Coffee is for closers.

The Chicago Wolves will get their coffee tonight.

The Wolves put on a clinic of how to protect a lead in the 3rd period, scoring early and sticking with their gameplan regardless of the score.  They skate out of town with a 5-2 victory over the Admirals.

Here’s the coach.

Mark Dekanich was pulled after three less-than-stellar goals, and Jeremy Smith fared marginally better over the rest of the game.  While Peter Mannino wasn’t tested often, he made saves on all the shots he saw.  I phrase it that way because I don’t think he saw the two that got by him.

But the story here is that Dekanich played arguably his worst game of the season.

The Admirals DID score first again, as Aaron Johnson put a shot on net from the far point.  Lots of players were between Johnson and the goal, and we think it went off of somebody….but the puck went past Mannino, and they gave the goal to Johnson.

Forty seconds later, Darren Haydar capitalized on some strong work around the net from Andre Deveaux.  Unable to be knocked off the puck, Deveaux skated around the goal, and backhanded a pass/shot that Haydar put past Mark Dekanich.  Deveaux was a monster tonight, and consistently one of the best players on the ice.

In the second period, Fredrik Pettersson had a sweet deflection off a Jamie Sifers shot from another zipcode.  On some nights, it might have been called a deflection off of a high stick.  High stick or no high stick, it was a great deflection.  And it was from far enough out that I think Dex shouldn’t have looked so fooled/surprised.  Still, Coach Lambert laments that video replay isn’t a reality in this league yet.

The 3rd Wolves goal 1:34 later ended Dex’s night.  Tim Miller was on his knees and behind the goal line over the Time Warner Cable logo.  He put a shot on goal that somehow went in.

Coming out strong in the 3rd period, the Wolves needed just 1:44 to extend their lead.  Mark Matheson had a shot from the point that may have been deflected somewhere along the way, but it beat Smith. Wayne Larrivee would have called that “the dagger”.

Nigel Dawes had the Wolves 5th goal with a snipe from the near circle that beat Smith short-side.

Kelsey Wilson had a goal in garbage time with 3:55 left.  A shot from above the near face-off dot was released with some traffic in front of the net.

Lane talked last game about how they handed that game to Peoria, and how Peoria took the game from the Admirals.  You could say the same for the 3rd period tonight.  The Wolves kept their foot on the pedal, and the Admirals spent six minutes in the penalty box, really taking away any shot of sustained momentum.

———-

Benn Olson was scratched in lieu of a 7th defender.

Only one fight in the night between Brett Palin and Spencer Machacek in a very physical game.

I hate to dwell on it but the numbers don’t lie. The Admirals are 0-1-0-0 after taking away the green and gold off the face off circles. Similarly, this is the worst loss by the Admirals since.  (the dude left the building at 3AM after cleaning that stuff up after last game!)

Ok Roundtable — let’s hear your disappointment.  And if you’re in the mood, find me a silver lining or a glass-is-half-full moment.

These teams met just 11 days ago and tonight’s game started off very similar. The big difference however, was the finish.   The first period was dominated by the Admirals, but they unfortunately stayed in the locker room for the third period, allowing the Rivermen to score 3 unanswered goals and eventually win in the shootout Wednesday night at the Bradley Center.

So heading on down to the post-game press conference with coach Lambert, the $64,000 question was whether he would be short-answer-mad or long-answer-mad.

It was the latter.

With both teams down a man it was the Admirals that were able to light the lamp first at the 5:16 mark. It was a great break out by Admirals’ Gabriel Bourque and Chris Mueller with just one Riverman between them.  Bourque was the man crashing with the puck in the slot when he dished the rock over to Mueller, who was on the other side of the slot. Mueller received the pass and quickly fired on net to beat Rivermen goaltender Ben Bishop for his 14^th goal on the year. This was one of those plays that would make the coach smile as it was performed just as it was drawn up with great execution.

Just over the half way mark of the first period the Admirals extended their lead on the power play (POWER PLAY????) with a great redirect by Ryan Thang. A fast moving Linus Klasen fed the puck up the far boards to 2-time back-2-back AHL player of the week Blake Geoffrion, who quickly sent the puck across ice to a compressing Roman Josi, who was positioned just inside the near circle. Josi fired the shot through a crowd where Thang got just enough on to redirect it away from Bishop’s glove and in for the second goal. The goal was pretty impressive as I think it hit all 3 pipes clipping the top shelf netting on its way though. I think Mike Massey would have been proud with the movement on that goal.

