Victor Bartley last played for the Milwaukee Admirals in the 2012-13 season. He was the Admirals representative at the 2013 AHL All-Star Classic. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
Yesterday’s news within the organization was that the Nashville Predators finally attempted to reduce their numbers on defense where they have had two extra healthy defensemen sitting out of the lineup the majority of this season. For either Victor Bartley or Anthony Bitetto to reach the Milwaukee Admirals they would have needed to clear the waiver wire process to do so. Surprisingly the man put through this process yesterday was Bartley. Just as surprisingly he has cleared and will be joining the Admirals ahead of tomorrow night’s game against the Manitoba Moose.
Bartley played with the Admirals for 130 games over the course of two-seasons while producing 65 points (16 goals, 49 assists). He last played with the Admirals during the 2012-13 season and suited up in the 2013 AHL All-Star Classic as the Admirals representative. He spent a solid chunk of that season in Nashville before staying up there until now. He has 112 games of NHL experience, all coming with the Predators, and tallied 23 points (1 goal, 22 assists).
This season the Predators defense has remained quite healthy which has made having not just an extra defenseman but two additional blueliners a bit tough to work. The Predators sent Bitetto down on a conditioning assignment earlier this season and I was assuming a similar task would be handed off to Bartley before the Predators attempted putting one through waivers in an attempt to move them down to the Admirals. When the Predators picked up Petter Granberg from the Toronto Maple Leafs on waivers they effectively went up to three extra defensemen. Granberg is still on injured reserve but it’s clear that something was going to have to give. It did, and the net result ends up being a sigh of relief because Bartley is through waivers and still within the organization.
Beyond the sheer fact that this strengthens the Admirals blueline by adding a skilled two-way defenseman such as Bartley it also serves a great help to the player himself. Bartley was almost in purgatory this season as he only played a single game of the Predators 23 games played. Rather than look at this as a setback for Bartley you could just as well see this time used back in the AHL as a potential launch pad back to another NHL opportunity either with the Predators or elsewhere when his contract ends by season’s end. When Bartley returns to the Admirals locker room he will be the oldest defenseman on the roster at the age of 27-years old and the second oldest on the team next to Cody Bass. He can do plenty to make an already good looking Admirals team that much better.
Reaction to Bartley’s return to the Milwaukee Admirals? Would it be safe to assume Garrett Noonan returns to the Cincinnati Cyclones or do you think Kristian Näkyvä could benefit from some quick ECHL playing time?
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I believe that one of the hardest things to do in life would be standing in front of and attempting to block a Viktor Arvidsson slap shot. This kid has a howitzer. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
It’s that time again to announce Admirals Roundtable’s Admiral of the Month Award. Sure, the calendar might read November today but the Milwaukee Admirals have already burned through their twelve game set for the month. When they play tomorrow night at home we’ll be entering December and the whopping fourteen game total that the month will provide.
This month was nothing short of spectacular for the Milwaukee Admirals. They went 11-1-0-0 while setting a franchise record for the longest winning streak (ten-games) and most wins ever recorded in franchise history in the month of November. Needless to say there are a number of great individual performances that made the team rocket through the month as well as it did. And yet I find myself coming back to one player that stands out on his own. The Admiral of the Month for November was Viktor Arvidsson.
Arvidsson’s season started at the NHL level with the Nashville Predators. He scored his first career goal on opening night in front of the home crowd in Nashville. That goal wouldn’t prove to just be a nice moment for him either as it ended up being the game-winning goal for the Predators to beat the Carolina Hurricanes.
He would return to the Milwaukee Admirals at the tail end of October. From that moment until the game before his most recent recall to the Predators he scored a point in every game. Arvidsson’s thirteen-game points streak is the longest streak in the AHL this season and is so by a solid three-games over both Pat Cannone of the Chicago Wolves and William Nylander of the Toronto Marlies. When all was said and done in the month of November Arvidsson had produced 14 points (6 goals, 8 assists) in eleven-games. Despite missing the Admirals opening four-games of the season Arvidsson is the current team leader in points and is so by a good margin. The next closest to the Swede on the Admirals team scoring list is Frédérick Gaudreau with 12 points (4 goals, 7 assists).
Speaking of Gaudreau, he is one of many players who I think is well worthy of an Admirable Mention for the month of November. Gaudreau played fantastically well operating at both wing and center while tasked with many top responsibilities that were being bestowed upon Colton Sissons when he was with the Admirals. Gaudreau provided 9 points (4 goals, 5 assists), 2 power-play goals, 2 game-winning goals, and was just an out-and-out incredible performer regardless of the offensive output.
