After a bad bounce led to a quick Barons score 30 seconds into the game, the Admirals scored three of their own in the first period, and cruised to a 3-2 win over the Oklahoma City Barons.

Coach Muller says it was a team win.

As previously alluded to, the Barons took the 1-0 lead just 30 seconds into the contest.  As the Barons were entering the zone from the near side, Alex Plante sent the puck around the glass. Harmless enough, right? Jeremy Smith skated out behind the net to play the puck. Sounds logical, right? As the puck was about to reach Smith it hit a seam in the glass and shot out into the slot where Phillippe Cornet had what will be probably one of the easiest goals of his career. It was one of those, “what’ya gonna do” plays.

After the first goal it would have been easy for the Admirals to put their head down and say “it’s not our day again”. Instead they bounced right back with a  Mark Van Guilder goal. At the 8:33 mark, Ryan Flynn had the puck behind the net with a defender crashing on him. Flynn dished a great pass to MVG who redirected it past David LeNeveu, tying the game at 1.

The Admirals wern’t done yet. They only needed 1:20 to light the lamp again. This time it was on the Mountain Fury Power Play. (Serioulsy where is our internet money Roundys? Pay up.) Ryan Ellis had the puck at the point and fired a rocket that was deflected in traffic. The puck was re-directed to the far circle where Juuso Puustinen put a slap shot on net to beat LeNeveu short-side and give the Ads a 2-1 lead.

But wait! There’s more! About a minute and a half later, the Barons’ Taylor Chorney had a pretty bad turnover — reminiscent of Roman Josi’s from the last game. Chorney tried to pass the puck up to a player on his own team, the puck wasn’t even close and instead found Kyle Wilson’s stick. Wilson skated in uncontested and fired a shot that beat LeNeveu to give the Ads their 3rd goal of the period.

Three goals in six minutes.  Coach said it was good they capitalized when they did.

The Barons finally put up a crooked number with about four and a half minutes left in the game.  Chorney had the puck at the point. He fired a shot on net that was redirected by Phillippe Cornet. The puck somehow found light behind Smith off the redirect and cut the Barons deficit to one.

That was as close as they would get as the Admirals held on for a 3-2 final.

Notes:

Some shuffled lines tonight.

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

After the first 3 goals I thought David LeNeveu really played well. He had some HUGE saves; among them some dandies against Roman Josi.

The Barons recorded 17 official shots on net (a few were added after the game). That sure makes life easy for a goaltender when you can keep the other team from him.

The Barons were a team playing their third in three days, after playing the first two at home, splitting a pair of games with the Charlotte Checkers.  They looked a bit tired.  But that’s life in the AHL, Holmes.

Questions:  Josi look better to you tonight?  Like the new line combos?  I don’t want to hear about the officiating…both teams got away with some stuff in the 3rd.  Do you think the team was able to keep the pressure on over the last 45 minutes or did you see a form of the prevent defense out there?  Ready to see Chicago again next Friday?  What was the funniest thing a player said to you during the camera night festivities?

The fourth time was the charm for the Chicago Wolves. In their fourth meeting with the Admirals, the Wolves capitalized on a plethora of Milwaukee miscues, and came away with a 6-3 win.

The Wolves shutdown the Admirals offense over the last half of the game, and scored four of their own during that time to take the lead and then pull away in the final minutes.

Were the Wolves that good or were the Admirals that bad?  I think it’s a combination of both.  And Coach Muller says something along those lines.

Scott Ford, of all people, opened the scoring, finishing after some strong play in the offensive zone by Jani Lajunen.  The Fin brought the puck in along the right wing, circled around the net, and tried to hit Gabriel Bourque with a pass in the slot.  Colliding with a Wolf player or two, Bourque couldn’t control the pass, but the puck then came to Ford on the near point.  Bourque kept going straight to the net to screen Matt Climie, and Ford’s shot made it through traffic for his first score of the year.

About 3 minutes later, Stefan Schneider sprung Kevin Connauton on a breakaway, right after the latter’s hooking penalty had expired.  Both Ryan Ellis and Victor Bartley were caught up ice, and couldn’t catch up with Connauton, who beat Jeremy Smith.

Then came a wild second period.

