Milwaukee finally returned to the Bradley Center after a four-game road trip, and got to exact a little revenge on the team that spoiled its home opener.

Going into the Halloween showdown the spookiest thing might’ve been starter Magnus Hellberg’s save percentage, but the Ads were able to keep pace with the Checkers on offense and help the big goalie to his second career win.

The Admirals started the game the same way they have every game this season: giving up the first goal. But this time they didn’t wait to start their comeback.

Jared Staal capitalized on a turnover by Mike Moore to whip an unassisted goal past Hellberg’s left shoulder 6:33 into the game. But the Admirals answered about two minutes later after a Jerome Samson hooking penalty provided a power play chance.

Chris Mueller got the puck from Taylor Beck at the bottom of the right circle and fired a backhander that snuck under Dan Ellis’s right pad to tie the game.

The Ads took the lead at 11:22 when Beck fired a shot on net that was too much for Ellis. Patrick Cehlin scooped up the puck and lifted it over the sprawling goalie.

These were the first two goals Milwaukee has scored in the first period all season, and for Coach Dean Evason it meant that his team had finally started competing right off the bat.

Within the next two minutes, however, Charlotte ensured that this game would be a dogfight. Drayson Bowman got the puck at point blank range of Hellberg and delivered an equalizer after a few good hacks in front.

At 14:45 of the second period Kevin Henderson gave the Ads the lead again with a devastating slapper set up by Michael Latta.

Again, the Checkers weren’t to be outdone as Brett Sutter got a nice cross-ice feed from Michal Jordan and put it past Hellberg two minutes later to tie it at 3-3.

Austin Watson gave Milwaukee the lead 8:59 into the third, deflecting in a Jusso Puustinen shot, but Justin Faulk tied it again a few minutes later, setting the stage for a dramatic game-winner.

It was Daniel Bang, returning after missing a few games with an injury, that sealed the deal for the Admirals after a great assist from Puustinen.

Bang was a man of few words after scoring the eventual clincher.

Evason was pleased with Bang’s comeback performance and the element of speed he brought to the roster in his return.

After the team’s disappointing run in Texas, Evason admitted he’d made some shifts in the lineups and they ended up paying big dividends.

Some scratches and injury notes:

Joonas Jarvinen was a healthy scratch after some tough showings in the Texas series, and Evason said he needs some time to work things out.

Coach also said Bourque has been missing some time with a “lower body” injury and he has “no idea” on his status.

With the big win, the Ads will try to keep rolling into their next home bout with Lake Eerie Friday night.

Unlike Wednesday night’s loss to Texas, Milwaukee outshot its opponent 33-28.

Like Wednesday night’s loss to Texas, however, another solid performance from an opposing netminder frustrated the Admirals.

Darcy Kuemper stopped all the shots he faced to avenge Houston’s 5-4 overtime loss to Milwaukee a week ago as the Admirals finished their Texas road trip 1-3-0.

Six power play chances were fruitless, and it was a tough night for Jeremy Smith at the other end of the rink. Like Magnus Hellberg had the last time the teams met, Smitty surrendered four goals, but the offense was unable to keep pace with the Aeros.

Jack MacLellan had a busy night with a game-high eight shots on goal and Milwaukee definitely played with the discipline it had lacked the past few contests. The Admirals only had to kill off two penalties, but for once they had a hard time playing up to speed in five-on-five hockey.

After keeping the lead within reach at 2-0 through the second period, the Admirals gave up two more in the third to put the game out of reach.

Charlie Coyle scored a pair of goals for Houston, his second coming at 4:54 of the final period. Johan Larsson, Mikael Granlund and Brian Connelly also recorded multi-point games for the Aeros.

The Admirals will resume action on Halloween night, finally returning home after a four-game road stretch. Milwaukee will look to get some revenge of its own against a Checkers team minus Chris Terry.

Terry was suspended Sunday for three games after an elbowing incident against Grand Rapids on Friday.

The Admirals have yet to get on the board first this season, so they’ll no doubt be looking to get out to a fast start in front of a home crowd Wednesday.