It would of course be wrong to not tip the cap to both Admirals goaltenders this month because they were immensely important in the team having the amount of success the team enjoyed. Juuse Saros won every single one of his seven-starts in November while posting a 2.00 goals against average, 0.932 save percentage, and earned his first career pro shutout in North America to kick off the month. When he returns from Nashville the Finn will still be on a seven-game winning streak in net. Marek Mazanec was also terrific this month despite the lone blip on the radar impacting his statistical numbers the hardest. If you remove that one game where the Admirals lost 6-0 to the Grand Rapids Griffins you would find that Maz was even more brilliant that his counter part: 1.19 goals against average and a 0.961 save percentage in his four-wins. So, when Nashville folk wag their finger saying Saros has been the better goalie – do take that with a grain of salt. Both goaltenders were unbelievable in November.
The Stormtrooper Admirals were able to eliminate the Rebel IceHog scum last night. Mainly from staying this compact defensively around Marek Mazanec. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
How long did it take to put the Admirals 6-0 thrashing at the hands of the Grand Rapids Griffins in the past? Thanks to last night’s 2-1 win against the Rockford IceHogs the correct answer to that question is 24-hours.
I want to focus on one individual that I think sums up this quick turnaround from Friday to Saturday night’s games. That man to me is Marek Mazanec. Think about what was going on in his head along the way. You go from the high of a franchise record ten-game winning streak – to a game where you were in net getting decimated – after the game you find out that your teammate is going up to the NHL instead of you – and your response to it is to be a rock for your teammates in net.
If Mazanec were to enter tonight’s game as the started only just to lay an egg I think I’d be willing to understand. Friday night’s game was rough. I’m not sure if there were many goals he allowed in the game that you could say were all his fault but rarely does a goaltender let six-goals get past him. He ends up being on the bad end of all the good that took place with the winning-streak. Smashed a few goaltending sticks by night’s end out on the ice. And then he sees what he might have felt was his role this season, the first choice goaltender in Milwaukee to be brought up in the event of an injury to either Pekka Rinne or Carter Hutton, vanish and go to Juuse Saros directly following a game when he allowed six-goals.
He could have been mentally or emotionally in bits. His focus on the IceHogs could have been non-existent with his head frozen in Friday night. That was one of two routes that Mazanec could have gone. I think the result speaks for itself but, allow me to drive the point home, he bailed the Admirals out numerous times in last night’s first period alone to give them a chance at winning that game.
When reflecting back on last night’s first period the only real saving grace was Vladislav Kamenev‘s breakaway goal. When you push that to the side and see what was left of the first period you see IceHogs domination with Mazanec stopping 14/15 shots as the Admirals offense puts only 4 shots on goal the entire period. The Kamanev goal was great. But, almost with or without it, the feeling of what happened last night was strongly creeping into the game. The difference between the Admirals going into the first intermission tied at 1-1 and not down by a goal or multiple goals was Mazanec. From the first intermission forward the Admirals confidence grew and they started looking more like themselves again. That doesn’t happen unless Mazanec gets them through the first period.
It’s also been pleasant seeing the Admirals penalty kill starting to really click no matter who is tasked with getting out to perform on it. It looked so disjointed those first few games. By the numbers… the Admirals penalty kill went 23/32 (71.9%) in the month of October over the course of seven-games… the Admirals penalty kill went 40/48 (83.3%) in the month of November over the course of twelve games.
All in all, good stuff and it doesn’t end there. For really the first time this season there were interview bombs taking place during tonight’s post-game interviews. You’ll get none during Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason‘s presser but the players were all buzzing around as they once again gave back to the fans by meeting them and signing autographs on their Stormtrooper jerseys that were put up for auction this past Friday and Saturday. In order: you’ll hear Jimmy Oligny (with Félix Girard butting in), Pontus Åberg, and Joe Pendenza (with Mazanec’s non-stop commentary in the background). Kick back and listen in to last night’s post-game interviews.
Comments on the comments? Do you feel like Mazanec and Saros might potentially get swapped soon by the Nashville Predators or do you think they are content to keep Saros up until Hutton returns? What did you think of Pendenza’s return to the Admirals lineup? Were you impressed to see the Admirals play that well with so many key names out of the squad?
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Simply put, Marek Mazanec was terrific tonight. (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The Milwaukee Admirals won 2-1 against the Rockford IceHogs Saturday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. The game rest almost firmly on the shoulders of Marek Mazanec and the Admirals penalty kill that went a successful 6/6 on the night.
“[Marek Mazanec] was our best penalty killer,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “We’ve talked about this so many times, all coaches do, your best penalty killer is your goaltender when he’s on. Our penalty kill the guys did a lot of right things for sure.”