Connauton scored his second of the game, taking a cross-ice pass from Darren Haydar on the power play.  Wide.  Open.

Roman Josi and Michael Latta then connected to tie the game at 2.  Josi brought the puck all the way up ice in that very familar way for him, and tapped a pass over to Latta in the slot for the goal.

Latta scored his second of the game 27 seconds later.  After a Zack Stortini shot from the point didn’t quite make it on Climie, the puck bounced right to Latta in the low slot.

The defense then took the rest of the period off.

Roman Josi, deep in his own zone, made a perfect pass to Nathan Longpre.  After a short-distance give-and-go with Darren Haydar in front of the crease, Longpre scored his third of the year.

Then Tyler Sloan just handed the puck to Mark Mancari at the offensive blue line, springing him on a breakaway.  That one ended up being the game winning goal.

4 goals.  Smith hung out to dry on all of them.  Still, it was a winnable game, and here’s the message Coach told the team in second intermission.

The Ads seemed to have a tough time getting anything going in the 3rd period, and credit the Wolves for that.

Mike Duco had a quasi-empty net goal with 1:27 to play, as Smitty had started to head to the bench, but saw the offense turn the puck over.  Duco’s shot made it just past the stretched out reach of Smitty, as he was trying to get back to the crease.

Mark Matheson added an official empty-netter on a shot that was flipped just in front of the Chicago crease.  The puck just barely beat Scott Valentine into the net.

———–

Lines

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

Josi’s first game. We’ll start with Coach’s assessment.

Personally, I was surprised to see him in action so soon after being cleared to play.  I thought they might have liked him to get his hockey legs back a bit before getting thrown to the Wolves.  But there he was out there tonight.

A mixed bag I think.  Lots of his shots were blocked, and there was his gaffe that led to the game-tying goal.  But we saw some of the things that make Josi Josi — the smooth puck-carrier, the guy that has no panic in his game.  Looks like he still needs to get used to playing with his new defensive partners, Valentine at even strength and Ellis on the power play.  Hopefully it won’t take too long to get some of that chemistry.

Ellis was okay.  He needs to be better than okay.

Yeah, Smith was hung out to dry.  Would have been nice for him to come up with a save or two on those chances, but there were plenty of times he was bailing out his defenders at other points in the game.  Tough one for Smitty.  He deserved a better fate.  The rest of the team didn’t.

Kyle Wilson was invisible.  He was credited with three shots, though.  So I guess the shot counter saw him.

Darren Haydar played like the Darren Haydar we know.

Oklahoma City comes to town tomorrow, so it’s a quick turnaround…which coach says is nice after a game like this one.

Discussion: 

– Thoughts on Josi’s debut? 
– Were the defensive turnovers uncharacteristic, or have the d-men just done a better job concealing them over the season so far? 
– Did you like Valentine’s effort at the end of the game on the empty net goal?
– Do you get the sense with Coach Muller’s quotes so far that he’s never too high after a win or too low after a tough loss?
– For those of you who have seen them on the road…do they look like a different team at home?  Getting too cute with the puck?
– Looking forward to seeing Triston Grant tomorrow?  Think he would drop the gloves against Fordo?
–

The road streak is now 22 straight regular season road games with at least a point in the standings, as the Admirals broke a 1-1 tie early in the 3rd period, and held on to defeat the Rivermen 2-1 Saturday night in Peoria.  (Check out the Rivermen Blog recap here)

TJ Hensick served just 7 seconds of his elbowing penalty, as Kyle Wilson fired a shot past Ben Bishop after a great pass through the slot from Juuso Puustinen just 1:07 into the 3rd period.

The Admirals seem to have had a knack early in the season for striking in the first 10 minutes of the third period to either take the lead or increase a lead.

Ryan Ellis opened the scoring with his third goal in his last four games.  Ben Ryan did the work in the corner, and then Michael Latta found Ellis at the far point.  His shot through traffic beat Ben Bishop.

The Admirals outshot the Rivermen 16-7 in the first period…another strong start out of the gate.

