Oh, deary me – it’s these lads again! After this weekend the Chicago Wolves will have appeared on the Milwaukee Admirals schedule for six of their last fourteen games played with only one of those games taking place in Milwaukee. Also after this weekend, thankfully – and surprisingly, the Admirals will have played their last game at the Allstate Arena in the 2016-17 regular season.

This road heavy schedule for the Admirals is just one more weight to the shoulders of a team that have been enduring a lot of adversity since the start of December. The Admirals are right now at the literal mid-way point of the season at 38 games played.  The Admirals are tied with the Wolves for the second most road games played this season with 23 road games. Only the Charlotte Checkers, 24 road games, have played more.

Yet, as is the circumstance today, that tie between the Amtrak Rivals will be broken and the Admirals will be moving past the Checkers by the end of the weekend for that title. And, after the Ontario Reign host the San Jose Barracuda, no one in the AHL will have played less home games this season than the Admirals.

As bad as that sounds what it means is that the Admirals will have endured -technically- the hard part of the season first. The road games will start to trend down and the Admirals will be finishing the final 38 games of the regular season with 23 home games.

The Grand Rapids Griffins have 18 home games remaining. The Wolves -this weekend not included- have 19 home games remaining. For all that has been thrown at the Admirals in recent times they still have a lot in-hand once the home heavy side of this season begins.

The Wolves will be entering this weekend’s set against the Admirals already having battled last night. They lost 3-2 on the road against the Griffins last night. That’s a sour bus ride back from Grand Rapids only to get two more games against an Admirals team that will be rested as the Wolves grind along in a three-in-three weekend.

The Wolves record right now stands at 23-14-3-2 (51 points, 0.607 points percentage). They are third behind the Griffins (0.705) and Admirals (0.632) in the Central Division standings. They are sixth in the Western Conference standings. The Wolves are tied with the Iowa Wild as the teams who have logged the most games in the AHL to date, 42 games played.

If the “three-in-three” element isn’t enough for the Wolves to be knuckling down hard this weekend then the following is. Their top goaltender this season, Pheonix Copley, was recalled by the St. Louis Blues yesterday as Jake Allen seems to be going through the motions at the moment. In this match-up Copley has started in seven of the eight games played this season.

Jordan Binnington is therefore the lone goaltender on the Wolves active roster to have faced the Admirals this season. He was in net for the “School Day” game and allowed 5 goals from 24 shots. This season and last season have seen him really shy away from his excellent 2014-15 season. He has 7 wins from 17 appearances this season with a 3.02 goals against average and 0.905 save percentage. He did not start last night for the Wolves – Ville Husso did.

Where goaltending might be a question mark then – it could all be answered or diverted by one of the AHL’s best offenses this season. The Wolves have three top the league’s top ten scorers right now on their roster with Kenny Agostino leading the way (and the league). Agostino has 52 points (16 goals, 36 assists) in 42 games. The next closest player in the AHL to Agostino for assists this season is former-Admiral Taylor Beck who is still 8 assists shy of Agostino.

The other top scorers for the Wolves this season include: Wade Megan, 35 points (19 goals, 16 assists) in 40 games and Ivan Barbashev, 35 points (18 goals, 17 assists) in 42 games. The man behind those two on the Wolves leading scorer’s list sees recently waiver claimed defenseman Brad Hunt – now of the Nashville Predators – with 29 points (9 goals, 20 assists) in 23 games.

For the Admirals it appears that their roster is starting to get filled back out as their parent club heals up. Alex Carrier will return to the Admirals after playing his first 2 games in the NHL with the Predators. Kevin Fiala remains on the Admirals roster for the time being. And Anthony Richard has made a splash since returning from a concussion that sidelined him for a month.

The interesting storyline for this weekend will be if the Admirals get to see just who Max Görtz was traded away for in Andrew O’Brien. Görtz made his San Diego Gulls debut last night in a 5-1 win over the Barracuda. O’Brien only recently made his return from an injury that had sidelined him for a month (11 games). O’Brien was described in the AHL’s Press Release as a left-winger. That means he is a converted defenseman not too unlike the Jaynen Rissling experiment from a season ago. O’Brien has yet to be officially added to the Admirals AHL Roster at the time this was published.

