Last night’s come from behind win in the shootout snapped a poor run of games for the Ads. Needless to say, there was much to be said by the team who will finally have two days to rest up before heading off on a three-game road trip this coming week.
(Photo credit to Scott Paulus)
The Admirals won 3-2 in a shootout over the Chicago Wolves Friday night. The Ads overcame a two-goal deficit to win in the shootout thanks to regulation goals by Kevin Henderson and Simon Moser. In the shootout, Mathieu Tousignant and Austin Watson scored the goals that set the stage for a glove save by Magnus Hellberg on Keith Aucoin to wrap up the comeback victory.
“If someone could tell me how we won that hockey game,” joked a very pleased Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “Because, for two periods, we thought we were outcompeted. Such a credit to our group. They just keep going.”
After a scoreless first period the Wolves managed to strike for two goals in the second period after two poor plays in the Ads defensive zone.
The opening goal by the Wolves was scored by Cody Beach after a relentless shift by Chicago. The Wolves came in waves with that shift but finally scored from a rebound. The shot by Sergey Andronov was stopped from a left-pad save by Magnus Hellberg but spilled out to Beach. The forward, ghosting behind the Admirals defense at the mouth of goal, was quick to strike for his first goal of the season.
The follow up effort by the Wolves came two minutes later after a communications breakdown between Hellberg and his defensemen. Hellberg played the puck behind his net, left it there as if a defensemen was going to swoop in, and no Admiral did so. Instead Tyler Shattock flew in, collected the free puck, and passed it out from behind the net to Pat Cannone. A flustered Hellberg might not have even seen that puck after leaving it behind his net. It was 2-0 to the Wolves.
Capitalizing on a Wolves mistake lead to the Admirals surge back into this game. A bad turnover by the Wolves, spearheaded by Mathieu Tousignant, lead to a mini-break for Kevin Henderson. The winger powered to goal and showed some soft hands with a silky smooth backhanded finish to beat Jake Allen in net. It was Henderson’s first goal since the last season’s finale in the playoffs on May 5th in Texas. The goal by the Admirals also broke a scoreless drought of 128:50.
“It feels great,” said Kevin Henderson about scoring his first goal of the season. “To get that goal. To help the team get in the right direction to get back against Chicago was huge. Hopefully there is more to come.”
As the second period horn sounded to signal the end of the period some of the chippiness you can expect from a rivalry game came through. Anthony Bitetto and Keith Aucoin got into it a little bit and both received minors for roughing that would carry over into the next period. With the team looking for a boost, the coaching staff turned to veteran leader and team captain Scott Ford during the second intermission.
“To be honest with you, after the second period, we [the coaches] didn’t even go in the room,” said Evason. “We just told Scott Ford that it’s their team and we see what happens. [The team] figured it out. Whatever was said between the second and third was all them.”
So, with four-on-four hockey to start the third period, there was space for the speedsters to shine. The Ads cashed in just twenty-eight seconds before the teams were about see Bitetto and Aucoin return to the ice. Much like the opening goal for the Wolves the Admirals equalizer came from a blast from the point and scored from the rebound. Bryan Rodney was the man whose rocket shot pounded off the end boards, twisting Allen in net, and causing a loose puck to spill over to Simon Moser. Allen had no chance to recover after committing to the shot by Rodney and Moser scored his fourth goal of the season.
This game then went buzzed through overtime and needed a shootout to decide it. The Ads decided to shoot first. Goals in the shootout were scored by Tousignant and Austin Watson. The shootout goal for Watson held the game in the balance for the Ads as Aucoin skated out for the Wolves crucial shootout attempt. Hellberg made a glove save and the Ads skated off with a big come from behind victory over their Amtrak Rivals.
Thoughts on tonight’s game? How good does this win feel after those previous two losses? Do you think this game can send the team off on their upcoming lengthy road trip in the right direction?
Whenever a NHL General Manager position becomes available, Paul Fenton seems to always be the short list of candidates. Of course, considering his track record of drafting and development work under the watchful eye of Predators G.M. David Poile, there is good reason for it to be.