It would appear that the Admirals went to eBay or Amazon and bought themselves a power play, probably using the buy-it-now feature because at the 11:03 mark of the second period they were able to convert on for the second time with the man advantage.   Jon Blum was the point man with the puck and dumped it down to the near side circle to Klasen.  Linus gathered the puck and skated up to draw the slot defender to him, and then fed a pass between the defender’s legs to Josi, who was at the bottom of the far circle.   He put a one-timer on net, beating Bishop for the third goal of the game. This was yet another example of Klasen drawing attention from defenders, causing them to commit and leave their position, and his ability to get the puck to the open man it creates.

The Rivermen, refusing to lie down like in the last meeting, produced a flurry of goals to start the third period. Just 1:10 into the final frame, the Rivermen ruined Mark Dekanich’s shutout with a nifty redirect right to the top shelf.  Jake Gannon sent a pass/shot that stayed on the ice towards the net, and the screening Derek Peltier tilted his blade back and let the pass go straight to the top twine for the Rivermen’s first goal of the night.  It may have also went off of Chris Mueller.

Shortly thereafter it was the Admirals turn to answer as they went on the power play. There was a score.  Unfortunately, it was the Rivermen that got the short-handed tally. With the Admirals in the offensive zone they sent the puck around the boards where Aaron Johnson was unable to pinch the puck and let it by him.  T.J. Hensick took the loose puck in his own defensive zone and was off to the races with Josi closing in.  Josi went to the ice to block the passing lane but Hensick had no intention of passing and instead put the shot on net beating Dex for their second goal in 2:20.  We had a hockey game again.

The Rivermen completed the comeback with just less than two minutes to go in the game. In true Admirals fashion, Blake Geoffrion sent a puck straight over the glass from his own goal line and went to the bin for “Yonking”.  It took the Rivermen a whopping NINE SECONDS to convert with another goal by Hensick. T.J shot it through traffic and beat Dex to get the 3^rd unanswered goal for Peoria.

Unable to convert in overtime with the man advantage, the Admirals were forced into a shoot out.  Only three people scored in the shootout, with two of them being Rivermen.  Chris Porter had the winner in the bottom of the 6^th round.

In summation: The Admirals continue to look for that complete game and struggle in the most inopportune time.  This game had the feel that it was nowhere near over going into the third period and if any team shouldn’t have their back turned to them it is the Rivermen.

Questions for discussion:

Was this the worst collapse you’ve seen in awhile?  What’s the worst collapse you recall?

Benn Olson.  Big guy.  Didn’t see much of him in the 3rd period.  Do you think he’s a liability without his gloves on the ice, or is it too early to tell?

Were you just hoping that Ryan would slip and call Blake’s late game penalty “Two minutes for Yonking?”  I was.  And Ryan, seriously…..how could you not slip in a “Mountain Fury Power Play” line in there?  Fury the fury already!

Feel free to tell us how you REALLY feel about this game.

Oh, and as we’re typing this, the zamboni is scraping off the paint from the face-off circles.  This is going to take awhile.

A week after decimating Peoria at home 8-1, Milwaukee let loose on the road with a spanking of Grand Rapids, 6-2.

Great night on the scoresheet for Linus Klasen (2 goals, 1 assist), Teemu Laakso (2 assists), Gabriel Bourque (2 goals), Mark Santorelli (1 goal, 1 assist) and of course red hot Blake Geoffrion (1 goal, 2 assists), who almost added another shorty late in the third period.

Remember those early season troubles/issues/struggles for Geoffrion.  Truly a thing of the past, at least for the past two weeks.  Geoffrion now has 13 points in his past four games, plus a bobblehead and an AHL Player of the Week Award.  You have to think that Nashville management is starting to take notice.

The Admirals peppered both Grand Rapids goaltenders, Jordan Pearce and Thomas McCollum, with 36 shots and produced one of their most lop-sided differentials of the season.

An unsung hero award for Dylan Hunter tonight, who I thought had a strong game.  Ditto for Aaron Johnson who finished as a plus five.

