The Admirals got to see both sides of the shootout round over the course of two days last weekend as they picked up three points of a possible four.

Milwaukee lost a head-scratcher to Peoria Friday night after it seemed like they’d rallied for a regulation victory.

The Rivermen took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission thanks to goals from Jaden Schwartz and Sergey Andronov, but Michael Latta cut the deficit in half in the second period.

Joonas Jarvinen tied the game 4:21 into the third period, but a few minutes later Evgeny Grachev answered.

Later in the period, the Admirals took the lead in rapid fashion. Mark Van Guilder tied thing up again at 12:28 and Austin Watson put Milwaukee up 30 seconds later.

But with just 41 seconds left in regulation, with Peoria goalie Mike McKenna on the bench, Ian Cole put one past Jeremy Smith to knot the score yet again.

The Admirals didn’t score in the shootout, while Peoria escaped with a win on goals by Schwartz and T.J. Hensick.

Saturday night, it was Milwaukee that forced extra time in the third period.

After Watson and Daniel Bang gave the Admirals a 2-1 lead, Chicago found itself in front in the third period as Jordan Schroeder and Zack Kassian scored unanswered goals.

With 2:43 left in the game, Watson continued his hot streak, forcing overtime.

Watson wasn’t done, putting the Admirals up early in the shootout, but neither was Kassian as his do-or-die goal kept the Wolves alive.

After Magnus Hellberg turned Bill Sweatt away, and Jonathon Blum put one past Eddie Lack, Hellberg stoned Anton Rodin to seal an Ads victory.

After losing three straight heading into the weekend, Milwaukee got back on track thanks to some big individual performances.

Watson had a monster weekend with three goals and one shootout goal to go with an assist. Speaking of assists, Ryan Ellis picked up one in each game in his long-awaited return and was active on offense with 8 shots.

Both Admirals goalies found themselves in similar spots, and it was Hellberg who stood tall, literally, in the shootout round. While Hellberg is 4-0 officially, it remains a mystery why the team hasn’t been as successful in Smitty’s 14 starts in net.

The Admirals played the kind of incredibly disciplined hockey that coach Dean Evason looks for each night, giving their opponents just one power play chance in each game. However, Milwaukee went 0 for 6 on the man-advantage.

The Admirals will complete a three-in-three tomorrow with a trip to Grand Rapids, and then some much needed rest before hosting Chicago Friday.

Milwaukee got its look at the vaunted Oklahoma City Barons in back-to-back Friday and Saturday night action.

The Barons were as good as advertised defeating Milwaukee 2-1 in overtime on Friday and flexing their offensive muscles in Saturday’s 5-2 win.

The Admirals seemed to be riding their recent hot streak high in the first game, taking OKC down to the wire. The Admirals scored first when Austin Watson got a nice feed from Gabriel Bourque (great to finally see him back).

But despite putting 43 shots on Yann Danis, the goalie was solid and kept Milwaukee off the board for the rest of the contest.

Danis ended the weekend stopping 77 shots and only allowing three goals.

 

Former University of Wisconsin talent Justin Schultz was an Admirals killer all weekend. He assisted on both Taylor Fedun’s equalizer and Marc Arcobello’s game-winner 3:18 into the extra period Friday.

After the Admirals got the early lead again on Saturday when Daniel Bang scored his second of the year, Schultz tied the game later in the first period.

The real stars of Saturday were OKC’s more famous NHL talents. Taylor Hall assisted Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ goal with 48 seconds left in the first period to put the Barons up for good.

Hall assisted RNH again on an empty netter with 53 seconds left in the game that put OKC up 5-2.

Things got chippy early in the second game with both teams combining for 60 minutes of penalties in the first period, 20 of those minutes coming from a continued altercation between Milwaukee call-up Charles-Oliver Roussel and Dane Byers.

The Admirals’ penalty kill wasn’t up to its high standards as two of OKC’s three power play opportunities resulted in goals. Milwaukee meanwhile couldn’t capitalize on the three man-advantages it received.

Maybe the worst sight of the weekend, however, was Taylor Beck laying motionless on the ice Friday night. Beck, who’s been one of the Admiral’s top producers, crashed headfirst into the boards in the third period and was carried off in a stretcher. Fortunately he displayed hand motions and was talking to his teammates after the game. It’s not known how much time Beck will miss with the injury.

The Admirals will hope to get their offense back on track heading to Rosemont to take on the Wolves. After starting the rivalry off with a 7-4 blowout win at home, part two comes with the Admirals in need of a big rebound.

 

Saturday night was a big night for Admirals captain Mike Moore and an even bigger night for exorcising some of last season’s demons.

As Ads fans know, the Rockford Icehogs have been a historically tough out for Milwaukee, and before Saturday night’s game Rockford had owned a nine-game win streak in the series.

The suspension of last week’s player of the week, Kyle Beach, earlier that day put the Admirals in prime position to end that streak.

Jeremy Smith stopped 24 of 26 shots against him while the now rolling Admirals offense snuck four goals past Alec Richards.

