The Admirals capped off the 2013 calendar with a 4-0 shutout against the Iowa Wild Sunday afternoon. For the third time this season, second in Iowa, Scott Darling produced a shutout to provide the backdrop for an equally as impressive offensive night for the Ads.

The game opened with a taste of the opening meeting of the season between the Admirals and Wild: five for fighting. Mathieu Tousignant fought Carson McMillian. Mike Liambas scrapped it out with Jake Dowell. This was the third time these two teams have met this season and, already, there have been a combined five fights and a sum of 122 combined penalty minutes.

The Ads broke through in the first period from Colton Sissons team best twelfth goal of the season. Vinny Saponari was able to tee up his fellow rookie on the opposite post to give the Ads the game’s opening goal.

After a roughing call against Corbin Baldwin – the Ads answered within seconds on the power-play. The Ads won the face off, controlled, and Bryan Rodney zipped onto the tape of “Mr. Power-Play” Anthony Bitetto for his ninth goal of the season – and sixth goal scored on the power-play.

The time between the Ads opener from Sissons to the PPG for Bitetto was a mere fifty-three seconds apart. What’s more shocking than that was how badly outshot they were while doing it. Prior to the goal from Sissons the Wild outshot the Ads 8-1 in over twelve minutes of the first period. After Bitetto’s goal the Ads led 2-0 on four shots on goal.

In the second period the shots kept pouring in on Scott Darling – twenty-four shots through the opening forty minutes. The Wild had four chances on the power-play in the second period alone. Despite those opportunities for Iowa to make a dent against the Ads with the man-advantage they were not able to solve the penalty kill. The Wild went 0/5 on the power-play in this game. The Admirals penalty kill is now 18/19 in their last five games.

Despite their opponent’s woes on the man-advantage, the Ads special teams continued to shine with more success on the power-play. This go-round Vinny Saponari came up trumps with his third goal of the season. Saponari was stationed on the wall, skated in on the left faceoff dot, and fired past Iowa netminder Johan Gustafsson for a goal.

The last bit of damage from the Admirals offense came from rebound work in front of the net. Joe Piskula’s shot from the point rebounded to Kevin Henderson – his follow up shot was spilled loose – and the puck fell to Austin Watson who was able to backhand the rebound by Gustafsson for his eighth goal of the season.

Yet again, the quiet hero of this game is Scott Darling between the pipes. He made thirty-three saves in his third shutout of the season. His month of December is just extraordinary: he has played in eight games, made seven starts, has a record of 6-1-0-0, has allowed 1.12 goals a game, has a 0.964 SV%, and two shutouts. If the AHL is wise, they’d do well to recognize his efforts for the month. It has been fantastic work from him in net.

Thoughts on this game? Is it just me or is Scott Darling making this eventual goaltending situation, when Pekka Rinne returns, that much more intriguing? What do you make of the Ads through the 2013 side of the calendar – positives/negatives?

(Photo credit to Scott Paulus)

The Admirals lost 3-2 against the Charlotte Checkers Friday night. After conceding the opening goal, the Ads rallied back in the first period with two goals scored by Mark Van Guilder and Zach Budish. However, the Checkers came back to haunt the Ads – scoring in the second – scoring in the third – and surviving the last minute of pressure poured on by the Ads with an extra attacker.

With the crowd rocking to start the game –7,076 tonight– the Checkers played party poopers with a goal inside the opening minute. There was traffic in front of Magnus Hellberg on the shot by Matthew Corrente that appeared to screen him just enough for this puck to go whizzing past him. After the game, Hellberg honestly admitted that he never saw the shot. For Corrente it was his first goal of the season in twenty-nine games played.

It wouldn’t be too much longer for the crowd to get back into it. Midway through the first period the Ads tagged Charlotte for two quick goals to claim a 2-1 lead.

The Ads opening goal was scored by Mark Van Guilder for his fifth of the season. The play developed from behind the net off the stick of Taylor Beck. The pass from Beck might have been more of a hope-and-a-prayer pass as he was falling over behind the net. Regardless, it found a blue shirt in Van Guilder who powered into goal and roofed the puck top shelf from in-tight against John Muse.