Wednesday night’s matchup pitted Jeremy Smith and the Admirals against former Team USA World Junior goalie Jack Campbell and the Texas Stars.

Campbell looked like he was back in Juniors stopping 23 of the 24 shots he faced, while Smitty made 25 of 27 saves.

It marked the first time the Admirals have been outshot this season, as they fell 3-1 and dropped to 2-3-0 overall.

The Admirals had made their living so far this season by coming back after surrendering the first goal. But Campbell’s finesse combined with a lot of time in the box built too big of a mountain for Milwaukee to climb.

The Ads came into the game ranked second in the league in penalty kill percentage on the road (88.2 percent). Nevertheless, following a tripping call on Patrick Cehlin, an early power play goal gave the Stars the lead.

After outshooting the Admirals 7-0 in the first five minutes, Texas got on the board when Travis Morin deflected a Francis Wathier pass in on the left post.

After becoming the first team in the AHL this season to not register a shot on goal in the first 15 minutes, the Ads quickly responded with seven in the final five.

The score stayed the same for the rest of the period and through the second, as more penalties from the Ads kept them out of the offensive zone longer than they were in it.

Coach Dean Evason had said he was happy with team’s discipline going in, but that was before the Ads allowed seven Texas power play opportunities after giving up just 17 all season.

On the other side of the ice, the Stars’ PK started the game last in the league at 60 percent, but the Admirals still couldn’t capitalize on their four power play opportunities.

Jamie Oleksiak scored his first professional goal at 10:46 of the third period to put the Stars up 2-0. He smartly trailed play, the puck dropped to him and he fired a wrister past Smith’s glove side.

The Admirals did finally get on the board late in the third.

A shot from the left point by Mattias Ekholm deflected off MVG’s skate and found the back of the net at 15:33 to cut the Texas lead in half.

Smitty headed for the bench with 56 seconds left, but Antoine Roussel quickly picked the puck off at center ice and fired home the game-clinching empty netter a few seconds later.

The loss wasn’t without its positives.

Captain Mike Moore had a nice night putting Francis Wathier on his back in his first fight with the Ads and taking a team-leading 4 shots for the game.

Van Guilder added to his hot streak picking up his second goal in as many games, and Ekholm recorded another assist. Ekholm continues to be one of the bright spots for the Admirals as a brilliant two-way threat thus far.

Milwaukee will finish up its Texas trip with a Saturday night rematch in Houston, before returning home on Halloween for its second game against the Checkers.

The Admirals finished their second of four games this week in the Lone Star State, improving to 2-2-0 with a 1-0 loss on Saturday night and a 5-4 overtime win in Houston Sunday.

Jeremy Smith was on his game against San Antonio, but was outshone by former Admiral goalie Dov Grumet-Morris. Grumet-Morris stuffed Milwaukee’s offense all game long, stopping all 25 shots he faced.

Jared Gomes scored the only goal of the game on a close call. It appeared that Gomes’ wrister had bounced off the post, but upon video review, it was confirmed that the puck crossed the line.

The bad break ended up being the difference as the Ads failed to score despite outshooting the Rampage 10-3 in the final period. Milwaukee couldn’t take advantage of its four power play opportunities thanks to Grumet-Morris’ lights out performance.

Heading into the Houston game, Coach Dean Evason said his team needed to get more shots on net by getting more involved in the dirty areas.

Magnus Hellberg’s first AHL start certainly wasn’t pretty out of the gates. The big goalie let in the first two shots he faced giving Houston an early lead. The Ads battled back, like they have in each game so far this year.

On a 5-on-3 power play, a Chris Mueller shot deflected back to Taylor Beck who tapped it in to cut the Aeros’ lead in half with 20 seconds left in the first period. It was one of those dirty goals that the Ads desperately needed, and they kept on coming.

Austin Watson did a good job keeping the puck alive in the Houston zone and freed it up for MVG who tallied his first goal of the year 17:54 into the second period to knot the score at 2-2.