In the second, the Rivermen tied the game with a power play goal by Jonathan Cheechoo.  The veteran fed a bad pass into the slot that was blocked by Victor Bartley, but Jani Lajunen tried to stick-handle instead of get the puck out of trouble right away.  As Lajunen was fumbling with the puck, Cheechoo slapped it past Jeremy Smith to even the score.

The Admirals took the lead back on Wilson’s goal, and then proceeded to kill off a couple of penalties, including a Ryan Thang penalty with 44 seconds remaining, giving the Rivermen a 6-on-4 advantage with Bishop on the bench.  Smith stopped all 16 shots he faced in the third period, and held on to get his sixth win of the season.

———–

Oh yeah, there were 30 minutes of penalties assessed before the game was 10 seconds old.  Zack Stortini and Anthony Peluso lined up against each other for the opening draw, cross-checked each other a couple times, and were sent to the box for 10-minute misconduct penalties before referee Shaun Davis even dropped the puck.  So those two penalties came at the 0:00 mark of the first period.  Then 10 seconds in, Scott Ford and Kyle Hagel dropped the gloves.  Hagel did not return to the game, presumably injured in some capacity.

While Smitty was great at stopping shots, so was the iron behind him.  The Rivermen hit at least two posts, and missed open nets on multiple occasions too.  A bit snake-bitten, they were.

The college schedule continues…as the Admirals have the week to practice before a pair of home games next weekend against Chicago and Oklahoma City (and the return of Triston Grant!)

(Photo Credit:  Scott Paulus/Milwaukee Admirals)

Remember that power play we talked about earlier this week?

The Admirals almost doubled their Mountain Fury power play conversions for the season tonight.

Three power play goals, a goaltender that was in the zone, and a defense that got their sticks on a lot of passes helped the Admirals skate away with a 3-1 win Friday night over the Charlotte Checkers.

Coach Muller was happy to see the hard work in practice this week pay off.

The special teams were certainly on display in the first period, as there were 20 minutes of penalty time just in the first frame alone, and plenty of power play time for both squads.  The Admirals were able to kill off all their penalties, and scored on a pair of their own power plays.

Kyle Wilson got on the board first at the 13:15 mark of the period.  After Chris Mueller carried the puck into the offensive zone, the puck got knocked off of his stick…right to Wilson who was trailing the play.  His shot from the top of the far circle beat Checker goaltender Mark Murphy.

Two minutes later the Admirals cashed in again, this time on a two-man-advantage that actually looked like a two-man-advantage.  Good puck movement, good decisions, and a bang-bang-bang play led to the goal.  Juuso Puustinen with the pass from the point down to Wilson, who had the quick pass across the crease to Mueller for the goal.  It’s a play we’ve seen so many times executed against us…what a treat to see that play work on our own power play.

Five-on-five hockey brought us some good chances on both ends, but better chances for Charlotte in the 2nd period.  Jeremy Smith stood on his head until Chris Durno redirected a shot from the point past him.

Saying that Smitty stood on his head really is an understatement.  We had run into a bunch of hot goaltenders earlier in the season, and Smitty was doing a great job tonight keeping the team in the lead.  Coach liked his game too.

High marks also for Victor Bartley who blocked a slew of shots on the PK.

Bartley scored an insurance goal 8:15 into the period, with a shot from the slot that finished a give-and-go with Taylor Beck.  It was exactly what the doctor ordered.

(Editors note:  they just gave an assist to Bourque on the Bartley goal.  Apparently for the scorers or whoever made the update after the game, it was a give-and-give-and-go)

Murphy spent the last 1:51 of the game on the bench, but the Checkers could get no closer.

NOTES:

Lots to like tonight.

– Obviously, the special teams were a step or two or ten notches above where they were last weekend.  Bartley told us after the game that they knew the Checkers were good on special teams, and they knew what they needed to do to be effective against them.

– The Admirals were blocking shots and deflecting passes all game in their own end.  Bartley was huge in those departments in the first period.  And on the forecheck, I thought Jani Lajunen’s stick was a magnet for errant passes.

– Early in the 3rd period, I thought the Ads did a nice job picking up the physical play.  Scott Valentine had some nice hits, and Scott Ford had a great hit up ice that led to his fight dance recital.  Stortini’s fight wasn’t much to talk about,  and the timing was odd….after a handpass call…but Durno apparently said the magic word to get it going.

