Friday’s Ads-IceHogs clash was almost the polar opposite of Wednesday night’s showing.

While two nights ago, Dean Evason’s squad looked flat after digging an early 3-1 hole in the first period, last night was a reversion back to the hard-hitting style usually on display when these teams face off.

The Admirals took a 1-0 lead 2:29 into the game when Jani Lajunen tipped and redirected a shot by Charles-Olivier Roussel past Carter Hutton.

Rockford tied it up about six minutes later on a power play. Adam Clendening fired a screaming slapper from near the blue line and it bounced off Jeremy Smith. Brandon Bollig put the rebound back while he was falling forward for a nice finish.

From there on, however, the Admirals’ goalie was lights out in without a doubt his best performance of the season.

Smitty earned first star honors, finishing his night with 38 saves, earning every one of them. The best (in this humble blogger’s opinion) was this robbery of Rob Flick’s coast-to-coast attempt.

Or maybe it was this one. It’s tough to choose.

Things got testy, as they so often do against the Hogs, in the second period with the score tied 1-1. The Admirals threw 19 shots on net and got two power play chances but couldn’t grab the lead.

With the offense frustrated and 6:54 left in the second period, Chris Mueller laid a big open-ice hit on Andrew Shaw that led to some shoving away from the action.

Michael Latta dropped gloves with Bollig and Mueller took on Klas Dahlbeck a few feet away. Not normally a fighter, Mueller didn’t take long to make his point, dropping Dahlbeck to the ice with a devastating uppercut.

Nevertheless, with both goalies continuing to put on a show it would take another deflection to get past Hutton. The Ads got it 9:50 into the third.

Victor Bartley fired one of his quickly becoming trademark hard slappers and it rebounded way out to Taylor Beck who ripped a one-timer that changed direction off Bollig. Hutton couldn’t track it and it went right between his legs.

Beck admitted he wasn’t even trying to put the shot on net and was surprised the puck went in. Evason was pleased his team finally got a bounce after seemingly tiring out Hutton in the second period onslaught.

With the lead, Smith kept Rockford off the scoreboard for the remainder of the contest. The IceHogs pulled Hutton with 1:24 left but 27 seconds later Clendening was called for high sticking. Smitty made one more nice save to seal the deal when a puck trickled in front with 26.8 seconds left.

The win showed a lot of character to Evason as it marked the eighth straight time the Admirals had won after a loss.

Latta said the win meant a lot against a team like Rockford which the Ads will see plenty more times this season.

The Ads are on top of the season series 3-2, and Milwaukee now has its sights set on another division rival, the Rivermen. Peoria visits the Bradley Center next Thursday and Friday.

Notes:

Evason likes what he’s seen from Roussel since his promotion from Cincy.

Coach said he was pleased with Josh Shalla’s effort tonight as well after his recent call up, but has “no idea” when Daniel Bang will return.

Questions:

What looked different about the game from Wednesday’s game?

What was your favorite Smitty save?

Milwaukee has now failed to win back-to-back games in each of its last eight tries. Whatever momentum the Admirals gained from taking four points from their weekend 3-in-3 was nowhere to be seen in Wednesday’s loss to Rockford.

The Admirals looked like they were in for another big night against Carter Hutton when they took the lead 2:51 into the game. Like they had in a 4-3 overtime win last week, the score came from getting a lot of traffic in front of the goalie.

On a 3-2 rush, Juuso Puustinen fed Jani Lajunen cross-ice and Lajunen chipped a shot on net from the right circle. Cam Reid tried a shot on the rebound, and it rebounded again out to Puustinen who buried it.

The rest of the period saw the tide dramatically turn. Magnus Hellberg’s seventh start of the season wasn’t a pretty one for the big goalie.

Rockford tied the game at 5:54 when the Admirals couldn’t clear the puck. Phillipe Paradis scooped it up and fired a slapper. Instead of putting back the rebound he smoothly fed it to Brandon Pirri who had a wide open net right in front.

Later, Jon Blum got beat to the puck by Brandon Bollig, who took it behind the net and from there fed Peter Leblanc. Leblanc centered the puck for Andrew Shaw who tipped the puck past Hellberg at 8:51.

Hellberg’s biggest blunder of the night, and possibly all season made it a two-goal lead. By lackadaisically trying to play the puck on a shot from center ice by Jeremy Morin, Hellberg missed it and it bounced off the left post. As he twisted around to grab it, the puck crossed the line.

Hellberg was quick to acknowledge his error and desire to move past it.

At the start of the second period, Jeremy Smith took over in net while Hellberg spoke with Nashville goalie coach Mitch Korn.

From there, while Smith put forth arguably his best performance of the year, things died down substantially for both teams which didn’t benefit Milwaukee. A usually very physical match up didn’t see its first penalty until 17:50 of the second period.

The Admiral’s offense looked flat and out of sync for the remainder of the game, especially with the man-advantage. Coach Dean Evason felt his team should’ve responded better early in the game, but instead allowed Rockford to take them out of their game.