Houston retook the lead in the third period when Chad Rau won a faceoff and fed Jonas Brodine who shot it over glove of Hellberg.

Less than a minute later, Mueller gloved the puck out of the air and fired a backhander between the right leg of Matt Hackett and the post to tie the game.

Milwaukee found the back of the net again at 12:19 of the third, when Watson forced a turnover and Kevin Henderson found himself alone in the right circle. His shot bounced off Hackett and in for his  first of goal of the year, and Milwaukee’s first lead of the game.

Houston pulled Hackett with 63 seconds left and forced overtime when Nick Palmieri deflected the puck through Hellberg’s legs to tie it with 57.8 to go.

A delay of game penalty on Rau ended up giving the Admirals a power play that extended into the overtime period, and Milwaukee took the opportunity to seize the win.

51 seconds into overtime, Mattias Ekholm fired a blast from the slot past Hackett to send the Ads to their first overtime victory of the season.

Milwaukee outshot Houston 31-18 for the game, and a majority of those shots weren’t pretty. But it was that “dirtier” approach that came through and gave the Ads a new winning streak to work with in the upcoming second half of the Texas trip.

The effort was there for the Ads in their home opener, but unfortunately the Checkers had the finesse in the moments that mattered.

Charlotte displayed some brilliant offensive plays and benefited from a few defensive gaffes to down Milwaukee 4-3, saddling the Ads with their first loss of the season.

The Ads’ forecheck was as aggressive as you could hope for, particularly in the opening period. Getting the puck out of its own end was a tall task for Charlotte in the early going.

But that tough, gritty play ended up costing the Admirals all night.

Milwaukee spent 19 minutes in the penalty box giving Charlotte plenty of scoring opportunities while cutting into its own. The Admirals simply had to spend too much time on their heels, and had a tough time finishing when they did get chances.

Here’s Coach Evason’s reaction.

Victor Rask scored the game’s first goal 12:10 into the game after receiving a great feed from Jerome Samson to beat Smitty between his legs.

Gabriel Bourque had the answer 12:18 into the second, scoring Milwaukee’s first home goal of the season. And it was an unassisted beauty. After knocking over Samson and acting like Rasmus Rissanen wasn’t even there, Bourque fired the puck right past Justin Peters to tie it up 1-1.

Coach thought the goal was a rallying point for the team.

The Checkers took the lead back about three minutes later when Drayson Bowman beat a screened Smith on a power play. Charlotte struck again a few minutes later when Sean Dolan reached into his bag of tricks and pulled out a textbook wraparound after a Victor Bartley miscue.

It got bleaker early in the third when Captain Moore fell down in his own zone and Zach Boychuk flung one over Smith’s right shoulder to make it 4-1.

After that one it looked like the Ads might go quietly into the night.

The first period tenacity returned, however, and the Admirals started converting on power plays rather than trying to stave them off.

Patrick Cehlin got a great pass from Bourque and Furied the Fury on a 5-on-3 chance to make it 4-2.

The Ads still weren’t done. With three minutes left, Mattias Ekholm capitalized on another power play chance, getting a fat rebound off a soft Taylor Beck shot and burying it to make it a one-goal deficit.

The Checkers held on, despite another late Fury opportunity.

For the most part, again, the effort was definitely there. Milwaukee fought back to win the shots battle 25-23 despite losing it in the first two periods.

Smitty made quite a few saves he shouldn’t have, but was a little late on one he should’ve.

The defense looked solid in spurts, particularly on the penalty kill. 19 minutes in the box collectively only resulted in one Charlotte goal.

Scott Valentine was all over the place and made a few nice diving blocks. Aside from his gift to Boychuk, Moore had a few hits big enough to show why the “C” is on his chest.

Anthony Bitetto got to see a little time at forward with Daniel Bang and Juuso Puustinen sitting out and did a pretty good job crashing the boards.

Here’s Coach on Bitetto’s play and the status of Puustinen.