Expectations for this weekend’s Amtrak Rivalry games? Are the Admirals playing the Wolves at an ideal time? Will the injury to Pardy hurt moving forward or can the group collectively pick up the slack? With Fiala and Richard’s pace still on the team – will the Admirals offensively be able to match the Wolves or should they play a more defensive approach as they did when they last met?

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.

If you were to ask me what the worst game of the season was so far it would be an easy answer. When the Milwaukee Admirals lost 5-1 to the Charlotte Checkers at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena a week ago I’d say that was the new rock bottom. The Checkers looked awful, shaky, sloppy, and they were still outplaying the Admirals on sheer effort.

These last two efforts for the Admirals have been good. They just haven’t had any offensive production to reward some pretty good defensive performances. The offense right now is a big issue for the Admirals. They have recorded only two goals from their last 249:43 of ice time and are on a power-play drought of nineteen straight without scoring. Things need to change.

This losing streak of four defeats in regulation was the first of its kind since the 2011-12 season. On that occasion the group lost five straight games in regulation (1/22/12–2/3/12). If the Admirals are to avoid matching that they’re going to need that offense to snap out of it.

As for the Checkers, they are entering this two-game set on a three game winning streak and are no longer at the bottom of the Central Division or Western Conference standings as was the case a week ago. They hold a record of 16-20-2-0 (34 points, 0.447 points percentage). Only the Rockford IceHogs (0.410 points percentage) are worse off now.

The Checkers and Admirals are at the bottom of the league when it comes to playing games at home as of this date. The Admirals are starting a four-game road trip. Meanwhile the Checkers are two games into an eight game homestand. Once all games are completed this Saturday night – no team in the AHL will have played fewer home games than the Admirals.

Good news? C.J. Motte, the goaltender who stopped 30/31 shots against the Admirals last week, isn’t with the team. Bad news? Michael Leighton, the AHL’s all-time shutout king, is.

Leighton’s 2016-17 season has been a bit of a scramble. That said, he signed with the Carolina Hurricanes in the hopes of more NHL time and he has logged three games this season up top. The bulk of his work has been in the AHL: 8-5-2-0 record from 16 appearances with a 2.17 goals against average, 0.923 save percentage, and 2 shutouts. In mid-November he lost to the Admirals in overtime stopping 26/29 shots.

During the Checkers current three-game winning streak they have seen great contributions by their top two scorers this season, Andrew Poturalski and Lucas Wallmark. They have combined for 7 points (4 goals, 3 assists) during the streak.

Poturalski has 24 points (8 goals, 16 assists) and Wallmark has 21 points (11 goals, 10 assists). Meanwhile, they man with the best points per game average on the team is Phil Di Giuseppe who has tallied 16 points (7 goals, 9 assists) in 22 games for the Checkers this season.

Something else to keep an eye on tonight and tomorrow is the Checkers composure. This team on this three-game run hasn’t allowed for multiple opportunities on the power-play. These three games that they have won have seen one power-play chance afforded to their opponent in the entire course of a game. The Admirals will want to use their speed and create hustle plays to see if they can cause some havoc and change that trend.

Expectations for tonight’s game? Is this the right opponent for the Milwaukee Admirals to get that offense reignited? Considering how few home games that the Admirals have played do you consider this road heavy start to their season to be a negative or a positive?

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.

I hope that the Milwaukee Admirals tuned into last night’s game for the Nashville Predators. It kind of showed an example for playing the game that the Admirals attempted to stamp down on Wednesday night on the road against the Chicago Wolves but how to do it right.

Both the Predators and Admirals are stretched for different reasons but that doesn’t mean the fight and battle levels should suffer due to missing pieces in the lineup. The Admirals are up against the sword tonight with one of the best teams in the AHL coming in. If they can mirror their parent club they can get the bounce back that they’re looking for.

If the Admirals fall again tonight it would be their fourth straight loss. The Admirals haven’t lost four straight games in the regular season since 1/3/16–1/9/16 (0-3-1-0). If they were to lose in regulation it would be their fourth straight loss in regulation and that hasn’t happened since the 2011-12 season when they lost five straight games in regulation (1/22/12–2/3/12).

