s glove.

The IceHogs outshot the Admirals 19-11 in the first period, but the second period is really where the pulled away from the Admirals, taking advantage of Admiral penalties and sloppy play in the neutral zone.

Brandon Pirri had a power play goal, just under five minutes into the second period after some great puck movement from the power play unit.

Brandon Bollig scored his first of the year with a little less than five minutes left in the second period, as a shot from the top of the left circle went over Smitty’s right shoulder.

Brandon Pirri scored another power play goal in the 3rd, but it was more like an empty net goal, as Smitty vacated the net to play a puck that he thought was going to go around the boards.  Of course, it hit a seam in the glass, bounced back in front of the net, and Pirri had the cupcake.

Jon Blum scored his second goal with less than a minute remaining in the game while Chris Mueller was working down low.

Looking at the box score, people may say, hey, Blummer scored two goals, he had a pretty good game.  But this was a team loss.  They got away from the formula that had been successful lately, and the IceHogs got to dictate the style of the game.

So the 3-in-3 will conclude tomorrow against a Peoria team that will also be playing their 3rd.  The Rivermen shutout the Toronto Marlies tonight, and are riding a three-game winning streak.

If the Admirals can play their type of game tomorrow, they may be able to continue their success against Peoria this season.  If it turns into a run-and-gun game, there may be some trouble.  Since Smitty played tonight, I expect Atte Engren will play tomorrow, and hopefully he’ll rebound after being pulled in his last game.

 

That first-game-of-the-weekend sluggishness?  Mysteriously absent on Friday night.

Mark Van Guilder scored another pair of goals, and Jeremy Smith was perfect in net, as the Admirals shutout the Toronto Marlies 2-0 at the Bradley Center.

It was the second straight 2-goal performance for MVG, and Coach is not surprised to see it.

Van Guilder’s first goal came 15:11 into the first period, off another nice pass from Ryan Flynn.  After skating with the puck behind the goal, Flynn came out the other side, and fed Van Guilder crashing towards the net for another bang-bang goal.

With Tyler Sloan serving a tripping penalty in the 3rd period, Van Guilder intercepted a pass from Mike Zigomanis at the Admiral blue line.  And then it was off to the races.  Van Guilder beat Toronto goaltender Ben Scrivens five-hole for the shorthanded tally.

Here’s Mark on his night.

And Smitty was solid all night.  But he doesn’t think it was his best game of the year.

NOTES:

New lines:

Geoffrion – Latta – Thang
Wilson – Mueller – Puustinen
Bourque – Van Guilder – Flynn
Beck – Lajunen – Stortini

We asked coach which of the new lines he liked best….but he liked them all.

The most interesting part about that quote is how he didn’t have to worry about match-ups all night.  Kadri is an elite player, and to not have to worry about a 4th line being stuck out there against him is a luxury.

– So does Coach send Smitty right back out there tomorrow night against Rockford?  He said he didn’t know yet.  But he could report that Smitty had a pretty good week at practice, and it showed.

– Kelsey Wilson made his first return to the Bradley Center as the opposition.  Here are some quotes from him about coming back to town, and whether or not he would have dropped the gloves with Fordo.

– Geoffrion and Blum played their first games of the season for Milwaukee tonight.

First, some thoughts from Blake.

He also said his shoulder felt pretty good.  There was one time where he kind of got stung, but he said it held up fine.

And Blummer — first on whether he was surprised to be sent down, and then how long he thinks he’ll be with us.

A lot can happen.  Also worth noting is that the NHL holiday roster freeze is coming up.  December 19th-27th, players on the NHL roster cannot be sent down.  They can be called up from the AHL if needed, but if they’re on the NHL roster on Monday, they’ll be there until the freeze thaws out, whether they’re getting playing time or not.  So while they may have been told to play the 3 games this weekend, and we’ll see what happens Monday….I certainly won’t be surprised if the freeze starts and they’re still here.

The 3-in-3 continues in Rockford tomorrow night.  I won’t be making the trip….but if you’re going, stop by Beef-A-Roo for me!  They’re known for their beef, I hear….

Playing their third game in three days, the Admirals still had quite a bit left in the tank offensively.  They put 45 shots on goal, eventually prevailing 5-4 in a shootout against the Rockford IceHogs on Sunday afternoon.

