The Admirals lost 4-2 on the road against the Grand Rapids Griffins Friday night. The Griffins score three goals in the space of 3:17 at the end of the first period to really put the stranglehold on the Ads tonight. The Ads did receive goals from Joonas Rask (his first of the season) and Colton Sissons (his team best tenth of the season) but just didn’t have enough late in the third period to claw back even before the Griffins empty netter sealed the result.

Long story short: this game was pretty darn intense. Mike Liambas against former-Admiral Tristan Grant would become a staple of this game and it all started just five-minutes into the game. Joonas Rask skated through the neutral zone and was sandwiched by Grant and Tomas Jurco. Grant went high. Jurco went low. Liambas came to the rescue and landed some good ones on Grant before having his jersey pulled around his head to end the fight.

Then came a moment I’ve been awaiting for the better part of this season. That’s right. Joonas Rask scored his first goal of the season. The Fin was Johnny-on-the-spot to secure a rebound and smack a backhander past Tom McCollum to give the Ads the game’s first goal. For Rask, this was his first professional goal since his debut with the Ads last season: 4/19/13 vs. Charlotte.

Then came another moment.. this one being much more surprising. Similar to the opening fight of the game an Admirals player came to the rescue of a teammate on the end of a big hit. The man who was hit? Mathieu Tousignant. The man to his rescue and drop the gloves? Rask. In a matter of moments Rask was an assist shy of a first period Gordie How hat trick. He went toe-to-toe with Brennan Evans. Rask clearly lost the bout but also won over plenty of respect from more than just his teammates by stepping up to the plate.

Grand Rapids leveled the game at 1-1 through a quick-fire power-play goal from Ryan Sproul. The rookie d-man hit a rocket past Ads goalie Scott Darling. It was his sixth goal of the season.

The Griffins were then the recipient of an incredibly awkward bounce off the glass behind Darling’s net. The puck spanked off the glass, fooled Darling, and fell right in place for Mitch Callahan to take care of the rest. Just like that it was a 2-1 hockey game.

Grand Rapids wouldn’t stop there to end the first period, either. Teemu Pulkkinen scored from a rebound to net the team’s third goal in the span of 3:17. That was Pulkkinen’s tenth goal of the season.

The second period was very intense but started with an Admirals goal. Colton Sissons tallied his team leading tenth goal of the season. Sissons was able to take a rebound from McCollum and backhand it past him to draw things back to a one-goal game at 3-2.

Then came the rough stuff – and I mean rough. Liambas and Grant were reunited on the ice and Grant crushed him with a high elbow near the head. Liambas went down incredibly hard and stayed down for awhile before getting up and skating over to the bench. As was the case with previous fights in the game, an Ads player came to the rescue from this heavy Griffins hit. This go-round it was Tousignant who went after Grant. As was not the case with previous fights, despite them occurring in roughly the exact same circumstances, Tousignant was stamped with a ten-minute misconduct for instigating. The coaches on the bench were heated in regards to that call – with good reason. I still don’t understand that decision versus letting the other fights happen without an instigator.

In the late staged of the third period, with the game still 3-2 Griffins, the wacky calls from the referees continued. Ex-Admiral Jordin Tootoo tripped Miikka Salomaki. The call on the ice was a trip on Tootoo and a dive by Salomaki. This made absolutely zero sense what so ever to me. If it is a dive by Salomaki – it’s a dive and no trip should be called. If it is a tripping call – then how can it possibly be a dive?

The call meant the game would be ending with four-on-four hockey instead of the Ads having a power-play chance with an extra attacker to follow once Darling emptied the Admirals’ net. Instead, it was an empty net five-on-four for the Ads. The Griffins managed to miss the empty net three times and iced the puck a few times in the closing seconds. They eventually capped the game off by hitting that empty net through Landon Ferraro.

Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda. These two are back at it tomorrow night.

(Unfortunately the “Game Highlights” from Grand Rapids cut out the opening fight between Liambas and Grant.. and the Griffins announcers can’t pronounce Ads names correctly.)

FIGHT UPDATES: Liambas vs. Grant. Rask vs. Evans. Tousignant vs. Grant.

Thoughts on this game? Will there be more fireworks tomorrow night? Will Joonas Rask’s goal be a lift for his game? How do you feel Scott Darling played in this game? Is it positive to see the team stick up for one-another through fights or would you rather see the team avoid drawing additional penalties?