Chris Mueller had a strong effort after making an unexpected return visit to the Admirals.  Credit to him for taking his demotion in stride and playing hard tonight, like he does every night no matter what jersey he’s wearing.

Milwaukee goaltender Jeremy Smith coasted home with the win making 25 saves on 27 shots.

What can you say other than this game may have been the Admirals best road effort of the season so far.  Milwaukee ups its record to 4-2 against Grand Rapids this year and continues to keep pace with San Antonio in the West Division and Conference with two games in hand on the Rampage, who defeated Lake Erie in a shootout 5-4 tonight.

One last note, Milwaukee went 1 for 3 on the power play (and nearly 2 for 3).  Lots of good things/plays on the man advantage tonight.  Things are looking up in that department.  Perhaps that had something to do with the effort the Griffins put out in the first two periods.

Roundtable, your thoughts?

Heading into the All-Star break, the Admirals have the best record in the conference.

In front of a sell-out crowd in Rockford, the Admirals blew a two goal lead, but prevailed in overtime with a Roman Josi slider 2:23 into the extra time.

Josi carried the puck through the neutral zone, had space to enter the offensive zone, and then threw a junkball at relief goaltender Alec Richards.  Or maybe we can liken the play to a passed ball by the catcher.  Whatever metaphor you like, it was a wonky shot that elevated the Admirals to their second straight win, and some great momentum hitting the All-Star break.

Josi’s skill set is tailor-made for 4-on-4 hockey.

“I think our team 4-on-4 does a pretty good job managing the puck,” coach Lambert said after the game.  “We turn back, we don’t give it away, we keep puck possession, and that’s the thing that Josi is really talented at.  That forum for him to play 4-on-4 with a little bit of extra ice suits him very well.  You know, he took a shot, and it dropped. A shot is never a bad play, and I think we passed up some shots as a team, which we didn’t do last night.”

The Ads got off to another quick start and had a 2-0 lead before the game was six minutes old.

Blake Geoffrion kept his hot streak going, beating starting goaltender Hannu Toivonen from the low slot, finishing a bang-bang play off a Grant Lewis pass from behind the net.

Mike Bartlett doubled the lead ten seconds later.  He threw the puck towards the net from a bad angle in the far corner, and it somehow got by Toivonen.  Ryan “Don’t Call Me Matt” Flynn had just arrived to the near goalpost, and his presence might have been just enough to open up some room for the shot, or at least a deflection.

That ended Toivonen’s night 5:44 into the game.  Enter Alec Richards, who gave up four goals last night in Grand Rapids.

Coach Lambert was pleased with yet another quick start.

“We’ve stressed starting the game (well), and if you look at our record when we score first, it’s pretty darn good.  We’ve had some  real good starts in a lot of hockey games lately, and it’s helped us win those games.”

Richards and Dex kept the pucks out of their nets for the rest of the period, which saw the IceHogs outshoot the Admirals 13-5.

In the 2nd, Rockford capitalized on a power play that I’m not sure should have been a power play.  Kelsey Wilson participated in some mutual shoving in front of the IceHogs goal after the whistle, but only Wilson went to the box for roughing.  The cynic in me thinks it was meant to be a make-up call.  Earlier in the period, Teemu Laakso got away with a boarding play, and when Evan Brophey took exception, only Brophey went to the box.  Still, I think our friend Shaun Davis should have kept things even instead of sending Wilson to the box for pushing roughing.

On that power play, Jeff Taffe was alone in the high slot, and he rifled a shot past Dekanich off a pass from Mathis Olimb, who was working along the near boards.

With 38.3 seconds left in the period, the IceHogs were awarded a penalty shot, after Rob Klinkhammer was taken down on a breakaway.  But on his penalty shot, he didn’t even get a shot away, allowing the Admirals to dodge a huge bullet in the waning moments of the period.

Late in the 3rd period, the IceHogs were able to draw even.  Mathis Olimb was credited with a pinball-esque goal.  It was a few seconds of just chaos, with Blake Geoffrion sliding along the ice, ultimately taking out one of his teammates, and the puck changing direction a few times on its way past Dekanich.

Josi’s OT goal was his fourth in five games, and kept a five-game point streak alive.

NOTES:

– Lines were the same as last night, except Aaron Johnson was scratched, and Mark Santorelli played on the line with Bartlett and Flynn.