Bourque was Bourque. When it looked bad, he was there to answer with some NHL-quality play. Cehlin continued to give himself chances by being active around the net. He leads the Ads in goals with three after picking up another tonight.

Overall, fans can take solace in the fact that this doesn’t look like a team that’s going to lay down. With the way they came out of the locker room and at times really dictated the flow of the game, it looked a lot like Coach Evason had lit a new fire under them.

Now they just need to work on controlling that fire.

In the meantime, here’s Chris Mueller decking somebody.

After spotting the Grand Rapids Griffins a 2-0 lead, the Admirals battled back to take home a 3-2 victory to open the 2012-13 campaign.

Rookie Patrick Cehlin scored the game-tying and game-winning goals in the third period, while Jeremy Smith made 19 saves on 21 shots to pick up his first win of the season.

Of course Coach Evason is pleased to get that first win out of the way right out of the gate.  And he was very pleased with how the team played 5-on-5 throughout the night.

The Griffins opened the scoring 9:49 into the game while Michael Latta was serving an interference penalty.  The penalty kill was moving along very well, with a couple of quick clears.  But one attempted clear by Blum was kept in at the point.  About 20  seconds later, Joakim Andersson stuffed it home after Smitty made a couple of saves from in close.

With the Admirals on a power play in the 2nd period, the puck wasn’t held in by Blum at the blue line, and Landon Ferraro scooped up the puck.  He went in all alone and was able to beat Smitty for the shorthanded goal at 15:31 of the second.

Let me be clear — I am not dumping on Jon Blum’s game.  He played very well over the course of the game, and assisted on one of Cehlin’s goals.  So don’t let the fact that he was on the ice for both Griffin goals detract from the fact that he was good tonight.  Okay?  Okay.

In the final minute of the second period, the Admirals scored their first of the year.  Jeremy Smith passed the puck to Mattias Ekholm, who then fed a long pass to Chris Mueller at the offensive blue line.  Mueller went in all alone on Griffins goaltender Jordan Pearce.  It was his 70th career Admiral goal, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

More from the coach:

Smitty wasn’t originally awarded the second assist on the goal, but the scorers eventually added it.  And it was a GREAT pass by Ekholm.

Cehlin tied it in the 3:28 into the third period, putting in a rebound of a Jon Blum shot.  Pearce made a good save, but the rebound kicked right to Cehlin who was driving to the net from the near face-off circle.

Cehlin’s second goal came on a Mountain Fury power play about four minutes later.  He certainly deserves the credit for finishing the play, but Taylor Beck deserves a ton of credit for the perfect cross-ice pass to find him.

Late in the game, the Admirals were shot blocking machines, with Austin Watson getting name-checked by the coach after the game for his defense.

LINES:

Bourque  – Mueller – Puustinen
Bang – Latta – Beck
Cehlin – Lajunen – MacLellan
Henderson – Van Guilder – Watson

Moore – Bartley
Blum – Valentine
Jarvinen – Ekholm

– Smitty was sharp in net, and Coach Evason had some nice praise for him.

– Daniel Bang had a breakaway chance in the first period, and had a nice game….until he left with an injury.  Here’s the coach.

Cehlin was bumped up to take his place on that line…and scored two goals.

– The Mountain Fury power play?  Yeah, it was great to get a goal, but they finished 1-7 on the night.  The didn’t score on a minute of 5×3 time, nor did they score on a four-minute power play after a Louis-Marc Aubry high stick.  (full disclosure…those did overlap).  But it was at a crucial time at the game, midway through the third period after the Admirals had taken the lead.  A goal at that point would have been huge to finish the Griffins off.  And Coach says they’ll be working on the power play this week.

– I thought all the lines did some good things tonight….none of them were invisible.  And all of the defensive pairings did good things as well.  The Admirals really did have the better chances 5-on-5 throughout the vast majority of the game.

So the team will have a happy bus-ride back to Milwaukee tonight, and they’ll have a week of practice before the home opener next Friday night.

– Chuck-a-puck cleanup time:  3:16

QUESTIONS:

– Just an easy one….. How great is it that hockey season is finally back?