As our pal Patrick Williams on NHL.com writes: it has been business as usual for the Grand Rapids Griffins this season. Despite all the chaos for the Detroit Red Wings this season their AHL affiliate has stayed composed and consistent throughout a fluctuating roster. History of the organization has shown that they can maintain this level of success. Which makes games like tonight all the more important for the Admirals to get ground in head-to-head opportunities rather than fall further behind.

The Griffins enter tonight’s game with a record of 22-9-1-2 (47 points, 0.691 points percentage). They aren’t just leading the Central Division but also the Western Conference standings. They only trail the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (0.764) and Lehigh Valley Phantoms (0.706) for the best record in the AHL.

A curious aspect to tonight’s contest comes by how the schedule has played out for both teams. The Admirals have been scrapping it out in tough games of late. They played at home on Tuesday and then on the road Wednesday. All the while, the Griffins have been sitting on a six-day break between games. Will the Griffins be rested or rusty? The opening period should tell that narrative.

When looking at just how stretched the Griffins are you look right to the goaltending position where there is no more Jared Coreau. He’s busy with the Red Wings now and it means the Griffins are leaning on more seasoned goaltenders in 26-year old Eddie Pasquale and 28-year old Cal Heeter.

Pasquale has a record of 7-2-1-2 from 12 appearances this season with a 2.46 goals against average, 0.911 save percentage, and a single shutout. He has won four of his last five starts and has won both starts he has made against the Admirals this season with a 1.48 goals against average and 0.953 save percentage.

Heeter, whose name sounds like he belongs in a baseball movie, has had quite the traveled career since leaving -the- Ohio State University. He has played for: Philadelphia Flyers (NHL), Adirondack Phantoms (AHL), Trenton Titans (ECHL), Evansville Icemen (ECHL), Toronto Marlies (AHL), Medvescak Zagreb (KHL), Hamburg Freezers (DEL), and Toledo Walleye (ECHL). That journey has ended with this recent spell up with the Griffins where he has a 4-1-0-0 record from five starts with a 2.20 goals against average and 0.929 save percentage.

Matt Lorito leads the Griffins in scoring with 32 points (10 goals, 22 assists) in 32 games this season. He is followed by four other players that are at 20 points or more: Ben Street, Mitch Callahan, and Tomas Nosek. By comparison, the Admirals have the four players at that plateau but only three will be available tonight: Matt White, Vladislav Kamenev, and Trevor Smith.

What are your expectations for tonight’s game? Will the Grand Rapids Griffins be too much for the Milwaukee Admirals in their current state? What do the Admirals need to do in order to ignite their offense which has only scored twice in the last 189:43 of ice time?

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.

Considering how last night played out perhaps the very best thing to come out of it is that there is a game tonight. The Milwaukee Admirals are facing a foe in the Chicago Wolves who they have seen ad nauseam for what feels like the last month or so now. The familiarity factor is incredibly high – as is playing at the Allstate Arena. After tonight’s game is said and done the Admirals play in Chicago two more times this month and they won’t have to travel into the Allstate Arena again for the rest of the regular season.

The Wolves enter this game with a record of 21-12-3-2 (47 points, 0.618 points percentage). They are in third place in the Central Division behind the Admirals (0.647) and Griffins (0.691). The Wolves are the most taxed team in the AHL in terms of games played to date, 38 games. They have played 4 games more to this point in the season than the Admirals.

As far as entertainment goes, whether you like them or not, the Wolves this season are a massively entertaining group to watch play. They have scored the most goals in the AHL this season (134) for an average of 3.53 goals forced per game. They also average 2.84 goals allowed per game as well as 13.9 penalty minutes per game.

At the forefront of this surging Wolves group, that has a record of 8-2-0-0 in their last 10 games, is AHL All-Star Kenny Agostino. It has been an incredible season for the 24-year old forward. He leads the AHL in scoring this season with 50 points (15 goals, 35 assists) in 38 games. The next closest to him in the league scoring race is 12 points behind.