Milwaukee quickly got on the board first when Chris Mueller scored his fifth goal of the season 1:54 into the game. Daniel Bang and Taylor Beck got the assists.

Rockford tied it up about halfway through the period when Brandon Pirri tallied his sixth score of the season.

The rest of the scoring for the game took place in the second period, as Milwaukee built a three-goal lead.

Moore scored two goals within four minutes, with Patrick Cehlin getting both primary assists.

Jeremy Morin added a goal for the Icehogs at 13:07, but Smith held strong in the third period stopping all of Rockford’s last nine shots.

The Admirals penalty kill again played to its top-five status, and the team played a more disciplined game overall collecting only four penalties. That’s a tough feat against a team like Rockford, as last season’s matchups were chippy to say the least.

The win was a great way to end a successful weekend for the Admirals as they started off both of their biggest Illinois rivalry series with wins. What’s more, the team has built substantial momentum offensively heading into two games against arguably the best team in the country, the Oklahoma City Barons.

Maybe a renewal of the Amtrak rivalry was just what the Admirals needed. An offensive explosion marked the best game Milwaukee has played all season as it crushed the Chicago Wolves 7-4.

Coach Dean Evason said he wanted his team to come out fast, score some early goals and get out to a big early lead. On any other night, that would’ve been a difficult task against Eddie Lack. But for once the story wasn’t the Chicago goalies’ sweet pads. It was what went past them.

Evason said he was happy to see a lot of his key guys finally get rewarded for their efforts.

Magnus Hellberg got his third start of the season, and even though he got the same goal support he’s become accustomed to (and that Jeremy Smith has dreamed of), both goaltenders didn’t last long.

The first period was as high scoring as most of the Admirals’ complete games this season.

At 3:44 of the first period Victor Bartley fed the puck to Kevin Henderson on a break, but instead of collecting it Henderson was able to simply tap and redirect it right past Lack for the first goal of the game.

The Wolves’ equalizer was scored less than two minutes later by Jordan Schroeder, but Anton Rodin did most of the work. Rodin took the puck with his back facing Hellberg, weaved his way through two defenders and gave it to Schroeder who one-timed it in.

Not to be outdone, Chris Mueller started a two-on-one rush and led Taylor Beck with a beautiful pass that Beck took right to the front of the net and fired past Lack’s left side.

Evason had also mentioned putting a greater emphasis on setting up plays behind the net, and the Admirals third goal of the night was a prime example.

Watson battled for and won the puck behind Lack, and fed a wide-open Cehlin right in front of the net. Lack never had a chance as Cehlin picked up his fifth goal of the season.

After showing brilliance on that play, however, Watson showed something else in the next scoring sequence. A Mattias Ekholm holding penalty put the Ads on the kill, and Watson got a little too cute taking the puck into the offensive zone all by himself.

He lost it and the result was a 3-on-2 rush in which Mark Matheson took a feed from Bill Sweatt and beat Hellberg badly right through his five-hole.

Scott Valentine brought the lead back to two goals when he fired a dagger from right around the blue line that deflected off a Wolves’ player into the back of the net.

At the end of the first period it was 4-2, which was the final score of the Admirals last game.

Chicago wasted no time pulling Lack for Matt Climie to start the second, but he did little to help the Wolves climb back in.

Hellberg left the game as well about halfway through the second period when Brett Sterling made it a one-goal game with a seemingly nonchalant wrister from the top the left circle.

Here’s Hellberg on his disappointing night overall.

The big goalie stopped 13 of 16 shots before Smith took the ice in relief.

Watson helped the Admirals start to rebuild their cushion with 10 seconds left in the second. Juuso Puustinen chipped the puck between legs of a Wolves’ defender and Watson knuckled it past Climie.

Evason said scoring to get back to a two-goal lead before the intermission was huge.

In the third period Milwaukee kept piling on. Captain Mike Moore fed Beck who had a clear lane to the net. Beck skated in, put on a few dekes and scored his second goal of the game and third of the year to make it 6-3, 2:05 into the period.

In a mirror image of the earlier Cehlin goal, Puustinen found Moore from behind the net at 11:12 of the period to take a commanding four-goal advantage.

The Wolves added a goal at 12:35 when Bartley lost the puck in the far right corner behind Smith and Natan Longpre fired to Tim Miller who beat a stunned Smith.

That would conclude the scoring for both teams, however, as Milwaukee improved to 5-6 on the season.

Of course the game didn’t end until Michael Latta roughed up somebody, as he got into it with Steve Pinizotto with around two minutes left.

The Admirals take on an even bigger rival and consistent thorn in their side tomorrow night in Rockford, before back-to-back road games against the vaunted Oklahoma City Barons next weekend.

With Milwaukee needing all the help it can get, Evason updated the status of Bourque and Ellis.

Here’s Coach’s full press conference along with the highlights and lowlights of tonight’s game.

Grand Rapids got some early morning revenge on the Admirals Wednesday. The Griffins’ 4-2 victory kept the Ads from winning consecutive games, which Milwaukee has yet to do this season.

On the flip side, the Griffins got their third win in a row thanks to goalie Petr Mrazek’s solid debut in net.