– Thanger had an off-night.  I don’t blame it on his cup of coffee with the Preds earlier this week.  Just an off-night.  I bet he’ll be back to his normal self tomorrow in Peoria.  But I think there are a few chances from tonight that he’d like to have back.

– I didn’t care for Ben Ryan’s debut.  Sutty says, “Who’s that?”.  Sutty apparently doesn’t read the blog during the week.  (Sutty says, “What blog?”).  But it says something that Ryan was getting ice-time in the 3rd period, which is something Joel Champagne hadn’t received very often.

Ok Roundtable:  Feel better about special teams now, or is it like a box of chocolates?  We’ve gushed about Bartley for most of this post…who else impressed you tonight?  What was your first impression of the Checkers?  Ever seen that many penalties in the first period?  Do you think the Admirals pull this one out if more of the game was spent 5×5?

Editors note:  Please welcome Sutty back to the Roundtable for his first post of the season!  -RM

The Admirals got more trick than treat on Sunday at the Bradley Center as they played host to the Texas Stars. In the last of a ‘3 games in 3 days’ set for the Admirals, they fell to the Stars 5-3.

Coach Muller, with the summary.

The  Admirals struck first with a great shot from Ryan Ellis 2:23 into the first. The Ads put a shot on net from close, then the puck was redirected to the point. Ellis corraled the puck and fired a shot from just above the near circle that beat a screened Richard Bachman.

The Stars answered back on the Power Play at the 16:54 mark. It was an odd goal but a goal none the less. Raymond Sawada was attacking the zone with a defender right on him. Sawada made an attempt at a shot and fanned on it, but recovered and got another attempt that succeded in beating Jeremy Smith. The play looked odd but it was great concentration by Sawada to finish the play and tie the game.

Coach Muller talks about the talented Texas power play.

Right before the first period came to an end Mark Van Guilder had an absolutly fantastic goal. For reference and validity I will not exagerate or embelish… MVG entered the zone and was confronted by Stars’ D-man Phillip Larsen. MVG absolutly and completly undressed Larsen with a deke leaving his jock strap on the ice. MVG then skated in on Bachman (who was in awe of what he just saw) and put the puck past the goalie to give the Ads a 2-1 lead. After the goal, MVG reached into the net grabbed the puck and skated up to Larsen and bit the puck in half. He was then heard saying something like “’cause thats what men do”. MVG then skated off the ice, casually chewing on the other half of the puck. Okay, okay, I made some of that up. He didn’t eat the other half…he was saving it for dinner.

The second period also had 3 goals in it with the first going to the Stars’ Matt Fraser. Fraser got in past the defense and was able to go 5 hole off of a Ray Sawada rebound.

I am sure it’s a goal that Smitty would like to have back, and I can assure you that isn’t the only one. Just under two minutes later with Michael Latta in the sin bin serving two minutes for a holding call, Travis Morin was the receipient of a goal that just trickled in. The shot was initally slowed down by Smith, but it got past him. Smith spun around to find the puck slowly sliding towards the back of the net, giving the Stars their first lead of the game.

The Admirals would knot up the game at the 7:02 mark off of a great redirect by Zack Stortini. Victor Bartley got the puck at the point and fired a shot on net. I initially thought that Bartley got the score but upon further review Stortini got his stick on it and redirected it. This was another great job of the Milwaukee Admirals getting traffic in front and getting results.

Coach Muller liked seeing secondary scoring from guys like Stortini and Van Guilder.

The stalemate was finally broken late in the 3rd when Tomas Vincour scored for the Stars on yet another goal I bet Smith wishes he could have again. Ryan Garbutt chased down the puck into the corner threw a centering pass to Vincour who was all alone between the circles. He fired a shot on net that just flat out beat Smith who looked to be in good position.

The Stars would go on to seal the deal with an empty net goal giving them the 5-3 victory.

———-

Here’s what Coach Muller says they’ll need to work on this week to start November better than the way they ended October.

Questions:   Just an off day for Smitty? How did you see the goals? Soft or not his fault?  Did they look tired by the end of the weekend?  10 goals against in two days….Oucheroo!  Better game from Ellis tonight in general?  Did you like the line combos they did without Thanger in the lineup?  What kind of candy did you get this year?  Ryan got an intro?  What was that?????