Johnson is day-to-day, but they’re hoping he’ll be ready to play Friday.

Steve Begin is out long term with a lower body injury.  I don’t think we had touched on that yet.

– Coming off yesterday’s laugher, Coach Lambert was concerned about a possible let down.

“I think we had a lot of emotion in last nights game.  I was somewhat concerned that after you have such a high that you have trouble getting back to that level.  I thought our opponent was really good tonight, and I thought we did a good job of finding a way to win.”

– This wasn’t a great game for our defensemen.  Jon Blum in particular had quite the mixed bag of nice plays and botched plays in his end.  He was okay in front of his net, but engaging a puck-carrier along the boards, he was not good at all.  If he played the puck, he missed it.  If he played the body, they went around him, resulting in someone else needing to compensate.  A bad Teemu Laakso decision led to the Klinkhammer breakaway and eventual penalty shot.

But Mark “I just bailed you out” Dekanich is the reason why the Admirals won this game.  27 saves on 29 shots, many of which weren’t of the run-of-the-mill variety.

– So I mentioned that we’re in first place.  In fairness….please be advised that 6th place is just two points behind in the standings.

Linus Klasen and Dekanich will head off to Hershey for the All-Star game festivities.  Time Warner Sports 32 will have the broadcast to see how they do.

DISCUSSION POINTS:

– If you made the trip, do you like the neon lights that shine below the zambonis?  The house lights are dimmed during the intermissions after the games are done, I hadn’t seen before.

– Do you think Mueller and Halischuk will be gone on Tuesday?

– What is the ONE thing that the Admirals need to work on most during this break to ensure that they will have more success after the break?  I know there’s lots of stuff….but just give me one thing that you think is the most important right now.

It’s nice to get a laugher in our favor every once in awhile.  Even sweeter in front of a big crowd.

Maybe it’s the return of Chris Mueller and Matt Halischuk.  Maybe it’s that they had a week to prepare for this game.  Maybe it’s the green and gold face-off circles.

Whatever the reason, the Admirals ride off on their horses as victors, after an 8-1 win on Country Music Night over the Peoria Rivermen.

Blake Geoffrion led the way with two goals and three assists, and that line of Geoffrion, Linus Klasen, and Ryan Thang is on a roll.

Klasen and Thang both pitched in with a goal and two assists, and Andreas Thuresson played one of his best games of the season.

Geoffrion scored 42 seconds into the contest.  After his first shot hit iron, he continued to pursue the rebound, skated around the net with the puck, and his next shot beat Ben Bishop from the slot.

Then the Admirals exploded for four goals in the second period.

Mark Van Guilder scored his fourth of the year, but Andreas Thuresson is the one that did the dirty work in front of the net.  After Kelsey Wilson fed Thuresson the puck right in front of the crease, Andreas had a couple whacks at the puck.  He ended up kicking the puck a few feet away from the scrum down low, and Van Guilder had a great look, and beat Bishop.

Thuresson got the next goal, but Geoffrion did the dirty work on his.  Geoffrion carried the puck in down the right wing on an offensive rush, and held on to the puck as long as he could.  The defensemen slid himself out of the play, and Geoffrion fed Thuresson who was crashing the net.

So it’s the 8:02 mark of the second period, and the Admirals were up 3-0.  Anyone remember last home game?

Chris Mueller wasn’t here for it.  And his shorthanded goal at 11:56 was the backbreaker for the Rivermen.  With Kelsey Wilson serving a tripping penalty, Mueller and Halischuk were having a phenomenal forecheck.  Mueller outhustled the Rivermen to create a turnover in the offensive zone, and a quick pass found Halischuk open near the bottom of the faceoff dot.  The defensemen had the angle, and Halischuk tried a no-look shot that almost beat Bishop.  The hard work continued, and the puck then came back to Mueller for his fourth shorty of the season.

Klasen scored off a perfect pass from a Rivermen defenseman to make it a 5-0 lead.

Thang took a hooking penalty 9 seconds into the third, and Mark Cundari converted on that power play to spoil the shutout.

Thang then got that one back with a power play marker of his own, cashing in on the rebound of Roman Josi shot on the power play 51 seconds later.