(Photo credit to Scott Paulus)

The Admirals were able to shutout the Oklahoma City Barons 4-0 Thursday night. Magnus Hellberg finished the game off with a 40 save shutout and earned his first win since 11/22 vs. CHI. The goal scoring was on-point tonight with help from two power-play goals, one from even-strength, and an empty netter to seal the deal.

After a rough opening power-play, the Ads had the chance to shine with the man-advantage after a too many men on the ice penalty against the Barons. A great entry into the zone led to a tic-tac-toe effort between Charles Roussel, Miikka Salomaki, and Austin Watson. From the point, Roussel was able to sling a pass to the right faceoff circle to Salomaki – who then tossed the puck to the front of the net. There was plenty of traffic in front of Barons netminder Richard Bachman, but the puck knuckled up, off the shin of Watson, and in for a power-play goal. That’s Watson’s seventh-goal of the season.

In the middle of the action a fight between Mike Liambas and Steve MacIntyre broke out. This clearly carried over from the previous game in which MacIntyre was trying to engage several Admirals during the game – including a cross-check to Liambas’ neck. This being a fight between Liambas (5’9”) and MacIntyre (6’5”)… it was as awkward to look at as I’m sure it had to be to fight in. There weren’t many blows thrown. Heavy grappling and a take down by MacIntyre. Liambas appeared to hurt the left half of his body as a result of the scrap. He did return to the game the very next period.

In the second period the Ads tallied another power-play goal. A physical drive down the boards by Vinny Saponari lead to an errant clearance by the Barons that fell to Bryan Rodney at the blueline. While this wasn’t one of Rodney’s better nights on the ice as an Admiral –lots of giveaways for him tonight– he was able to display exactly why he can be lethal offensively when passing from the point. Rodney took a quick peak at the power-play unit in front of him, and picked out a wide-open Anthony Bitetto lightning quick. Bitetto was able to skate in off the right faceoff circle, measure his shot, and burned Bachman with a wrist shot. That was Bitetto’s eighth-goal of the season and fifth-goal on the power-play.

Colton Sissons tagged the Barons in the third period for his team leading ninth-goal of the season. This play was triggered from another great feed from Rodney that put Sissons into a decent scoring opportunity at the low right circle. The shot by Sissons was fantastic. He took advantage of his shooting angle, roofed the puck above Bachman’s left shoulder, and extended the Ads lead to 3-0.

Late in the third period, the Barons were put on the power-play from a Saponari slash that hacked Linus Omark to the ice. The Barons, already with the man-advantage, pulled their goalie looking to get a breakthrough against Magnus Hellberg. Saponari left the box, found a loose puck, and scored an empty net goal for his first Admiral goal.

While his play this season might feel hot and cold at times, the display tonight in net from Hellberg was by far his best display in net this season. The only thing that was going to beat him tonight was himself. Literally. The biggest save of the game for Hellberg might not have even counted on the scorer’s sheet. A wild bounce off the boards fooled Hellberg, who was preparing to play the dump-in behind the net, and steering right in on goal. The big Swede leaped back in front of the net and cleared it away before putting a damper on his 40 save shutout performance. Make no mistakes about it: the defense in front of him tonight, playing against a unit as skilled as the Barons, were sharp from start to finish. Still, Hellberg never looked flustered or fooled on a single shot to the net tonight. For how long he’s had to wait for a start, 11/30 @ Charlotte, this was quite a performance for him.

Injury notes: Scott Ford, who I spoke to a week ago as he was wearing a boot that had behind it a broken foot, actually suited up and played tonight – a full three-to-six weeks ahead of schedule. Meanwhile, Simon Moser was not in tonight’s lineup due to back issues.

Thoughts on the win tonight? Is this the performance you’ve been waiting to see for Magnus Hellberg? How on Earth did Scott Ford play tonight’s game with a broken foot? Are the power-play woes resolved? Do these last two games set the stage for positive results in a back-to-back scenario tomorrow and Saturday in Grand Rapids? Seriously, what is Scott Ford made of to be able to play tonight?!

(Photo credit to Scott Paulus)

The Admirals came out firing with a 5-2 win over the Oklahoma City Barons Friday night. The Ads produced four unanswered goals to start this game. All in all, goals scored by Colton Sissons, Mark Van Guilder, Austin Watson, Anthony Bitetto, and Kevin Henderson proved that a week’s worth of practice went to great use in preparation for this game.

