And that’s what’s important, right?

After Chris Mueller’s first goal of the season 4:16 into the second period gave the Admirals a 3-0 lead, the Heat controlled most of the play the rest of the way.

The Heat scored twice in the second period to make it a one goal game, but came up empty in the third, failing on three power plays in the final frame.

But the Admirals owned the first period, and they gained the lead just 42 seconds into the game.  Aaron Johnson fired a shot from the point that was deflected by Matt Halischuk past Matt Keetley for Halischuk’s third goal of the year — all against Abbotsford.

Kelsey Wilson deflected a Blake Geoffrion shot on their second (and final) power play of the game.  Blake also assisted on Mueller’s goal, and now has two assists in three of his last four games.

Mark Dekanich made 26 saves on 28 shots for his 4th win of the year.  The two that got by him…a backhand off of a rebound after a good save.  The other goal was a power play marker that came on a broken play after Greg Nemisz fanned on a shot.  The puck slid towards the goal, and nobody is really sure who actually scored it.  Officially they gave it to center Lance Bouma.  But it was as good rush in transition, after Andreas Thuresson had a good shorthanded scoring chance.

—————————————–
NOTES:

Here’s how the forward lines looked, sans Linus Klasen for the first time.

Bourque – Begin – Halischuk
Wilson – Lundmark – Santorelli
Thuresson – Geoffrion – Mueller
Thang – Van Guilder – Flynn

– Roman Josi made his season debut tonight after recovering from a hand injury suffered during training camp.  I had a chance to talk to Aaron Sims after the game, and he gave Josi some high marks.

“It didn’t take him long to get accustumed to game speed here.  He looked natural out there.  Josi is a guy who’s going to rush the puck and he did that tonight.  This was a pretty good jumping off point for him.”

He was paired with Scott Ford for this game, and I think we might get some good work out of that pairing.  All three defensive pairings compliment each other pretty well with offensive and defensive minded skillsets….the other pairings were Blum & Laakso, and Johnson and Palin.

– I think we underappreciate how versitile Chris Mueller is.  One game he’s playing on an energy line, the next on a checking line, and tonight back on a scoring line….and he scores the game winner.

– Ryan Flynn played his first game since October 10th (which was the team’s second game of the season)

– Jamie Koharski was tonight’s referee….  I’m interested to know what the relationship between Heat coach Jim Playfair and Koharski is like these days, after Playfair’s meltdown last season.  Can they laugh about it?  He’s a Koharski, so I’m guessing not.

– Chet Pickard lost in his Cincy debut tonight.  Again, only two goals of offensive support, but he gave up 3 goals on 25 shots.  So now, his streak is up to 14 straight decisions.  Cincy plays again on Saturday night, so we’ll see if they go right back to him.

So for quick discussion before the rematch in Abbotsford Saturday night…

– Geoffrion had a delay of game penalty in the 3rd period…do you think we can get away with calling it two minutes for Yonking?

– The next Admirals 3-in-3 is November 19-21.  With Dekanich playing extraordinarily well….do you think Jeremy Smith will see a minute of ice time while he’s here?

The Admirals almost fought back from a four goal deficit but fell a goal shy, losing 4-3 to the Wolves in Chicago.  The Ads have now lost to the Wolves three different ways with a loss in regulation, overtime and a shootout.

(Video highlights in the comments section of this post)

Following the loss, coach Lane Lambert said they would be “assessing” Chet Pickard’s performance over the next couple of days, but he didn’t want to discuss Pickard’s future from there.  Pickard allowed three goals in less than four minutes in the second period, two of which were unacceptable.  When you add in that he has now lost thirteen straight games (counting the 09-10 season) the coming days may include a trip to Cincinnati for Chet.

Chicago’s Fredrik Pettersson notched the only goal in the first period for either team, scoring five-hole at 5:41 of the first.  The Ads weren’t as sharp as in the previous games but still had their share of opportunities.

