The Admirals posted a 5-0 shutout against the Charlotte Checkers Saturday night. Magnus Hellberg made it back-to-back night for the Admirals posting shutouts. He stopped all thirty-one shots he faced and the Admirals offense belted the Checkers en route to the team’s fourth straight win.

“We’ve played the right way now for a bit and got rewarded for it,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “We’ve kept the puck out of our net, played simple, yet had really nice opportunities to score goals. Hopefully it sinks in that if you do play that right way you’re going to get chances to score and you keep that puck out of your net.”

In the first period Austin Watson decided to do something he rarely does, fight. After he and Miikka Salomaki pancaked Brendan Woods near the Admirals bench the Checkers winger started to lash out on Salomaki. Watson took exception to this and the two took some swings and had a few noogies before the officials stepped in.

With sixteen seconds remaining in the opening frame Viktor Arvidsson popped in his eleventh goal of the season. The Swede skated in from the left wing on his backhand before spinning at the hashmarks to his forehand and firing a wrister on John Muse. His shot alluded the blocker and clipped the top of Muse’s right pad before hitting the back of the net.

After the first period ended Andrej Nestrasil was given a game misconduct for butt-ending. This gave the Admirals a five minute major power-play to work with to start the second period. With fourteen seconds remaining on the power-play Colton Sissons scored his tenth goal of the season. Ian White teed up Anthony Bitetto for a one-timer that was spilled out by Muse into the net crashing Sissons’ path for a tap in.

After a few careless penalties taken by the Checkers – the Admirals had an extended five-on-three power-play with 1:22 to operate with. Just as was the case on the first power-play goal: White to Bitetto for a one-timer, loose puck, rebound goal for Sissons. It was his second power-play goal scored in 4:07 of ice time and his eleventh goal of the season.

The Checkers had a chance to get something big generated in the late stages of the third period. They had 1:24 of five-on-three power-play to work with and ended up failing to convert.

Immediately following the successful penalty kill the Admirals found the back of the net for a fourth time. Bitetto had his share of howitzers to set up Sissons earlier in the game but managed to find a lane through traffic to bury one of his own. Bitetto’s slap shot tally was his second goal of the season.

Another home game and another fight for Rich Clune. The grit-meister general made it his fourth straight game in Milwaukee with a fight after he and Ben Holmstrom locked up down by the Checkers net. It was a decisive win for Clune who received a big pop from the crowd for his efforts.

The final blow from the Admirals to the Checkers came in the form of a highlight reel play for Arvidsson. The Swede bolted a power move on net from the left wing and managed to maintain puck control on the backhand before tossing it past Muse for his twelfth goal of the season.

“I feel like we’re playing good right now,” said Viktor Arvidsson. “We help each other out and play as a group. We’ve come together and play like a team.”

Hellberg made it back-to-back shutouts for the Admirals. Marek Mazanec was able to win his duel in Rockford last night. And Hellberg followed that performance up by making thirty-one saves in net tonight for his ninth career AHL shutout.

Ramblings: Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were Mike Liambas, Brendan Leipsic, Garrett Noonan, and Johan Alm. Liambas completed his three game suspension following last night’s game. Leipsic was a healthy scratch for the second consecutive night. Alm has now missed fifteen consecutive games due to an upper body injury.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Safe to say that this is the Milwaukee Admirals team we saw at the start of the season, right? Who has performed better this season: Marek Mazanec or Magnus Hellberg?

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The Admirals won 1-0 in overtime on the road against the Rockford IceHogs Friday night. It was a dazzling goaltending stalemate between Marek Mazanec and Michael Leighton that held the game scoreless until Austin Watson’s team leading fourteenth goal finished things off in overtime. The Ads have now won three games in a row.

Both the Admirals and IceHogs were unable to find the back of the net through the entirety of regulation tonight. The chances were plenty but both Marek Mazanec and Michael Leighton were stout in net. The Ads matched last night’s season high for shots in a period in the second by peppering in seventeen shots on the back of three power-play opportunities.

The breakthrough wouldn’t come until 2:14 into overtime when Austin Watson scored the game-winner. Watson was flying down the right wing and zipped in a hard shot to the near post that beat Leighton low blocker. The goal for Watson is his team leading fourteenth goal of the season and put an end to Leighton’s Rockford IceHogs franchise best shutout streak that went on for 187:29 of ice time.

Enough superlatives couldn’t be given to both Mazanec and Leighton both from this game. Mazanec earned his third shutout of the season by stopping all twenty-seven shots he faced. Leighton was just as equally up to the task as he had stopped all thirty-four shots he faced in goal right up until Watson scored the game-winner in overtime. Each made highlight reel saves. Each were rightfully voted as the game’s top two stars.

The win is the Admirals third consecutive victory and also, paired with results from around the AHL, sees a big swing in their division standing. Entering tonight the Ads were placed fourth in the Midwest Division. They are now in second after this game and trail the IceHogs for the division lead by six points with three games at hand over Rockford.

You can watch the first period and second period video highlights in the hyperlinks just provided.

