The good feelings left behind by Sunday’s 3-1 win over Abbotsford were nowhere to be seen last night.

The Admirals opened their four-game road swing with a 7-1 stomping at the hands of the Monsters.

It was a performance eerily similar to the Ads’ 8-2 loss to Charlotte five nights earlier, as Jeremy Smith faced a season-high 39 shots from Lake Erie, while his teammates struggled offensively in support.

Bill Thomas and David van der Gulik each picked up four points in the win over the Ads, as Calvin Pickard scored his 14th win in net this season for the Monsters, stopping 22 of 23 shots.

Thomas got Lake Erie on the board first with a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Smitty at the 15:24 mark of the first period. Harrison Reed scored just over two minutes later with a snapshot from the top of that right circle to give the Monsters a 2-0 lead.

Van der Gulik put in the rebound from a Thomas shot 1:42 into the second period, extending the Lake Erie lead to three goals.

Michael Liambas tried to spark the Ads by battling with Daniel Maggio, and at 6:41 Juuso Puustinen rattled home his eighth goal of the season off the crossbar to cut it to 3-1.

Unfortunately, that would be Milwaukee’s only goal as the Monsters ran away with the victory.

Lake Erie’s Luke Walker quickly killed any momentum gained off the Puusty goal less than a minute later, answering with a shot off the crossbar from the right circle to beat Smitty.

With the 4-1 hole already dug, Lake Erie tacked on three more power play goals from van der Gulik, Thomas Pock and Brad Malone in the third period to smother the Admirals.

Scott Ford’s return to the lineup wasn’t a happy one, as the former Ads captain made little impact on the outcome. He left the game in the second period, and we’ll keep you updated on his status. It’s not fair, of course, to single him out on a night when Milwaukee just wasn’t on its game. (He was -1, and the entire roster was -15.)

Looking at the stats, this one just wasn’t pretty all around. The Ads went 0 for 3 on the power play, and the offense clearly wasn’t consistent enough to get into a rhythm. Adding to that, there were quite a few odd-man rushes created by bad turnovers on the Ads’ end.

It’s tough to blame the PK when the Monsters didn’t break through on the man-advantage until the game was all but decided. But it didn’t do much to help things down the stretch, surrendering three goals in four total PP opportunities.

Questions:

Evason said the decision to start Magnus Hellberg last Sunday was “an easy one.”

Smitty’s struggled mightily (to say the least) in his last two games, and he sure was stricken by that right circle tonight. Why do you think they went with him over Hellberg? It seems the Ads have been able to support the big goalie a lot more than Smith this season.

My biggest question is why? How do you go from beating the North division leader with Hellberg in net to dropping an absolute laugher to the third place team in that division with Smith?

Do you think not being the go-to starter that he was at the beginning of the season has thrown Smith off his game?

It’s not that he hasn’t had his brilliant moments. He has. It’s just that the team’s played better overall (especially recently) with the other guy between the pipes for some odd reason.

Why do you think that is?

If we’ve learned anything about Dean Evason, its that he’s quick to throw losses like this out the window. Do you think that’s best at this point, or is there something Milwaukee should take from this?

Saturday should’ve been Michael Liambas’ special night. The recent Admirals acquisition celebrated his 23rd birthday yesterday, but an 8-2 loss to Charlotte wasn’t the best gift.

Fortunately, his time to blow out the candles came Sunday as Liambas scored the game-winner in the third period of Milwaukee’s 3-1 victory over Abbotsford. It was his first career AHL goal in just his sixth career AHL game.

Despite Juuso Puustinen’s calls for the puck, Liambas saw his shot and took it, a theme the Ads have been trying to stress recently. A grinning Puusty joked about it after the game.

“I was calling for it, saying pass to me, pass to me,” Puustinen said from the side during Liambas’ postgame interview. “But he wants to be the hero tonight. And I’m cool with that.”

The Admirals were more than happy to put last night’s loss behind them, returning to winning form Sunday against the Heat.

The victory was Milwaukee’s fourth in five games, keeping Dean Evason’s two out of three campaign alive and kicking.