The game was a lot closer than the score suggests as the shot battle was even at 26. Jeremy Smith got his third straight start and kept the Admirals within a goal or tied throughout the game, stopping 22 of 25 shots.

The Ads’ special teams units were as up-and-down as the momentum of the game, and it made the big difference.

Ryan Sheehan scored first for the Griffins on the third shorthanded goal Milwaukee has surrendered this season 13:54 into the first period.

Then a few minutes later the Admirals tied the game on a five-on-three power play when Jon Blum slapped one past Mrazek. Mattias Ekholm and Taylor Beck picked up the assists.

Francis Pare retook the lead for Grand Rapids 6:15 into the second period, and again the Admirals rallied with 7:22 left. Juuso Puustinen got his first goal of the season and Jack MacLellan and Austin Watson assisted.

Joakim Andersson gave Grand Rapids the lead for good 11:28 into the third on a power play, and the Griffins tacked on an empty-netter from Gustav Nyquist with 30 seconds left.

It was another tough day for the Admirals’ power play, as they only mustered one goal out of six opportunities. From the way things have gone for the unit this season, it almost seems like Milwaukee would prefer to skate five-on-five rathter than have the extra attacker.

The team’s discipline was low again, as they surrendered eight power play opportunities, and it was one of the later calls, Scott Valentine for roughing, that led to the game-winning goal.

It was a frustrating day for Milwaukee’s big forwards with Beck and Chris Mueller going 0-11 combined in shots. Michael Latta was a minus-three with zero shots coming off some good performances the last three games.

Inconsistency has been the theme for Milwaukee’s start, but hopefully that means it’ll be due for a home win over Chicago on Friday night.

The Admirals have fallen victim to some great performances in net this season, but Saturday night, they got one of their own.

Jeremy Smith stopped all 34 shots he faced against Peoria, and Milwaukee gave him some offense in a 3-0 road win.

The current captain, Mike Moore, outshone the former captain, Scott Ford. Moore got his first goal of the season 15:09 into the game to put the Ads up 1-0 and from then on it was all Admirals.

Despite giving up six power play opportunities, the Ads’ penalty kill continued to excel killing off all six.

Michael Latta continued his recent production assisting on the Moore goal and on a Mark Van Guilder strike that made it 2-0 30 seconds into the second period.

Chris Mueller got the late empty-netter to seal the deal in the third period.

Quality, rather than quantity got the job done for Milwaukee. Unlike the 2-1 loss to Lake Erie the night before, the Admirals pulled off the win despite being outshot 34-23. Coach Evason had talked about trying to utilize the “dirty areas”, and the team seemed to take that to heart, getting more action in front of the net Saturday.

Yes, it helped that Peoria has been a pretty lousy team so far this year at 2-5. But after a loss as frustrating as Friday night’s, it was important for the Ads to get a win against an inferior opponent.

With a matchup against a high-scoring Grand Rapids squad Wednesday morning, and a home battle against division-leading Chicago on the horizon, Milwaukee will take all the momentum it can get.

Two nights after Milwaukee scored five goals in a win over Charlotte, the Admirals had a hard time getting anything past Calvin Pickard.

While the Ads launched a season-high 43 shots on goal against the Lake Erie Monsters, good, quality shots were few and when they were there Pickard swallowed them up.

Things were looking good for Milwaukee early in the game as it got the first goal for the first time this season courtesy of Michael Latta.

Latta was able to position himself in front of Pickard and put back a rebound off a hard slap shot from Mike Moore at 12:24 of the opening period.

The goal came on a power play that then allowed the Admirals to infiltrate what coach Dean Evason calls the “dirty area.” For the rest of the way, however, the Monsters’ defense was thick in the middle, forcing the Admirals to try and engineer chances from the perimeter.

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The Monsters crashed the net and tied the game with 47 seconds left in the first when Brian Lerg collected the bouncing puck and put it past a diving Jeremy Smith.

Smitty had a tough night holding onto the puck, but Evason was hesitant to blame the loss on him given the fact he only allowed two scores.

After a scoreless second period, the game came down to a costly turnover by Mattias Ekholm that led to a wild shorthanded goal with 11:56 left to play.

After Ekholm coughed it up, a sprawling Luke Walker kept a 2-on-1 chance alive by flinging the puck to Paul Carey who knuckled it back to Walker cross-ice to beat Smith at the other end of the net.

Here’s Ekholm on the play.

Smitty headed for the bench with a little under two minutes remaining, but Pickard wouldn’t be beat and the tight Lake Eerie defense kept the puck out of the offensive zone as the final seconds ticked away.

As they often do in close contests, Evason said the turnovers made all the difference.

Some positives from the night: Laata picked up the third star after a solid showing. He was at the center of some good scoring chances and was rewarded for one, and in an early scrap he landed some big blows on Brad Malone.

Evason said the team is obviously looking forward to putting this one behind them but learning from it.

The Ads won’t have long to dwell on the 2-1 loss anyway, as they head to Peoria tonight to take on their old buddy Scott Ford and the Rivermen.