However, that fight disappeared quickly when Jared Ross beat Pickard glove side with a slapshot from above the top of the circle at 13:59 of the second.  The Wolves from that point through the end of the second period controlled play.  Darren Haydar scored at 15:33 and Andre Deveaux beat Pickard at 17:48 to give the Wolves a 4-0 lead entering the third.

Coach Lambert talks about how deflating the second period was…….

Lambert said the team heard the message loud and clear during the second intermission and responded quickly.  Linus Klasen continued his hot start to season scoring top shelf on the power play just 52 seconds into the third period.  The snap shot that rang off both posts before crossing the goal line was assisted by Blake Geoffrion and Jonathon Blum.

Less then three minutes later the Ads caught a break when Gabriel Bourque took advantage of Wolves goaltender Edward Pasquale misplaying the puck behind his net.  Bourque was able to wrap around the vacated net to score and make a game out of it at 3:22 of the third.

Andreas Thuresson’s goal at 16:02 brought the Ads one step closer when he received a Blake Geoffrion pass in the slot and one-timed his shot past Pasquale.  The play was made with Klasen hustling to beat out a close icing call, and Klasen then moved the puck to Geoffrion who found Thuresson.

The Ads continued to pressure the Wolves but ended up on the wrong side of a interference call with 1:51 left in the third.  Steve Begin, in his first game with Milwaukee, cut through the offensive slot and ran over a Wolf player.  Here’s Lamberts opinion on the call……

With the penalty the Ads had a couple of shots but no serious chances with the goalie pulled but still playing 5 on 5.

Pickard finished the game with 31 saves and Pasquale turned away 28.

All in all the Ads took two out of three games over the weekend and made a comeback in a game that they could have rolled over in.  Here’s coach’s take on the weekend…..

The Ads next game is Friday at Abbotsford.

The name of the game tonight was momentum.

The Abbotsford Heat had very little momentum for the majority of the game.  And when they did manage to get some momentum, the Admirals were able to answer back.

With the Admirals opening the 3rd period with a 2-0 lead (similar to last home game against Chicago), Abbotsford center John Armstrong scored just 1:47 into the frame.  He took down Jon Blum along the near boards, picked up the loose puck, and fired a perfect shot over a well positioned Mark Dekanich.

21 seconds later, the Admirals zapped all the momentum out of the Heat.

Ads defenseman Brett Palin took a shot from the point that deflected off Linus Klasen en route to the net, giving Klasen his 6th goal of the year.

Coach Lambert says the huge goal came from sticking to the game plan.

Klasen also assisted on the Admirals first goal, a power play marker that also went in on a deflection.  Klasen and Jamie Lundmark were at the point, and Klasen fed the puck over to Lundmark, whose slapshot went off a Heat defender and into the net.

Coach Lambert has great things to say about Klasen….and so does Linus Klasen.

I like the confidence.  A lot.

Mark Dekanich looked like a #1 goalie tonight.  And I’ve been hesitant to use that kind of language with him up to this point.  But he played a helluva game.  His rebound control was outstanding.  There was a breakdown in the second period when a shot was deflected on its way to the net.  He stayed with the deflection, and stuck a quick right pad out to stop a couple more follow-up shots.

But it wasn’t just Dekanich, as coach was happy to point out.

——

NOTES:

Here are how your lines started:

Wilson – Lundmark – Halischuk
Thuresson – Geoffrion – Klasen
Thang – Van Guilder – Santorelli
Bourque – Bartlett – Mueller

– Scott Lehman played his first game of the season, and I think he held his own pretty well.  He wasn’t afraid to be physical.

– Scott Ford…another awful fight, and he somehow got an extra two for roughing out of it.  At least he didn’t get his face bloodied up this time.

– Mark “The Proof” Santorelli scored his second of the year.  He was leading a two-on-one rush, and his shot went off of Leland Irving’s glove and in the net.  Great to see The Proof on the scoresheet, but wow….that was a very weak goal for Irving.