Considering the fan support, young player potential, and having an owner with deep pockets, Buffalo seems like a great fit for an up-and-coming future G.M. looking to build a reputation and winner. Fenton is now in his eighth season as Poile’s right hand man, and believes he is ready. The 53-year-old has reached out to new Sabres president of hockey operations Pat LaFontaine.
Poile’s previous assistant G.M., Ray Shero, is now considered one of the NHL’s best in Pittsburgh, and was rewarded for his efforts when he was named NHL General Manager of the Year for the 2012-2013 season.
Some of the other possibilities include Boston Bruins assistant G.M. Jim Benning and Jason Botterill, who holds the same position with the Penguins. With all of his ties to Buffalo, Canadiens assistant G.M. Rick Dudley would also be pretty logical.
Read more about this story in Pro Hockey Talk here.
Or read Josh Cooper’s take in the Tennessean here.
So Roundtable … What do you think of Paul Fenton’s track record with Nashville/Milwaukee? Is he ready to be an NHL General Manager? Would you be sad to see him go?
(Photo credit to Scott Paulus)
There was so much to be excited about with Magnus Hellberg coming into this year. His rookie season was finished off with brilliant results that helped the Admirals reach the playoffs for the eleventh-straight season. For his efforts, he took part in the Nashville Predators pre-season camp. Sadly for Hellberg he was injured on the first day. He started off his season in Milwaukee and started in net for three games. Then came the Pekka Rinne injury and a call up to the NHL where Hellberg saw 12:12 of ice time in a relief role. He was next swapped by Nashville with the undefeated performer in net for the Admirals, Marek Mazanec, and instantly thrown back into the fire with games on the road with the explosive Texas Stars and pesky San Antonio Rampage.
It seems as if, ever since, he hasn’t played with the consistency and execution he displayed at the end of last year. Have teams figured him out? Is there a nagging injury? Is he a slow starter? Is there a little bit of a mental let down knowing he was in Nashville and then his replacement Mazanec has been, well, Mazanec? To me, it is very difficult to pin it on the roster switch with Mazanec but that is just one of many speculations you could dish out on the matter. Me, I’m a nerd who enjoys looking at statistical breakdowns in cases such as this to find differences or similarities. Let’s take a look at the numbers on Hellberg this year to last year – specifically this year’s first nine starts (which means, you guessed it, all of them to this point) versus last season’s first nine starts.
Magnus Hellberg’s First Nine Starts in 2012-13
10-21-12, @ HOU: W, 17 saves, 4 goals allowed, 0.810 SV%
10-31-12, vs. CHA: W, 27 saves, 4 goals allowed, 0.871 SV%
11-9-12, vs. CHI: ND (pulled), 13 saves, 3 goals allowed, 0.812 SV%
11-24-12, @ CHI: W, 30 saves, 3 goals allowed, 0.909 SV% – 5-6 in shootout saves
12-9-12, @ CHA: W, 26 saves, 2 goals allowed, 0.929 SV%
12-11-12, @ CHA: L, 30 saves, 3 goals allowed, 0.909 SV%
12-15-12, @ PEO: L, 34 saves, 2 goals allowed, 0.944 SV%
12-19-12, vs. RFD: L (pulled), 11 saves, 3 goals allowed, 0.786 SV%
12-29-12, @ RFD: L, 36 saves, 3 goals allowed, 0.923 SV%
Magnus Hellberg’s First Nine Starts in 2013-14
10-11-13, @ ABB: L, 28 saves, 3 goals allowed, 0.903 SV%
10-12-13, @ ABB: W, 26 saves, 1 goal allowed, 0.963 SV% – 4-4 in shootout saves
10-19-13, vs. CHI: L, 19 saves, 3 goals allowed, 0.864 SV%
11-8-13, @ TEX: L (pulled), 33 saves, 6 goals allowed, 0.846 SV%
11-10-13, @ SA: L, 43 saves, 2 goals allowed, 0.956 SV% – 4-5 in shootout saves
11-13-13, vs. GR: W, 28 saves, 1 goal allowed, 0.966 SV%
11-15-13, vs. CHI: L, 22 saves, 3 goals allowed, 0.880 SV%
11-19-13, vs. ABB: L, 33 saves, 4 goals allowed, 0.892 SV%
11-20-13, @ GR: L (pulled), 35 saves, 4 goals allowed, 0.897 SV %
The Sum
2012-13 Season
4-4-0-0 record, 224 saves, 27 goals allowed, 0.892 SV%
Goal Support in Games Started: 30
2013-14 Season
2-2-3-1 record, 267 saves, 27 goals allowed, 0.908 SV%
Goal Support in Games Started: 20
The way I see it by the numbers Hellberg is simply facing more this year with far less offensive production in front of him. He’s actually doing better than he was his rookie season as far as saves and save percentage is concerned. It’s only the win column where things don’t match up and the goal support the Admirals provide when he starts. So, is this a slow start for Hellberg? Actually not. He’s provided the Admirals a much needed stopper in goal. Just like any goalie though there are only so many shots that can get poured in before an offense breaks through. That’s happening at the same rate, 27 goals allowed through nine starts, as last season with a better save percentage.