Goal 7 went to Geoffrion, on (guess what) another rebound.  Linus Klasen had the first chance, skating around the defender and put a shot on Bishop from down low.  The rebound went right to Geoffrion.

Goal 8 COULD have gone to Geoffrion.  He had an open look in the slot, but elected to pass to a wide open Jon Blum, who was pinching down.  That ended the scoring with 3:45 left in the game.

So eight goals is pretty good.  How about two and a half fights in 19 seconds in the 3rd period with the game well out of hand.

I have to say it was half-a-fight, since Grant Lewis and Phil McRae got four for roughing instead of five for fighting.

————————-

NOTES:

Here are your lines:

Thang – Geoffrion – Klasen
Halischuk – Mueller – Bourque
Wilson – Van Guilder – Thuresson
Flynn – Bartlett – (Various)

Discussion Points:

– Lots of guys in the Peoria penalty box.  Anybody feel that we were pretty close to a Tie Domi moment after the water bottle squirt into the stands?

– Mom?  Dad?  Mueller and Halischuk…..can we keep them?  Pweeeeeese?  Their mom and dad said it was okay.  Please please please please please!!!!  I’ll clean my room.  I’ll say nice things about Aaron Johnson.  PWEEEEEESE!

– Thuresson and Geoffrion producing….nice to see?  Think Geoffrion has officially arrived, or still too soon to say?

– Lost in the circus, Dekanich had another great outing.  After facing just 3 shots in the 1st period, the Rivermen made up a lot of ground over the second two periods, and his shorthanded stop of a Dave Spina breakaway was huge.

– Wilson’s fight.  Do you like the hot-dogging?  Man, the crowd ate that up.

– Man, you gotta feel bad for Ben Bishop.  After what goal would you have yanked him?

– If you were a passive fan (which you obviously aren’t….but pretend that you are….) is this a game that’ll make you want to come back?

– Offense is great…..let’s not lay an egg tomorrow in Rockford, okay?

In our last episode…

The Admirals gave up four goals in the 3rd period of a 7-5 loss to San Antonio.

More bad news was that Gabriel Bourque and Kelsey Wilson were a bit banged up in the match.

Both were scratched in Saturday evening’s game.

In what Lane had billed as a major “character game” for the team, they were able to go to Texas and get out of there with a point, losing in a shootout to the Texas Stars by a score of 2-1.

You can read 100 Degree Hockey’s recap here.  They know what they’re talking about.  They were there.

Jeremy Smith started the game, and made 25 saves in regulation, and truly deserved a better fate.

After a scoreless (but not a chanceless) first period, the Stars got on the board first with a Greg Rallo goal.  After a shot from the point changed directions a couple of times, Rallo was down low to cash in.

Roman Josi scored his third in as many games 20 seconds into the 3rd period.  It goes in the books as a power play goal, but really should be considered 4×4.  Scott Ford’s interference penalty ended at the 20 second mark as well.  Josi took a pass from Blum that went over the glove of Stars goalie Richard Bachman.

In the shootout, Linus Klasen was the only Admiral to beat Bachman, in an attempt that probably had the least amount of razzle dazzle that he’s had all season.  Andreas Thuresson and Ryan Thang attempted their first shootout tries of the year, with Thang hitting the goalpost in the bottom of the fifth round, to end the game.

Reports are that the injuries to Bourque and Wilson aren’t considered serious.  But it opened the door for Grant Lewis and Dan Gendur to get some playing time.  And for a team playing its third game in three days, having a couple pairs of fresh legs in the lineup probably had some benefit.

Steve Begin left the game after a collision, and appeared to be favoring his left leg.  That may end up being more serious.

Two out of a possible six points in the last three days.  Not ideal, but it keeps them in a tie for first place with the…..wait…how did the Houston Aeros get there?????

7th place in the division (Chicago) is three points out of first place.  Oy.  And they’d be in 3rd place in the North Division right now…..so the crossover rule might get five teams from our division into the playoffs.

That’s slightly comforting.

The headline, courtesy of coach Lane Lambert.

Here’s the full quote.

“I think it’s our worst game of the season, so yeah, I guess you could say that.  There’s been other disappointing losses where we’ve played better and not won the game. To hold a 3-0 lead for starters, and then to go into the third period with a lead, and then to give up four goals in the third period is pretty disappointing.”