– So far so good for the first 3-games-in-3-days stretch of the season.  It’s a matinee in Chicago tomorrow afternoon, and the Wolves will be playing in just their second straight day.  They lost in OT to Rockford Saturday night.  Coach Lambert looks ahead to the game.

OK Roundtable — Here are some questions for you.

1)  Got our first chance to see Jamie Lundmark.  First impressions?
2)  We know the offense that Klasen can provide.  Do you think he’s holding his own on defense?
3)  After two straight solid performances by Dekanich….would you play him again tomorrow?
4)  Who will get benched in favor of Steve Begin tomomrrow?
5)  Give us your unsung hero for the game.

Milwaukee started their three games in three days on the positive side with a 3-2 victory over Grand Rapids.  It wasn’t a pretty game for either side but the Ads defense and goal-tending stepped up and earned two points on the road

Dekanich played well in his first game since being recalled to the Ads and made crucial saves in the closing minutes.  Dekanich ended the night with 24 saves.

Linus Klasen scored the game winner for the Ads after a sloppy first period.

The Ads led after the first period 2-1 and carried that lead into the third.  Three minutes into the third Griffins Jan Mursak scored a shorthanded breakaway goal off of a Blum mistake.

Couple things that stand out from this game:

Ads finally able to score that key third goal.

Dekanich strong in return.

Klasen a goal scorer but how will the rest of his game develop as the season progresses?

Milwaukee heads back home tomorrow to face the Abbotsford Heat at 7 p.m.

Nursing a one goal lead in the 3rd period, the Admirals one again coughed it up.  The Wolves scored the equalizer while Aaron Johnson (surprise) was serving a slashing penalty, and eventually were victorious in the shootout.  Box score is here, Ads recap here, and Wolves recap here.

Johnson, incidentally, is leading the team in penalty minutes.  All minor penalties too.

Chet Pickard didn’t let in any softies this time, but is now winless in his last 12 decisions.  He stopped 30 of 32 shots in 65 minutes, and then two of five shots in the shootout.

Meanwhile, Mark “The Proof” Santorelli made his case for some more playing time, scoring the first goal of the game.  Chicago goalie Edward Pasquale was kicking out rebounds, and The Proof was able to put one of them into the net.

Mark Van Guilder continued his solid play, assisting on The Proof’s goal, and scoring his own in the 2nd period.  Don’t forget to check out Aaron Sim’s interview/listening session with Van Guilder on his blog…  The way he’s been playing, would it be surprising to see him replacing Geoffrion on the 2nd scoring line in the near future?

So who made the trip to Chicago?  Did the Admirals play like a different team than the one that played in Milwaukee the previous night?

I’ve had about enough of Aaron Johnson.

I can’t get enough of Linus Klasen.

Unfortunately, they don’t cancel each other out.

The Admirals blew a two goal 3rd period lead, eventually losing in overtime to the Chicago Wolves 3-2 on Friday night.  Nuts and bolts are here.

The discipline of this team was tested by the Wolves, and the Admirals failed that test.  I’d like to say that it’s due to the youth of the team, but it’s not the young guys who are losing their heads.

Aaron Johnson (27 years old, 225 NHL games, alternate captain) got knocked down in front of his net in the 3rd period, and his head was not clear the rest of the game.  He took a STUPID interference penalty with just under 2 minutes left in regulation that COULD have handed the game to Chicago.  Fortunately, the PK was up to the task (major props to Mark Van Guilder), and the Admirals were able to get off the ice with a point in the standings.

Here’s coach Lambert on discipline.

I’m a little disappointed that he didn’t cite Johnson as an example when talking about discipline.

It’s awful that we have to talk about discipline, because I’d rather be writing about how Linus Klasen is not long for this league.  He scored on a penalty shot, on the power play, and almost had a 3rd goal on a play where it looked like Wolves netminder Edward Pasquale may have brought the puck back out from over the line.  But referee Lemelin was right there and made the call a good save, and there wasn’t much arguing from anybody afterwards.  Here’s coach Lambert talking about Klasen’s North American learning curve.

