Well this makes Texas’ gameplan for Game 2 pretty easy, right?

Stop Gabriel Bourque and Chris Mueller.

Those two combined for 9 points, as the Admirals shot down the Texas Stars 5-2 Thursday night in the first game of their playoff series.

Bourque’s five point night ties an Admirals playoff record.  Last person to have it?  Libor Pivko against Chicago in 2004.

Not bad for a 20 year old.

It was the Stars who were first to strike.  While Scott Ford sat in Johnson’s office for a cross check, the Stars made quick work of the odd man attack. 17 seconds later, Aaron Gagnon had the puck at the top of the near side circle, took a couple strides towards the net and fired a wrister that looked to have been deflected. The puck remained on target and past Jeremy Smith, who was being screened by Raymond Sawada.  The shot looked funny and had a weird trajectory,so I am assuming it was redirected. Perhaps some conspiracy theorist can look and come up with a grassy knoll type idea. Either way, the score counted, and the Ads were down halfway through the stanza.

The Admirals evened the match when Gabriel Bourque got the biscuit past Richard Bachman off of a great pass by Roman Josi. Andreas Thuresson got a loose puck on the near side boards and quickly sent it to the far side circle, where Josi gathered it. After a stride, he found Bourque crashing back side, and put the puck right on the tape, which Bourque converted into his first goal of the game.   It was a great play by all parties involved and woke up the crowd.

Just under three minutes later the Admirals extended their lead while on the Mountain Fury Power Play.  Bourque had the puck and was skating down the far side wall.  He dished the puck slightly forward to Mueller, who took the puck on the other side of the circle, skated around a defender, and put a back hand past Bachman short side for the Fury goal.  This was a goal off of great stick handling and also a great job by Bourque to find Mueller in space.

The Admirals kept the momentum going in the second period,  and scored a couple more goals.  The first came off Ryan Thang’s stick, and a great re-direct at that.  Mueller gathered the puck in the slot and unleashed an awkward shot that looked to be sailing high. Thang was being boxed out by a Stars D-man but was able to track it and make contact with the puck on his stick below the crossbar. The puck then went straight down and spun like a top over the line, right before another Stars D-man could bring it to safety. This play looked weird right from the start, but a great job by Thang to get some wood on it for the score.

The Stars had a golden opportunity to get back in the game, with the help of some 5-on-3 power play time.  Instead, it was the penalty kill unit and specifically Jeremy Smith who kept the momentum with the Admirals.  The 5-on-3 was courtesy of a Roman Josi Yonking penalty, and when Ford got called for “carrying two many sticks”.  It put the Admirals down two men for 1:05 and the the penalty kill unit was great. They found a way to keep the puck out of their net with the help of some great acrobatic saves by Smith. I tell you what, if there was a back breaker for the Stars in this game, that was it.

Coach Lambert says Smith was mirac…..great tonight.

What’s that? You want a little more of the Mueller and Bourque show? Well funny you should mention that.  Bam!!! Bourque goal!!!!! With a turnover in the Admirals o-zone Mueller was able to gather the rock and carry it to the near side corner where he spotted Bourque coming to the net near side. Mueller put a pinpoint pass on Bourque’s tape, and Gabriel took it top shelf to give the Admirals a three goal lead.

Mueller talks about the chemistry between himself and Bourque.

The third period started with a Texas goalie change, and a little bit later, a Stars goal. Mathieu Tousignant gathered the puck just atop the near circle and fired a shot that hit Grant Lewis, who was covering a crashing Stars player. Smith was unable to compensate for the redirection, and it beat him far side to half the deficit at 4-2. The goal was a great example of ‘get the shots on net and good things happen’. Nothing special, it was just the right place, right time, and a right decision by Tousignant.

With the crowd chanting encore like a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert that had yet to play Freebird, the Mueller and Bourque show continued to fly high, giving Bourque his fifth point and Mueller his second goal of the night. Bourque created the turnover,  and then shoved a pass to Mueller, who was near side down low. Mueller just casually skated in putting on a stick handling clinic, and eventually just putting the puck 5-hole on a frozen Tyler Beskorowany.

Mueller says it was just one of those nights.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS:

Lines started:

Bourque – Mueller – Thang
Thuresson – Van Guilder – Conacher
Santorelli – Begin – Beck
Flynn – Bartlett – Ryan

Lane shuffled them a bit in the 3^rd period, but after talking to Coach, we shouldn’t read too much into it

The Admirals scored five goals tonight.  They scored seven goals in the season series this year.

Surprised Beck got the call instead of Latta?

Describe the upgrade of Aaron Johnson over Jeff Foss.  How nice was it to have him back?

Ever seen that illegal stick call before?

When was the last time the Admirals had a #1 line like this?

What kind of game to you expect on Saturday night?

In a game that meant very little outside of counting stats, the Admirals scored three power play goals, en route to a 4-1 over the Grand Rapids Griffins.

In more meaningful games, both the Oklahoma City Barons and Texas Stars lost, which means that Texas will be Milwaukee’s first round opponent.