Long story short (too late), the Admirals offense and defense need to step up their games to relieve some of the pressure being forced upon their netminder. It’s a dangerous game to play the way the Ads have this season. As a whole they have been outshot by their opponents 386-349 this season and it’s what both sides do with those shots that make the big dent. The Ads are seventeenth in the AHL in goals scored. They faced the top two teams in the AHL in goals scored on back-to-back nights this week and were outshot 80-56 in those games. That’s asking for trouble. For the Ads to see an improvement from their recent run of games all that’s required is to relieve stress on their own net by putting some shots on goal at the other end. To boot, the Ads need to sharpen up their finishing rate because 44 goals scored from 349 shots just isn’t good enough to hang with teams such as the Heat or Griffins.
The Ads have had a rough week in terms of match ups. In back-to-back days they faced the two best teams in the Western Conference with the Abbotsford Heat and Grand Rapids Griffins. The first game resulted in an overtime loss where the Ads held a two goal lead heading into the third period. After last night’s game in Grand Rapids… it is hard to do anything other than look ahead to Friday night’s meeting with the Chicago Wolves.
The Wolves enter Friday night’s game with a record of 9-6-0-1 good for 19 points. They sit just a point behind the Admirals in the Midwest division and continue to produce similar numbers to the Ads. Let me show you what I mean.
GP: 16 (equal)
Record: 8-4-3-1 (Ads), 9-6-0-1 (Wolves)
Points: 20 (Ads), 19 (Wolves)
GF: 44 (Ads), 43 (Wolves)
GA: 46 (Ads), 43 (Wolves)
PIM: 220 (Ads), 221 (Wolves)
Top Scorer: Colton Sissons (7 G, 6A, 13 pts), Corey Locke (5 G, 8 A, 13 pts)
Silly how things work out sometimes but, on paper, these two reflect a lot of one-another.
So far this season the Amtrak Rivalry sits with the Wolves up two wins in two meetings in Milwaukee. The first game finished 3-2 in OT. The second game finished 4-3. The Ads, coming off of their last two games with top teams in the AHL, are going to be facing yet another hot team in the Wolves Friday night. The Wolves will be walking into the Bradley Center on a five-game winning streak – the last of which was a 4-3 victory over the Griffins.
What can be a factor in this game is that last game for the Wolves. Not so much that they beat a team that dominated the Ads last night. It’s that the last game the Wolves played was last Saturday. That’s a long layoff period for a team to go through. The pro: rest. The con: rust. It’s going to be telling right out of the opening puck drop to see which hits the Wolves more, rest or rust. They’ll either be flying or making mistakes against an Ads team primed to strike back after two rough games.
Who has the edge in this game? Will the Ads bounce back Friday night? How will the long break between games impact the Wolves? Will Magnus Hellberg have a positive response to getting pulled from net in Grand Rapids? Should he even be in net for this one or could Scott Darling see another start?
The Admirals were routed and shutout 5-0 by the Grand Rapids Griffins Wednesday night. The Griffins came flying out of the gate from the opening puck drop. They held the Ads without a shot through the opening fourteen minutes and, from period two on, popped in five goals en route to the win.