I’d also rather be writing about how Chet Pickard was able to snap his streak of losses — he had lost 10 straight decisions coming into tonight, and now 11 straight.  Through 40 minutes, he looked very solid.  The first Chicago goal came early in the 3rd period on the power play, and was a nice play by Jason Krog, a nice finish from Andre Deveaux, and poor play from Johnson to lose sight of the puck and let Deveaux get a whack at it.

The 2nd Wolves goal was ALL on Pickard.  Patrick Rissmiller had a shot from the top of the near faceoff circle that just flat out beat Chet.  Maybe Palin was screening him a bit or maybe a small deflection, but the action was so far away from the goal that I’m reluctant to give him that excuse.   Stoppable shot.  Chet agrees.

The one in overtime I think was stoppable too.  Spencer Machacek had a pass from the far boards right at the goal line and found defenseman Jamie Sifers pinching down to the near goal line.  The pass was a mile long, and Sifer’s shot still beat Chet to the near side post.

————–
NOTES:

Here’s how the lines started:

Wilson – Geoffrion – Halischuk
Thuresson – Spaling – Klasen
Bourque – Van Guilder – Santorelli
Thang – Bartlett – Mueller

– Klasen’s penalty shot.  I’m a little surprised they called it.  He had a breakaway, and Arturs Kulda caught up just before Klasen got the shot on goal.  He one-handedly waved his stick at Klasen and made contact.  And that “slash” gave them the penalty shot.  I’ve seen more contact on a play like that go uncalled.  But the ref pointed to center ice right away.  Klasen’s attempt was in slow motion, and he almost stopped his forward motion.  But the last deke opened up the net, and he was able to beat Pasquale.  He also did a little hot-dogging cupping his glove around his ear, asking the crowd to get louder.  I thought that was going to be an invitation to get his face washed by someone in a red uniform.  (photo credit: Scott Paulus)

– Mark Santorelli made his season debut, and looked okay.  He took an interference penalty with 5:36 left in the game that didn’t need to be taken.  Ryan Flynn was the forward scratch.

– Klasen was duped into a penalty in the overtime session.  Wolves forward Fredrik Pettersson was trying to get into Klasen’s head, and he succeeded.  After knocking Klasen’s stick out of hands near the Admirals blue line, and giving him a shove after the whistle, Klasen slashed him back.  Coincidental minors that kept the Admirals most dynamic scorer off the ice for two minutes of the 4×4 period.

POINTS FOR DISCUSSION:

– Am I being too hard on Aaron Johnson?
– Has anyone seen Blake Geoffrion lately?
– The two teams face each other again on Saturday night.  If you are coach Lambert, what is the message that you try to deliver to the team to prepare them for the rematch?
– How much longer do you think Klasen will be an Admiral?
– Anything else you’d like to share about this heartbreaker?

Opening night, it was a 2-0 hole after 20 minutes.

On Sunday afternoon, it was a 3-0 deficit, and the Admirals were not able to get even, as the Peoria Rivermen defeated the good guys 3-2.  Nuts and bolts are here and here.

After failing to convert on three early first period power plays, the Admirals gave up three goals to the Rivermen in a 2:58 span at the end of the first.  Five-hole was the problem for Chet Pickard, and Aaron Sims described the third goal (aka the game winning goal) like so:  “That’s a bad goal.”  Nathan Oystrick had a shot from the point on the power play that beat Chet five-hole somehow.

The Admirals were not low on chances, but Rivermen goalie Ben Bishop made 36 saves.  He let out a fair share of rebounds, but was able to cover a lot of them.  That’s one of the big differences between today’s game and last night’s game — the Ads could not finish their chances.