Enjoy the highlights….

Thanks to an excruciatingly long second period, the Ads dropped their second preseason game against the Chicago Wolves 3-1 at the MSOE Kern Center.

Though no goals were scored for either side, the first twenty minutes of play were pretty solid all-around for Milwaukee. Magnus Hellberg got the nod to start between the pipes and he didn’t disappoint in the early going.

The big goalie made seven saves and got a lot of help from his defense led by Anthoney Bitetto. Bitetto definitely looked the most impressive from the blue line throughout the game, breaking up a couple of big Chicago chances and setting up quite a few good opportunities offensively.

Hellberg made three more saves in the second period before Chicago’s Mark Matheson fired a quick, unexpected laser from the top of the left circle that found the right side of the net to put Chicago on the board first, 8:13 into the period.

Less than two minutes later, Jordan Schroeder made it 2-0 Wolves, lifting one right over Hellberg’s left shoulder (no easy task). That got Coach Evason to make the change to Jeremy Smith.

Here’s Coach on what he thought of Hellberg’s night:

Smitty let the purest goal of the night for either team in when Schroeder made it 3-0 on a Wolves power play. After that, he settled down and stopped the last 10 shots he saw, keeping the Admirals within striking distance.

The Ads ended up outshooting the Wolves 30-23 for the game, but they just weren’t able to poke many in. They did a good job crowding the net, which they were rewarded for early in the third.

Andre Bouvet Morrisette did a great job grinding for the puck and freeing it up in front, and Ben Ryan snapped it passed Eddie Lack with 15:29 left in the game. Jack MacLellan picked up the second assist.

That would be all for the Ads as they couldn’t finish most of their opportunities, partially because of execution issues, partially because there was no Lack of great play from Chicago’s net minder.

Milwaukee never Furied the Fury, despite six power play opportunities. The Chicago penalty kill looked more aggressive at times than its full strength offense, and the Ads just didn’t seem ready for it.

Here’s Coach on the team’s Lack of scoring: (okay I’ll stop now)

Besides the outcome, the Ads got some positive individual performances (which is really what you’re looking for in the preseason anyway.) Daniel Bang wins the Charlie Hustle award for the night. He did a good job creating opportunities for himself all game and Coach took notice.

Here’s Coach on the Borque-Mueller-Bang line we saw towards the end of the game.

Some other notables:

MVG and Bourque were solid as usual, creating a good chunk of the better opportunities Milwaukee had last night. Latta threw himself around a lot and looked pretty good from a physicality standpoint. Kevin Henderson spent a lot of time in the box.

Cuts were announced this morning. Cam Reid was released and Aronson, Roussel, and Bouvet-Morrisette were shipped down to Cincy. Hmm. Morrisette sent down after getting an assist. Isn’t it ironic?

Questions:

Any other players stand out to you guys?

What’d you think of Coach’s responses?

Sad/Glad to see any of the guys headed down to Cincy?

Hockey’s back.  Can I get a hallelujah?

The Admirals opened their pre-season schedule in Rockford on Thursday night, and the IceHogs came back from a 2-0 first period deficit to edge the Admirals 3-2 in a shootout.

While of course they wanted to win the game, Coach Evason says that there’s more to the pre-season games than just that.

Jani Lajunen has the distinction of having the first Admiral goal of the fall.  After Juuso Puustinen’s shot/pass went wide of Carter Hutton, Lajunen was behind the goal-line and banked the puck off of Hutton and in the net.

Eight minutes later while on the power play (#furythefury), Anthony Bitetto’s shot was deflected by Juuso Puustinen off metal.  Daniel Bang was right in front of the net and finished the job.

In the second period, the IceHogs scored a pair to even things up.  Marcus Kruger fired a hard one-timer from the top of the near circle that went off Smitty’s glove and in at 6:23.  And then while the Admirals were down two men, Ben Smith poked home the goal after a scramble in front of Magnus Hellberg.