A puck scramble in neutral ice set up the Admirals for the opening goal in the first period. Stevie Moses was carving through traffic and the puck kicked back to Pontus Åberg who then had both of his linemates past the IceHogs defense for a breakaway opportunity. Åberg saucered ahead on a forehand pass to Vladislav Kamenev down the right wing and the Russian did the rest. He waved the magic wand over the puck before a quick forehand backhand move polished off his fifth goal of the season.
The majority of the first period was a shooting gallery for the IceHogs. At 13:29 of the opening frame they finally put a puck past Marek Mazanec. Following a faceoff win, the towering Viktor Svedberg shot from the point and received a redirect in front of the goal mouth by Dennis Rasmussen. The quick deflection alluded Mazanec and the goal for Rasmussen was his sixth of the season.
He might not have been a teammates of his while he played in Rockford but chalk up yet another fight by Cody Bass against his old team. He paired up with Chris DeSousa and won thoroughly. Bass removed the bucket off DeSousa, gave him the noogies, and kept on delivering until the officials stepped in to call it. Score that round 10-9 for Bass in your fight card.
It wouldn’t be until the third period when the fireworks returned in the goal column. Åberg squirmed into the attacking zone skating center to left, whipped a shot off of Jake Dowell that left him down in pain on the ice, recovered his rebound, and snapped a second shot from the left wing circle off the post and in past Mark Visentin’s blocker side. The goal was Åberg’s fifth of the season.
“I think I hit [Jake Dowell] his knee,” said Pontus Åberg. “He was sitting down on two knees so I think I got him pretty good. I don’t even know where I shot it at first because he was sitting down already. Glad to see it went through him so I could take another shot and it was a great feeling to see it go in.”
It was a hats off performance in net tonight for Mazanec. Both himself and the Admirals desperately wanted to rebound from a rough outing to the Grand Rapids Griffins last night and he responded by stopping 23/24 shots on goal.
“We had a real good bounce back game,” said Evason. “It would have been easy for us just to let last night’s game snowball into something that was not positive. The start of the game wasn’t great but it turned into a real great hockey game. Real intense. Just a hard fought hockey game.”
Ramblings: Following last night’s game there was a frenzy of roster activity across all three levels of the Nashville Predators organization: Viktor Arvidsson and Juuse Saros were recalled by the Predators from the Milwaukee Admirals, Joe Pendenza and Brandon Whitney were recalled by the Admirals from the Cincinnati Cyclones, and the Predators placed Paul Gaustad and Gabriel Bourque in injured reserve. Tonight’s line combinations for the Admirals were: Fiala-Gaudreau-Görtz, Åberg-Kamenev-Moses, Payerl-Reinhart-Bass, Devane-Girard-Pendenza, Allen-Oligny, Näkyvä-Aronson, Noonan-Murphy. In Nashville, Saros made his NHL debut starting in net on home ice. Arvidsson was slapped with a five minute major for crosschecking and a game misconduct in his return to NHL action.
Thoughts on tonight’s game? How did you like the Admirals response both to last night’s game and a sluggish first period?
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“What? What’s that? What did Juuse? Juuse I’m getting called up to the NHL for the first time ever? I say that’s crazy awesome!” (Photo Credit: Scott Paulus)
The Nashville Predators have announced that Juuse Saros and Viktor Arvidsson have both been recalled from the Milwaukee Admirals. In addition the Predators have placed Paul Gaustad and Gabriel Bourque on injured reserve. Saros will be making his NHL debut tonight as he starts in net for the Predators on home ice.
This news comes after a 3-2 overtime loss by the Predators on the road against the Philadelphia Flyers that saw Bourque get injured and miss the final two periods of that contest due to an an upper-body injury.
Carter Hutton was caught up in a frightening collision with Marcus Foligno in Wednesday’s Predators road game against the Buffalo Sabres. He will be out of game action due to a lower-body injury. This subsequently is the reasoning behind Saros first career NHL recall where he’ll partner up with Finnish National Team goaltending partner Pekka Rinne. The two combined to set a modern day World Championship team shutout record in May and are good at mirroring each other.
In response, the Admirals have recalled Brandon Whitney and Joe Pendenza from the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL. Both should join the team ahead of tonight’s game against the Rockford IceHogs.
Nashville, Tenn. (November 28, 2015) – Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced Saturday that the club has recalled forward Viktor Arvidsson and goaltender Juuse Saros from Milwaukee (AHL), and placed forwards Gabriel Bourque and Paul Gaustad on Injured Reserve.