Agostino is surrounded by a solid cast of forwards. Wade Megan and Ivan Barbashyov both have 34 points on the season. There are then three other players that are a goal away from reaching the double-digit plateau in Andrew Agozzino, Samuel Blais, and Bryce Gervais.

And, while the amount of goals allowed this season are still a touch high, the efforts in net this season for Pheonix Copley has been a real bright spot. He has a record of 9-4-1-1 from 16 games this season with a 2.42 goals against average, 0.914 save percentage, and a shutout.

The Wolves are up on the Amtrak Rivalry this season with a 4-1-1-1 record. They have beaten the Admirals in the last four meetings and scored 21 goals from open play in the process. In the last meeting, the Wolves won at home in a 4-3 shootout.

Expectations for tonight’s game? What will the Milwaukee Admirals need to do to limit the scoring ability of the Chicago Wolves? How nice will it be to have Vladislav Kamenev back for the Admirals tonight and can he be the spark plug they needed last night?

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.

Tonight’s game for the Milwaukee Admirals is an exciting one for a few reasons. The first of which being that it is a home game. The Admirals have played the second fewest home games in the AHL this season. Only the team they face tonight, the Charlotte Checkers, have played at home less – one game less.

Another reason is that this will be an Admirals team that can feature its full strength three defensive parings of Adam Pardy–Alex Carrier, Jimmy Oligny–Petter Granberg, and Trevor Murphy–Jack Dougherty for the first time since 11/25/16 which was 17 games ago.

Then, there are these visitors that are coming in tonight. For the Checkers this is their second game in Milwaukee this season and the first time in town they lost 3-2 in overtime. What is exciting about their arrival, paired with a full strengthened defense for the Admirals, is that the Checkers -on paper- are doing terribly this season. It can be a quick sense of relief on a week where they will face the Chicago Wolves on the road (tomorrow) and then the Grand Rapids Griffins at home (Saturday).

The Checkers are 13-20-2-0 (28 points, 0.400 points percentage) this season. That record has them in dead last of the the Central Division and Western Conference standings. The only team in the entire AHL that has a record worse than that are the Hartford Wolf Pack who have a record of 12-20-3-1 (28 points, 0.389 points percentage).

The Checkers have averaged 2.31 goals per game while allowing 3.00 goals against per game. Their road power-play has gone 8/91 (8.8%) which is the worst in the AHL. And, being the most taxed team in the AHL with road games this season, the Checkers road record is the second worst in the league: 5-16-2-0 (12 points, 0.261 points percentage). Only the Rockford IceHogs (18 road games, 0.222 points percentage) are worse off.

A pair of AHL rookies are leading the way in scoring for the Checkers this season. Andrew Poturalski lead the team with 21 points (7 goals, 14 assists) in 35 games. He is followed by Lucas Wallmark with 17 points (8 goals, 9 assists) in 35 games.

In net the Checkers dearly miss the likes of Michael Leighton who is currently up with the Carolina Hurricanes. They have been trying to find an answer and are right now stuck with two goaltenders who have played so little they don’t register as qualified goalies in AHL statistical lists.

Daniel Altshuller has logged the most games of their current tandem. He has made 7 appearances, holds a record of 2-3-0-0, has a 3.49 goals against average, and 0.892 save percentage. His battery mate, C.J. Motte, has stopped every single shot he has faced this season… 11 shots.. from a 19:51 relief appearance in the Checkers last game played on Saturday on the road against the Wolves.

What will be important tonight is for the Admirals to not simply write-off these Checkers as poor and expect to win. The Admirals were flat in their last game and need to bounce back strong ahead of these important games against the Wolves and Griffins later this week. The Checkers will be a good way to set the tone for those match-ups. The Admirals, no matter which forwards are available, need to deliver.

Expectations for tonight’s game? How will the return of the Milwaukee Admirals full-strength defense help tonight?

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.

As we Sconnies all know, we banded together and fought off the heat with pitchforks and beer steins a long time ago so that we can blissfully settle into our single-digit degree style weather. And the cosmic ballet goes on.