Game 1:  Thursday the 14th in MKE
Game 2:  Saturday the 16th in MKE
Game 3: Tuesday the 19th in Texas
Game 4: Wednesday the 20th in Texas
Game 5:  Friday the 22nd in Texas (if needed)
Game 6: Monday the 25th in MKE (if needed)
Game 7:  Tuesday the 26th in MKE (if needed)

“They are a team that went to the finals last year,” Coach Lambert said of the Stars.  “They’ve got a number of their players playing for them right now that played in the playoff run for them last year.  We know exactly how this series is going to be.  This is going to be a grind and it’s going to be a chess match of detail.  And I don’t think you can stress the five second rule enough in the game.  We’re going to have to be aware of every shift every second of the game.  It’s going to be a challenge, and we’re looking forward to it.”

Today’s game featured a lot of ice time from the ATO players who dressed, including lots of minutes from Cory Conacher, Michael Latta, Taylor Beck, and Ben Ryan.  Conacher had two power play goals, and Beck and Latta had an assist in the contest.

The Admirals were graced with four power plays in the first period, and were able to convert on two of them.  With three seconds left on a two-man-advantage, Ryan Thang scored again (he was the hero last night, if you recall).  While falling down just to left of the crease, his backhander beat Jordan Pearce.

On another power play, the Griffins went on a shorthanded breakaway thanks to some sloppy play by Admirals defencemen, and Grant Lewis took down Ilari Filppula to prevent the goal.  Referee Koharski signaled for the penalty shot right away, but Filppula whiffed on his attempt.

Conacher scored his first power play goal with 3:21 left in the first period.  There was a lot of passing and not a lot of shooting going on in this power play, but Conacher received a return pass at the top of the slot, and his shot beat beat Pearce, with a little help from a Ryan Flynn screen.

The Griffins got a power play goal of their own in the second period, as Chris Minard was in the right place to gobble up the rebound of a Logan Pyett shot.  The puck just slid right to where Minard was standing, and Atte Engren couldn’t get back into position to make that save.

5:41 into the 3rd period, Conacher got his second goal, but it was the vision of Taylor Beck that made the play.  Andreas Thuresson’s shot from the far boards was saved by Pearce.  Beck claimed the rebound next to the far post, and slid a quick pass to Conacher on the other side of the crease for the easy goal.

“He’s a guy that got handed to our affiliate in Cincinnati,” Coach Lambert said.  “(Head coach) Jarrod Skalde made a call, and recommended he come in and play here.    And that’s a very professional move.  He just felt he could play, and I think he’s getting better every game.  He’s got speed, he’s got smarts, he’s got skill, and he competes.  There are still things that he needs to learn, but I thought he played an outstanding game, and he’s got a lot of talent.  I hope we can continue to build on that.”

Brett Palin had a goal-line to goal-line empty netter with 6.6 seconds left in the game, off a defensive zone face-off win by Michael Latta.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS:

Lines started this way:

Thang – Mueller – Bourque
Thuresson – Van Guilder – Conacher
Flynn – Bartlett – Ryan
Santorelli – Latta – Beck

Laakso was a healthy scratch.  Van Guilder missed a good chunk of the game, and was limping around a bit afterwards.  Coach said he’ll be fine.

Grand Rapids had four power plays.  Jeff Foss was responsible for three of them.

Conacher has three goals and two assists in his five games with the Admirals so far.  He’s on an ATO, so if we do get some players back from the Preds, he’ll still be able to play, instead of just hanging out ‘in residence’.

Here’s a summation of the season from the Coach, explaining how we were able to get to this point:

“I just think our guys are resilient, and we have a good group of guys that work hard every day, whether it be in games or in practices.   We’re like everybody else, we make our mistakes and we have our peaks and valleys, but we have a really good leadership group and we have a really good group of young character players that come to the rink every day to work hard.”

Pretty good summary?

So we’re going to get to know the Texas Stars pretty quickly.  They had our number during the regular season…. does that change how optimistic or pessimistic you are about the upcoming series?

Playing their final road game of the regular season, the Admirals finally were able to clinch 1st place in the division, after a thrilling 4-3 victory over the Peoria Rivermen Saturday night.

After blowing a 3-1 lead in 41 seconds late in the 2nd period, and after only getting two shots on Jake Allen in the 3rd period, Ryan Thang scored on the third shot of the period — finishing a two-on-one rush with a shot that beat Allen five-hole with 6.5 seconds left in the game.

Gabriel Bourque was scratched, and Ben Ryan made his pro debut.

We’ll have more on the game Sunday morning….. but feel free to leave your celebration of choice in the comments section.

Huzzah!

Third time clinching the division wasn’t the charm for the Admirals, as they fell to the Texas Stars 3-2 at the Bradley Center Friday night.

The magic number remains at one, to be the #1 seed in the conference, but Coach Lambert says he isn’t even thinking about that.

“I’m not worried about the magic number.  At all.  We’ve got to get some breaks, and we’ve got to find a way to get back on track.  And when we do that, the magic number will take care of itself.”

It’s been three one-goal losses in a row at home for the Admirals, and of course Coach doesn’t care for the results, but he’s not as upset about the way the team has played.

“I thought we played well last game, and I thought we played well tonight, and I think our goaltender should have had their third goal.  You can’t let a goal in like that in a game like this.”

