Milwaukee is back to .500 at 10-10-2-1 after a lackluster second period in Charlotte.

Things looked good at 8:08 of the first when Chris Mueller broke an 0-for-15 power play skid with his 10th goal of the season to give the Ads a 1-0 lead.

After the first intermission, the Ads played a little too unselfishly. Too many times good entries into the offensive zone were negated by unwise passes instead of shots. Passing up those opportunities ended up costing Milwaukee big time.

Midway through the period Daniel Bang had a good look at the net but instead tried a spin pass that was intercepted. That started a 3-on-1 rush into the Admiral’s zone and Zac Dalpe tied it up at 9:07.

Two minutes and two seconds later, the Checkers took the lead thanks to another missed chance. Gabriel Bourque found himself on a 2-on-1, and his attempted pass was broken up. The follow-up shot was turned away and cleared.

Zach Boychuk found Tim Wallace on the ensuing possession and Wallace beat Magnus Hellberg short side from the bottom of the left circle.

The Admirals finished the period with a season-low two shots.

The shots came for the Admirals in the third, but Justin Peters stopped all ten he faced. At 11:45, Justin Faulk gave Charlotte a 3-1 lead to finish the scoring.

Hellberg lost his first AHL game in his second consecutive start to drop to 4-1. For the first time this season, his offense couldn’t get him at least three goals in support.

The Admirals didn’t do any more damage on the power play despite snapping the scoreless streak, but they again killed off three penalties.

On the bright side Milwaukee finished its three-game road trip, and will play 11 of its next 13 games at the Bradley Center. The stand starts Friday, as the IceHogs make their first trip to Milwaukee.

Without a doubt, the Ads want to give them a very rude welcome.

The Ads got out to a big lead against the Checkers Sunday, and this time they closed it out, pulling off a 5-2 victory with relative ease.

Milwaukee never trailed as Patrick Cehlin and Gabriel Bourque scored just under two minutes apart early in the first period. MVG and a still scorching Austin Watson gave the Ads a 4-1 advantage in the second, and Bourque added another goal midway through the third to round out a more than satisfying offensive output.

As he’s done in each game he’s started so far, Magnus Hellberg benefited from plenty of scoring support and put together one of his better nights in net stopping 26 shots.

The second goal scored against Hellberg came from a sloppy clearing attempt by the big goalie, but it proved to be harmless thanks to the late four-goal lead.

Milwaukee was equally sound on defense, forcing some big turnovers that led to both of Bourque’s goals.

Luckily the Admirals didn’t need much help from their struggling power play unit as they failed to score five times with the man advantage. The penalty kill got back to form on the flip side, killing off three scattered penalties.

Michael Latta had a big night with three assists as he was on the ice for four of the goals scored. So far he’s proven to be a pretty good facilitator this year when he’s not in the penalty box.

Cam Reid continued to impress with a beautiful no-look backhand pass through three defenders that set up Watson’s one-timer.

Milwaukee will take on Charlotte again on Tuesday, and while it’s tough to beat the same team twice in a row in any sport, the Ads will hope to carry momentum into their third and final game of the road trip.

Milwaukee found itself with a third period lead for the second game in a row, and for the second game in a row it gave it up.

The game was a lot higher scoring this time. It was a 3-1 advantage rather than 1-0, but especially in Rockford, which has been a veritable hell hole for the Ads in the past, no lead is safe.

After everyone’s favorite Hog, Rob Flick, opened the scoring 9:13 into the game, the Admirals responded with three goals in less than five minutes in the second period. Latta, then Bourque then Bartley shelled Carter Hutton in rapid succession.

But that wouldn’t be the most impressive offensive onslaught.

Rockford went on to score four unanswered during the games’ final fourteen minutes. Much to Coach Dean Evason’s dismay I’m sure, the lead-narrower and game-tyer were power play goals.

Milwaukee gave up four penalties (a high number for the Ads based on their play of late) and only got one chance with the man advantage.

So you could say again that while the Ads continued to play solid five-on-five hockey, its the special teams that are continuing to hurt this team.

Or it was just another rough outing for the boys in Rockford.

Either way, letting teams back into games with penalties (no matter how questionable they may be) is a trend the Ads need to avoid going forward.

Questions:

I’ve given my two cents, but why do you think the Ads have given up two straight third period leads?

Word of advice: DO NOT PANIC! Again we’ve still got a lot of hockey left and there are teams that would love to be where Milwaukee is right now…

Milwaukee saw its recent hot streak flame out as Colton Sceviour scored in overtime to rally the visiting Texas Stars to a 2-1 win.

After a scoreless first period, Austin Watson, who’s been on a tear of late, gave the Ads the lead 2:17 after the break. Watson blasted a shot on net from the right wall, but as Christopher Nilstorp reached out to glove it, the puck trickled away from him. Daniel Bang handled it in front and fed it back to Watson and he was able to bank it in off Nilstorp’s left side.

Defensively the Admirals played sound hockey with good nights out of Jon Blum, Ryan Ellis and Victor Bartley and late in the third Milwaukee had killed off both penalties they’d surrendered. Then came a too many men on the ice penalty that frustrated coach Dean Evason.