Poking at how the pre-game headline reads complete – the Milwaukee Admirals look to launch from last night’s 3-1 win over the San Jose Barracuda by facing the Stockton Heat tonight at 9:30 PM CST. It is the first time these two sides have met since the Calgary Flames AHL affiliate was the Adirondack Flames. The Admirals won that last meeting 4-3 in overtime on the road back on 1/17/15.

Who is playing tonight who played in that last game between the two? For the Admirals: Pontus Åberg, Jonathan Diaby, Félix Girard, Mike Liambas, and Jimmy Oligny. For the Heat: Ryan Culkin and Émile Poirier.

Fun Fact. In Poirier’s last two playing seasons, 2012-14, he was teammates with Alex Carrier in Gatineau (QMJHL). In Poirier’s final junior playing season both Carrier and himself were alternate captains.

The Heat enter tonight’s game having played last night at home against the Tucson Roadrunners where they came back to win 3-2 in overtime. The Heat’s record right now is 17-9-3-1 (38 points, 0.633 points percentage). They are third in the Pacific Division and fifth in the Western Conference standings.

There are two familiar faces on the Heat’s roster and familiar for different reasons.

Jamie Devane became a locker room and fan favorite for the Admirals last season. In 2015-16 he scored 11 points (6 goals, 5 assists) in 62 games with a plus/minus rating of -7 and 82 penalty minutes. He didn’t get going for the Heat until November this season but has started to get going: 7 points (3 goals, 4 assists) in 16 games with a plus/minus rating of +6 and 15 penalty minutes. He scored a goal last night in the Heat’s overtime win.

Tom McCollum is a goaltender that has finally broken free from the shackles that had him in the Detroit Red Wings system for his entire professional career up until this season. He has played in 20 career games against the Admirals. He hasn’t played an AHL game since 11/5/16 in a game that saw him bow out after 39:54 of ice time while he was doing extremely well. He since played 3 games in the ECHL for the Adirondack Thunder in early-December but has not seen game action since.

In net, Jon Gillies and David Rittich have held the fort. Gillies has played more but Rittich has performed better in lesser appearances. Gillies has a record of 10-5-2-1 in 19 games played with a 3.00 goals against average, 0.909 save percentage, and a shutout. Rittich has a record of 6-4-1-0 in 12 games played with a 1.96 goals against average, 0.929 save percentage, and 3 shutouts.

The race for the leading scorer title on the Heat is deadlocked at the moment. Mark Jankowski, who is the Heat’s lone AHL All-Star representative, has scored 24 points (9 goals, 15 assists) in 27 games. Linden Vey has 24 points (8 goals, 16 assists) in 25 games.

Expectations for tonight’s game? What do the Milwaukee Admirals need to do in order to lessen the amount of shots on goal from last night (40) considering the Stockton Heat weren’t far behind that total (39) last night? For how he performed does Marek Mazanec stay in or should the Admirals rotate Jonas Gunnarsson in for the second of this two-in-two?

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.

Before we remotely go one step further. Play this song in the background and keep it on a loop for today’s pre-game scout. “Why,” you ask. Well, it sets a lovely tone for the first time the Milwaukee Admirals see the San Jose Barracuda.

The Barracuda have been known for a few other names through the years: Kentucky Thoroughblades, Cleveland Barons, and Worcester Sharks. Throughout their movement across the United States they have always been an AHL organization. When NHL ownership packed up their Worcester Sharks and brought them out Californi-way it moved them across conferences.

This match-up between the two sides comes thanks to a chance meeting against California based opposition. Last season the Admirals saw the Bakersfield Condors and the San Diego Gulls. This season they will be getting the San Jose Barracuda and Stockton Heat. Those evil kiddos that took the Western Conference crown on a system that the Californian teams forced the AHL to mandate because they play less games, points percentage – the Ontario Reign, they’ll have to wait at least one more season.

Entering this game the Barracuda have a record of 16-7-1-3 (36 points, 0.667 points percentage). That has them in second place in the Pacific Division and are fourth in the Western Conference standings – one spot behind the Admirals.