That third goal came after Jeremy Smith’s failed attempt at gloving a centering pass from the corner, and Travis Morin was able to finish the play for his second goal of the game.  Don’t know if Jeremy blinked, or the puck knuckled, or the sun was in his eyes, or he had a momentary loss of depth perception, but the official scorer gave him an E-2 on that play.

We asked Coach if he thought the Stars’ goalie stole the game, and here was his reply:

“I guess maybe at the end of the day, if he lets in a bad one and ours doesn’t, it’s a different story.”

Think we’ll see Engren in Peoria tomorrow?  Perhaps?

Grant Lewis made his return to action, and provided a goal and a primary assist in the third period, but Richard Bachman was solid in net for Texas, stopping 31 of the Admirals’ 33 shots.

Ray Sawada opened the scoring 3:05 into the game, deflecting a Jordie Benn shot over and around Smith.

Travis Morin scored the first of his two goals 7:09 into the second period, channeling his inner-Tony-Plush, slapping the puck out of mid-air past three Admirals skaters and Smith.  Was it played with a high stick?

“I think so yeah, but whatever, it comes down to video reply.  Human error.”  These sorts of goals are happening every game….we’ve got to ask about it, and we can tell he’s tired of answering it.

Lewis got one back for the Admirals after a poor penalty kill clearing attempt  fell into his lap.  His shot from the slot beat Bachman.

But then, Smitty let in what may have been his worst goal of the year.  That goal gave the Stars a 3-1 lead with 3:19 to play.

Morin took a tripping penalty with two minutes to play, and the Admirals scored on that power play, with Smith pulled for an extra attacker.  Grant Lewis’ shot from two feet in front of the blue line on the near side made its way through to Bachman, and while he made the save, he couldn’t control the rebound.  The puck bounced behind him, and Mike Bartlett was there to tap it the rest of the way with 27.2 seconds left in the game.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Coach’s thoughts on the new guys:  “I thought Conacher played pretty good.  I thought Watson tapered off a little bit.  That’s a big strong team they have over there and they grind you down pretty good.  Foss was fairly steady.  And Latta and Beck, their minutes were fairly limited, but when they got out there, they did the best they could.”

I agree on Conacher.  The speed has been great to see.  What do you think about the new guys tonight?

So is this three game skid much ado about nothing?  Just some bad breaks, some good goalie performances on the other end, and some chemistry-building in process?

Word is that Preds’ 2007 draft pick Ben Ryan will be joining the team in Peoria.  Ryan is a center, who just finished his senior season at Notre Dame, 6g, 19a, in 44 games.  Think he’ll play?

Anything else on your mind?

Going on the Admirals Crew bus tomorrow?  Have a fun trip!  Hope you get to see them clinch!

By the way – OUCH & Company…I thoroughly enjoy your in-game chants.  I know you guys have been doing lots of them for awhile….but I was moved to say something tonight.  Thanks for keeping stuff interesting and fun on our side of the arena.

Great!  The Admirals are able to announce the first two home playoff games, Thursday April 14^th, and Saturday April 16^th.

They were able to clinch home ice for the first round…not because they did anything in their game Wednesday night, but rather due to the fact that Peoria defeated Texas.

So even though the Admirals lost 2-1 to the Grand Rapids Griffins, they can leave the Bradley Center knowing when their first two post-season games will be.  (They probably won’t know the opponents until Sunday).

So clear your schedules for Thursday and Saturday, yo.

Ok, now to the game.

The Admirals, continuing to punish the jersey embroiderer, added two more new names for tonight’s game. Taylor Beck and Michael Latta, who finished their junior seasons over the weekend, were the fresh faces.  And here’s what the coach said about their debuts.

“I liked Latta.  He plays hard and he’s got some skills.  I think the one thing about him is his pace to the game, but he does a lot of things well in terms of competing.

“I thought Beck got an eye-opener tonight.  He’s going to have to compete a lot harder for me, because he’s a big guy, but there wasn’t enough…..there were a couple of moments where he had the puck down below the goal line that he was pretty good…. But on their second goal, all he’s got to do is finish Tatar behind the net and it’s a dead play.  These are little things here that when you get guys out of junior hockey, that you need to fix, and there’s not a lot of time to fix it right now. “

The Griffins’ Cory Emmerton would be the first to light the lamp with 7:47 to go in the first. Chris “shop at” Minard(s) gathered the puck from Adam Keefe . Brett Palin stepped up to contest Minard giving him a good shove but was unable to jar the puck loose. This allowed Minard to pass the puck to Emmerton, who was crashing the net uncontested from the back side, and for an easy goal.

The second period got off to a productive, if not lucky start for the Admirals, and more specifically Andreas Thuresson, who was able to pick up his 14^th goal on the season at 2:02.  Newcomer Latta gave the puck in the neutral zone to fellow noob Cory Conacher.  After receiving the puck Conacher put a shot on net from way out that hit Griffins net minder Jordan Pearce in the torso, and he looked like he thought he still had the puck in his pads.  Instead, the puck had just gotten past Pearce and was slowly moving through the crease as Thuresson was pushing through a defender hard to the net.  On his way to being shoved to the ice, Thuresson got enough on the puck to give it a little more zip to get the Admirals’ only goal of the night. It was one of those plays where the goalie wishes he saw it because there was quite a bit of time between initial stop and Thuresson getting to the loose puck.