Zach Budish put the finishing touches on the end of a quality shift for the Ads grind-line. The group of Liambas-Tousignant-Budish had strong shifts that tilted the ice back in the Ads favor right before Van Guilder’s goal. On this goal it was all them with a little help from Bryan Rodney. The line kept the puck in-zone, Mike Liambas whirled a backhanded pass to Rodney on the blue line, Rodney’s shot-pass reached Mathieu Tousignant, and his spinning pass fell in the patch of Budish for a tap in.

At 16:57 of the second period the Checkers were able to equalize the game at 2-2. A dancing puck got behind Joonas Jarvinen who then lost a foot race back in the d-zone. The puck would fall to the game’s opening scorer Corrente whose shot deflected off of traffic to the left wing side of Hellberg’s goal and in. It was hard to tell if Chris Terry of the Checkers deflected that shot or if it actually deflected in off of an Ads defenseman. The scorer’s went with Corrente. The scorer’s are wise.

The Checkers took the lead after a rebound, a fortuitous fanned shot, and an open net to fire on. A rebound was spilled out in front of Hellberg and Philippe Cornet’s effort on goal was fanned. Hellberg ducked one way to attempt a save on a shot that was never taken. Cornet’s follow up only needed a simple tap for the goal that put Charlotte back in front for the first time since the opening goal.

That goal also ended the night for Magnus Hellberg who gave way to Scott Darling. Hellberg stopped twenty-three of twenty-six shots but looked very twitchy tonight in net. He allowed the opening shot in tonight’s game to beat him. From there, he looked really all over the place in comparison to the confident and slow style that has worked well for Darling. Once Hellberg made it to the bench he had his head down and Joe Piskula skated over to talk with him. It’s been a rough stretch for Hellberg who lost his twelfth game of the season tonight.

The Ads did threaten big time with the extra attacker on. They held the offensive zone for nearly a minute with saves stoppages from Muse in net during the final push. Sadly, this game ends with a downer of a 3-2 defeat against a lesser opponent only one day after one of the best efforts the team produced all season.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Major let down after yesterday’s game or just one of those wacky nights in a long season? What are your impressions of Magnus Hellberg this season? How can Hellberg regain his playing confidence that was so crucial to last season’s success? With these last two home games being very Jekyll and Hyde, what are we to expect when the team plays in Iowa on Sunday?

(Photo credit to the illusive raptor Scott Paulus)

The Admirals won 4-1 against the Grand Rapids Griffins Thursday night. An explosive second period put the Ads up and over the AHL Western Conference’s top team. Goals by Taylor Beck, Colton Sissons, Miikka Salomaki, and Kevin Henderson provided the backbone to one of the most impressive performances –start to finish- that the Ads have produced all season.

“We’ve talked a lot, since I got here last year, about are teams being very similar,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason after the game. “If we can compare ourselves to the Calder Cup champions obviously it’s a good thing. I think we play the same way.”

The first period was scoreless and saw the Griffins outshoot the Ads 12-7. Yet, I felt the majority of quality scoring chances came from the Ads. Their opening power-play chance, particularly the first line of that unit, was teeing up some great looks for shots to the net. The best chance in that exchange came with an Austin Watson shot from the slot in-tight. The chances were there. Credit simply has to be given to the Griffins who blocked shots on goal through the opening period.

In the second period things went nuclear. The Ads tallied for three goals in the opening eight-minutes of the period and, in my book, put together one of the most complete periods of the season.

Taylor Beck picked up the opening goal through a deflection. The play cycled from the point where Simon Moser passed over to the left side of defense to Joe Piskula. The rising shot to the net by Piskula deflected off of Beck – who was standing just to the side of Tom McCollum’s net. The goal for Beck is his eighth of the season.

Next came the frenzy. Adam Almquist of the Griffins was called for hooking on a strong drive to the by Mark Van Guilder. Then Ads coughed up a shorthanded breakaway only to have Miikka Salomaki get called for tripping – quite lucky to avoid a call for a shorthanded penalty shot.

The Ads responded quickly to the four-on-four challenge with a beautiful one-touch goal from Colton Sissons. Joonas Jarvinen waited patiently for a shooting or passing lane to open up from the blueline. What he found was Sissons right on the backdoor of McCollum’s glove side. Jarvinen zipped the pass along the ice. Sissons smacked it through for a four-a-side goal. That’s goal number eleven already for Sissons.

