The Admirals lost 3-2 on the road against the Rockford IceHogs Saturday night. It was a shooting gallery tonight as the two teams tallied seventy-three shots on goal. Brendan Leipsic was able to score the first goal in his professional playing career to help the Admirals climb out of a 2-0 hole. Yet, T.J. Brennan’s late power-play goal in the second period would be enough to seal things in Rockford tonight.

Entering tonight’s game, the Admirals were a perfect nine-for-nine in penalty killing against the IceHogs in their previous three meetings this season. That spell was broken in the first period after a double screen blocked Marek Mazanec’s sight line for Kyle Cumiskey’s blast from the point. It’s his first goal of the season and first as a member of the IceHogs.

In the second period the IceHogs were able to extend their lead to two-goals. Zach Miskovic’s shot between the circles was aimed low and he forced a rebound off of Mazanec that went straight to the stickblade of Dennis Rasmussen. It was a simple finish for his fourth goal of the season.

Don’t be too surprised if the Admirals start working on breakaways in the near future. After missing three breakaways last night – Pontus Aberg had a breakaway from the defensive blue line all the way in on Scott Darling. His shot was pushed aside by Darling. And it left another clean chance for the Ads begging.

Garrett Noonan would help ease the sting of the Aberg miss by ripping in a one-timer for his third goal of the season and second scored against the IceHogs. Just as an Admiral power-play was coming to an end, Anthony Bitetto slid a pass on from the point to Noonan on the right wing circle which he took first time. Darling was down and out getting to the placement of Noonan’s shot but he couldn’t get there.

Then came a decent fight between Mike Liambas and Ryan Schnell. This bout spilled over after the two jawed their way to the penalty box following a Liambas goaltender interference that pulled in Schnell for an unsportsmanlike. When they got out of the box they let fly a really passionate facepunching fest. I say give them both a ten in your fight card.

Brendan Leipsic has been leading the Admirals in scoring most of the way this season and doing it by assists alone. Tonight was finally his night to score his first career goal as a professional hockey player. The Ads had a four-on-three odd-man rush on a four-on-four. Taylor Aronson passed from the center lane off to the right wing where Leipsic blistered a shot while down on one knee to beat Darling and level the game a 2-2.

Craziness continued in the second period with another fight. After Stephen Johns was tagged with an interference call, for clobbering Frederick Gaudreau, Garrett Noonan stepped up and decided to drop the mitts. While Noonan may have been coming to the aid of his teammate he lost the fight to Johns pretty badly. Pro, being a great teammate. Con, getting knocked around until you’re off your feet.

The second period ended with the IceHogs regaining their lead. With another four-on-four coming to a close, the IceHogs gained a skater and got a short but sweet power-play chance. T.J. Brennan held the puck and pinpointed a shot high over the shoulder of Mazanec and beneath the crossbar to make it 3-2. It’s Brennan’s fourth goal of the season.

With the net emptied, and both teams burning timeouts in the closing of the third period, the Admirals were not able to get the equalizer on their former-goaltender Darling – who stopped thirty-eight of forty shots on goal tonight. Mazanec also had himself a busy night: thirty saves on thirty-three shots. The win for the IceHogs snaps a winning streak that the Admirals had running on them of eight-straight games dating back to last season.

Ramblings: Marek Mazanec made his first start since 11/12/14 when the Admirals lost 3-2. Apart from the goaltenders being rotated – the roster and line combinations were the same as it has been for a while now. Scratches were Jonathan Diaby (healthy), Joe Pendenza (healthy), and Patrick Cehlin (hip). The Rockford IceHogs were without Mark McNeill for the IceHogs tonight. In his absence they dressed an extra defenseman.

Thoughts from tonight’s game? Is this a difficult loss to take for the Admirals or a case of just getting slightly bested by another quality team? What were your impressions of Marek Mazanec’s return to the Admirals net? Would this game have been all that different if Magnus Hellberg played? What will Brendan Leipsic’s first goal do for his confidence moving forward?