“Over the last 40 minutes we carried the play and had the majority of the chances and we should have won the hockey game, but their goalie played well, and we couldn’t find ways to put it past him,” said the Coach.  “And the one that we did put past him was a bad goal by him.  He should have had that easy wrist shot from the blue line and he didn’t.  It’s funny how it goes…there’s lots that should have went in and the one that shouldn’t have did.”

The Griffins, not allowing the Admirals too much time to celebrate the goal, got the lead right back off of a Tomas Tatar tally (that’s alliteration kids) just :34 seconds later.  After a Ilari Filppula shot that went wide, Tatar gathered the puck from behind the net and came around near side to try a wrap around. Jeremy Smith was able to stop the first attempt but unfortunately was unable to stop the second as the puck trickled behind Smith and over the line to give the Griffins the lead, and Tartar his 24^th on the year.

The Admirals had chances in the 3^rd period, and the sound “ping” was heard, illustrating in sound how close they came on a chance.  The home team outshot the Griffins 14-5 in the frame, and they seemed to start using some speed to their advantage.  But Pearce was solid, and the defense was able to get the puck out of trouble when needed.

Coach Lambert says that it’s great to be in first, but the focus is elsewhere right now.

“We’re trying to build here.  In terms of standings and points and things like that, that’s not our focus right now.  It can’t be, because we are trying to improve our game with the number of new players that we have in the lineup.  That’s really our focus – to sort of get back to the foundation and continue to try and build.  There are certain plays that happened in the game tonight that guys that haven’t been here very long don’t recognize.  And it’s all part of the process of trying to get better and we have to do it quickly.”

NOTES & QUESTIONS:

So what did you think of Latta and Beck?  I thought Latta really picked it up from about the half way point in the second. I felt he was one of the few out there with a real fire… I thought he helped create a few good chances and even got some chances of his own off of his hard work.  Beck?  I wouldn’t say he looked like a loser, baby…..but he didn’t impress me (with his Devil’s Haircut) the way that some of the other ATO guys had in their debuts.

Plenty of dump and chase, but I think they were better about skating it into the zone in the 3^rd period especially.

Was that the loudest pipe you’ve ever heard, on Josi’s bullet in the 3^rd?

Foss and Leaderer….act II…..thoughts?

Laakso and Josi combined for well over 40 minutes of ice time.  Big effort from those guys tonight.  Laakso almost scored in his fifth straight game….but couldn’t get his stick on a rebound on a play in the 3^rd period.

Looks like Ford was able to avoid suspension.  Word is that Peoria didn’t even submit tape to the league about the hit.

Begin took a puck to the leg and had to be helped off the ice.  Day-to-day is the word for now.

And one more note:  The Admirals have a chance to set a franchise record for the fewest penalty minutes in a season.  The current record is 1,086 minutes in the 83-84 season….and with three games to go, the Admirals are sitting on 1005 minutes.

The Admirals suited up 5 total players on ATO or PTO contracts and failed to convert on a chance to clinch the West, as they were defeated 4-3 by the Peoria Rivermen Sunday evening.  With Rockford defeating Texas 5-1, the Admirals could have become the “kings of the west” and clinched home ice advantage through most of the playoffs but alas it wasn’t meant to be.

Here’s the coach.

Only 3:37 into the game things weren’t looking good for the Admirals and unfortunately, worse for former Admiral Dave Scatchard. With Scatchard skating the puck into the zone from the near boards he passed the puck though the slot to a fellow Rivermen. After Scatchard passed, Scott Ford met him with a shoulder to the head and Scatchard went down.  He remained down and had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher. Ford was given a five minute major and a game misconduct for “checking to the head”. I am sorry if this seems kind of vague or non-descript and that is because I didn’t actually see the hit that sent him down, and the replay crew rightfully didn’t deem it replay-worthy.  Please feel free to give your description of the play in the comments section.

Coach Lambert doesn’t know if there will be a suspension, but didn’t think it was a dirty hit.

That was just the start for the Admirals and their penalty troubles as they committed five penalties in the 1^st period alone. Mark Santorelli’s penalty came at the 9:58 mark for holding and just :19 seconds later the Rivermen put a crooked number on the board.  The goal has followed a theme this year and that theme is not consulting with the goal judge and making a unilateral decision on goal or no goal by the Referees.  This was no exception as Akim Aliu was the beneficiary of the hack job. Nathan Oystrick put a shot on net from the near circle that Atte Engren turned aside to the far side icing line. Aliu was there to put a shot on net that Engren had apparently covered. The Ref, Tim Mayer was against the boards at the far side of the ice with his hand up for a delayed penalty when his Go-Go-Gadget eyes saw the puck cross the line.

Here’s Coach Lambert’s token request for video replay.