It was another solid start for Magnus Hellberg after getting the rest Saturday night. He won his fourth in a row stopping 23 shots.

Evason was happy with Hellberg’s job at keeping it close, particularly in the third period.

The Ads were outshot 11-5 in the first 20 minutes, and Abbotsford tallied the first goal of the game late in the period. Tyler Ruegsegger fired a nice shot from the top of the right circle that Hellberg never really saw.

Kevin Henderson answered for Milwaukee 2:08 into the second period with his second goal in as many games and 12th of the season.

With Michael Latta behind the net, Barry Brust unwisely tried to play the puck. Latta was able to beat him out and feed it to Henderson in front of the empty net.

After Liambas’ goal at 8:02 of the third period, the Heat pulled Brust with about a minute and a half to play.

Abbotsford didn’t even get a shot on net with the extra attacker, as Taylor Beck gathered a clearing attempt and fired an absolute bullet from just behind the red line that trickled into the empty net.

After both Beck and Puustinen had been scratched from the lineup last night, Evason was pleased to have both players back today.

Notes:

The penalties were there again for Milwaukee today, but fortunately so was the penalty kill. The Heat were held scoreless in six power play attempts and Evason felt the PK unit was much more agressive as a whole.

The Ads finished up the homestand 4-2 against some very tough opposition. Now comes a four-game road stretch with stops in Lake Erie, Toronto, Hamilton and Lake Erie again before they host Grand Rapids two Fridays from now.

Sunday’s big crowd helped bring in 22, 462 charity dollars in support of Milwaukee Children’s Hospital. Nice job, Admirals fans.

Questions:

Coach was all about throwing out last night’s game and a game the next day certainly helped. What did you see that you didn’t see last night? What made the big difference?

The Ads have battled back to within striking distance of the eighth spot in the West with 27 games left. Did their performance over the homestand change your opinion of their postseason chances at all? Does two out of three seem more fathomable to you now?

Friday night the Admirals’ locker room was abuzz with activity. Music was blaring, players were smiling and there was a good vibe about the place.

Saturday night you could hear a pin drop. Most of the players were gone, and there was no music, save for the faint strains of the REO Speedwagon concert out on the rink.

The Checkers came into the Bradley Center and put the Ads under the gun. And took the game on the run. (That’s the only Speedwagon lyric reference you’ll see. I promise.)

The big crowd on hand had little to cheer about as the Ads fell 8-2 to Charlotte thanks to six power play goals. That tied an Ads record for most surrendered in a game.

Jeremy Smith got his first start in three games and stopped 18 of 26 shot attempts.

Coach Dean Evason didn’t mince words or try to blame any single element.

“Everything was bad. Our penalty kill, our forwards, our D, our goalie, our coaches,” Evason said. “The only thing we didn’t see, I guess, was our power play. We had one, so we can’t really say our power play was bad, because we didn’t see it. You just gotta throw the game away.”

Charlotte took the 1-0 lead 3:14 into the game on a power play. Zac Dalpe fired a shot from the right point that was deflected in by Riley Nash.

There wasn’t much action around the net the rest of the period, save for a nice play by Cam Reid to set up Chris Mueller 1-on-1. Reid worked the puck free from a pack of Checkers at neutral ice and fed Mueller who was stopped on the ensuing attempt. Shots were tied at 5-5 at the break.

In the second period it all went south for the Ads. Penalties kept piling up, and Charlotte capitalized in a big way. Moore went for tripping 11 seconds in, and Chris Terry made it 2-0 at the 1:35 mark.

Latta went for crosschecking, Dalpe made it 3-0. Winchester went for roughing, Nash made it 4-0. It felt like the cycle would never end.

Then it did when Jeremy Welsh put in an even-strength goal to make it 5-0, tipping in a Tommi Kivisto wrister.

Smith led the Ads out for the third period, a decision Evason made in the interest of playing it out and resting Magnus Hellberg.

“Our thought process was, Hellberg’s played three in a row, and we have three in a row, obviously. You never like to leave a guy in (at that point) obviously, but we knew after the second period that our group wanted to battle, and we knew Smitty would battle. That’s his personality.”

Mueller said the team had a “you never know” attitude during the second intermission.