Arvidsson, 22 (4/8/92), posted a point in each of his first 13 AHL contests this season – the longest point streak in the league in 2015-16 and longest by an Admiral since 2009-10 (Mike Santorelli, 14 games) – and paces the club with 17 points (7g-10a) in 14 games. The 5-foot-9, 180-pound native of Skelleftea, Sweden, scored his first NHL goal, which stood as the game winner, in Nashville’s season-opening victory vs. Carolina on Oct. 8, and has a goal in four games this season after going scoreless in his first six NHL contests a season ago. Nashville’s fifth choice, 112th overall (fourth round), in the 2014 NHL Draft, Arvidsson was named to the 2015 AHL All-Rookie Team in his first season in North America after ranking third among league rookies and first on the Milwaukee Admirals in points (22g-33a-55pts).
Saros, 20 (4/19/95), has posted an 8-2-0 record, a 2.40 goals-against average, a .919 save percentage and a shutout for Milwaukee in 2015-16, his first campaign in North America. During the month of November, the Forssa, Finland, native has gone 7-0-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average, a .932 save percentage and a shutout. Prior to joining the Admirals, Nashville’s fourth choice, 99th overall (fourth round), in the 2013 Entry Draft spent two seasons with HPK of the Finnish Elite League, being named league rookie of the year in 2014, as well as helping Finland win the 2014 World Junior Championship, its first gold medal at the tournament since 1987, receiving 2014 WJC Media All-Star Team honors in the process after leading all goaltenders in save percentage (.943) and goals-against average (1.57) in six games.
The Nashville Predators return home tonight to play the Buffalo Sabres at 7 p.m. CT as they begin a three-game home stand (TV: FOX Sports Tennessee; Radio: 102.5 The Game). The Predators will also face off against the Arizona Coyotes (Tuesday) and Florida Panthers (Thursday) during this three-game set. Fans can still take advantage of the “Gold Friday” super sale. During the sale, fans can get up to 80 percent off admission for select games, as well as discounts on merchandise and specials on parking. The “Gold Friday” sale ends Sunday Nov. 29 at 5 p.m. For more information on “Gold Friday,” fans can visit NashvillePredators.com.
The Arvidsson news doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Bourque’s injury in yesterday’s game was in plain sight and Arvidsson may well have been working his way into a call up regardless of an injury situation. After starting his season in Nashville all Arvidsson did in Milwaukee was score points en route to becoming the Admirals leading scorer with 17 points (7 goals, 10 assists) in 14 games. It took until last night, when the Admirals were shutout, for his AHL best thirteen-game point streak to end. The next closest point streak in the AHL this season was ten-games long by Pat Cannone of the Chicago Wolves.
Saros first career NHL call up comes as a shock for most. I don’t know if you chalk that more up to Nashville suffering a goaltending injury or that it is simply down to Saros reaching the NHL this fast. No matter what the fact is this: all that hype leading into Saros’ first season playing professionally in North America is spot on. Saros has made ten starts this season, won eight games including his last seven straight, has a 2.40 goals against average, 0.919 save percentage, and a shutout to his name.
While there might be some wagging a finger saying Marek Mazanec is being passed over or that the Czech netminder hasn’t been playing as well as his counterpart here in Milwaukee I am not one of those people. I feel both Admirals goaltenders this season have been phenomenal and often times have bailed out the young roster out in front of them. This move of bringing Saros up could well be similar to that of Mazanec’s debut season in North America. Remember that it was Magnus Hellberg that had the initial call up in early stages of the 2013-14 season before Mazanec stayed up for awhile. I think it is just as much giving a taste of things to come as it is eventually allowing playing opportunities.
As far as the moves for the Admirals are concerned. They’re now without their: team captain Colton Sissons, leading scorer Arvidsson, and arguably their top goaltender in Saros. This move is an immediate test of the young team to see how they handle a significant roster turnover. Such a happenstance like this was one of the major issues in adjusting to late last season. They’ll all need to be better than that and stick to Admirals hockey rather than go into panic mode just because there are some missing pieces.
In place of Arvidsson the Admirals will look to see if Pendenza can replicate his outstanding scoring touch at the ECHL level in Cincinnati right here in Milwaukee. Pendenza has been fantastic since joining the Cyclones: 14 points (6 goals, 8 assists) in 15 games with a plus/minus rating of +5 and 10 penalty minutes. He is second on the team in scoring trailing only Nick Huard by a single point of offense.
The Admirals might have considered recalling Eric Robinson but the unfortunate reality is that he was injured on Thanksgiving Thursday. There aren’t details on his injury but the speculation makes it seem like it might be a bit before he’s back to game action. In addition, Jaynen Rissling has also been out of action due to injury which hinders his transition from defenseman to forward.