The Barracuda have played 4 games less than the Admirals. By the end of the Admirals season the Barracuda will play a further 4 games less. “Why,” you ask. …I still don’t really know.

What I do know though is that this Barracuda team is coming on the Admirals schedule at a time in which they have an 8-1-1-0 run in their last 10 games. This season they have scored 3.48 goals per game while allowing 2.59 goals against per game. Their home power-play is clicking at 27.8% (15/54)  which likely helps see that sparkling home record of 10-2-1-1 be what it is.

This will not be a push-over for the Admirals tonight. This should be a battle. They have already logged 18 road games this season and have a 0.667 points percentage from those contests. What they are going to need to avoid is that bug that can plague them at times which is penalty trouble. The less the Barracuda go on the power-play the better. And, speaking of the PP, the Admirals road power-play needs to improve: 13.3% (11/83).

Like the Admirals, the Barracuda will have two representatives at the 2017 AHL All-Star Classic at the end of the month.

22-year old forward Danny O’Regan is the team’s top scorer with 31 points (10 goals, 21 assists) in 27 games and in November made his NHL debut with the San Jose Sharks.

Their last representative is goaltender, and Brooklyn, Wisconsin native, Troy Grosenick who has been part of the organization since the 2013-14 season. On paper, Grosenick has done well by winning 9 games from 19 appearances with a 2.06 goals against average and 0.929 save percentage. What stands out is his AHL best 5 shutouts this season.

Final Note. Get your coffee ready, folks. Tonight’s game starts at 9:00 PM CST and tomorrow night against the Stockton Heat is a half-hour later than that.

What are your expectations for this weekend? Knowing how a Californian AHL team playing 8 games less than the Milwaukee Admirals last season snuck past them on points percentage for the Western Conference crown – how vital are these games for the Admirals to negate points from San Jose and Stockton?

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.

Well, howdy there Rockford IceHogs. It has been a long ol’ time since you turned up on the Milwaukee Admirals 2016-17 schedule. This is the fourth meeting of the season between these two Central Division foes, the first game played since late-November, and the first time all season that the IceHogs will be playing in the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.

Needless to say there is some recapping in order with the IceHogs. They enter this game with a record of 11-16-2-3 (27 points, 0.422 points percentage). They are currently in seventh place in the Central Division with only 0.016 points percentage points… if that’s a thing.. separating them from the last placed Charlotte Checkers.

I feel very much like the IceHogs are this year’s version of last year’s Chicago Wolves. The IceHogs have the team. They just aren’t finding the results. I still find that letting Michael Leighton go has really hurt how their team has performed. The IceHogs are allowing 3.28 goals per game while scoring 2.47 goals per game. Right now Leighton, who plays for the Checkers, has a 2.04 goals against average, 0.927 save percentage, and 2 shutouts. The IceHogs goaltending this season has featured Lars Johansson and Mac Carruth. The two have a combined 2.93 goals against average and 0.899 save percentage.

Another sore spot for the IceHogs? Look at their roster last season. Look at the Chicago Blackhawks roster this season. Right now the Blackhawks have names such as Ryan Hartman, Vinnie Hinostroza, Tanner Kero, and Dennis Rasmussen. Prospects who could be in the AHL – aren’t in the AHL. That’s kind of the way the Blackhawks are forced into structuring a team the way they have big name talents under big money contracts.

Still, that’s not to say that the IceHogs should be let off the hook for a poor start to their season because the talent is there: Spencer Abbott, Sam Carrick, Jake Dowell, Brandon Mashinter, Mark McNeill, and Ville Pokka. It has been an incredibly underwhelming defensive effort that has shot them in the foot time and time again. And it is that approach that smells not too dissimilar to the way the Texas Stars operated minus the ability to match score for score. This could be a track meet. And it could all fall one way unless the IceHogs’ New Year’s Resolution of “minimize mistakes” holds true.

Where this game becomes fascinating from the Admirals perspective is the return of veteran stability to their defensive ranks in the form of Adam Pardy. Having him back, most likely paired with Alex Carrier, will be a very welcome sight to behold for the team. There is also the chance that the Admirals dress seven-defensemen tonight while Cody Bass is out due to a lower-body injury and Harry Zolnierczyk was recalled by the Nashville Predators yesterday.