This contest opened with a scrap between Mathieu Tousignant and Travis Ewanyk. The fight started up in the corner after the whistle blew. It was a big time jab fest. Close call as far as calling a winner in this one. Might have to give the edge to Ewanyk for the ending.

The Ads picked up the opening goal thanks to speed and a big time mistake by the Barons. Miikka Salomaki had a mini-break into the zone. He had Brandon Davidson close him down and that forced Salomaki to slow down and whirl a pass.. to no one in particular. Thankfully, in an act of panic or blindness, Barons centerman Roman Horak sent the puck right on the tape of Colton Sissons who fired immediately. The shot beat Laurent Brossoit and extended Sissons team lead in goals with his eighth of the season.

Just a little over two minutes later the Ads scored again. This goal featured a quality pass from Taylor Beck and intelligent skating on the ice by Mark Van Guilder to get on the backdoor of the net. Beck secured a turnover in the corner and skated goalward. The moment Beck picked out Van Guilder there was no hope for Brossoit to stop MVG’s tap in. It was a quick 2-0 Ads lead off of Van Guilder’s fourth goal of the season.

Then came the second period and, quite possibly, the Ads best period they will muster up all season. The Ads scored two more goals, earned three power-plays, and posted a season best twenty-one shots in the period. The Barons posted a woeful four shots in the second period.

Goal number three on the evening was scored by Austin Watson after yet another beauty of a pass by Beck. The Ads wheeled around the zone and Beck teed up Watson with a backhanded pass from behind the net that Watson hit first-time. The shot went to the roof of goal for Watson’s sixth goal of the season.

The Ads finally went slump busters on the power-play thanks to Anthony Bitetto. The sustained offensive pressure by the Ads in the second period was incredible and really showcased on this particular goal. Great keep ins by the point-men, Bryan Rodney especially, lead to Bitetto’s seventh goal of the season. This ended the Ads cringe-worthy 0-25 run on the power-play and also ended the night in net for Barons goalie Brossoit. This gave a chance for Ty Rimmer in the Barons net… which included eleven second period saves on eleven second period shots in 13:26 of ice time… how about that for an offensive outburst?

The third period saw the Barons finally end Scott Darling’s shutout bid after Linus Omark picked up his twelfth goal of the season. Omark raced through the neutral zone and continued his individual rush all the way to goal where he threw a puck at the net that hit off Charles Roussel’s skate and in. The goal for Omark extended his point streak to seven-consecutive games: 2 goals and 9 assists.

After a charging penalty against Mike Liambas, the Barons were able to gather more momentum off of Omark’s goal and make it a 4-2 hockey game. A heavy shot from Brad Hunt on the blue-line produced a power-play goal. The shot kept rising and rising just about clanking the crossbar on its way in.

You know who hates two goal leads? Everyone. The ice was starting to tilt towards the Barons but the Ads were able to finish them off through Kevin Henderson’s second goal of the year. Watson was able to deliver a very soft pass near the slot to Henderson who simply took a whack at it. The puck never left the ice, pinged the near post, and beat Rimmer before he could get a toe to it.

It was a bit of a chippy affair at points. A fair bit of chirping at one-another and some heavy hits dished out. Worst of the worst to me was a cross-check to the neck of Liambas delivered by noted enforcer Steve MacIntyre. The Ads held their composure extremely well in this game. The Ads earned seven power-plays to the Barons two. Still, with a game between the two set for this coming Thursday – message sending may have been on the mind for the Barons after a rough game on their part. With less than thirty-seconds remaining Joonas Jarvinen and Will Acton dropped the gloves in a short but fairly intense fight. Acton landed a good one. Jarvinen had a take down with some particularily nasty things said in Finnish at him… one would assume.

All things told, this was a great response by an Admirals team after several days off. They win 5-2 and outshoot the Barons 44-30 – a season high in shots on goal. Tonight was the first game since 1/25/13 where they held a lead of four goals – that happened in an 8-2 win over these same Barons.

It will be another lengthy break until the rematch. If tonight’s performance says anything about how the team’s compete level was put to the test during a week worth of practice – it’s going to be worth the wait.

Thoughts on tonight’s game? Worth the wait? Did the break finally allow the offense to wake up? Thoughts on Darling getting the start tonight instead of Hellberg? Was this the return of the Taylor Beck we’ve come to know?