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The Admirals won 3-2 in overtime against the Chicago Wolves Friday night. It is the third time this season that the Admirals have experienced the three-on-three AHL overtime format. And, just like the first time around, ended with an OT victory over the Amtrak Rivals. Pontus Aberg secured the win with his fifth goal of the season.

“I freakin’ hate it,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason on the AHL’s overtime format. “It’s so nerve-racking. I guess it’s exciting. I guess it’s fun. As soon as a guy gets a tad bit tired you’re in trouble. Or at least Stan [Drulia] and I are in trouble because we’re scared to death that something is going to happen.”

Despite Brent Sopel clanking a shot off the post in the opening minute of play. It took the Chicago Wolves 7:19 of ice time before registering their first shot on goal. It wasn’t until 16:11 into the first period until their second shot. The Admirals defense was relentless in closing down passing and shooting lanes. They even resorted to some 1-3-1 neutral zone trap to disrupt Chicago’s breakouts.

Austin Watson put the Admirals puck possession to good use by scoring his sixth goal of the season. The Ads were cycling the offensive zone hard and Mark Van Guilder put together a quality shift behind Matt Climie’s net. Even more quality was the pass that Van Guilder dished up for Watson’s goal. He raced from behind the left wing side of the net, spun off a no look backhander in front of Climie, and right to the tape of Watson on the opposite post for a slam dunk of a goal.

The Wolves came into tonight’s game as the best second period team in the AHL. They had outscored their opponents 25-10 in the middle frame for a league best +15 goal differential. Despite outshooting the Admirals 12-8 in tonight’s second period. It was more of the same in the goal scoring department.

Viktor Arvidsson’s howitzer slap shot made it a 2-0 game late in the second period on an Admiral power-play. The passing cycled from the right wing (Brendan Leipsic) to the point (Taylor Aronson) and on over to the sweet spot of Arvidsson on the left wing circle. His one-timer smoked past Climie for his sixth goal of the season and fourth scored on the power-play.

It’s also worth highlighting a bit of wackiness from the second period. Before Aronson delivered the set-up to Arvidsson on the power-play goal. He served up a solid check to Colin Fraser in open ice. Aronson was instantly jumped by Yannick Veilleux. Instead of fighting majors the officials called them roughing minors. That would make sense given how the tangled mess of Aronson and Veilleux were once gloves dropped. What is odd to me is that there wasn’t an instigator given to Veilleux despite his actions clearly being just that. He received an unsportsmanlike instead.

The Wolves ended Magnus Hellberg’s shutout bid in the third period from a power-play. Philip McRae’s shot from the right point rifled off the post and traveled to his opposite point for Petteri Lindbohm. The follow up chance was also belted off a post but, this time, it was crossbar, down, and in to cut the Admirals lead to 2-1. It is Lindbohm’s fourth goal of the season.

Odd man rushes really started cropping up for the Admirals with the Wolves fighting for an equalizer. Leipsic had a breakaway that he pushed wide left of Climie. Then Frederick Gaudreau had a clean breakaway that saw his backhander to that same left side get shoved off. The Ads even had a three-on-two develop with Colton Sissons but his wingers drew him offsides.

These missed opportunities made the following sting. After a relentless, shift after shift, attack for the Wolves – Brent Regner equalized. The shot from the point was simple enough but the traffic down the slot made Hellberg’s view of it almost impossible with Jeremy Welsh’s net front screen. Regner’s second goal of the season forced the Admirals into their third overtime game of the year.

“They had a heck of a period,” said Evason of the Wolves third period comeback. “They just kept coming at us. Put pressure on us. When you’re down 2-0 that’s how you’re going to play. You’re going to play desperate. And we bent a bit.”

Yet again, the Admirals found themselves in the midst of the AHL’s three-on-three overtime format. And, just as they did on 10/24/14 in Chicago, they took down their Amtrak Rivals. Hellberg forwarded a puck on to Johan Alm who dinked onto Pontus Aberg. The young Swede raced through neutral ice on the right wing wall, toe dragged, released a shot out of the stickhandle, and beat Climie against the grain to seal the contest in OT.