Ryan Thang scored his team-leading 5th goal of the season off of a rebound in the 3rd period, and Jeremy Smith picked up his third win against the Wolves in this young season, as the Admirals topped Chicago 2-1 on Friday night in Rosemont.

Jeremy Smith has yielded just five goals in his three games against the Wolves this season, and turned aside 27 shots tonight.

The Ads outshot the Wolves 19-12 in the first period (remember those games last season when they didn’t get 19 shots in an entire game?), but they couldn’t beat Wolves goaltender Matt Climie in that opening frame.

Chicago struck first in the second period when Nathan Longpre scored his first pro goal, putting in a Darren Haydar pass from the corner.

Just before the end of the period, Juuso Puustinen answered back with a goal on a breakaway off of a pass from Victor Bartley.

Thang scored on a 3-on-1 rush after Climie made the first save on a Kyle Wilson shot.  This was Thang’s second game-winner of the season.

– While Smitty deserves a ton of credit, I think we also need to recognize that our young defense has done a nice job not looking like a young defense.  They’re not perfect, but they’re not making jaw-dropping mistakes that lead to goals for the opposition.  So on the nights when the Admirals score only two goals, they can still come away with two points.  Coach Herbers deserves some of that credit too.

– Don’t look now….but that’s five wins in a row against the Wolves, going back to the end of last season.  We’ll have to check with Don Tanner how close that is to a record for us in the all-time series.

– 21 regular season games on the road with at least a point.  Remarkable.

– Power play was hot and cold….the unit played very well at times, but it’s still having a tough time converting on the road.  0-3 tonight.

– Cal O’Reilly was traded today.  Just for old-times sake….join me in a rousing rendition of “SHOOT!  THE!  PUCK!  CAL!”  Seriously, best of luck to Cal in Phoenix.  We’ll remember the good times, for sure.  Great guy.

– Saturday brings us a Grand Rapids team that is 3-5 on the year, and coming off of a 5-1 loss to Abbotsford on home ice Friday night.  They scored 53 seconds into the game, and were never heard from again.  Remember Krys Kolanos?  Had a hat trick for Abbotsford, and the Heat converted on three power play chances.  There were also 118 minutes worth of penalties between the two teams, including a goalie fight between Leland Irving and Joey MacDonald.

So who knows what mood they’ll be in Saturday night.

Starting the third period down a goal, Coach Kirk Muller shuffled the lines and shortened up the bench a bit.  The Admirals then proceeded to score three goals in the first ten minutes of the frame, and Atte Engren made that lead stand as the Admirals beat the Heat 3-1 Saturday night.

Michael Latta tied the game just 57 seconds into the 3rd period, deflecting a Kyle Wilson shot off the shaft of his stick.

About 8 minutes later, a Victor Bartley shot from the point went through Abbotsford goalie Leland Irving, sliding through his legs.  Taylor Aronson assisted on that goal for his first professional point, and it was the first power play goal on the road this season for the Admirals….on their 14th attempt.

31 seconds later, Taylor Beck scored an insurance goal, but Ryan Flynn did the dirty work.  Flynn made a very strong move to the net and tried to jam the puck in short side.  Irving had the door closed, but Beck followed the play and knocked it past Irving to give the Admirals the 3-1 lead.

The Ads then gave the Heat essentially four straight minutes of power play time (including a Yonking penalty to Foss), but Engren was able to make some big saves, and keep the puck out of the net.

“I think that’s the most poised and confident that I’ve seen him in the net,” Coach Herbers said of Engren after the game during the radio broadcast.

Engren, making his first appearance of the season, finished with 24 saves on 25 shots.

(Incidentally, Chet Pickard, who apparently wears an “A” for the Cyclones, lost to Reading tonight 3-2….he’s 0-2 on the year, but has decent stats.  Cincy has only scored three goals for him over those two games)

– Ryan Thang returned to the lineup after leaving last nights game prematurely.  I think that A) Thang must be pretty tough, and 2) we’re pretty lucky that the hit wasn’t worse than it was.