“[The Griffins] played a fast game,” said Milwaukee Admirals assistant coach Stan Drulia after the game on Sports Radio 1250 WSSP. “We couldn’t get our legs under us – especially in that first period. I thought, once we got through that first period and weathered the storm, we’d respond a little better. Just looking at things we made a lot of tired plays. I didn’t think the guys had their minds in it. Physically seemed to do some decent things but there was lots of fatigue out there it looked like.”
Coming into this game there was some roster movement going down on the Griffins end of things. They added veterans Patrick Eaves and Jordin Tootoo and that meant, due to the roster minimum, others on the team needed to sit out of the lineup. The Griffins sat out defensemen Brennan Evans and team captain Jeff Hoggan. Tootoo played 100 games as a member of the Milwaukee Admirals from 2004-06 with 23 goals, 26 assists, and 399 PIM’s.
The opening period started with a quick scrap between Mathieu Tousignant and Mitch Callahan. It didn’t sound like this lasted very long. It picked up quick after some chippiness from Tousignant and ended with a fast take down for Callahan.
Major talking point of this first period was the disparity in shots. Good news? The Griffins didn’t cash in on their fast start. However, they outshot the Ads 14-4 in the opening frame and held the Ads without a shot until there was 6:08 remaining in the period. That first shot on goal by the Admirals came on a power-play off the stick of Anthony Bitetto.
After dominating the first twenty-minutes, the Griffins continued to attack and finally were rewarded with a goal on their seventh shot. Riley Sheahan scored on the power-play after collecting a rebound just inside the bottom left circle. His follow up shot beat Hellberg between the shoulder and post to make it 1-0.
Scary moment for the Ads when veteran Mark Van Guilder was hit hard in front of the Griffins team bench by Tootoo. Van Guilder stayed down in pain for awhile and the crowd was dead silent. MVG managed to get up on his own power and sat behind the Ads bench rather than straight to the locker room. He did make a return to the game following the hit.
Just as the Ads started putting in some shots and earning a power-play, the Griffins tagged them with a shorthanded goal. Mitch Callahan poked in a loose puck that Hellberg had trapped between his legs. Hellberg may have been hoping for a whistle but it never came. That’s the fifth shorthanded goal the Ads have conceded this season.
The Griffins started the third period on an abbreviated power-play. There were fifty-one seconds remaining on a penalty to Joonas Jarvinen for roughing and Cory Emmerton scored with two-seconds remaining on the man-advantage. The shot somehow squeaked through Hellberg’s five-hole for yet another Griffins’ special teams goal.
A fight broke out minutes after the Griffins third goal. This go-round it was former-teammates and good friends Scott Ford and Triston Grant slugging it out. Grant seemed a little bit surprised by this fight but the two did have it out. This was a veteran move on the part of the skipper Ford. He was looking to inject some type of energy into a deflated Admirals team. In my opinion, it may have come a period or maybe even two periods short.
Magnus Hellberg’s night ended after the Griffins scored their fourth of the night. This time a bullet from Sheahan was deflected by Callahan for his second of the night. Out goes Hellberg and stepping into the inferno was Scott Darling for the rest of the game. Hellberg’s line tonight: 35 saves on 39 shots. He is now 2-7-1-1 in net this season.
Just for good measure the Griffins scored against Scott Darling to make it 5-0. This was a very odd goal as the puck seemed to skipped up in the air and roll off the back of Darling and in. Another case of, this really just isn’t our night tonight.
Not a lot of positives to take from this game right now. My hope is to see an appropriate response come Friday night against the Chicago Wolves. I think a lot can be gained from losses such as the last two that the Ads have endured. The team simply has to learn and adjust.
Thoughts on this game? What happened tonight? What could have been done differently to slow down the Griffins? Do you think the Ads can rebound by Friday?
This will be the third meeting of the season between the Ads and Griffins. Round I saw the Ads ruin the Griffins home opener and their Calder Cup Champions banner raising ceremony by winning 3-2. Round II took place just one week ago and the Ads won at home 2-1. Video highlights time!