The goal for Aberg helped out his fellow countryman Hellberg in securing his sixth win from six starts on the season. Hellberg stopped 27/29 shots on goal tonight. It was the first time all season that he allowed more than one-goal.

Ramblings: Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were Jonathan Diaby (healthy), Joe Pendenza (healthy), and Patrick Cehlin (hip). Magnus Hellberg made his third-consecutive start tonight for the Milwaukee Admirals. It is the first time since 11/19/13-11/20/13-11/22/13 that he has made three-consecutive starts for the Admirals.

Thoughts from tonight’s game? What happened to the Admirals in the third period? What are your opinions of the AHL’s new overtime format so far and would you like to see it get adopted by the NHL?

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The Admirals won 2-1 against the Rockford IceHogs Saturday night to narrow the gap in the Midwest Division to two-points between the top three teams. The Magnus Hellberg Show continued as the big Swede only allowed one-goal from twenty-nine shots. And the blue liners did the scoring tonight with both Garrett Noonan and Joe Piskula lighting the lamp.

“That is a good hockey team,” said head coach Dean Evason of the Rockford IceHogs. “Magnus definitely played great yesterday. And we weren’t very good today. Certainly early in the hockey game and he kept us in the hockey game. Allowed us to find our legs after the first period. He played as good as they played as of late.”

Tonight was the IceHogs turn to score the opener. The IceHogs had a power-play that just expired as T.J. Brennan passed off to the right wing circle for a Teuvo Teravainen one-timer that scorched through Magnus Hellberg. It’s his second goal of the season.

Then came the fisticuffs. Mike Liambas popped Brennan with a check behind Scott Darling’s net. This attracted the attention of Garret Ross and the two tied up. Liambas got bloodied a little bit in this tilt. That’s enough for me to give the edge in the fight card to Ross.

The fighting continued in the first period when Rich Clune and Cody Bass dropped the mitts. This bout had a heck of a Rock Em Sock Em Robots start. Plenty of punches landed flush and Clune ended up getting a take down to make it 1-1 in the fight department through twenty minutes.

In the second period we saw a Colton Sissons cast himself into the running for the biggest hit in the AHL this season. During his shift, Sissons was all over the place after requiring a new stick from the bench. Once he settled back in he had Dennis Rasmussen in his crosshairs. The IceHog defenseman was swooping in behind his own net with his head down and Sissons buried him.

“We’ve talked about [Sissons] a lot just being a pro but he has played a really heavy game as of late,” said Evason. “Stan [Drulia] just mentioned upstairs that it’s as heavy a game as he’s seen him play these last two. And they’re hard games.”

The direct result of the check was Sissons first career fight as a pro. Klas Dahlbeck instantly came to the aid of his defensive battery-mate. And the end result was two extra penalties on the Rockford d-man. Sadly, the Admirals failed to capitalize from the four-minutes worth of power-play time that followed the Sissons check and fight.

After several times of holding the puck too long, and passing instead of shooting, the Admirals finally found the back of the net. Garrett Noonan blistered a wrister against the grain, right wing to blocker side of Darling, to score his second goal of the season and equalize for the Ads – making it a 1-1 game through forty-minutes.

With 7:32 remaining in regulation the Admirals took their first lead of the game on the captain’s first goal of the season. Felix Girard fed Joe Piskula the puck and he hammered it first time from the right point. It belted on by Darling and the Ads went ahead 2-1. It’s Piskula’s first goal since 3/12/14 against the Iowa Wild… or was it?

“It wasn’t Piskula’s goal,” smiled former-Admiral netminder Scott Darling. “Just so he doesn’t get a big head. [Triston] Grant tipped it in.”