The Ads started the final period with an early 5-on-3 that they killed off the front end of.

Reid, who was serving a two-minute slashing penalty for Michael Liambas (who had also been assessed a game misconduct), came out of the box and had a one-on-one rush.

He couldn’t get the shot on, and on the ensuing Charlotte possession Terry struck again on the power play. Welsh quickly scored his second of the game 30 seconds later to make it 7-0 with 17:08 to play.

The Ads finally did get on the board at the 11:16 mark when Kevin Henderson swooped in all the way from neutral ice and beat John Muse over his shoulder.

Michael Latta followed that up less than two minutes later with a nice slapper off a faceoff win from the right circle.

Charlotte extinguished any momentum off of those two quickies scoring less than a minute later to finish off the night.

Smitty stopped a shot on a 3-on-1 rush but Mark Van Guilder ran into him during the save, knocking him to the ice. The puck squirted loose, and with Smitty still down Sean Dolan fed Justin Shugg who had an empty net.

What do you say to your team after an 8-2 loss? According to Evason, absolutely nothing.

“I’m at a loss. It’s difficult to even put into words what happened. It was like what happened last night. If you told people we were down two goals, and we scored two empty-net goals and went to overtime, they’d be like ‘What? You’re crazy’. And say on the next night we just lost 8-2. You either look back and learn from both of them or throw them out and move forward.”

“We anticipated our group (would) go forward, as we talked about last night after the game. Maybe we’ll look back and say one of these two games was the turning point in our season. Who knows?”

Juuso Puustinen and Taylor Beck were both scratches for the game, and Evason said he’s confident one of the two will be back in the lineup tomorrow.

“I hope at least one. We’ll evaluate them tomorrow after some skating and some treatment. Both guys are skilled, obviously and Beck arguably had his best game (Friday) night, so it would’ve been nice to have them in tonight’s hockey game. We’ll likely have one of them back.”

As Mueller said, despite the bleak loss, the two out of three objective is still a reality for tomorrow’s game. Winning three in a row helped keep it in play.

At a certain point, the final score can mean what you want it to mean. Look back at the 8-2 win over OKC for evidence of that.

These games happen, but the timing wasn’t as opportune as Milwaukee may have liked. It looked like they’d perhaps turned a corner coming in.

Questions:

Evason didn’t want to single out any one thing in particular as he shouldn’t particularly need to. He’s a coach and we’re fans and observers. That being said this is a discussion site, so let’s discuss.

There were a lot of bad things out there, but which were the worst? The Admirals didn’t do Smith any favors with the constant, costly and unnecessary penalties. But could Smitty have also stopped some of those shots?

Spending so much time on the penalty kill also heavily impacted the offense, and any possible support of Smitty at the other end of the ice. When you’re constantly a man down, it’s really difficult to get into any sort of a groove.

It’s hard to gauge the power play, as coach said, based on one chance, but you’d think down 3-0 that the Ads would’ve taken a little more advantage of the opportunity. They spent way too much of that power play in their own zone.

Trashing the game and moving on is probably the right mindset to have, especially with another one the very next day as Mueller commented. Unlike the last two weeks where the team would have days upon days to reflect on a loss, the next-day scenario helps in this case.

But is there anything, in your opinion, the Admirals should take from this game?

Chris Mueller didn’t want his bobblehead night to end.

With just a minute left to play, facing a two-goal deficit, Mueller sparked a fast and furious comeback that was capped off in overtime. Opening the hat trick weekend in style, Milwaukee picked up its third win in a row 5-4 over San Antonio.

From the get-go the Ads looked much better than they had the past few games, but despite taking a 5-0 shot advantage early, the Rampage scored on their first shot 3:49 in.

Former Admiral Mike Santorelli nearly shook Victor Bartley out of his skates and put a shot on net that bounced off the post. Quinton Howden was there for San Antonio to put the rebound in for the 1-0 lead.

Milwaukee answered at 9:11 when newly returned Mattias Ekholm tied the game thanks to a nice screen from Daniel Bang. Jared Gomes poorly attempted to clear the puck out of the Rampage’s zone, and Ekholm was there to fire a quick shot as soon as it got to him.