The Rivermen capitalized on another of the aforementioned penalties. This one was courtesy of T.J. Hensick. Jeff Foss didn’t even have enough time to find out where to sit in the penalty box as the Rivermen only needed : 16 to convert on this odd man advantage. Again, Atte Engren stopped the first shot but was unable to corral the rebound and received no help from his defense. The puck was being peppered form in close with almost everyone in the crease when it came out far enough where a poaching Hensick picked up the puck, skated far side slot and put the shot past the screened Engren.

In the second period the Admirals were able to half the lead off a Chris Mueller goal while on the Double Rainbow Mountain Fury Power Play. The Admirals had the 5-on-3 advantage with Dean Arsene and Brennan Evans sitting in the box. For the Admirals, Roman Josi and Santorelli were playing catch with the puck with Josi in the near circle and Santorelli down low goal line level. They were seemingly lulling the Rivermen to sleep when Santo sent a quick and beautiful pass though the crease to Mueller awaiting back door. Mueller didn’t even have to do anything but angle his blade as the pass from Santo hit his tape the straight to the back of the net.

In the 3^rd period, the fans didn’t even have time to sit down before the Admirals’ Gabriel Bourque lit the lamp to tie the game at two.  Just :44 into the third, Ryan Thang passed the puck to Bourque, who was down low below the goal. He tried to pass the puck back to the slot but it was deflected to netting on the back of the cage. Bourque hit the back of the net to get the puck to come down then proceeded to try a wrap around shot that successfully beat Allen far side. It was a great effort by Bourque to keep the play alive and beat Allen with a quick wraparound.

The game would not be tied for long as the Rivermen took back the lead at the 3:00 mark.  This was just a simple, ‘you messed up and I am going to make you pay’ goal as T.J Hensick intercepted a pass from Santorelli from inside the slot and beat Engren after a couple strides. No big deal right, we can get that ba….. Rivermen goal?!?!?! It took them 13 seconds to make Engren pay for his rubber glove.  Adam Cracknell put a harmless shot on net from the near side circle and Engren tried the glove save and failed with the puck falling in the crease allowing Stefan Della Rovere to take the loose change to the bank to give the Rivermen the 4-2 lead.  It was the fastest pair of opponent goals this season.

The Admirals refusing to go away quietly got their third goal of the night with the extra attacker on the ice in lieu of a goalie.  Andreas Thuresson was at the near side point he sent the pass rink wide to Teemu Laakso who wound up and fired one past Allen to give the Admirals a little more hope.  It was Laakso’s fourth in as many games.

That hope would fade into obscurity as the Admirals could not get the tying goal, despite a last half-minute flurry, making the final 4-3 in favor of the bad guys.

NOTES:

With 3:01 to go in the first period Ben Bishop stopped his second (yes second) shot on goal and after the puck started going the other way Bishop went down to his knees in pain and left the game. The only thing I can think is he got a puck under the pads.

Although I would not call Ford a thug, or a goon, or Matt Cooke, I do think he will get a couple games off without pay for his hit on Scatchard. The NHL is looking to get rid of shots to the head no matter the intention and I am sure the AHL has a lot of pressure on them to stay in line with their parent league.

Although the Admirals were down a man or two quite often in the first period they only managed to get 2 shots on goal…  Two… as in the second loneliest number since the number one.  I am no mathematician but I am pretty sure you don’t have a good chance of winning a period if you can’t muster more than my (Sutty’s) IQ in shots.

According to the coach, Grant Lewis and Aaron Johnson were scratched with injuries.  They are day-to-day.  Kelsey Wilson tore his MCL and stretched his ACL.  4-6 weeks is the latest timetable we’ve heard.

Not the worst thing in the world that Peoria got a couple of points.  Makes it that much tougher for the Wolves to make the playoffs.  And that would be preferable.

QUESTIONS:

So how were the new guys tonight?  Foss?  Leaderer?  Watson?  Cahill?  Conacher?  Anything?  Here’s the coach.

Thoughts on Atte?  Rebounds?  Glove?  Interest in leaving the crease?

Bummed that they couldn’t clinch tonight?  Or is it just a stennank in the road that the team was probably due to have?

Anything else you want to talk about?

Credit the American Hockey League schedule makers for finally getting one right, having Milwaukee and Houston face off for the final time of season on Friday night, with the road to first place in the Western Conference paved in gold for the winner.

But more props to the Admirals for bringing their steamrollers for work on that road, even if took Milwaukee 20 minutes to rev them up.  The Admirals scored four goals in the second period for a come from behind and statement win 5-2 over the Aeros.

However, Milwaukee coach Lane Lambert would prefer his team stay humble about the victory:

Seven minutes into the hockey game, Gabriel Bourque got the Admirals cooking with an even strength goal off a rebound from Ryan Thang’s original shot.  Unfortunately for Milwaukee, Bourque’s tally was sandwiched between a pair of Houston power play markers. Jarod Palmer scored first, then Jon DiSavatore potted his 27th goal of season–and 13th on the man advantage–to make it 2-1 Aeros in dominating fashion after the first period (Houston out-shot Milwaukee 15-6 after 20 minutes).

Much like the Aeros recent leads in the standings, their advantage would not last long.  Milwaukee responded with perhaps their best period of season, scoring four unanswered goals to grab a 5-2 lead after 40 minutes.