Round I.
Round II.
In the game last week Magnus Hellberg was outstanding in net. The lone goal he conceded from 29 Griffins shots on goal only just squeaked past him on the near post. The Griffins play with tremendous speed and energy from start to finish. While the Ads defense stepped up with a great night in neutral ice slowing the Griffins attack down – it still took a great night by Hellberg to seal the victory.
Considering Hellberg played last night against the loss to the Abbotsford Heat.. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Ads countered in the two-in-two with Scott Darling in net. Darling’s last outing was a 32-save shutout performance in Iowa. Should the Ads look to give him the nod in the second game of a doubleheader it would be interesting to see how he follows up his last outing.
Rather than continuing my praise of Griffins forward Gustav Nyquist in these Grand Rapids scouting reports (he still leads the team in points: 7 G, 14 A, 21 pts) let’s look at some numbers that could make a difference in this game.
Special teams numbers in this match up are high octane. The Griffins power-play is 15-79 (19%) overall. Yet, the Griffins power-play is much sharper at home than on the road: 6-18 (33.3%). Similarly, the Admirals have an overall power-play of 14-79 (17.7%). Yet, they find far more success on the power-play on the road going 9-43 (20.9%). Two of those power-play goals came from Anthony Bitetto in the first meeting between the Ads/Griffins in Grand Rapids. When these two get the chance of a man-advantage in a game like this the PK units will in for a long night.
Speaking of the penalty kill, the Griffins and Ads match up well here too. The Griffins overall kill rate is 81.9% and the Admirals is 83.6%. Griffins do appear to fair much worse on the PK at home, 73.9%, but have killed off 13 consecutive power-play chances at home – including two-straight home games without allowing a power-play goal.
My players to watch in this one? Colton Sissons for the Ads. Tomas Jurco for the Griffins.
Sissons leads the season match-up between the Ads/Griffins in points with two goals and an assist. He currently leads the Ads in points (13) and goals (7). He has also scored a goal ‘every other game’ since the finale on the road against the Texas Stars. That trend continued last night with him not scoring a goal. Perhaps he continues it and extends his scoring lead in this head-to-head.
Jurco is currently second on the Griffins in points (19) behind that Nyquist bloke. He has scored a team best 9 goals. His last two games he has scored a hat-trick against the IceHogs and posted a goal and an assist against the Wolves. Simply put: he’s so hot right now.
Who do you have winning this one? Can the Ads continue their winning ways over the Griffins this year? Who do you think will get the start in net for the Admirals? Who needs to step up? Who do you have scoring goals in this meeting?
(Photo credit to Scott Paulus)
The Admirals lost 4-3 in overtime to the Abbotsford Heat Tuesday night. The Heat, who have the best record in the AHL, were able to fight back from a two goal deficit to win in OT. The Ads started the game quick with goals from Austin Watson, Simon Moser, and Miikka Salomaki, but were just not able to come up with win as the Heat came to life in the third period.
“We had tons of chances to score and couldn’t finish,” said Milwaukee Admirals head coach Dean Evason. “Their goalie played good. Couple of goals that maybe we’d want back as a team. Not only our goalie but as a team we made mistakes and it ended up in our net. I don’t think you could say [the Heat] outplayed us in the third period. We had our opportunities. We didn’t put them away.”
The Ads haven’t been known for quick starts this season. Up against the best team in the AHL the Ads managed to come out of the opening period with a 2-0 lead.
Austin Watson scored the opening goal of the game off a rush from the right wing into goal. Passes from Bryan Rodney up to Miikka Salomaki tapped on to Watson sent the forward loose into the attacking zone. The Heat defense nearly stick checked the puck off Watson but a toe-drag and a quick wrist shot later – the Ads were up 1-0.
A late boarding penalty put the Admirals power-play unit on the ice with 1:07 remaining in the first period. A face off win and quick passes –circling from the point to the right face off dot– teed up Simon Moser for a one-timer and his third goal of the season. The period ended with the Ads up 2-0. Entering tonight, they were 3-0-0-0 when leading after the opening period of play. Again, quick starts aren’t a frequent occurrence for the Admirals but -backs against the wall tonight- they got one.