With Darling to the bench on for the extra attacker – the IceHogs pressed hard for a solid 1:45 of ice time. The Admirals were able to hold on and Magnus Hellberg was once again the man in the win column. He stopped twenty-eight of twenty-nine shots on goal to record his fifth win in five starts. He currently has an AHL best for goals against average (0.78) and save percentage (0.969).

“All weekend Magnus was solid,” said Darling. “He did his job but the guys were really good in front of him. The [Admiral] forwards were pretty dynamic. Miikka, it’s nice to have them on your team. It’s not as much fun to play against them.”

Ramblings: Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals included Patrick Cehlin, Joe Pendenza, and Jonathan Diaby. Also, tonight the Milwaukee Admirals retired Zombie Nation’s “Kernkraft 400” as their goal song. It was replaced with a song called “Slapshot” that is very familiar to those of you New York Rangers fans. The change came via player request. The next time we see these Rockford IceHogs will be on 11/22/14 in Rockford. The next home meeting between them isn’t until the start of December. I can’t wait for more of the same.

Has this weekend made you feel more confident in your 2014-15 Milwaukee Admirals? How important has the play in net from Magnus Hellberg been behind these two wins against Rockford?

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The Admirals won 4-1 on the road against the Rockford IceHogs Friday night. Miikka Salomaki scored twice from the power-play and Taylor Aronson had a four-point night – including his first career AHL goal. All of this in front of yet another smooth night in net for Magnus Hellberg – his fourth win in four starts. The victory snaps a franchise best eight-game winning streak for the IceHogs. The rematch is all set for tomorrow night.

After a post-whistle slash by Ryan Schnell, delivered to Mike Liambas, the Admirals took the game’s opening power-play and picked up a first period lead. Taylor Aronson fed a pass off to the left wing circle for Viktor Arvidsson to one-time it on net. Former-Admiral goaltender Scott Darling kicked it out in front to traffic where Miikka Salomaki was able to push the puck across for his second goal of the season.

In the second period the Admirals extended their lead to two. Taylor Aronson scored his first career AHL goal through a long range wister from the right point. That puck had eyes through traffic and Darling to give the Ads a brief 2-0 cushion.

Rockford finally cracked the Admirals defense and Magnus Hellberg midway through the second period. Ville Pokka was able to pinch the puck and get the puck over to Mark McNeill who backhanded a feed for Phillip Danault on the one-timer. The Ads were sucked into the passer, McNeill, and failed to close down Danault – who had a clean look breaking in on goal down the hashmarks to score his third goal of the season.

It wouldn’t be a Midwest Division game without a fight, right? Anthony Bitetto and Ryan Hartman locked up just nine seconds of ice time after the IceHogs goal. More tugging and wrasslin’ than clean punches landed. Still, I give the win on my fight card to Bitetto (10) over Hartman (9).

The Admirals picked up another power-play goal from Salomaki in the third period to restore their two-goal advantage. The set up was very similar to their first power-play goal. Aronson slid a one-time feed for Arvidsson to hammer on net. Except, this time, Salomaki was able to redirect it right in front of Darling to record his third goal of the season.

Then, after stifling the IceHogs attempts to get an extra attacker on in the closing of this game, Arvidsson tacked on the empty netter to seal this game a 4-1. It’s Arvidsson’s fifth goal of the season. And, perhaps more impressively, it was the fourth point of the night for Aronson – who had only three assists entering tonight’s game.

Hellberg was again a vacuum for the Admirals. Rebounds were a rarity for him tonight. He stopped twenty-five of twenty-six shots on goal to improve to four wins from four starts on the season with a 0.73 goals against average and 0.970 save percentage. Interestingly enough, it was his first ever win against the IceHogs from nine tries. When your hot you’re hot, eh?

Ramblings: Tonight’s scratches for the Admirals were Joe Pendenza, Patrick Cehlin, and Jimmy Oligny. The loss tonight for Scott Darling was his first of the season in the AHL. It was the first time in his career that he played against the Admirals.

Was this the best Admirals performance to date? Who is this Taylor Aronson and what did he do with the real one? Is it time for the Admirals to give Magnus Hellberg the steering wheel and guide the team in net?