Coach Dean Evason was pleased with what he saw from both Ekholm and newcomer Brian McGrattan.

The Ads ran into some penalty trouble in the second half of the period, as San Antonio built a 3-1 lead thanks to two separate power play chances.

Santorelli one-timed in a pass from Zach Hamill to beat Hellberg on a 5-on-3 chance. Then with just under a minute to go before the break, Jed Ortmeyer’s blast from the point found the back of the net.

Both Evason and Mueller said they were surprised at the scoreboard heading into the first intermission. Both felt the Ads had thus far been the better team.

That attitude would show through for the rest of the game as the Ads scored again in the second period.

After a holding call on Jon Rheault, Taylor Beck showed nice patience on the power play, deking back and forth a few times in front to get Jacob Markstrom out of position before letting his shot fly.

Around the game’s midway point, however, San Antonio dampened the Ads’ rejuvenated hopes with a tipped in goal from Garrett Wilson.

The lead would stay at 4-2 until near the end of the third period. That’s when the real fun started and one Admiral made everyone hastily rework their three star votes.

With Hellberg on the bench, Brad Winchester threw a shot on net that was blocked in front. Mueller scooped it up and flipped it past Markstrom with exactly 1:00 on the clock.

Then Milwaukee’s assistant captain improbably struck again with 20.5 seconds left. Winchester fired another shot that rebounded off Markstrom and Mueller snuck it past the sprawling goalie to tie it at 4-4 and send the game to overtime.

Riding a full head of steam, the Admirals wouldn’t be denied in the extra period. In a mad scramble in front Captain Mike Moore sent the crowd into a frenzy, knocking the puck out of the air and in.

The horn sounded briefly as the refs didn’t immediately signal and skated off to the side to review the play. While San Antonio desperately argued that the puck had cleared the top of the net, the replay confirmed the game-winner was good.

As the Ads celebrated in mob fashion at center ice, Markstrom picked up a game misconduct, flinging his stick in frustration.

Moore had little doubt as soon as the puck crossed the line.

Notes:

Evason was quick to acknowledge that he was already looking on to Saturday’s game, but even the forward-thinking coach admitted this one was special.

Hellberg had a so-so night compared to his last two brilliant starts stopping 27 of 31 shots. Evason was fine with the big goalie’s performance.

Questions:

So the team’s predominant feeling was that they deserved better than the late two-goal deficit. That’s evidenced by their 41 shots. Did you think the Ads had the comeback in them all along? How about after the first Mueller goal?

Did the presence of a certain Packer wide receiver drive the team to victory?

71 games, 551 penalty minutes. That’s Brian McGrattan’s record-breaking stat line from his 2004-05 campaign with Binghamton. With both him and Liambas now in the lineup do the Ads strike you as a grittier, tougher bunch?

Who do you think we’ll see in net tomorrow? Will they give Hellberg a rest or save Smitty for the Sunday game?

The Admirals’ 2-1 win over Abbotsford was a huge victory in more ways than one. It was Milwaukee’s first win against the Heat in almost a year and Magnus Hellberg’s second consecutive win.

And it was step one of the “two-out-of-three” hockey plan coaches Dean Evason and Stan Drulia have stressed the last two games.

Evason went with the hot hand in Hellberg after he shut out Peoria on Sunday, and the big goalie kept rolling.

The Ads came out looking worse than they did two games ago in a 5-2 loss. For the first ten minutes Milwaukee had a hard time getting out of its own zone. The Heat held a 7-0 shot advantage before the Admirals got their first, and even that one was questionable…

By periods end, Abbotsford led 16-5 in shots, but thanks to Hellberg it remained a scoreless game. And the Ads wouldn’t waste his effort.

Hellberg admitted his defense helped him out with rebound control, and the fast start actually got him into the game early.

The defense stepped up, holding the Heat to four shots in the second period, and the Ads were finally able to break through on (wait for it) … THE POWER PLAY!

Chris Mueller brought the puck into the Abbotsford zone and fed it to Cam Reid in the slot. Reid fed another of his beautiful (quickly becoming trademark) centering passes to Juuso Puustinen who beat All Star Barry Brust at the 11:50 mark for a 1-0 lead.