Milwaukee had a 5-on-3 power play for the first 28 seconds of the third period, but both penalties were killed off by the IceHogs. With about 16 minutes left, Patrick Cehlin had a chance to put back a rebound but it looked like he was tripped up by a defender with no call. On the next Ads possesion, Cehlin whiffed on a one-time attempt.

On another power play, after Ryan Stanton put Cehlin on his back at center ice at 10:46, Smith made a great save on a 2-0n-1 shorthanded rush by Rockford. On the ensuing possession, Michael Latta broke free for a 1-on-1 but his shot was snagged by Hutton, who froze the puck. The Admirals won the faceoff, but Latta whiffed on another one-time attempt, feeding into a common theme of the night.

Too often, passes were made instead of shots taken, and there seemed to be some indecisiveness. When shots were set up, the Ads’ sticks seemed to miss the mark. Evason felt his team got good opportunities on the power play but had a hard time executing.

While Smitty and the defense did all they could to break up each odd-man rush by Rockford (and there were a lot of them) the offensive support just wasn’t there. It was just one of those rough nights that have come to follow Admiral victories.

Notes:

Daniel Bang left the game after almost ending up in the Rockford bench. Evason said he’s unsure of his status for Friday. Bourque missed the game and his status is also questionable.

The Ads will get an opportunity to right the ship with the IceHogs back at the Bradley Center Friday at 7 p.m. The series is now at 2-2.

Questions:

Why do you think the team looked so flat after taking the early lead?

What does this team need to do to string some games together with a big homestand on tap?

What do you want to see improve this Friday, assuming the Mayans are wrong?

It may have been Milwaukee’s third game in three days, but you wouldn’t have been able to tell from the speed of Sunday’s 4-3 home win over Hamilton.

The Bulldogs came out offensively at a rabid pace, but the Admirals were able to answer without much problem.

After a day of rest, Jeremy Smith made 18 saves in the first period alone, three of those coming on a key penalty kill in the final few minutes. Smitty finished with 28 saves in a performance that Coach Dean Evason likened to Magnus Hellberg’s last night.

After Hamilton controlled the flow for the first five minutes of the game, the Admirals fought back. Chris Mueller threw a couple of good chances on net, but it was Taylor Beck who broke through.

Beck got the puck on a rebound and dragged it around in front, trying to deke starter Cedrick Desjardins out. When the goalie held form, Beck found himself behind the net again but, thinking quickly, threw the puck towards an oblivious Morgan Ellis. It bounced right off the defenseman’s leg and right behind Desjardins to put the Ads up 1-0.

At 5:46 of the second period, Kevin Henderson got a similar break to the one he got on Friday’s overtime game-winner.

Mueller moved in on net from the right, but fanned on his shot as it kicked off the defender in front of him. With the puck flying backward and Desjardins badly out of position, Henderson was right on top of it and sent it into the wide open net.

With a 2-0 lead Milwaukee was sitting pretty just after the halfway mark, but after Juuso Puustinen missed a pass from Charles-Olivier Roussel, Antoine Corbin fired a quick slapper that came to Joonas Jarvinen in front of Smith.

Jarvinen couldn’t handle and steer it away and instead directed it into Milwaukee’s net cutting Hamilton’s deficit in half.

Having blown four leads in their last five games heading into Sunday, holding on was a big key for the Admirals. They got a quick answer when Mark Van Guilder made it a two-goal lead again just two minutes later.

After Michael Latta fired a shot from the slot, MVG looked routine as he followed up on the rebound and put it past Desjardins.

But the Bulldogs weren’t done. 46 seconds into the third period, Jarred Tinordi fired a long slapper from near the blue line that found its way through traffic and beat Smith. There wasn’t much the goalie could’ve done as the puck appeared to skitter off a stick or skate at some point during flight.

The Admirals had the answer again at 6:49 on a play that looked pretty from the onset.

Van Guilder took a pass from Taylor Beck in the far corner and held it a while to draw a defender. Then MVG quickly fired it back out to a waiting and open Victor Bartley who’s blazing slapper beat Desjardins thanks to a nice screen by Latta.

Bartley was quick to credit the other working pieces on the play.

For the second time, the Admirals had regained their cushion promptly after giving it up which Evason said made a big difference.

After a Jon Blum pass was intercepted by Brendon Nash, he took it down into the Ads’ zone and slid a beautiful pass to a crashing Gabriel Dumont. who flipped the puck over Smith’s head and into the net with 6:48 left.

Evason saw the goal as an avoidable mistake, but again credited his team for rolling with it.

From then on the Admirals were able to close it out, holding on and keeping up with a fresher team that they hadn’t seen yet this year. While that would seem like quite a testament to the team’s stamina, Bartley was very matter-of-fact about finishing off the busy weekend.

Evason didn’t believe another 0-3 performance on the power play was due to a lack of good opportunities despite having to work around a tight Hamilton PK.

Notes:

Evason said Gabriel Bourque missed the game after re-aggravating his previous knee injury but doesn’t expect it to be anything too serious. Jani Lajunen was back on the ice after missing time Friday and Saturday with illness.