– Raitis Ivanans made his season debut for the Heat tonight, presumably to make sure there wouldn’t be any retribution for Byron’s hit on Thang last night.  Raitis didn’t drop the gloves with anyone…but man, that name brings back some great memories…. I don’t remember ever seeing him lose a fight in an Admirals jersey.

– Three out of a possible four points on the Abbotsford trip?  We’ll take it.  20th straight road game with at least a point.  Travel day tomorrow, practice this week, and then the first 3-games-in-3-days stretch of the season this weekend.  Friday in Rosemont, and then Saturday and Sunday at the Bradley Center.

The Admirals were able to extend their road point streak to 19 games, but they ended with an  unsatisfying 2-1 shootout loss to Abbotsford.

Ryan Thang tied the game at 1 in the second period with a quick wrist shot during a 2-1 rush, but he was run into the boards soon as he released, and went into the boards head first.  He left the ice on his own power after staying down for a couple minutes, but he did not return.  Paul Byron received five for boarding, and a game misconduct.

On the post-game broadcast, Coach Herbers did not have anything specific to say about Thang’s injury when asked by Aaron Sims.

In the shootout, Coach Muller sent out the only person that didn’t score in the previous shootout to lead things off — Victor Bartley.

Bartley, Wilson, Bourque, and Ellis failed to convert.  Puustinen did.

Two defenseman….interesting.

Rematch is tonight.

 

The Admirals continued their hot start –their best since the 04-05 season — as they moved their record to 3-0 after a 3-2 shootout win over the Chicago Wolves Saturday night in Rosemont.

Michael Latta, Ryan Thang, Kyle Wilson, and Juuso Puustinen all scored in the shootout, while Jeremy Smith made two saves on the four shots he faced.

Here’s Coach Muller on his shootout lineup.

The Admirals got the first goal for the second straight night.  Jani Lajunen deserves some credit for a good forecheck in the Wolf D-zone that stalled the Chicago breakout.  Once the Wolves were able to gain control of the puck again, their clearing pass was intercepted by Victor Bartley just inside the blue line.  He had a quick pass to Kyle Wilson in the high slot, and he skated down Broadway, and beat Chicago goalie Eddie Lack.

About 5 minutes later, the Wolves answered back with a fluky goal.  A dump into the offensive zone bounced off the end boards back in front of the goal line.  Smitty was caught behind the net, and a sliding Ryan Ellis couldn’t stop Matt Clackson’s shot in close.

Two minutes later, Chris Mueller put the Ads back on top, and Chicago D-man Yann Sauve should get the primary assist.  In his own defenseive zone, Sauve made the perfect pass to Mueller on the tape, and his shot from the far side beat Lack high.  Again, the Admirals cashed in on what Coach Muller describes as kind of a high IQ forecheck.

In the second period, there was a lot penalty action for both teams, with some questionable calls going both ways.  But neither team’s power play unit could convert.

The Wolves did tie the score on a play that featured a lot of Admirals just waving their sticks at puck carriers.  Victor Oreskovich fired a shot from the point that went off of Ryan Ellis, and changed direction enough to beat Smitty high.  The deflection came from above the faceoff circles, and one could argue that it’s a shot Smitty needs to stop.

The Wolves had a goal waived off late in the period, as Francis Charron ruled that the puck went in off of a high stick before it dribbled past the goalline.

Chicago carried most of the play in the 3rd period, but the Admirals got somewhat of a second wind with a power play chance in the 2nd half of the period.  The teams ended the game tied in shots.

And yes — the Admirals string of road games with at least a point is now at 18 games.  Pretty slick.

LINES

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

Ellis – Sloan
Ford – Bartley
Aronson – Valentine

– Sloan left the game after being hit — a “clean hit” Coach said after the game.  They’ll have a better idea of the damage tomorrow.

– This was Taylor Aronson’s pro debut, and with Sloan out, he was playing some pretty meaningful minutes late in the game.  And Coach gives him high marks on his first game.

– Lajunen continues to be a monster on the forecheck.  One thing that we’ve seen with the Admirals in the first three games is that there are times when they make things very difficult for the opponents to get the puck out of their defensive zone.  And it’ll be even better when we get Gabriel Bourque back in the lineup.