Mark Van Guilder had a pair of goals, Ryan Flynn had a pair of helpers, while Jani Lajunen scored his first North American goal.  Jeremy Smith stopped 16 of 20 shots, seeing action in his third game in three days.

Coach Herbers has some very positive feedback for the way Van Guilder has been playing.

Dylan Olsen opened the scoring at 4:09 of the first period, tapping in a perfect centering pass from Jimmy Hayes.  Olsen was on a b-line to the net, and was a lot more wide open than he was supposed to be.

Joel Champagne answered about four and a half minutes later.  Mark Van Guilder created an offensive zone turnover along the far boards, and then Ryan Flynn fed a perfect pass to Champagne from behind the goal line.

Peter LeBlanc gave the lead back to the IceHogs at 13:12, deflecting a shot from defenseman Brian Fahey.

Mark Van Guilder tied the game just under a minute later.  After a long stretch in the defensive zone, Juuso Puustinen and Taylor Beck led the rush into the offensive zone while Michaell Latta went off for the change.  MVG replaced him, and went straight to the net.  Beck and Puustinen maintained possesion long enough for MVG to catch up with the play, and Beck fed MVG for the bang-bang goal.

Jani Lajunen then scored his first North American goal, finishing on a shot from the point by Tyler Sloan.  Goaltender Alec Richards stopped most of it, but it trickled through five-hole.  Lajunen’s stick beat Richards’ glove to the loose puck, and gave the Ads the lead.  Lajunen says it’s a relief to finally get the first one.

So after one period, the Admirals outshot the IceHogs 14-5, and led 3-2.

Rockford scored twice in the second period, first on a great individual effort by Andrew Shaw, after deeking Scott Valentine out of his skates before his shot.

Rostislav Olesz scored a power play goal while Taylor Aronson was serving a Yonking penalty.  Shawn Lalonde had the shot from the point, and Olesz won the battle in front of the crease and put it behind Smitty.

At 13:44, Jeremy Morin was given a five minute major for elbowing, and a game misconduct.  Joel Champagne took the brunt of the elbow, and was wheeled off the ice on a stretcher.  The Admirals could not score on that 5-minute power play.

Despite outshooting the IceHogs 28-13 after 40 minutes, the Admirals found themselves down a goal and down a player that had been playing very well.  We asked Coach Herbers what the message was in the 2nd intermission.

3:02 into the 3rd period, Mark Van Guilder tied it up with his second of the game.  The play was similar to Champagne’s goal earlier, in that Ryan Flynn passed the puck from behind the goal line to the guy crashing the net.

In the shootout, Smitty stopped all four tries he faced, and Michael Latta and Ryan Ellis scored five-hole on Richards.  Here’s Coach Herbers on tonight’s plan on the shootout.

—-

Lines:

Bourque – Mueller – Thang
Champagne – Van Guilder – Flynn
Beck – Latta – Puustinen
Slaney – Lajunen – Stortini

Ellis-Sloan, Ford-Bartley, Valentine-Aronson

So the $64,000 question….how is Joel Champagne?  We’ll let him tell you.

So he doesn’t remember much…but he got an elbow in the jaw.  He said he doesn’t think he had a concussion.  So it looks like the team dodged a huge bullet there, especially since he’s been playing so well lately.

– Seemed as though Mueller (-3) and Thang (-2) weren’t on the ice as much late in the game while the other three lines were rolling pretty consistently, with Bourque taking Champagne’s spot with Van Flynder.

– Rockford scored their four goals on their first NINE shots.  Smitty wasn’t as sharp, but had to deal with some deflections, missed assignments, and lost battles by his defense on a few occasions.  Smitty looked better over the 2nd half of the game.

– Ryan Ellis — not playing like the best prospect in the system.  The similie was brought up in the comment section of a previous post….but does he remind you of Cody Franson, just without the size?

– Special teams….still struggling on both sides of late.  Another power play goal allowed, and another 0h-fer with the man-advantage.

Questions:

What does Van Guilder need to do to get on Nashville’s radar for a call-up?  Do you agree with Coach Herbers that he’s been the best and most reliable forward this year?  Are we being too hard on Ryan Ellis?  What specifically do you want the team to work on this week before Toronto comes to town on Friday?