It led to a goal by Cody Eakin with 6:25 left in regulation that tied the game up. A Matt Fraser shot bounced off Jeremy Smith’s chest and high over the heads of Blum and Scott Valentine who both tried to whack it down the ice in mid-air.

Instead the puck bounced to Eakin who beat a surprised Smitty.

In overtime, Tomas Vincour took a slapper from near the blue line that Smith couldn’t freeze as the rebound bounced right to a waiting Sceviour who put it past him.

Evason didn’t mince words describing the game-winner and his goalie’s night overall.

Evason also talked about his frustration with the too many men penalty that led to the game-tying goal and his disappointment with his team’s special teams play.

After Friday’s win over Chicago, Evason had talked about how much the power play was missing Taylor Beck and though it was good to see Beck back on the ice for the Admirals, Evason reaffirmed that he wasn’t back to form.

Some positives:

It’s still early and the division and conference have shown a lot of parity as Evason was quick to point out.

As far as individuals go, Coach was impressed with how Watson and Bang continued to create together, and with the play of Cam Reid.

Injury notes:

Evason said Ben Ryan is out with an “upper body injury” but is expected back soon. The same can’t be said on captain Mike Moore’s status on which Evason has “no idea.”

Questions:

So now that Beck is back and the power play didn’t seem to get much better tonight, how do you think the Ads should make it better?

What was your verdict on Smitty tonight? Do you credit those goals to his defense, him or some other mythical force at work?

Who impressed you the most tonight? Keep in mind up until those two errors, the Admirals had played a very disciplined game particularly defensively.

Hey it was a tough loss, but don’t forget that Christmas is right around the corner. And when you think hockey and Christmas nothing brings a smile quite like this.

Up until the last 90 seconds, the Admirals had a frustrating Friday night against their Amtrak Rivalry foes.

Then in the words of Ron Burgundy things really escalated quickly.

The two teams came in with nearly identical records, Milwaukee at 8-8-1-1 and Chicago at 8-7-2-1.

With Eddie Lack on the bench, Matt Climie played most of the game better than his .896 save percentage suggested stopping 30 of Milwaukee’s 31 shots up to the last two minutes.

Chicago struck 2:21 into the game when Jordan Schroeder led Bill Sweatt on a 2-on-1 and Sweatt to beat Jeremy Smith.

The Ads tied it up when Jani Lajunen took the puck on a 3-on-2 and hit Victor Bartley who put it between Climie’s stick and right pad with a scorching slapper at 15:17 of the period.

After a scoreless second, both teams whiffed on early opportunities to go up in the third.

Ben Ryan had an open net on a wraparound but the puck got stuck in the netting right behind the right post and a sprawling Climie was able to grab and freeze it at 17:24.

With about 7 minutes left, Zack Kassian pulled off a slick move that got Smitty down on his pads, but he whiffed his shot over the goalie’s head and off the crossbar.

With 5:30 left in the game, it seemed like the Wolves had locked up the tightly contested battle.

Joonas Jarvinen committed his second penalty of the night (and just the second penalty for the Admirals as a team) giving the Wolves a power play on a roughing call.

Kevin Connauton took a slapper from just south of the blue line, Smitty gave up a fat rebound and Darren Archibald put it right past him.

Chris Mueller almost hit Patrick Cehlin from behind the net with 1:44 left, but Climie gloved it against the ice to cut off the pass and froze it. The Ads went on the aggressive when Coach Dean Evason then called a time out pulled Smith for the extra attacker.

It paid off with 1:25 left to go when Austin Watson worked the puck free from a mad scramble to Climie’s left, Gabriel Bourque scooped it up and fired it through the confusion to beat the Wolves goalie, knotting the score at two goals a piece.

Riding high on adrenaline and momentum in the final seconds, Mueller won a faceoff cleanly, skated to his left and tipped home a shot from Jonathon Blum to give Milwaukee a 3-2 advantage with just 19.1 remaining.

Evason was thrilled with the finish after feeling his team had played well enough to at least reach the extra period.

The win keeps the Admirals hot in division play after they ended Grand Rapid’s eight-game winning streak last Sunday.

Despite playing disciplined hockey yet again, the Admirals finished 0-for-4 with the man advantage and have had their struggles on the power play which Evason puts mostly on the absence of one key offensive piece.

More Notes:

The scratch of Jack MacLellan tonight was a healthy one.

Evason also cleared up the goalie swap with Cincinatti, easing those concerned with Magnus Hellberg’s future.

Questions:

How does it feel to go up 3-1 early in the Amtrak Rivalry? Do you think the Admirals might have Chicago’s number this season, or are we in for a back-and-forth fight?

Who stuck out as an unsung hero tonight? Plenty of candidates. Blum seemed to get the puck a lot and handled it well. Watson continued to create offense. Latta was pretty active around the net and had a nice hit with Jarvinen.

What do you think of coach giving Hellberg the chance to start in some back-to-back action? Should it be read into perhaps?