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The Admirals lost 3-2 against the Iowa Wild Wednesday night. It took thirty-seconds for the Wild to get on the board tonight. Despite a brief Admirals lead in the second period, courtesy of Mike Liambas, it would be answered and bettered from the visitors. It is the Wild’s first win in five games. And their first win since the last time they played the Admirals, in Milwaukee, on Wednesday night.

“They played good,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason of the Iowa Wild. “We struggled getting pucks to the net. Getting pucks through. They blocked shots. They played a real good game. Give them more credit than giving our group negativity.”

In the last meeting between these two it was the Wild picking up the opening goal in the first three minutes of the game. Tonight it took them only thirty-seconds. Danny Syvret’s blast from the left point elevated all the way to the inside post of Marek Mazanec and beat him off the crossbar and down.

The rest of the first period was really well managed from the Wild. The brightest spot for the Admirals in the opening twenty may have been Anthony Bitetto plowing Zack Phillips through a pane of glass. The Wild forward was racing in on the forecheck when Bitetto polished him off. The glass didn’t shatter but the pane was knocked loose.

Hits kept coming from there and, after Johan Gustafsson was clipped around his cage, we saw a fight between Mike Liambas and Curt Gogol. This was of course in response to the goalie getting knocked over and the refs let this battle drag on a bit. Give the win to Liambas for at least getting the hat off his opponent – but I don’t think all that many punches landed flush.

In the second period, during a spell of one-minute and twenty seconds, there were two goals scored for the Admirals and an equalizing tally for the Wild to knot the game at 2-2.

Mike Liambas scored a rebounder after Rich Clune dinked a puck around the front of the Wild cage. Liambas had Gustafsson in scramble mode and he was nowhere close to stop the Admiral bruiser from popping in a backhander.

Liambas and Clune linked up again only forty-two seconds later. Clune delivered a perfect saucer pass to the center lane drive of Liambas. He made the redirect of the Clune pass look easy and the puck skipped out of reach of Gustafsson’s glove side for Liambas’ second goal inside a minute’s worth of play.

“It happened so fast,” said Mike Liambas. “I was pretty excited. Great plays by Clune both times. And Joe Pendenza working it down low.”

Then came the response for the Wild only thirty-eight seconds later. Marc Hagel was able to fire a pass to Tyler Graovac in the slot. From there, it was all a matter of getting a shot on net as quickly as possible from that prime scoring position. Graovac did just that by spinning a shot off that managed to find a hole through Mazanec for his second goal of the season.

“Momentum was shifted and we did a couple of bonehead things to allow them right in,” said Evason. “We should just be tight there and get pucks deep. We’re trying to make an offensive play and it bites us.”

Iowa wasn’t finished with scoring in the second period, either. Zack Phillips was able to pop home a rebound after a point shot was coughed out to him by Mazanec. It was the Wild’s second goal scored in four-minutes and three seconds of ice time and Phillips’ third of the season.

Despite a late push for the Admirals in the third period, with the extra attacker on in the final fifty-eight seconds, the Wild held off for the 3-2 final. It’s the team’s first win under new head coach John Torchetti. It breaks a losing streak of five-games that dates back to the last time the Wild played in Milwaukee.

Ramblings: Tonight saw the return of Pontus Åberg to the Milwaukee Admirals lineup. The young Swede missed the Ads previous three games after a collision with Viktor Stalberg the last time the team played the Iowa Wild in Milwaukee on 10/29/14. The scratches tonight included Jonathan Diaby, Frederick Gaudreau, and Patrick Cehlin – who is still on the comeback trail after off-season hip surgery.

Any concerns from the team losing to the Iowa Wild twice in a row at home now? Is this more a matter of the Wild winning than the Admirals losing? What do you make of Marek Mazanec’s performance tonight? Would you give him the net against the Rockford IceHogs this weekend? Is the AHL schedule, and the lack of games played to this point, hurting the Admirals form?

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