After spotting the Admirals the 3-0 lead, the San Antonio Rampage didn’t panic.  They made adjustments, and skated out of Milwaukee with a 7-5 win, snapping their five-game losing streak.

Before the game was 3 minutes old, Blake Geoffrion was the beneficiary of blooper from starting (not finishing) goaltender Matt Climie.  The puck dribbled in to Climie, and attempted to cover it with his glove.  He did cover it for a split second, but it the glove wasn’t sealed to the ice.  The puck slid out, and Geoffrion was all alone to score the easiest goal of his career.

“When I say easy….I mean SNOOKI easy,” said Sutty, at the time.

Late in the period, Linus Klasen attempted an abbreviated shootout try…with everyone on the ice.  Lots of credit goes to Ryan Thang and Blake Geoffrion with a fantastic forecheck.  Blake was able to work the puck to Klasen at the top of the slot.  And while the Rampage defensemen (including his Yonkness) were tending to Thang and Geoffrion down low, Klasen went right down the yellow brick road, delayed in front of Climie, and scored on the backhand after a deke that would make Gordon Bombay proud.

Kelsey Wilson scored 17 seconds later to end Climie’s night.

But there was a shift in play when Al Montoya took the ice.  The Rampage started using their muscle a little more, and making things happen.  I don’t think the Admirals were sitting on their lead — I think the Rampage starting playing that much better hockey.

And they scored with 39 seconds left in the first.  Former Admiral Bracken Kearns had the puck bounce to him just in front of the crease, and he beat Mark Dekanich.

The Ads skated into the first intermission with the 3-1 lead, and you kind of had the sense that three goals wasn’t going to be enough to take this one home.

It wasn’t.  Here’s more from Lane.

In the second period, the Rampage finished up a power play with a goal.  It looked like a set play off the faceoff, and featured Aaron Johnson not being able to block the pass, and Geoffrion late getting to eventual goal scorer, Alexandre Picard.

Klasen answered with a power play goal 1:11 later, with a shot from the far face-off dot, through a nice Geoffrion screen.

Then the bleeding started.  The start of the 3rd period seemed like a mirror image of the first period, with Dekanich the one not looking all that sharp, and the Rampage piling up the goals.

Here’s the summary.

– A power play goal from Ned Lukacevic 1:41 into the frame.
– An even strength goal from Matt Beaudoin, beating a Dex who had come out pretty far from the crease.
– Matt Watkins scored on a stoppable shot from the far face-off dot.
– Roman Josi scored on a shot from the point that may or may not have been deflected by Dylan Hunter.
– Empty netter by Ryan Hollweg

The end.

———–

NOTES:

– The three-games-in-three-days stretch continues Saturday….in Texas.  An unkind part of the schedule, but Lane says that the team will need to make the most of it.

– What a rollercoaster tonight.  In the HBO series on the Winter Classic, they spent a lot of talking talking about how quickly momentum can change in hockey.  Think we saw a bunch of 180’s tonight.

– Do you think we get the same outcome if Kearns doesn’t score in the Buffalo Wild Wings Blazin Hot Minute?

– Yonkman, with the textbook demonstration of the made up penalty that bears his name.  I did enjoy that.

– On a brighter note, how about Darren Pang?  What a guy!  Gracious with his time, and I’m hopeful that we’ll get to hear his color commentary with Aaron Sims on one of the Time Warner Sports 32 broadcasts.  (We also had the chance to interview him…we’ll post that later in the week)

– Packers/Bears wedding proposal….funny or not?

– Thoughts on the special teams (or lack thereof)?

– Were you hoping that Yonkman was going to drop the gloves with someone?

– Can you pick out the moment when the thought that ‘this might not end well’ crossed your mind?

Another overtime game for the Admirals, but their home winning streak came to an end, courtesy of a 4-3 shootout loss to the OKC Barons.

Roman Josi’s goal with 40 seconds left in the 3rd sent it to OT, but a great shot by Colin McDonald won it for the Barons in the bottom of the 5th round.

Coach Lambert says there’s plenty to learn from the game tonight.