Chris Mueller got the Admirals party started with a 5-on-3 power play goal five minutes into the second period to tie game.  Mark Van Guilder chipped in 10th goal of the season one and half minutes later, still on the power play from the second penalty call of the 5-on-3.  It was a little redemption for Van Guilder, who thought he scored three and half minutes earlier but was robbed by an early whistle (More terrible non-goal calls to come).

With Milwaukee leading 3-2, the Admirals pressed for more and got rewarded with a pair of goals during the 15th minute of second period.

At 15:16, Mueller, planted on the doorstep, got his second goal of the night by chipping home a rebound off of Aaron Johnson’s initial shot.  After Mueller’s goal, Hackett suffered a total breakdown, taking a four minute minor for roughing (not sure why one of the calls wasn’t a slash) at 15:43 while attacking freshly-minted Admiral Austin Watson.  Five seconds later Teemu Laakso let go a blast that beat Hackett clean and ended the Aeros starter’s night.  Milwaukee, out-shooting Houston 14-4 in second period, took a 5-2 lead after 40 minutes.

The third period proved rather uneventful with the exception of several minor scrums and a ridiculous non-goal call on a would-be Andreas Thuresson tally.  On a wrap around, Thuresson clearly tucked a puck beyond the goal line and behind Houston’s reliever netminder Josh Tordjman.  Despite the official having a clear look at the play, and the red light being emphatically on, the goal call was missed and the goal judge was never consulted.

FURTHER GAME NOTES:

Kelsey Wilson left the game during his first shift with an dreaded “lower body” injury and did not return.  Wilson is looking at MRI tomorrow to find out the extent of the issue.  Too bad it had to happen on the night that Wilson became the Admirals all-time leader in AHL games played at 294.

Jeremy Smith improved to 15-6-2 in the Admirals net, stopping 22 of 24 shots for the win.  Smith wasn’t spectacular, but he didn’t need to be on a night where Milwaukee’s defense was stout for the final 40 minutes.

Milwaukee’s power play was clicking against the Aeros going 3-for-8 in the game.  Meanwhile, the Admirals’ penalty kill allowed two goals on just four man advantage chances, but that discussion is for another day.

Tonight was the AHL debut games for Watson and Chris Cahill.  Both made great first impressions on their new coach:

In front of 7,379 fans at the Bradley Center, Milwaukee moves up to 98 points for a four-point top spot advantage in the West Division.  The Admirals are now a virtual lock to win the division and the Western Conference.

Needless to say, the game of the year for Milwaukee did not disappoint.

So Roundtable, while you celebrate the win, here are some questions to ponder:

Mueller was awesome tonight.  Is it safe to say that he has become the team’s unofficial heart and soul?

What did you think of a new guys?  Watson drove Houston (especially Hackett) crazy all night, while former Yale standout Cahill was an impressive physical presence and fit right in.

Though he returned against San Antonio, are you happy to see a healthy Steve Begin back and wrecking havoc on the ice?

Has there been a better period for the Admirals than tonight’s second 20 minutes against Houston?

How about Milwaukee’s formerly dormant power play?  Seems like the special teams are getting better in every game as of late.

Are you getting sick of AHL non-goals?  Thuresson’s was ridiculous, and that was SECOND missed goal of the night for Milwaukee.

Do you have your Western Conference champagne bottle uncorked or are you going to wait until the Admirals wrap things up before enjoying this win?

The Admirals are going to the big dance.

Thanks to their 3-2 shootout win over the San Antonio Rampage, the Admirals have punched their Calder Cup playoff ticket.  New guy Atte Engren got the start, and came up huge in the shootout, for his first North American W.

Coach Lambert liked the improvement from Engren’s last start.

“I thought he did a very good job of making some adjustments tonight compared to when he played on Saturday in Rockford.  He played well.”

The game really didn’t get started until the second period and it was the Rampage that got things going.  While Mark Van Guilder was in the sin bin, the Rampage were peppering the crease with shots from all over the zone.  One shot from the near side was kicked to the far side by Engren.  After the save Engren seemed to have tripped or fell but was doing barrel rolls to the opposite side of the crease, and that made for easy pickings for Garrett Stafford, netting his 13^th on the year at the 2:42 mark.  I don’t want to say this goal was Engren’s fault completely, but he seemed to be a bit out of position and unable to get back to a sound hockey position after the initial stop.

The next penalty was called on the Rampage and the Admirals were able to even the score on that power play.  Nick Ross was serving a hooking penalty, and just under a minute later Teemu Laakso put the bisquik in the basket at the 12:12 point.  The play started with the Admirals doing a great job containing the zone when the puck came to Andreas Thuresson, who pushed the puck up to Santorelli on the near side and a couple feet from the cage.  Santo found  Laakso crashing the back side and had a great pass though the crease to the tape of Teemu, and it went to the back of the net immediately.

Exactly 2 minutes later the Admirals took the lead with a delayed penalty goal by Grant Lewis and one for his highlight reel for sure. With Engren out and the extra attacker in for the Admirals, the o-zone was shrinking on Matt Climie. Kelsey Wilson dished the pass forward to Grant Lewis who had some room to move. He took a stride or two forward and was tripped by Viktor Tikhonov but on Lewis’s way to the ice he put on a shot that beat Climie for Grant’s 7^th on the year. This was a great play for Lewis, and a great job by the Ads to get the extra skater out there for added pressure. While the goal doesn’t count as a power play goal it was still with an odd man advantage.