Ramblings: Before the game Miikka Salomäki was reassigned to the Milwaukee Admirals after the Nashville Predators activated Taylor Beck and Matt Cullen from injured reserve. Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were Brendan Leipsic (healthy), Garrett Noonan (healthy), and Johan Alm (upper body). With tonight’s game in the books, Mike Liambas has now officially served all three games of his suspension for his illegal check to the head of Louis-Marc Aubry.

Thoughts from tonight’s game? Are the Milwaukee Admirals back in full swing or what? What do these wins against the Midwest Division leaders do for your confidence in this team after a rough month of December?

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The Admirals won 4-2 against the Rockford IceHogs Thursday night. After trailing by two-goals the Admirals came back with four unanswered goals to secure their second win in as many games.

“For us to comeback after being down two, hopefully, slowly things are turning for us here,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “We’re doing the right things. We’re not trying to be too pretty. We’re not trying to be too cute here at home. And it shows on the scoresheet and the win/loss column for sure.”

Rich Clune started this contest off by dropping the gloves with T.J. Brennan. The two grappled long after a whistle had been blown and ended with a take down for the Admirals winger. It’s now two fights in two games for Clune.

After Zach Budish flipped a puck up and into the stands the IceHogs scored the opening goal on the power-play. Kyle Cumiskey’s centering pass for Ryan Hartman was deflected off by Colton Sissons. During the scramble for the loose puck Joe Pendenza attempted to make a clear but the puck fell kindly for Philip Danault who scored his fifth goal of the season.

The IceHogs extended their lead in the first period from a man who has hurt them all season long by skating in from the blue line, Brennan. Ville Pokka’s shot from the right point deflected off of Pendenza’s stick and dinked over to the left wing where Brennan was racing in. Last season’s Eddie Shore award winner beat Pontus Aberg to the puck and fired a wrist shot past the glove of Marek Mazanec on the short side post to score his eighth goal of the season and fourth scored against the Ads.

Some flashy work by Viktor Arvidsson set up Triston Grant for his second goal of the season. Arvidsson was surrounded by three red shirts and still managed to pick out Grant stationed behind the defense. The veteran Admiral was all alone in front of Scott Darling and beat him with a wrist shot before he could get closed down.

Echoing the start of the game, the second period began with a scrap. Felix Girard paired up with the game’s opening goal scorer Danault and he just about tackled him to the ice. There weren’t many fists thrown in that match up. Just a quick take down for the first year Admiral.

Grant had entered tonight’s game with only a goal to his name. In the second period he would score his second goal of the night. Taylor Aronson took a pass from the right wing from Zach Budish and threw it on net. Darling spilled Aronson’s shot and right to Grant who popped home his third goal of the season.

“December is kind of behind us,” said Triston Grant. “I think that’s been a learning process for us. There’s been some games in the past that we played really well and we haven’t won. And there’s definitely some games that we weren’t even in the game. We’re trying to lean on each other and make sure everybody brings out their best game. When we do that we’re a pretty good team.”

After some chippiness around the IceHogs bench between Joe Piskula and Garret Ross the game saw its third fight of the night. While the commotion started with Piskula and Ross it ended up being Jonathan Diaby and Cody Bass that paired up. Both removed their helmets and threw down. The fight ended with a take down for Diaby in what was easily his best showing this season in the fighting department.

The Admirals would end the night in net for their former netminder Darling after scoring two goals forty-five seconds apart late in the second period. The Admirals comeback in the second frame also saw a season high for shots in a period as they recorded seventeen shots on goal.

For the second consecutive home game the Admirals managed to score a power-play goal. Clune, working the trapezoid behind the net, pulled off his best Wayne Gretzky impression and passed right to the tape of Austin Watson. The shot surprised Darling and Watson had his thirteen goal of the season.

The kicker for Darling came less than a minute later thanks to a great individual effort by Budish. The Minnesota native was able to jar a puck loose on the right wing from Klas Dahlbeck. Colton Sissons was able to plow through the center lane to give Budish his shooting angle and beat Darling high glove side on a wrist shot for his third goal of the season and sixth goal in six games including his time played for the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL. Darling was taken out and replaced in the IceHogs net by Michael Leighton after the Ads scored their fourth unanswered goal.

In the final minute of play, with the IceHogs net emptied in favor of an extra attacker, Ryan Hartman took a run at Mazanec. The Czech goaltender had his back turned and Hartman skated clean through him. Ian White was first man on call to the situation and did his share of grappling. The game ended with seventy-six combined penalty minutes.

“It was a great comeback tonight,” said Marek Mazanec. “We did a great job. That’s what we need to do in this league. No matter what’s on the scoreboard we need to play the same game and hope you’re going to score. That’s what we did.”

Ramblings: Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were Patrick Cehlin, Garrett Noonan, and Johan Alm. Prior to the game, Miikka Salomäki was recalled to the Nashville Predators following James Neal and Eric Nystrom’s placement on injured reserve. Salomäki made his NHL debut tonight and managed to score a goal for good measure. Alm missed his thirteen consecutive game due to an upper body injury. Mike Liambas has now served two games of his three game suspension for his illegal check to the head of Louis-Marc Aubry.

Thoughts from tonight’s game? Are these the Milwaukee Admirals that we saw at the start of the season? What has changed in the Admirals offense in their last two wins?

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