Then there is Mr. Whitney who has been playing under the shadow of Brad Thiessen at the ECHL level with the Cyclones. While that might come off as a bad thing to say – I have always been a big fan of Thiessen and think that a youngster such as Whitney is learning a tremendous amount being able to partner up with someone of Thiessen’s very underrated abilities. Whitney has started 4 games out of the Cyclones 16 games played this season. He dropped his opening performance with the team but has since been deserving of an AHL look for his work in net. In Whitney’s last 3 starts he has won each contest and stopped 82/87 shots on goal for a 1.62 goals against average and 0.943 save percentage.
What is your reaction to all this news? Is it surprising to see the Predators select Saros over Mazanec? Could Mazanec potentially be beating himself up between the ears over this news? With Arvidsson’s fire power now out of the lineup is it important for the Admirals to focus more on defensive hockey to win games or should they maintain their balanced approach?
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Just because you were teammates the year prior doesn’t mean you’ll stay friends on opposite sides of the ice a year later when the game begins. (Photo Credit: Greg Hamil)
If last night’s Milwaukee Admirals game still has you down I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the Admirals can instantly put last night in the past by picking up a win tonight against the Rockford IceHogs. The bad news is that, for an Admirals team that was just shutout, the IceHogs defense limited a very strong Chicago Wolves offense to only fifteen shots on goal in a game that saw Rockford win smoothly during a fight filled clash.
The IceHogs have a record of 12-4-1-2 (27 points) with a points percentage of 0.711. With the results going as they did last night the Admirals dropped from the top of the Central Division to third. The Lake Erie Monsters now lead the division with a 0.722 points percentage with the IceHogs not too far behind them.
Since the last meeting between the Admirals the IceHogs have won all three-games that they’ve played and done so on the strength of their defense. The IceHogs have produced 3 goals in each victory while goaltender Michael Leighton has stopped 68/72 shots on goal for a 0.932 save percentage. Those games were all played on home ice in Rockford. The IceHogs have lost their last two games that were played on the road.
The IceHogs are led in scoring by defenseman Ville Pokka who has 12 points (3 goals, 9 assists) in 19 games with a plus/minus rating of +3 and only 4 penalty minutes to his name.
While players such as Marko Dano, Tanner Kero, and Brandon Mashinter all remain up with the Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL the IceHogs are still getting quality contributions from: Ryan Hartman, 11 points (6 goals, 5 assists)… Jeremy Morin, 11 points (5 goals, 6 assists)… Bryan Bickell, 9 points (5 goals, 4 assists)… Dennis Rasmussen, 9 points (5 goals, 4 assists)… and Mark McNeill, 8 points (3 goals, 5 assists).
While Leighton has been the go-to option for the IceHogs this season that hasn’t exactly been the case these last two games when facing the Admirals. Mark Visentin has been the man tasked with going up against Marek Mazanec in the last two games of this head-to-head meeting and both have provided great performances: 11/7/15, Visentin 37/40 in save opportunities versus Mazanec’s 35/37… 11/20/15, Visentin 32/33 in save opportunities versus Mazanec’s 28/29. That game ended in a shootout where the Admirals beat Visentin on two opportunities while Mazanec stopped both shootout chances from the IceHogs.
What are you expecting to see out of the Milwaukee Admirals tonight? Can the Admirals rebound from last night with a win against the IceHogs? With another defensively tight team coming into the building what does the Admirals offense need to do in order to have better success tonight?
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Net. What are you doing? Net? STAHP! (Photo Credit: Stephanie Moebius)
Where do we even begin when talking about last night’s Milwaukee Admirals game? What’s funny about that opening line is that I’ve said as much during the franchise best ten-game winning streak. It was being asked with a positive connotation about it. Here? After last night’s game? There is nothing positive about it. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Even the on-ice projections last night weren’t right.
For me last night was an almost alien experience in comparison to how the Admirals winning-streak played out. They were able to adjust with so many different playing styles on the go and battled to earn the result. That was nowhere to be found in last night’s game. They were thoroughly dominated from the opening puck drop all the way to the final horn sounding. The result, Grand Rapids Griffins winning a 6-0 shutout, speaks for itself. It was ugly.
I could tap into multiple points of interest/disgust that took place in the game. Why not? I pointed out so many of the positives when the Admirals were winning, right? The reality is there were so many problems that it would be like doing my mid-season or end-season Report Card having to evaluate each and every player. Because make no mistakes about it that entire team was responsible for that loss.
Sure, some Admirals players had a worse night than others but I think the root if it is a simple one. The Griffins were a team that played sound, structured, desperate, veteran style hockey. And the Admirals were none of those things. I would go as far as to say the Admirals played defeated after allowing the power-play goal that capped off the first period and coming up blank with a power-play of their own early in the second period. You couldn’t sum that up any better than Louis-Marc Aubry scoring with 0.6 seconds left in the game. One team was playing until the absolute final second to ensure they played a full sixty-minute game. The other team couldn’t be bothered. They were broken without an attempt to fix anything.