“I don’t know if their team let up at all,” Coach Lambert said.  “Sometimes you can have a tendency to do that, thinking that you’re going to get the puck and the whistle’s going to blow.  He made a great individual effort, obviously, he showed his size and strength and his reach with the play, and made a great play.”

The Rampage tied the game shortly after the Lewis goal on a fluky and incredibly lucky goal by Randy Robitaille at 17:56. With the Admirals struggling to cover or clear the puck, the Rampage were working against a tired Milwaukee crew. After a shot put on Engren that was turned aside, the puck caromed out to the far face off dot. Robitaille skated up to it, spun around, and tried to pass/shoot the puck to the near side boards.  The puck found Brock McBride’s skate which was in the crease following the puck. The puck just smoothly skimmed the ice towards the net and nothing anyone could do to stop it. The goal was unassisted (by a Rampage player) and gave Robitaille his 5^th on the year.

The 3^rd period came and went just like the first period and in the overtime both goalies came up big on a couple occasions forcing the game to go into a shoot out.  Engren stopped the first three shots he faced, and allowed a goal on the fourth attempt to Viktor Tikhonov.  Meanwhile, Gabriel “Money shot” Bourque, Roman Josi, and Andreas Thuresson all beat Matt Climie, to give the Admirals the shootout win.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS:

Time to start growing your playoff beards.  Gentlemen AND ladies.  It starts tonight.

“It’s been a grind all year long,” Coach Lambert said.  “Our team, even though we’ve had some call-ups and injuries, has done a very good job of being resilient.   Especially down the stretch here right now.   We’ve created enough separation….we’ve made the playoffs and that’s step one.  Now the step is to fight for first place.”

Steve Begin was back, and took a really dumb penalty in the first period to put the Admirals down two men. He did have a great return on investment because I think he drew 2 or 3 penalties for the Admirals also.  High marks for the penalty kill early on.

Man, Bourque is on fire in the shootout.   He has scored in his last three shootout attempts.  And way for Thuresson to come up boo-yah huge, on just his 2^nd attempt of the year.

I’m just gonna say what we’re all thinking.  We love Ryan, but he’s still a bit green.  But that’s okay.  He’s just keeping Matt Moore’s seat warm for him.

I think Engren was better tonight than he was on Saturday in Rockford, but he sure does come with a fair share of fan anxiety. He seems a bit jumpy and very excited to skate out of the crease.  Excluding Chet Pickard, who was the last goalie that made you nervous every time the opposing team would enter the zone?

Did you like the dodgeball game, or was it another excuse to take a lap or two around the concourse?

Ryan Thang is quietly playing great. The past couple games he has really been fighting and making good things happen on rushes.

So Austin Watson is here.  And a couple others (not Beck, Ellis, or Latta) will be signed to ATO contracts tomorrow.  We asked Lane if he thinks they may be playing at some point this weekend.

“We’ll see.  Obviously our team is sort of built on our fundamentals and our structure and we want to make sure that we don’t throw anybody to the Wolves so to speak before they are ready to play.  We want to people in the best possible position to succeed, so tomorrow will be a big day for all those guys.”

My translation:  Bring your “A” game to practice, and then MAYBE we’ll talk about ice time.

The Mountain Fury Power Play would be the difference in the game tonight, as the Admirals scored 2 special team goals to beat the San Antonio Rampage Sunday evening 2-1. With both teams playing their third game in as many days the question was how the teams would respond.  Here’s what coach Lambert thought about the weekend, which gave the Admirals five of a possible six points in the standings.

The Admirals had their first Mountain Fury Power Play of the game at the 6:06 mark of the first.  Being bored with the normal 2 minutes given for a minor infraction, the Admirals chose to convert at the 6:12 mark of the first period. Randy Robitaille didn’t even have a chance to sit down in the box before Teemu Laakso netted his 5^th goal of the year.  Ryan Thang was able to gather the face off and send the puck to the far point to Roman Josi. Roman then sent the rink wide pass to Laakso who gathered and fired beating Jimmy Joe Fallon top right for the first goal of the game.

The second period was also beneficial for the special teams as both squads lit the lamp with a power play goal. It was San Antonio that was first to score in the frame. With Dylan Hunter in the box for a tripping call it was the Rampage’s Mathieu Beaudoin who netted the equalizer at the 3:12 mark. Beaudoin was down low around the goal line when he put an innocent enough shot on net that just squeaked past the lazy leg of Jeremy Smith and just over the line for his 21^st on the year. It was one of those plays that would not be a goal 9 times out of 10 but this is the time he caught Smith sleeping a little.

Despite that play, Coach Lambert was pleased with Smith’s performance, and how he’s been playing in general of late.