MVG commented on lining up against a familiar face in Zack Stortini for the first time.

Questions:

Four points in three back-to-back-to-back is a nice feat. Did the Admirals get through the stretch the way you anticipated or did they over-perform in your eyes?

Was it wierd seeing Storts in another jersey?

Coach likes the healthy competition between Smith and Hellberg as it looks like it’s making both goalies better. What do you make of it?

Friday night was your typical Rockford-Milwaukee game. Hard-fought to the end, more than a little chippy and full of energy with a solid home crowd in attendance.

It was the Hogs’ first visit to the Bradley Center this season with the series tied 1-1 heading in.

Carter Hutton began the game with a 9-1 record against the Ads, but over the course of the game, Milwaukee got plenty of traffic in front of him.

Rob Flick saw all three of his shots turned away by Jeremy Smith but other than that our friend Flicka wasn’t heard from very much.

Smith got flat out beat on a break by Nick Leddy just 40 seconds into the game. Leddy pulled up for a slapper from the top of the left circle and beat an unscreened Smitty.

Then the Admirals got a big power play chance early after a roughing call on Wade Brookbank.

The Admirals scored their second power play goal in as many games after breaking an 0-15 streak Tuesday. Victor Bartley fed a pass from the right circle that bounced off Taylor Beck in front of the net and right to a waiting Gabriel Bourque who put it in.

Brandon Saad gave Milwaukee another opportunity with a four-minute double minor for high sticking.

And again Bourque struck with 8:26 left in the period to give the Ads a 2-1 lead. Ellis chipped a pass to Bourque in front of the net and he was able to knock it down out of the air right through Hutton’s five hole.

Brandon Bollig and Joonas Jarvinen tangled with 5:44 left, and while Bollig landed some pretty big blows, Jarvinen seemed a bit outmatched.

Then, in a grind against the boards Kyle Beach appeared to grab Michael Latta’s face, and Latta responded by knocking him over at 4:46 to start another rumble.This one was a bit more evenly matched but Latta got a little bloodied.

Beach went to the box for instigating however, opening another four-minute power play window. The Ads wouldn’t put up any shots this time but ended the period with the lead.

Coach Dean Evason talked about the power play and what helped it break through this time around.

At 11:02 of the second period, Milwaukee added to its lead.

Jimmy Hayes couldn’t clear the puck and it was held in by Milwaukee. Beck took a shot near the inside of the right circle that came off Hutton into a crowd of blue jerseys. Cam Reid took a whack at it and saw his rebound go to the goalie’s right side where Beck collected it and fed it back to Latta who had a wide open net.

Twice more in the period the Admirals could’ve put it away early.

Mueller couldn’t get enough behind a 1-on-1 breakaway attempt, and on the next possession Austin Watson had a 2-on-1 thwarted by a sprawling Rockford defender.

The end of the period was a bit of a letdown for the Ads as Brandon Pirri collected a clean Hogs faceoff win in the Ads zone with just seven seconds left and fired a slapper right passed Smith to make it 3-2.

As time expired there was some group shoving in the far left corner just behind Smith. The scene brought back memories of last year’s bench-clearing brawl.

Beck started the third period in the penalty box after the scrum, giving the Hogs their second power play chance. Smith stopped two Rockford shots as the Ads continued their recent success on the kill.

The IceHogs got their equalizer, however, after a questionable sequence of events.

Beach smacked call-up Charles-Olivier Roussel in the face with his stick to work it along the boards to Bollig. His backhanded pass found a wide open Martin St. Pierre, who beat Smitty from near the top of the left circle at 4:04.

Mueller tried to answer with a wrister with 14:11 left that Hutton gloved nicely out of the air.

Smith made a nice glove save of his own when Leddy tried for another long slapper from just under the Perkins logo, breaking his stick in the process.

Jon Blum did a good job shutting down a break by Saad with just under 7 minutes left to go.

Daniel Bang found himself alone at the top of the offensive zone and fired a shot that Hutton gloved out of the air with 1:27 left.

That was the last real chance either team had to break the tie as Milwaukee held the puck behind its net for the final 10 seconds to head into overtime.

Jeremy Morin got a good break and shot on a 2-on-1 that deflected up off Smitty’s pads over the net with about 3:40 remaining in OT. Then the Ads got the break they needed.

Kevin Henderson started the rush into the Rockford zone, but passed the puck into a flurry of red jerseys. The puck somehow came back to Henderson and he threw it on net to beat a surprised Hutton five-hole to secure the sudden death win.

Henderson was both thrilled and surprised by the opportunity to win the game.

Some Notes:

After some borderline harsh comments last week, Evason’s critque of his goaltender was much different tonight.

Evason also gave his usual chime in on injuries. Scott Valentine is out with a “short-term upper body” injury, while Jani Lajunen missed the game with sickness.

Milwaukee is now 2-1 vs. Rockford and will travel to Peoria tonight, return home against Hamilton Sunday and host two more games against the Hogs next week.