Depsite the early power play woes, the two goals they did score in the game did come on the power play.  Kelsey Wilson put one in as a Dean Arsene penalty was about to expire.  He tried to drop a pass to Ryan Thang in the slot, but the puck came right back to him, and he was able to beat Bishop.  And then with Mark Dekanich pulled for an extra attacker, Andreas Thuresson scored with 3:13 left in the game.

Speaking of Dekanich, he did his part.  He stopped all 17 shots he faced in the final two periods, and is probably right now patiently waiting for the notification that he’s been recalled to Nashville.  Pekka Rinne was hurt in the Preds game on Saturday night, and his status is currently “day-to-day”.  Paul Fenton said he was going to be in Peoria for this game when he spoke on the Admirals Center Ice Radio show last week, so he may just bring Dekanich back with him.

We’ll see how quickly we get an official announcement…

Call it opening night jitters.  And then call it cured.

After spotting the Abbotsford Heat to a 2-0 first period lead on two special teams goals, the Admirals exploded for 4 goals in the 2nd period, en route to a  6-2 opening night victory.  Nuts and bolts are here.

Maybe it was something Coach Lambert said in the first intermission?

Nick Spaling got the Admirals on the board with a nice shot from the high slot, but it was a great pass from Andreas Thuresson who found him.  Thuresson was skating down the left wing, and was being knocked over by one of the Heat defenders.

Linus Klasen had the second goal for the Ads, and finished a tic-tac-toe play on the power-play.  Teemu Laakso had an open look at the point, but instead of shooting, found Matt Halischuk on the left doorstep.  Rather than try to beat starting goaltender Leland Irving from there, he fed the puck across the street to Klasen who finished.  Klasen about 10 seconds early was being heckled for not shooting.  That’s one way to silence to fans….er…make them louder.  It’s great that the play worked, but if that last pass doesn’t get through to Klasen, we’re sitting here writing about how the Admirals were trying to get too cute on the power play.

3rd goal — Mark Van Guilder.  After going scoreless in his first 33 regular season games as an Admiral, he got the game winner tonight.  Kelsey Wilson fired a shot from the point that made it to the crease area, but not all the way through.  Van Guilder was just in front of the crease, played the rebound to his left, and fired a shot past Irving.  In this clip, he walks us through the goal.

Goal 4 – One part Matt Halischuk, four parts Leland Irving mental error.  The Admirals were killing a penalty, and a clear went right to Irving.  While trying to play the puck, he dropped his stick.   He recovered, and was able to play it…..right to Halischuk who was 2 feet away.  Empty net, easy goal.  Irving was pulled for the rest of the period.

5th goal – Klasen on the power play in the 3rd period, from very close to the same spot of his first goal.  Thuresson had a low percentage shot from the goal line on the far side that Irving deflected right to Klasen on the near side.  Klasen was all by himself, had the empty net, and didn’t miss.

6th goal — Halischuk breakaway.  Defensemen left in the dust; it looked like a penalty shot.  Irving got a piece of the shot, but it somehow dribbled through him into the net.

Welcome to Milwaukee Halischuk.  Welcome to Milwaukee Klasen.  While Coach Lambert isn’t surprised with their offense tonight, he does expect that the rest of the team will need to be chipping in on a regular basis.

—————

Notes:

Halischuk – Geoffrion – Mueller
Thuresson – Spaling – Klasen
Thang – Van Guilder – Wilson
Bourque – Bartlett – Flynn

Scratches – Mark Santorelli, Scott Lehman, and Roman Josi.

Dekanich looked like….Dekanich in goal.  Wasn’t really tested over the last half of the game.  But still made 22 saves on 24 shots.

Kelsey Wilson — hands down winner in a fight at the end of the 3rd period.  Got in the first shot, knocked Jon Armstrong’s helmet off, kept throwing punches, and then took him down.  Guilty of some showboating on his way to the penalty box, but the crowd didn’t have a problem with it.  Solid game from Kelsey all around.  I know some people were afraid he’d be a liability out there, but he wasn’t tonight at all.