Not to be outdone the Admirals answer back at 15:41. This Mountian Fury Power Play was brought to us by a Matt “one point twenty one giga” Watkins slashing penalty. The Admirals had an odd man rush entering the offensive zone, but the Rampage were quick on their heels. Kelsey Wilson was carrying the zone along the far boards when he sent a pass backwards and across the rink to Johnson, who fired a shot on net.  Johnson’s shot was stopped by the pad of Fallon (no, still not Jimmy) and Andreas Thuresson was there to stuff home the loose change.  This goal was Thuresson’s 3^rd in two days.

The Ads were outshot 14-6 in the third period, which is kind of what we expected considering the long weekend.  But Smith and the Admirals defense were up to the task, and keep their hold on 1^st place in the West Division.

The Admirals magic number is now…………… 2.   Wednesday sounds like a great day to punch the playoff ticket, don’t you think?   See you back here at the BC then.

Notes:

Ford drops the gloves for the second time in as many days. It was an okay bout.  Better than his fight yesterday.

Injuries:  Dylan Hunter took a stick to the face and went down to the ice. When he got up he had a nice little pool of blood under him.  His status you ask?  Coach says upper body injury, and he doesn’t know the timetable yet.  Conor Shields update, by popular demand:  He had Butler and VCU in the final four.  Steve Begin is likely to be back in the lineup this week, maybe even Wednesday.  Dekanich and Klasen are not “out for the year”, but probably won’t play again in the regular season.

Other than the “lazy leg” goal smith was very consistent. I can’t recall any big WOW saves or remember any moments where I covered my eyes and had to peek through my fingers either.

Santorelli was a scratch…. Again… Must be that cat-scratch.

QUESTIONS:

Does the power play look to be fixed?  Or is it more of the same, just with some good bounces?

Do you like the dog promotion?  I always feel bad for those that sing the National Anthem on dog days….I hope they don’t take it personally!

If Smith keeps playing well when Dex is ready to go, do you think they’ll play the hot hand, or is Smith just keeping the crease paint warm for Dex?

The story coming into the game was that it was going to be Atte Engren’s North American debut.

The story after the game was how fantastic IceHog netminder Hannu Toivonen was.

Toivonen made 44 saves as the IceHogs defeated the Admirals 3-2 in overtime.

“He was unbelievable,” Coach Lambert said after the game.  “He made the difference in the game.  Unbelievable.  And he’s been playing that way for them here for quite a few games now.  So hats off to him.  He stole the game for them.”

As for Engren, we asked Coach Lambert what kind of marks he would give Engren’s performance tonight.  He elected to avoid specifics.

“Average.  Average marks.”

So we’ll give some observations.  His athleticism seems to be his biggest asset, as he channeled his inner Hasek on a few occasions.  Rebound control could still use some work, and he seemed to have trouble tracking rebounds after making the save.  He likes to challenge shooters, but it seems like it’s a long way for him to get back to the crease to get ready for the follow-up shot.  And on his first goal, he may have underestimated how fast things happen in North American hockey.

Brandon Pirri will have the distinction of scoring the first ever North American professional goal against Engren.  After Engren made a nice pad save on a shot from the low slot, the play continued behind the net, and Pirri’s shot from just to the side of the crease beat Engren before he could seal up the far post.

Andreas Thuresson answered back 1:13 later with a power play marker.  Roman Josi passed to Kelsey Wilson in the slot.  Wilson ended up knocking it down with his hand, and couldn’t quite get a shot on net.  Instead he dished to Thuresson at the bottom of the circle for his 11^th of the year.

Pirri scored his second of the game on a 3-on-2-and-half rush.  I’ll give the Admirals the extra half as Brock McBride had almost caught up with the play.  Pirri brought the puck into the zone, made a quick move to shake off a defender, and his shot from just to the left of the far dot flat out beat Engren.

The Admirals tied it up in the third period with Thuresson’s second of the game.  It was one of 19 shots that frame for the Admirals, which was a season high for a period (46 was also a season high for a game).  Wilson had a shot on goal, and then there were about 6 guys surrounding the crease.  Lots of sticks playing for the rebound, but Thuresson’s stick was the one that put it past Toivonen.

The game went to overtime, and the IceHogs capitalized on a 3-1 rush to get the win.  After Grant Lewis pinched into the offensive zone, he was tripped, and that eventually sprung the odd-man rush.  Brian Connelly brought it down the right wing, and shot from about the same spot Pirri did for his 2^nd goal, and it beat Engren to end the game.

NOTES

The Mueller – Bourque- Thang line was the best tonight, mostly because they were often able to get sustained pressure in the offensive zone.   It wasn’t just one shot and done.  They were able to get three to five chances on lots of their shifts.  And that spread to some other lines, especially in the 3^rd period. Multiple times the Admirals would get the initial shot on Toivonen and then a couple more off of a rebound.  A lot of opportunities came from within a couple feet of the crease and Toivonen was able to stop enough to help get a win for his team.

The Admirals continued their streak of obtaining at least a point in 15 straight road games.  It ties an AHL league record.  They’ll have one more chance in the regular season to break it, because there’s just one road game left.

Houston, Peoria, Texas, and Chicago won.  San Antonio was shutout, so they’ll be grumpy in Milwaukee tomorrow afternoon, playing their third game in three days.    The Aeros and the Admirals both have 92 points, but Houston has played three more games.