The Admirals got on the board early with a goal from Mark Van Guilder. With Mike Bartlett driving down low on the forecheck he was able to get the puck to Ryan Flynn behind the net. Flynn drew several defenders to him, giving Van Guilder a clear path to the net. Flynn’s pass was on MVG’s tape and Martin Gerber had no chance on the shot. It was almost too easy of a goal, as it really looked like the defense failed Gerber. The goalie’s position and reaction to the goal seemed that he thought he had help with the back side, but he didn’t.  And with that, the Admirals struck first.

The Admirals got an early power play in the period, and seemed to do a great job passing the puck and gaining position, but never got that “good” shot on net.    I tell you what, if the purpose of a power play was to have as many passes to teammates without giving the puck up and refusing to shoot, the Admirals would be back to back to back AAU champions (see Fred McGriff commercial).

Despite my critique, Coach Lambert sees the good and bad on the special teams.

The second period started off rather slow without a lot to speak of. However the end of the period proved to be a different story.  At the 16:29 mark in the frame the Barons were able to even the score with a goal by Milan Kytnar. The Ads were reeling to regain possession in their own zone after a long shift. Unable to gather the puck long enough to clear, and with their legs growing tired, the Barons’ Teemu Hartikainen sent a centering pass to a crashing and well defended Phillippe Cornet. It looked as if the puck redirected off of the crashing group of players (Cornet and the two Admirals defenders). The redirected puck had enough momentum to make contact with a positioned Dex and then rebounded to the right of the crease where Kytnar (who was behind the net for most of the play) put the rebound past a helpless Dex.

It was a goal that you can’t put on Dex, but rather, you have to chalk it up to a tired shift. The Ads were just getting a man back off of the Ford penalty and were unable to gain control and clear to get a proper shift change.

The Admirals would start the third period with a man advantage for 1:23 and would capitalize on the advantage.  Just kidding, it is the power play after all, but they did score several seconds after that penalty expired and the delayed penalty was on.  The goal was scored off the cold stick of Andreas Thuresson (not a typo). The more interesting part about the goal was that every player save Dex was within a 7 foot radius of the crease and that radius was shrinking.  With shooting attempts from Aaron Johnson (unsuccessful), and Steve Begin (also unsuccessful), it was Thuresson that was able to send the back hand shot through about 27 people and find the twine. It was one of those plays where the puck kept getting put on net but somehow was unable to cross the line. With all the attempted shots everyone starts to crash the net and before you know it you have 13 people in one crease looking to clear or score, it was a hot mess to say the least. BUT, an Admirals goal none the less, and that was good enough to give them the lead…

… For about  108 seconds.  The Barons, who were up a man thanks to a Roman Josi penalty, were gaining zone control with passes from Alexandre Giroux to Brad Moran and then to Anthony Aiello, who was just above the far side circle. With an open lane to shoot and an Admiral crashing down on him, he put the slap shot on. The puck looked to be going rather high and before you could say “Shi” the light went off.  We here at Rountable of Admirals INC are unsure how the shot went from noon to six and past Dex, but sure ‘nuff it did and was good enough to bring the game even once again.

The Barons would not be content with two goals as they took the lead with 1:20 left in the 3^rd. The Admirals were caught in an umbrella style of defense allowing Phillippe Cornet to gain the slot.  He wound up and fired a slap shot from the top of the near circle.  Dex’s pad save went straight to Kytnar, who put a smooth deek on Dex (who ate it up).  He skated right around Dex, and put  a backhander into the open net , giving the Barons their first lead of the night.

The Admirals would not go without a fight and a little help from the Barons. With the Barons’ Greg Stewart serving a penalty, the Admirals took the opportunity to pull Dex from his duties and give them a two man advantage. The ensuing face off came straight back to Jon Blum who tried a shot that was deflected to the boards. The Admirals gathered the puck and got it back to Blum at the point, who tried another volley on net, but broke his stick in the process.  The puck caromed off the crashing defenders skate and straight to Roman Josi to the left of the crease, and his wrister went by the adjusting Gerber.    The goal would tie the game at 3 with 40 seconds left in the game, and help the Admirals earn a hard fought point.

The over time would come and go and the teams would need the shoot out to decide it. The only wow factor of the shoot out going to (sigh, ear muffs santaC ) Klasen for his awesome move. I think he took about 4 strides and just glided in the rest of the way.  It was the cat and mouse game and finally Gerber made the fatal move and Klasen went top shelf making Gerber look da fool.