– Power play was not as sharp tonight.  Passes not clicking as easily as they seemed to yesterday.  And Eddie Lack was pretty solid for the game, when he wasn’t hung out to dry.

– Taylor Beck has played on a different line in all three games.  He has been underwhelming thus far.  Doesn’t look like a guy that scored 95 points last season.  For some perspective, Mark Santorelli scored 101 his last season in juniors.  Beck is here to develop into a power forward, and we’re not seeing a lot of power yet.  But coach says that this line hopping isn’t due to his play.

– The Wolves and Rivermen remain winless in the division.

Questions for discussion — If Sloan misses some time, who do you bump up to play with Ellis?  How has Beck met your expectations thus far?  Do you think Aronson and Valentine held their own as the 3rd defensive pair?  Do you wish we didn’t have to wait until the end of next week for the next game?  When you travel, do you like Rosemont or Rockford better?

Special teams were indeed special on Friday night, and behind three Mountain Fury power play goals, the Admirals were victorious in their home opener.  The Ads outran the Chicago Wolves 4-2.

In the first period, the Admirals put 15 shots on net, and scored two power play goals.  Juuso Puustinen scored his second of the year off of a great pass from Chris Mueller.  And then Ryan Thang capitalized on a Kyle Wilson shot that beat Chicago goaltender Eddie Lack, but didn’t quite make it past the goal line.  Thanger spotted it and finished the job.

The new Captain of the Wolves, Darren Haydar scored a power play goal for the Wolves in the 2nd period.  He had the puck on the goal line on the far side and tried to thread a pass to to the low slot.  The pass was blocked and kicked right back to him, and he put a quick shot on Smitty from a tough angle.  There was some daylight there on the short side as Smitty was trying to get back to the pipe after playing the pass.

So the Admirals started the 3rd period nursing a 2-1 lead, the same way they did on opening night in Peoria.  And in a similar fashion, they scored a goal in the first five minutes.  With Michael Davies serving a tripping penalty for the Wolves, Chris Mueller scored his first of the year.  We’ll let him explain how it happened.

Jordan Schroeder got another power play goal for the Wolves about seven and a half minutes later, and it was one that Smitty would like to have back.  Skating in along the right wing boards he put what seemed to be a harmless shot on net.  That one was a softie.

Taylor Beck scored the empty netter — a shot from center ice that came seconds after another Beck shot from the slot was blocked by a Wolves defender.

—————

Lines

Thang – Mueller – Beck
Wilson – Lajunen – Puustinen
Champagne – MVG – Flynn
Cahill – Latta – Stortini

– Mueller had a four point night, with a goal and three assists. Kyle Wilson had 2 helpers as did Ryan Ellis.  Ryan Thang had a goal and an assist.

– With the offense that first line is providing, Coach Muller has reason to be pleased.  But here’s why he is REALLY pleased with that first line.

– How about that Admiral power play?  Looked like they had purpose out there.  That first power play unit had Thang, Wilson, and Mueller down low, and Ellis and Puustinen at the point.  Do you like Puustinen on the point like we used to see Cal O’Reilly do it?  Here is Coach’s thoughts about Juuso on the point.

– There were a couple of big hits from Valentine that sent him to the box.  One an open ice collision that drew a hit-to-the-head penalty.  And then a boarding penalty in the 3rd period that the Wolves eventually scored on.  Was your first reaction A) nice hits or 2) What would Shanahan say about them if this was his jurisdiction?

– This is fun — the Admirals have yet to yield an even strength goal in their two games.

– Bourque is day to day and will probably be back after tomorrow’s game.  Josi is day to day, but he’s starting to work out, so that’s a good sign.  They’re being cautious with both of them.

– Here’s Coach talking about the move to send Chet Pickard down to Cincy.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:

Did you like the pre-game tribute and the post-game salute?  What’s the best adjective to describe the fancy schmancy new Admiral power play?  Do you like seeing Puustinen on the point like that?  Was it weird seeing the Wolves without guys like Squirrel-Face, Spencer Machacek, and Riley Holzapfel?  Thoughts on the Valentine hits?  Which of the new guys impressed you tonight?  Which guys didn’t?