It was Reid’s fourth point in four games as Puustinen picked up his seventh goal of the year.

On the ensuing faceoff the Ads got another big boost from Mike Liambas who dropped the gloves and rocked Zach McKelvie.

Right after that, there were hints of another scrum as the Heat went after Michael Latta. Uncharacteristically, Latta shook them off, refusing to let Abbotsford have a chance at gaining momentum.

Evason talked about the benefits of Latta’s decision.

3:35 into the third period, Milwaukee extended its lead to 2-0. Taylor Beck did a great job keeping the puck alive after Brust attempted to poke check it away. Beck was able to finish the play and put it past the diving goalie for his eighth of the year.

At the 9:18 mark, Max Reinhart broke up Hellberg’s bid for a second consecutive shutout.

Hellberg said he saw the puck and it was just a good shot by Reinhart.

The big goalie didn’t let in any more, stopping 10 shots in the third, helping the Ads seal the win.

Evason said he was surprised with his team’s slow start, but was pleased with how it finished the game with a full 60 minutes of hockey.

Notes:

Evason talked about his appendectomy experience and his unique opportunity to watch Sunday’s game online rather than in person.

Patrick Cehlin was back in the lineup tonight, while Jack MacLellan was recently sent down to Cincy.

Krys Kolanos’ reign of terror finally came to an end Tuesday. Coming in with a point in each of his last 10 games against Milwaukee, the Ads finally were able to keep him off the scorecard.

Questions:

So Roundtable, how big was this win in your eyes?

Who gets the start Friday? Evason said he’s going to evaluate, and as you heard Hellberg’s going to respect whatever decision is made.

On a two-game win streak how will the Ads finish off the homestand in the 3-in-3 this weekend?

The big goalie had a Hell of a night as the Admirals’ two-game losing skid snapped Sunday with a 1-0 win over Peoria.

In his first start since January 20, Magnus Hellberg broke a personal six-game losing streak and recorded his first professional shutout, stopping all 30 shots he faced.

Milwaukee’s offense didn’t leave Hellberg much room for error, but the team came out a lot stronger than it had in back-to-back 5-2 Friday losses.

Coach Dean Evason missed the game after having his appendix removed yesterday, and assistant coach Stan Drulia guided the team to the win.

The Ads got out to a fast start thanks to Cam Reid’s third point in as many games. Bartley fed the puck to Reid at center ice to set up a 2-on-2 break, and Reid’s pass to his right found a crashing Mark Van Guilder who deflected it in at the 4:17 mark.

MVG talked about the goal and the adjustment he had to make on a pass that could’ve been crisper.

That would be it as far as offense was concerned as Hellberg held the line the rest of the way.

While the Rivermen wouldn’t be considered by most to be an offensive juggernaut, Drulia felt Hellberg was challenged throughout the game.

As nice as it was to see the Ads finally pull one out, it would’ve been nicer to see them capitalize on some chances.

“0 for 4 on the power play” has become a phrase mentioned a bit too often this season, and Van Guilder offered his thoughts on the special teams struggles.

MVG also commented on the team’s overall offensive confidence.

Drulia said the better start to the game was a reflection of the team’s sense of desperation which has become a big focal point moving forward.

That urgency will be tested again Tuesday with Abbotsford coming to town. The Ads haven’t beaten the Heat since last February, going a collective 0-5 in regular season and postseason play.

If “two out of three” hockey is indeed going to be the standard, a win Tuesday would be greatly needed.

Notes:

Van Guilder had a lot to say after the win, even offering his musings on Dean Evason’s absence.

Despite a season of competing against one another on the depth chart, Jeremy Smith posed a nice gesture to Hellberg, snatching up the game puck for the big goalie to keep as a souvenir of his big night.

Questions:

So was this what the Ads needed to get something going? Who besides Hellberg impressed you tonight?

How much do you think Hellberg was challenged tonight? I thought his movement in net looked a bit crisper and he made some good stops on some 2-on-1s.

Do you think the “two-out-of-three hockey” concept is realistic for this team?