Speaking of yesterday. I did chat with a good group to help preview tonight’s game. You can get caught up with that here in the latest edition of Chatterbox.

Expectations for tonight’s game? With the Milwaukee Admirals having lost four of their last five games what do they need to start doing to get on a good run early in 2017? Should the Admirals give the net to Jonas Gunnarsson for a third consecutive game or is it time to get Marek Mazanec back in?

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.

Oh, these guys again. In fact, I almost feel as if seeing the Chicago Wolves as often as the Milwaukee Admirals have in recent weeks and are about to in the month ahead should mean changing up the style in which we run the pre-game scout. Let’s do a dummy run today then, eh?

When last we met these Wolves it was the Admirals self-described worst played game of the season. It was the spanking of the team’s own doing and came after losing 8-4 to the Wolves in the previous game and 3-0 to the Grand Rapids Griffins before that. It was the first home game after a four-game road trip which could be considered taxing, sure, but everyone is going through the motions of constantly battling game-to-game. That 5-2 loss for the Admirals on home ice was self-destructive and pretty much sloppy for all but Marek Mazanec.

Following that loss on Monday night the group needed to be held accountable and get back on their feet fast. They had an Iowa Wild team coming in that always seems to punch above their weight against the Admirals. And, if there were ever a night or time for that to have happened again, it should have been Wednesday night. The great news was that the Admirals did rebound. The 3-0 shutout win that they had came on the back of very smart, crisp, and no nonsense play. The group got their basics done right and minimized bad penalties. They weren’t their worst enemy on the night. And that saw them get the job done, collectively, en route to Jonas Gunnarsson and the Admirals earning a shutout.

What happens next is something Nashville Predators fans have gone through far too often this season. Is that win for the Admirals a flash in the pan or can they continue the course set by that performance and keep winning? I believe the Admirals did a lot Wednesday night in simplifying their game and seeing the rewards that it provides. The focus on self can be reduced that little bit and it can go back towards solving the Wolves who are 3-1-1-1 against the Admirals this season while outscoring them 18-8 from three-games in the month of December.

How do you slow down the offense of the Wolves? Fear not, Admirals fans, because this question isn’t particular to your team right now. The Wolves in the month of December (12 games played) have managed to score an average of 4.0 goals per game. That’s pretty darn good. Yet, there was a familiar foe to the Admirals who found a way to get work done against them: the Griffins won 7-1 in Chicago back on 12/15/16. Let’s roll the tape.

Could it be that it was a School Day 11:00 AM start time? Perhaps it was the Monster Energy Motocross uniforms? I’m sure those are excuses that could be floated around for the Wolves but the reality is that they were worked over by a Griffins that morning.

What the Griffins did extremely well was driving numbers to the net, battling low, forcing the Wolves defense to react to that traffic, and creating a disruptive high-low game in the attacking zone. If the Admirals do what they did Wednesday, being smart and simple on defense while staying out of the penalty box, they could get bodies forward and make life hard for the Wolves defensively.

Another key area that can be seen from that footage is an element to the Admirals style of play that they often love to do: attacking on the rush. Perhaps that aspect of the Admirals game happens a bit too often and it becomes a point of emphasis on the Wolves side to prevent by jamming up the neutral zone but the Admirals speed in transition from defense to offense can be a real strength when the defense is clicking. If the Admirals can keep play in front of them in their defensive half of the ice and not see defenders getting turned inside-out it could mean seeing reflections of those rush style goals that the Griffins managed to create.

If I had to make one big key to the Admirals clamping down on the Wolves tonight it would be to play a simple and smart game. If anything, it might pay to play tight defensively as the Admirals did when they first saw the Cleveland Monsters this season. It wasn’t pretty or highlight reel worthy but they won both games in Cleveland despite seeing an average of 33 shots on goal over those two games. Why didn’t that comeback to hurt? The group effort was there as well as timely goaltending and special teams performances. Repeat that. And the Admirals can go from three game losing streak to a winning streak.