Defenseman (and alternate camptain) Aaron Johnson did not look good.  Turnovers and bad positioning.  In the first period, he let a Heat player go around him and march down broadway to Dekanich.  He MUST be better.

Anyone miss Mark Santorelli at all?

Ok Roundtable — give us your thoughts on the opening game!  Who impressed you?  Who didn’t?  Which line do you think should be considered the #1 line — Spaling’s or Geoffrion’s?  After the 1st period, were you concerned?

Thanks for reading.

Well, that was fun.

Yes, it was pre-season, but anyone who was at the Kern Center on Saturday night had to walk away pretty happy with the result — 3-1 over the Wolves.   Nuts and bolts are here.

The Wolves put out a team that will probably resemble their opening night lineup, and the Admirals held them to just 8 shots over the first two periods.  The Wolves skated names like Krog, Haydar, Machacek, Holzapfel, and had lots of power play time, but the Admirals defense played a very effective game.  The lone Chicago goal was at the tail-end of a 5-3 power play.  Despite that, very high marks for the penalty killing units tonight.

So let’s cut to chase here — for those that were at the game, give us your first impressions of the team.  What did you think of guys like Gabriel Bourque, Ryan Flynn, Blake Geoffrion, Mike Bartlett, and the return of Kelsey Wilson?

Hockey season is here.  Hallelujah.

Lots of new faces this year, and we had a result that we didn’t see very often last year too:  a shootout win.  3-2 was your final over the Rockford IceHogs.  (We’ll link to the game recap once it is posted….)

Chris Mueller and Mark Van Guilder scored in the shootout, and Jeremy Smith stopped four of five shootout chances, and turned aside 33 of 35 shots in the game for the win.

He didn’t get any style points in the process, though.  He was pretty shaky playing the puck behind the net, and had some rebound control issues — some of which led to the two Rockford goals.

“I thought he battled hard,” coach Lambert said after the game.  “The problems that he had and gave himself were playing the puck, but that’s a little bit of communication and that’s something that isn’t probably going to be great the first game.

“And rebound control — he created some second and third opportunities for them that happened off of, really for me, easy shots.”

Coach also said that Chet Pickard should be in net for the full game Saturday at Kern Center.

First impressions on some of the new guys.

Defenseman Brett Palin made a great first impression for me.  On the power play, he played like he had quarterbacked those kinds of things before.  He looked poised and always under control.  Never panicky.  Especially with a young team, I think he’s going to be one of the unsung heroes of the squad this year.

Gabriel Bourque has speed, physicality, and skill.  Killing a penalty in the 3rd period he created a turnover, shifted into overdrive, and went in on a breakaway chance.  His shot was denied by IceHogs goalie Alec Richards.  But late in the game, he still seemed to have plenty of gas left in the tank.  If he plays on Saturday (and if he wears the same number), keep an eye out for #19.

Mike Bartlett played for the Ads during the playoffs last season, and held his own.  He more than held his own in this game.

“Mike Bartlett has got a real element of speed that we want, and we can use,” said the coach.  And he’s absolutely right.  Bartlett was winning battles in the corners and positioning himself well on both sides of the ice.  Bartlett played on a line with Dylan Hunter and Chris Mueller, and one could make the argument that they were the best line tonight.

Ryan Flynn – His reputation preceded him a bit.  He had a great camp in Nashville.  He was okay tonight.  Some great speed and some nice shots, but a couple of turnovers that ended offensive rushes prematurely.  Just one game.  I imagine that if he plays tomorrow, he’ll be better.

Connor Shields — Played some center, played some wing, and scored the game tying goal.  Coach has noticed him in practice too, and he was the first name Coach dropped when I asked if any of the free agents had impressed him thus far in camp.

“Connor Shields is a guy I want to take a look at because he plays the game with detail.”

Maybe he’ll be this year’s Wacey Rabbit?

See you at the Kern Center!