In the second period the Heat produced their first goal of the game off of a power-play. The penalty was a high sticking call against Kevin Henderson and the Ads nearly killed it off. Yet, the Heat put the hammer down and a one-timer off the left faceoff dot by Blair Jones made it a 2-1 hockey game.
Miikka Salomaki kept his hot night going by scoring a beauty of a goal to give the Ads a two-goal cushion. Salomaki, who had assisted the first two goals of the game, had defenders surrounding him and he let fly with a shot that beat Ortio to his blocker-side and belted the near post for his third goal of the season.
“That’s probably [Salomaki’s] best game,” said Evason. “Obviously, he has a great goal but hounding the puck, stick skills, his competitiveness, he finishes every check. You wish every hockey player played the way that he plays the game.”
The third period began with a 3-1 Ads lead. The Heat, just as they would have hoped, were able to cut the lead down to one with plenty of the third still to play for. Markus Granlund was able to score with just over fifteen-minutes remaining to make it a 3-2 game.
Abbotsford tied the game up midway through the third period after a quick counter attack overwhelmed the Ads defense. Greg Nemisz’s shot on goal appeared to take a deflection as the puck’s flight path knuckled low under the glove of Hellberg to make it 3-3.
The Ads did have some chances to finish off the game in OT. Two come to mind. Both from Anthony Bitetto in the space of about five-seconds. Bitetto had a quick paced run on goal and one-timed a shot into the pads of Joni Ortio in net. Right after that chance, Bitetto sat on the side of Ortio’s net, fired a close-range shot, and was robbed. Two high quality chances for Bitetto in a matter of seconds with no reward.
Sadly for Bitetto the bad news kept coming for him as he took a high sticking penalty with 1:50 left in OT. The Heat, sensing the moment, called timeout to draw up a play for the 4-on-3 power-play chance. They won the draw. Boom. Ben Street tallied the game-winner for his team best ninth goal of the season.
“We lost the draw,” said Evason of the goal in OT. “We allowed their guy to walk into a prime scoring position. Although it gets deflected off of Joe [Piskula’s] stick he shouldn’t have been allowed to shoot in that spot.”
While the Ads did come up shy of a victory in this game there was plenty to be happy about with this result. The Ads had a great first two period of hockey – especially the first. Unfortunate to not come away with the win, but the Heat have now won ten of their last eleven games. This was always going to be a tough grinder of a game. To have actually outplayed the Heat through two period is a result and the performance bodes really well for tomorrow night’s match up with yet another high-powered offense, the Griffins.
Thoughts on the game? Who impressed you tonight? Who didn’t impress you tonight? What does this game have you thinking in regards to tomorrow night’s game with the Griffins? Will they be able to repeat their previous results against the Griffins tomorrow?
The Abbotsford Heat have been, cringe-worthy pun coming, on fire as of late. In their last ten games they have gone 9-1-0-0. In fact, they were on a nine-game winning streak up until a 4-1 road defeat against the Oklahoma City Barons. That incredible win streak included three games that went past regulation with two needing the shootout to wrap things up. They currently sit with the best record in the AHL, 13-5-0-1 with 27 points. Mind you they have also played two more games than anyone else in the AHL.
It was over a month ago since the Ads and Heat faced off in Milwaukee’s opening games of the season. Has it been that long already? Here is the refresher course of those opening games.
October 11th, Heat win 3-2 in OT.
October 12th, Ads win 2-1 in a shootout.
Editor’s Note: the Heat might have the best highlight package production value in the AHL… am I right?
The scouting report for those games talked up a netminder by the name of Joni Ortio. The man who has logged the most minutes to this point for the Heat, Reto Berra, has since been called up by the Calgary Flames. It has mainly been Ortio’s net and his results coming into Tuesday night’s game with the Ads are stellar. Ortio has won all seven games he has played in net, has a 2.50 GAA, and a 0.920 SV%. Last game in net for the Heat was veteran Joey MacDonald facing off with Ilya Bryzgalov (Mr. Universe). MacDonald allowed three goals in the losing effort on the backside of a two games in two days. Expectations should be for the Ads to face the unbeaten Ortio in net. Can the Ads be the first team to hang a loss on him?