Just as time expired on the Griffins penalty against Almquist, Austin Watson was able to take the puck en route to a shorthanded breakaway of his own. Watson had from the blueline in to work with and went forehand to backhand – denied by a blocker save from McCollum.

The penalty against Salomaki ended to finally make it even strength. I don’t think the Griffins were particularly aware of that though because Salomaki went on a breakaway fresh out of the box. The pass from Henderson put him clear through by miles. He pulled Watson’s move to the opposite side, forehand-backhand, and beat McCollum’s glove for his seventh goal of the season.

“I just flicked it up as high as I could in our zone and [Miikka Salomaki] was fortunate enough to get it,” commented Kevin Henderson of his assist on Salomaki’s goal. “It wasn’t a tic-tac-toe play. I didn’t really mean to do it, but I was fortunate he was right there. The timing worked out really well.”

Just as it looked like the Griffins were playing to escape the period, having conceded three goals and burned a timeout with little impact off of it, they picked up a rocket of a goal. Cory Emmerton won an offensive zone face off for the Griffins and the puck fell back to Teemu Pulkkinen who immediately blasted it top shelf. The quick shot semed to fool Scott Darling – and I haven’t caught that side of him much since he was called up from Cincinnati.

The three goal lead for the Ads was restored quickly in the third period after Kevin Henderson scored his third goal of the season. Just 1:56 into the final period of regulation, Watson fired a shot off McCollum that dropped to Henderson who fired at it the moment it fell to him. That goal ended the night in net for McCollum who gave way to Jared Coreau. The goal for Henderson was his first scored in seven games.

The game finished with the 4-1 scoreline and chalk up another win for Scott Darling who has started in six games this month and won five of them. He has stopped ninety-seven of ninety-nine shots on goal in his last three games. His stat line in the month of December should get some recognition from the AHL… or at least it should: 5-1-0-0, 1.34 GAA, 0.957 SV%, and one shutout.

“[Darling] has skill,” smiled Evason. “He’s calm back there. He handles the puck extremely well. He has confidence. I think as important his teammates have a lot of confidence in him. Certainly, when your group can have confidence in both goaltenders, it’s obviously a very positive thing.”

Ads reload and play again tomorrow with the Charlotte Checkers. That means going from playing the best in the West to the thirteenth. If you’re feeling giddy right now it is completely normal.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Who impressed you the most in this one? What did the Ads do right tonight that they didn’t do in Grand Rapids two weeks ago? How do you see the Ads goaltending situation right now?

The Admirals lost 2-1 in overtime against the Chicago Wolves Sunday evening. There were plenty of shots mustered up in this one, 37-25 in favor of the Wolves, but the goaltending and defenses made this a tight contest. The Wolves scored the opener from a deflection. Taylor Beck answered on the power-play. Sadly, the Wolves jumped right to it twenty-seven seconds into OT to secure a win heading into the Christmas break.

The opening period was all Wolves. Fortunately for the Admirals no damage was done in a frame where they were outshot 15-7. Minimal quality chances were created by the Ads. The best effort came in the dying seconds when Colton Sissons had a shorthanded breakaway get shutdown by Wolves netminder Matt Climie.

After controlling the first and the opening minutes of the second, Chicago finally broke the scoreless draw after a deflection by Mark Mancari. Pat Cannone started the play off by skating in from the right wing wall and into the slot. From that position his snapped a low wrist shot that connected off of Mancari to beat Magnus Hellberg.

The Ads then took to the power-play after an interference call against Cade Fairchild. Taylor Beck, off the puck, moved towards the blue line and was picked out perfectly by Bryan Rodney from all the way in the Ads defensive zone. Beck caught the pass on his backhand, circled in on the net from the right faceoff circle, and beat Climie with a low shot to the stick-side for a power-play goal. That’s Beck’s seventh goal of the season and fourth scored on the power-play.

This game remained tight through the entirety of the third period and pushed its way into overtime. Unfortunately, just twenty-seven seconds into OT, the Wolves were able to squeeze a puck past Hellberg for the win. The veteran Keith Aucoin was able to skate in from the left wing, take a check from Joonas Jarvinen, and was played in front of the net by Alexandre Bolduc for a close range shot – and the game-winning goal.