In the shootout, Hellberg allowed goals on the first three shooters he faced, while the Admirals could only get two past relief netminder Mac Carruth.

Lines:

Jack MacLellan – Michael Latta – Taylor Beck
Daniel Bang – Jani Lajunen – Juuso Puustinen
Josh Shalla – Ben Ryan – Austin Watson
Patrick Cehlin – Andre Bouvet-Morrisette – Cam Reid

Foss-Valentine
Bartley-Roussel
Bitetto-Jarvinen

Of their 20 dressed players, the Admirals played 9 rookies and 2 additional guys making their North American debut, while the IceHogs had some familiar names and some NHL experience.  Names like Nick Leddy, Jimmy Hayes, Andrew Shaw, Ben Smith, and one of the Brookbanks.

No, Rob Flick did not play.

Coach Evason likes how they stacked up against the veteran IceHogs.

The team did some good things, and they did some bad things.  The penalty kill was good overall, but they also found themselves down 5-on-3 on three different occasions.  Guys would make some solid plays, and then take a Yonking penalty.

But it’s the first game, after three practices.  This was a good starting point against a good and seasoned IceHogs team, that already had a pre-season game under their belts.  Plenty to build on and work on from tonight’s game.  We asked Coach if he was pleased with how the things they worked on in practice translated into the game situation.

What should we expect with the roster for Saturday’s game at the Kern Center?

We also got our first look at hybrid icing in action.

Impressive:

Patrick Cehlin: On a line with a couple of guys that seem destined to be playing hockey in a city other than Milwaukee, Cehlin stood out in a big way with his speed, stickwork, and drive to the net.  Looking forward to seeing more.

Victor Bartley:  He wore an “A” on his jersey and picked up right where he left off at the end of last season.  Great puck mover, solid in both ends, and he even came to the defense of a teammate in the sort of way that you’d see Scott Ford do it last year.  Jimmy Hayes had a really big hit on Anthony Bitetto behind the Admiral goal in the 2nd period, and Bartley took exception.  He ended up getting a roughing penalty on the play, but there was zero hesitation on his part.  His teammate got rocked, and he jumped in.

Scott Valentine:  Overall, a solid game, but what stands out to me was what a one-man-wrecking crew he was down low as the Ads were killing off a 5-on-3 in the third period.  He was blocking passes in the lanes, he was winning races to pucks, disrupting timing, and he was without a doubt the best player on the ice that shift.  I’m concerned that he may be on the short end of a numbers game once Ryan Ellis gets healthy, but he played well tonight.

Daniel Bang:  Played on the line with Puustinen and Lajunen, and wasn’t afraid to drive to the net.  Great net presence, and got rewarded with a goal.

Joonas Jarvinen:  Got the second assist on both Admiral goals, and was solid in his own end.  Dropped the gloves against Brookbank and fought to a draw.  Neither guy got any particularly good shots in, which for Brookbank, must be a huge disappointment.  Joonas held his own fine, and made good decisions throughout the night.

Jeremy Smith:  VERY sharp.  And needed to be early on.  How did he spend his summer?  Getting even better.  I think we’ll be in good shape with him again this year.

Others:

Austin Watson:  Had some good plays on the forecheck and backcheck, but didn’t notice much else.

Josh Shalla:  Didn’t notice him much at all.  After the stellar junior career, was hoping he’d have more of an offensive impact.  But it’s just one game…hope we’ll see him Saturday.

Andre Bouvet-Morrisette:  Probably going to Cincy.  Didn’t do much to help his cause to be kept here.  Cam Reid didn’t help himself much either.

Charles-Olivier Roussel:  Played much better than the last time we saw him.  Not afraid to jump in the play, but the flip side is that he can get caught up ice when the puck goes the other way.  Ok in his own end.  Probably a Cincy guy with our depth charts the way they are.

Magnus Hellberg:  The return of the big goalie!  Good positioning and reactions.  Made some big saves in the third period.  A bit scrambly at times.  Played well overall, but I think there’s plenty that Mitch Korn will want to work on with him.

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