That brings me to the question that I posed to Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason and a few of the players. Do you write last night’s game off completely and look to continue winning ways against the Rockford IceHogs? Or, do you take a thrashing like that and attempt to really understand how you were so soundly defeated?
With so little time to actually chomp through all that failure sandwich I’m guessing the thought process for tonight will be to stay true to the process, get back to playing as a team, compete for every shift, and play Admirals hockey. You won’t get further than last night staying in last night’s miseries so why not remember what put yourself on a franchise record ten game-winning streak in the first place?
I don’t think I have ever been so giddy to see the IceHogs roll into town in my entire life. It has nothing to do with them, a potential bench clearing brawl, a past bench clearing brawl, or that the last game we played against them was some sort of a barn burner – because it wasn’t. This is purely excitement down to the fact that the Admirals don’t have to let last night’s game fester for an extended period of time. The Admirals can get right back to winning ways inside a twenty-four hour window. Don’t get lost in the wrongs of last night. Get prepared for what can go right tonight. That’s the attitude the Admirals need to have and the quick turn-around sure makes it easier to tap into.
~Chatterbox~
After the game I did speak with the Admirals head coach. I also chatted with Conor Allen, Félix Girard, and Max Reinhart. Here is what they had to say after last night’s game.
Comments on the comments? What stood out the most to you in last night’s defeat? Is there really a cause for concern after winning ten straight games and losing one game in that style?
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Yeah. It was kind of like that. (Photo Credit: Stephanie Moebius)
The Milwaukee Admirals lost 6-0 against the Grand Rapids Griffins Friday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. The defeat ends the Admirals franchise best ten-game winning streak while the Griffins winning streak is now up to five-games. It is the first time the Admirals have been shutout this season.
Andy Miele put the Griffins out in front a little past the midway point of the first period. He was able to beat Kristian Näkyvä with a slick move while maintaining puck control on the backhand before flicking a wrister up and over the blocker of Marek Mazanec. It was a beauty of an individually worked goal and goes down as Miele’s third goal of the season.
The Griffins doubled their first period advantage late in the frame off of a power-play goal. Cody Bass was sent to the box following a minor penalty for an unsportsmanlike conduct. This led to a passage of up close and personal passing that tied up the Admirals defensemen in front of the net. The power-play goal would end up being a tap-in for Eric Tangradi following a setup pass by Mark Zengerle. The tally for Tangradi was his sixth goal of the season.
Following the Admirals first power-play chance of the game, in the second period, the Griffins extended their lead to 3-0. Zengerle was able to feed Miele on a wing to wing pass that put Miele one-on-one with Mazanec’s glove from the left wing. Mazanec remained stationary. Miele whipped his wrister clean past and scored his second goal of the game and fourth of the season.
In the third period the Griffins added yet another goal to push their lead up to 4-0. Conor Allen was sent to the box for a crosschecking minor and, right as his penalty expired, the Griffins scored. A pass from Andreas Athanasiou went to the tape of Mitch Callahan in the left wing circle and the Griffins winger squared up and found space to Mazanec’s glove side to record his fifth goal of the season.
The bad kept on getting bad as a defensive breakdown allowed for the Griffins fifth goal of the night. Max Reinhart was back defending Tomas Nosek with Näkyvä. Nosek dinked a puck free to his right where Daniel Cleary was all alone with Mazanec sat in front of him. The veteran whistled one through Mazanec towards the far post to score his first goal of the season and first in the AHL since the 1999-00 season as a member of the Hamilton Bulldogs.
It probably came too late for the Admirals but a fight did breakout with under four-minutes of regulation to play. Adam Payerl and Colin Campbell dropped the gloves close to the Griffins bench and grappled with one-another until Campbell earned a take down. Not much of a scrap but the win in the fight department goes to Campbell on the take down.
With 0.6 seconds remaining Louis-Marc Aubry won a foot race with Näkyvä and scored five hole on Mazanec to pick up his first goal of the season. The Admirals frustrations were evident following the goal. The Griffins played until the final horn and the Admirals were hoping the game would end. Before it ever came to it the Griffins tagged a sixth goal through Mazanec. The Czech netminder would snap his stick in disgust after the final horn sounded.