Colin McDonald had the shootout winner in the bottom of the fifth, supersizing the game with a great waterbottle shot.

POINTS FOR DISCUSSION:

Even though we won’t see it in the boxscore, I think Dex had a pretty great game.  Bailed some people out again, and tough to blame him on most of the goals.

Do you think Steve Begin had an impact tonight?

Do you like the new Klasen-Geoffrion-Thang line?

Packers tickets will be given away at the game tomorrow.  Practice your QB-form.  It’ll help you tomorrow.

I know it’s only January….but let’s take a moment to enjoy the fact that our Admirals currently have sole possession of 1st place Western Conference.

Woo-hoo.

After spotting the Manitoba Moose a two-goal lead in the first period, the Admirals battled back, and came away with a 3-2 overtime victory Saturday night in Winnipeg.

In a game much more exciting than the one that Packer fans probably watched, it was a turnaround slapper from Linus Klasen just 29 seconds into overtime that sealed the win for Mark Dekanich and the Admirals.

After being shutout by the Moose on Thursday night, the Admirals still needed to be thawed out, as they were outshot 9-3 in the first period.  And they can’t blame the discrepancy on power play time, as Francis Charron called a Jeff Smith-esque game, assessing just three minor penalties, all in the second period.

Moose leading scorer Sergei Shirokov opened the scoring just 56 into the game with a fluky goal that he shot from behind the goalline.  He banked it in off of Dex’s pads, and the Ads were in the hole right away.

Defensemen Kevin Connauton scored on a shot that was deflected by an Admiral stick past Dekanich about ten minutes later.

During the intermission, Scott Ford rallied the troops in the locker room, and they responded in the second period outshooting the Moose 14-9, and outscoring them too.

It was actually Ford who was first to beat goaltender Eddie Lack.  It was a shot from the point the point that may or may not have been deflected by Matt Halischuk, who had a great game in front of the crease.  That line of Halischuk, Klasen, and Thang is starting to consistently provide some offensive for this team.

The Ads tied the score 2:21 into the 3rd period with a goal from Aaron Johnson, picking up the pieces of a give-and-go rush from Gabriel Bourque and Blake Geoffrion.

POINTS FOR DISCUSSION:

Don’t like how the team seems to be outshot on a somewhat regular basis, but man, they battle for every inch, and it’s good to see them stay with the gameplan after a less than pleasant start.

OT is so exciting with Klasen on the ice.  He’s got all kinds of space in the offensive zone….and then you’re a little nervous with his coverage back in the D-zone.  But he made quick work of it tonight.

Special teams?  Killed both penalties, failed on their only power play.  While it’d be nice to get the PP going, this team really seems to excel 5×5 lately.  So when refs try to be Jeff Smith, I think that works to our advantage.

Another long break until their next game, Thursday night back at the Bradley Center.

Oh, and hello from Maryland.  I’ll give your regards to Alex Ovechkin tomorrow afternoon.

Milwaukee finally found their Kryptonite in 2011, running into a Swedish brick wall in Moose goaltender Eddie Lack.  After sweeping a four game home stand last week, the Admirals couldn’t carry their positive momentum into Canada, dropping a tough one 3-0 to Manitoba Thursday night.

Lack stopped all 27 Admirals shots, but got a few breaks from the posts and cross bar to earn the shut out.

However the biggest issue for Milwaukee remains their problems on special teams.  The Admirals went 0-4 power play, while Manitoba converted on both of their man advantage chances.

Mark Dekanich allowed just two goals to take his first loss since returning from injury.  He finished with 18 saves.  Roman Josi had another strong game for Milwaukee registering four shots on goal.  Steve Begin returned to the line up, but finished as a minus 1, registering just one shot on goal.

The Admirals slipped to just 11-10-0-3 on the road.  Milwaukee also squandered a chance to move into first place in the West Division on their own as first place Peoria got hammered 7-2 at home against Oklahoma City.  The loss also ends Milwaukee’s recent run of feasting on North Division opponents.

The Admirals get one day in Winnipeg to stew over the loss before rematching with the Jets Moose at the MTS Centre Saturday night.  I got to admit, I still do miss the Jets and their awesome playoff White Outs.

So Roundtable, What do you think Milwaukee needs to do to improve their special teams? Is the day in between prior to the rematch beneficial or negative for the Admirals?