In terms of the OT defeat, this ends a decent run put together at the start of the weekend. The Wolves were probably deserving of the win tonight with the amount of shots and chances established. Magnus Hellberg, who made his first start in over a week, played well tonight – stopping thirty-five of thirty-seven shots – and really played smooth in net in the pressure packed opening first period for the Ads. Might have wanted to be greedy and take all points tonight against the Wolves. Long term outlook though, this was a strong weekend for the team and a good response after last weekend’s Grand Rapids road trip.

Thoughts on today’s game? What happened to Filip Forsberg after his fiery return to game-action? Is Taylor Beck back to the form that got him to the NHL last season? Was this a good return to the net for Magnus Hellberg in your eyes – or would you judge him on not getting the wins right now?

The Admirals picked up a 3-1 win on the road against the Rockford IceHogs Saturday night. Despite conceding the opening goal of the IceHogs, another strong performance for the second consecutive night in net by Scott Darling – along with three unanswered goals – meant the Ads were able to pick up some valuable points on the road against a division rival. The men doing the damage on goal tonight were Miikka Salomaki, Scott Ford, and Simon Moser. Again, those goals all came without reply. Tip that cap to Mr. Darling.

Rockford was able to open the scoring up after a tripping call against Mark Van Guilder. The shot from the point by Brett Skinner was blocked in front of Scott Darling by d-man Joonas Jarvinen. Before anyone could react against the downed puck off Jarvinen – Joakim Nordstrom was able to direct the puck by Darling to make it 1-0.

The second period saw its share of shots: fifteen shots for the Ads and thirteen shots for the IceHogs in the frame. Both goalies were really sharp to open of the game. IceHogs’ Kent Simpson in particular looked locked in through two-periods.

With just fifty-seconds remaining in the second period the Ads finally managed to get a pick behind Simpson to level the game at 1-1. Colton Sissons was able to fire a shot on net – to which Simpson tried pushing it into an open corner. That “open corner” was occupied by Miikka Salomaki who tagged the puck for his sixth goal of the season.

With the start of the third period the Ads immediately carried on. Scott Ford scored his second goal of the season in the opening minute of the period to give the Ads a quick 2-1 lead. There was a great screen in front of Simpson by Van Guilder and Ford was able to wire his shot through traffic to give the Ads their second goal in 1:42 of ice time.

After the Ford goal, the third period saw lots of penalties taken at inopportune times for both the Ads and IceHogs. As a results there were plenty of power-play chances that ended just about as they started, four-on-four hockey, an abbreviated power-play, and repeat.

That’s where the nail in the coffin comes in.

With just thirty-five seconds of an abbreviated power-play coming – the Ads quickly raced up ice and delivered with a goal. Austin Watson managed to power his way towards goal and set up Simon Moser for his fifth goal of the season – and first since 11/22 vs. CHI.

The game went into cruise control from there. It was yet another victorious thirty-four save performance in net for Scott Darling. It might have been a bit of a surprise to see Darling get tipped for tonight’s game over Magnus Hellberg, but I think last night’s effort for him begged for two-games out of this weekend’s three-in-three. Darling repays the team with his fifth win of the season – and continues to play great in net for the Ads.

Other notes for this game: Anthony Bitetto was absent from this game due to an illness. It isn’t clear if he will come back and play in tomorrow’s game or not. That should be made clearer closer to the pre-game skate. Also absent were Patrick Cehlin, Mike Liambas, and Joonas Rask. Cehlin hasn’t played since the start of November – and isn’t expected back anytime soon. Mike Liambas was dinged up in the rough and tumble series against Grand Rapids. The expectation is for him to also be absent for tomorrow’s game. Rask missed his first game of the season after sustaining a nasty hit from Steve Pinizzotto last night against the Rampage. No word on the longevity of his absence, but he missed his first game of the year as a result of that boarding call in last night’s home game.

That meant, for as stacked as camp looked yesterday, the team was actually just able to squeeze out a lineup tonight. Unfortunately, Scott Valentine appeared to pick up an injury to his left leg or foot in the middle of tonight’s game when crashing into the boards. He did not return and its unknown what that could mean as far as tomorrow’s game in Chicago is concerned. Perhaps chicken noodle soup is in order for Bitetto to fill in Valentine’s spot.

Thoughts on tonight’s win? How about this Darling kid? Despite injuries, does a result like this make you feel comfortable about the team’s depth? What can we expect from the Ads tomorrow against the Amtrak Rivals?