Ramblings: Since the Milwaukee Admirals last played there were some roster moves made. Eric Robinson was reassigned on loan to the ECHL affiliate Cincinnati Cyclones. Then the Nashville Predators recalled Admirals team captain Colton Sissons while placing Miikka Salomäki on injured reserve. Stevie Moses made his return to game action after missing three straight games due to an upper-body injury. Johan Alm remained out, fourth straight game, due to a lower-body injury. Alm was the lone scratch for the Admirals in tonight’s game. Tonight’s line combinations: Arvidsson-Gaudreau-Görtz, Åberg-Kamenev-Payerl, Fiala-Reinhart-Bass, Devane-Girard-Moses, Näkyvä-Aronson, Allen-Oligny, Noonan-Murphy. By getting shutout tonight, Viktor Arvidsson’s thirteen-game point streak officially came to an end tonight. It is the longest points streak in the AHL this season and is so by three-games to the next closest points streak. Arvidsson had scored in every single game he had played with the Admirals this season until tonight.
What is your reaction to tonight’s game? What did the Griffins do that ended the Admirals streak? Was this more a matter of the Griffins coming in stronger than the Admirals beating themselves tonight? Can the Admirals get back to winning ways tomorrow night against the Rockford IceHogs?
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I really hope that the Milwaukee Admirals are able to hit the target with their shots despite being dressed as Stormtroopers this weekend. (Photo Credit: Milwaukee Admirals)
It’s about time that the Milwaukee Admirals and Grand Rapids Griffins finally squared off against one-another. It feels like it has been far too long. The Admirals have already played 17 games on the season. You have to go back to the 2007-08 season for the last time the Admirals met the Griffins this deep into a regular season. At that time the two were in different divisions, Admirals (West Division) and Griffins (North Division), and it was the game #21 of the season for the Admirals. They were shutout that night at home 1-0 in a goaltending match-up that featured Pekka Rinne versus Jimmy Howard. Not too shabby -but- I believe we’d all like to avoid such a result as that one.
~Rough Start~
The Griffins enter tonight’s game with a record of 6-8-0-1 (13 points). Their 0.433 points percentage sees them sitting in sixth place of the Central Division and third from the bottom in the entire Western Conference.
It was a really poor start to the season for the Griffins who went five games into this season before finally earning their first win. They were shutout twice in the first four games and currently sit on a goal differential of -10 (36 goals forced, 46 goals allowed).
What was to blame for the bad start? If you were to look at the Griffins roster there are so many returning faces from year’s past that have made them a high quality team. It’s sort of puzzling. Then again, the name that isn’t in Grand Rapids anymore than might be missing from their AHL outfit the most is their head coach of the last three-seasons Jeff Blashill. He is now the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings. With his promotion also came the promotion of Teemu Pulkkinen and Alexei Marchenko. That puts new Griffins bench boss, and former head coach of the Oklahoma City Barons and Edmonton Oilers, Todd Nelson in a slightly tough spot. But my guess is that, much like the Admirals, the Griffins had some early kinks to get through as far as familiarity goes. For the Admirals it was a player-to-player problem. For the Griffins it’s coming to grips with a new coach.
Since losing two-games in two-days in Lake Erie, the Griffins appear to have found their polished identity once more and are currently on a four-game winning streak.
This winning streak has looked as such: 3-2 win vs. Rockford… 7-4 win vs. San Diego… 2-1 win @ Chicago… 5-1 win vs. Iowa. The Griffins have: outscored opponents 17-8, outshot opponents 128-127, and gone 5/18 on the power-play (27.8%) and 15/17 on the penalty kill (88.2%).
During the four-game winning streak for the Griffins they’ve seen quality performances by a number of players: Tomas Jurco, 9 points (5 goals, 4 assists)… Andreas Athanasiou, 6 points (3 goals, 3 assists)… Mitch Callahan, 5 (3 goals, 2 assists)… Eric Tangradi, 5 points (2 goals, 3 assists)… Robbie Russo, 4 points (1 goal, 3 assists)… Andy Miele, 4 points (0 goals, 4 assists).
~AHL Player of the Week~
It will be worth highlighting the current AHL Player of the Week in tonight’s game. He’ll be the man rocking the number 28 on the ice for the Griffins, Jurco.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League announced today that Grand Rapids Griffins left wing Tomas Jurco has been selected as the CCM/AHL Player of the Week for the period ending Nov. 22, 2015.
Jurco joined the Griffins on a conditioning loan from the Detroit Red Wings and injected life into the Grand Rapids offense, tallying three goals and four assists for seven points – including assists on all three game-winning goals – while helping the club to victories over three Western Conference powers.
In his first AHL appearance of the season on Wednesday, Jurco helped set up the winning goal with 9:49 left in regulation as Grand Rapids defeated Rockford, 3-2, to end the IceHogs’ 10-game points streak. On Friday, Jurco tied a franchise record with three power-play goals for his third career hat trick, part of a four-point effort to lead the Griffins over San Diego, 7-4. And on Saturday night, Jurco assisted on both Grand Rapids goals in a 2-1 win at Chicago, the Griffins’ third straight win after they had been 2-8-0-1 on the season entering the week.