A last note. Unlike the Admirals this isn’t going to be the last game of the weekend and 2016 side of the calendar for the Wolves. They’re facing the Wild tomorrow night on New Year’s Eve at 3:00 PM CST. That’s a fast turn-around for both of those teams. Yet, it is something the Admirals don’t have to be concerned about at all. The Admirals can waste their gas tanks tonight before kicking back to celebrate New Year’s Eve and the Wolves will need to keep the Wild in mind. Watch for the late game tempo for both the Admirals and the Wolves. It could be telling.

Expectations for tonight’s Amtrak Rivalry game? What do the Milwaukee Admirals need to do to make sure that Wednesday’s win wasn’t a blip on the radar of a possibly lengthy losing spell? Did Jonas Gunnarsson earn himself an instant return to the net by recording a shutout?

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.

What do you do following a self-proclaimed worst game of the season? You work your butt off that’s what. The Milwaukee Admirals went right back to work yesterday and put in one of the more grinding style practices that I’ve watched up close. It was a back to the basics sort of day but those were a lot of what was lacking on Monday night when the team recorded their third consecutive regulation loss.

Over the past few years, on paper, a match-up such as tonight would seem to be a perfect way for the Admirals to bounce back. That just isn’t the case. The Iowa Wild, despite all of their flaws, have always played the Admirals extremely tight and tend to bust out a solid group performance no matter who is coaching, in the lineup, or in net. This season? The Wild are actually bringing that level of play out on a more consistent basis.

The Wild enter this game with a record of 14-14-2-1 (31 points, 0.500 points percentage). They are currently tied for fifth place in the Central Division with the Manitoba Moose. In the Wild’s last ten games they have gone 5-4-1-0. That overtime loss that they suffered actually sees them holding a point better in the past ten games than the Admirals have endured.

Part of the Wild improvement this season likely comes in the form of the outstanding veteran leadership group that was brought in this season. Pat Cannone, Maxime Fortunus, and Jeff Hoggan have a combined 2,200 games of professional experience spanning the NHL, AHL, ECHL, and DEL. Fortunus and Hoggan have three Calder Cup victories between them.

Right now the Admirals are in second place in the Central Division with a record of 17-8-2-1 (37 points, 0.661 points percentage). They now trail the Grand Rapids Griffins, Tucson Roadrunners, Stockton Heat, and Ontario Reign -in that order- in the Western Conference standings. Only the Charlotte Checkers by a single game have played more road games in the AHL this season than the Admirals who have logged 17 road games.

Teemu Pulkkinen‘s start to the 2016-17 season was a turbulent one as far as swapping organizations is concerned but he seems fully settled into the Wild system now. The “Holy Slapper” is leading the Wild in scoring with 20 points (11 goals, 9 assists) in 21 games this season including 5 points (3 goals, 2 assists) in his last 3 games.

In Pulkkinen’s career against the Admirals, mainly conducted as a member of the Griffins, he has produced 15 points (10 goals, 5 assists) in 17 games. He has been held scoreless in his first 2 games as a member of the Wild against the Admirals – the first such occurrence for Pulkkinen since the start of the 2013-14 season.

Defensively the Wild aren’t too distant from the Admirals. The Wild have allowed 2.84 goals per game compared to the Admirals 2.82 this season. While results might be alluding them both Alex Stalock and Steve Michalek have done well in net.

Stalock has played in 19 games this season with a record of 9-7-2-0, 2.66 goals against average, 0.909 save percentage, and a pair of shutouts. Michalek has played in 15 games with a 5-7-0-1 record, 2.85 goals against average, and 0.915 save percentage. Both have played twice against the Admirals this season and the better numbers favor Michalek in this match-up with 2 wins in 2 starts with a 1.50 goals against average and 0.960 save percentage.

Marek Mazanec has yet to play against the Wild this season. Should he make his sixth straight start in net he will be up against an Iowa team that he has a career record of 7-5-2-0 from 14 starts with a 2.13 goals against average, 0.921 save percentage, and 2 shutouts.

Expectations for tonight’s game? Could Monday night’s effort for the Milwaukee Admirals be a welcome slap in the face for the group or will this skid continue? 

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.