As for the unit in front of goal they are just as big a reason as to the success the Heat are enjoying. The Heat have scored an AHL best 64 goals as a team. The top goal scorer on the team is Joe Piskula‘s one-time teammate at the University of Wisconsin, Ben Street. His AHL season has been explosive enough to see him get a call up to Calgary. He played in eight games with the Flames picking up a lone assist before getting sent back to Abbotsford. His AHL season looks like this: 12 GP, 8 G, 7 A, 15 pts, with 33 SOG.
Now the fun news. Street is third on the team in points.
Ahead of him are fellow centermen Blair Jones (7 G, 11 A, 18 pts) and Corban Knight (6 G, 10 A, 16 pts). There are six players on this team who have score five goals or more. The Admirals only have two. Put it this way: the team could use another performance like the one in Iowa that produced a shutout simply in order to keep the Heat in-check.
Thoughts on tomorrow night’s game? Does the shutout in Iowa give you confidence that the Ads can slow down the Heat? Will Colton Sissons, who scored his first AHL assist and goal in the opening games in Abbotsford, strike again versus the Heat? If Hellberg is healthy enough to start this game, does he start or do you reward another start to Scott Darling?
The Admirals managed to shutout the Iowa Wild 1-0 on the road Saturday night. Scott Darling, making his second career AHL start, earned his first AHL decision with a 32 save shutout victory on the road. The lone goal of the game came late in the first period off of a Colton Sissons redirection for his seventh goal of the season.
The news going into this one was interesting to follow. Just prior to the game it was announced that Magnus Hellberg suffered a “lower body” injury during the middle of last night’s 4-3 loss to the Chicago Wolves. He played through the rest of that game and did travel with the team to Iowa. Yet, he was officially listed as “out” for this game.
Filling in for him, as the emergency goalie, was 46-year old coach, off-ice official, and Des Moines area resident Derek Hender. This wasn’t the first time Hender has served in this capacity in Iowa this year. He filled in as an emergency goalie for the Texas Stars earlier this month.
This meant Scott Darling was going to get the start in net and his response was really good. He faced a total of 32 shots. Didn’t allow many rebounds. Denied the Wild on a few breakaway and odd-man rush opportunities. And he held the fort in the dying seconds of the game when the Wild had a power-play with the extra-attacker on the ice. The shutout victory goes down as his first career AHL decision in net.
The lone goal of the game came after a rather tame first period for both sides. The Admirals goal came with less than three minutes remaining in the first period thanks to a deflection. Joonas Jarvinen’s shot to the net bounced off of Colton Sissons’ skate, fooling Darcy Kuemper in net, and giving the Ads a first period lead. The goal for Sissons is his team-leading seventh goal of the season.
The action picked up big time in the late stages of regulation. With four minutes remaining and the Admirals on the power-play Darling was required to deny a shorthanded effort. Miikka Salomaki tossed a puck towards Anthony Bitetto and it managed to get in-behind him. Racing after and claiming the loose puck was Jake Dowell who was then off on a shorthanded breakaway. Darling made a crucial stop to keep it 1-0 and bail out the failed connection from Salomaki to Bitetto.
With 1:02 remaining, Ads defenseman Bryan Rodney was called for holding and the Wild decided to take their timeout and pull their goalie. The Wild did establish some pucks to the net but they passed themselves out of the attacking zone and then went offsides with seventeen seconds remaining.
The best chances to win the game for the Wild were behind them the moment the puck left the zone. The Ads managed to hang on by the strength of Scott Darling and a deflection off of Colton Sissons to get the Ads back in the win column.
Thoughts on Scott Darling’s performance tonight? How good of a response was this by the team after a less than stellar game against the Wolves just 24 hours prior? If Hellberg is out for an extended period of time do you now feel confident that Darling could hold down the net in that time? Though the defense was good tonight, any concerns in the offense only scoring one goal from thirty-four shots tonight?
Admirals Roundtable 