Jurco, 22, had one assist in four NHL games with Detroit this season before joining the Griffins last week. A member of Grand Rapids’ Calder Cup championship team as a rookie in 2012-13, Jurco has gone on to play 103 games in the National Hockey League with the Red Wings, totaling 11 goals and 23 assists for 34 points. Jurco, a native of Kosice, Slovakia, was a second-round draft choice by Detroit (35th overall) in 2011 and has registered 30 goals and 37 assists for 67 points in 109 AHL games with Grand Rapids.
~Familiar Friend~
Tonight will mark the return of Triston Grant to Milwaukee since he signed on with the Griffins this past off-season. It feels like Grant really does have two places he can comfortably call home, Milwaukee and Grand Rapids. He has played a total of 328 games for both clubs (202 with the Admirals, 126 with the Griffins).
Sadly, it looks as if some sort of injury is keeping this ol’ relie from getting back on the ice. Grant has yet to play a game for the Griffins in the 2015-16 season. He might be added to the injury list of familiar faces that played with the Admirals last season but missed out on playing in Milwaukee early this season: Mike Liambas and Joe Piskula.
~Between the Pipes~
This season the Griffins have a clean split at the goaltending department with both Tom McCollum and Jared Coreau having logged 8 games in net each. McCollum leads the way with 8 starts this season but was yanked from the net after an abysmal seven-minutes against the San Antonio Rampage. McCollum went 6/9 in saves beforing giving way to Coreau who would stop all 22 shots he’d face for the rest of that game.
That’s essentially the story for the goaltending as a whole for the Griffins, too. Coreau has shown better results than his more seasoned AHL goaltending partner McCollum. Coreau has earned a record of 4-2-0-1, 2.78 goals against average, and 0.915 save percentage. McCollum has a record of 2-6-0-0 (losing his first 6 starts consecutively), 2.83 goals against average, and 0.907 save percentage. As far as who gets tabbed with starting duties tonight against the Admirals it is a clean toss up.
Which winning streak lives another day, Admirals or Griffins? Will the Admirals losing Colton Sissons to the Nashville Predators stretch the team or could a returning Stevie Moses be a boost? Would you prefer to have a player up with the Admirals to serve as a flex option at forward or should the roster stay bare bones with players remaining active and performing with the Cincinnati Cyclones at the ECHL level?
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The Captain is going back up to the Nashville Predators where he just enjoyed a very successful NHL stint. (Photo Credit: Stephanie Moebius)
The Nashville Predators have opted to spend their Thanksgiving by making a roster move that will see Milwaukee Admirals captain Colton Sissons returning to the team. This recall for Sissons comes after Paul Gaustad was banged up in last night’s Predators 3-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres. In addition, the Predators have also placed Miikka Salomäki on injured reserve.
Nashville, Tenn. (November 26, 2015) – Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has recalled forward Colton Sissons from Milwaukee (AHL) and placed forward Miikka Salomaki on Injured Reserve.
Sissons, 22 (11/5/93), has appeared in five games for the Predators this season, scoring a goal and posting a plus-four rating in his season debut on Nov. 10 vs. Ottawa. In 22 career NHL contests, the 6-foot-1, 200-pound center has posted five points (2g-3a), a plus-five rating and nine penalty minutes. Named Milwaukee’s team captain for the 2015-16 season, the North Vancouver, B.C., native has amassed eight points (3g-5a) in 12 AHL games.
Nashville’s second choice, 50th overall (second round), in the 2012 Entry Draft, Sissons is on Twitter @Colton_es15.
The Nashville Predators wrap up a five-game road trip tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 p.m. CT, as they take on the Philadelphia Flyers (TV: FOX Sports Tennessee; Radio: 102.5 The Game). The team returns home to play the Buffalo Sabres at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday, with a pregame ceremony to honor recent Hall of Fame inductee and Predators Assistant Coach Phil Housley. During “Golden Saturday” home contests, the team has special promotions, events, giveaways and in-arena campaigns centered around the “Gold” theme. All fans wearing Gold for the Nov. 18 game against Buffalo will receive a poster of Housley recognizing his accomplishments. For more information or to purchase tickets, fans can visit NashvillePredators.com or call 615-770-7800.
It was made clear to Sissons when he last came down to Milwaukee that the coaching staff in Nashville was very impressed by his performances. He was sent down not due to his play but simply the numbers up top were forcing the Predators hand. With some banged up bodies changing that fact in the space of a week I think it is safe to say he’s back where he belongs right now.
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