Next week I will go into detail on the AHL’s playoff bubble and make my predictions on which Western Conference teams will make the playoffs and which teams will far short.
(Author’s note: Was going to do this today, but as of now I see little chance of the Admirals making the playoffs and therefore the point is sort of moot).
But for now, as Ryan stated on Sunday despite last weekend’s disaster, Milwaukee (currently standing with 64 points through 60 games) still has 16 games left to try to pick up 32 possible points. If the Admirals get hot and manage a conceivable 23 points from here on out, that would give Milwaukee a total of 87–four points short of a playoff position from a year ago. However, each team plays four less games this year, so I would think 87 points would be enough to get into the postseason dance.
Certainly I will acknowledge that last paragraph is full of hypotheticals. Moving back to reality, the big problem going forward for the Admirals is the remaining schedule. Milwaukee has just six home games left in those final 16 contests (only Chicago and Rockford feature road/home schedule ratios worse than Milwaukee in their games left). How is this a problem? The Admirals own the AHL’s sixth best home record at 19-11-2-0. But away from the Bradley Center Milwaukee sinks to the league’s 28th best record at 11-15-0-2.
At least this weekend offers a little help. Milwaukee plays eighth place Lake Erie on Friday, then North Division leading Toronto on Saturday. A regulation win against Lake Erie would go a long way in the catch up process. Meanwhile, the Marlies are so far ahead of Milwaukee that giving up a point to Toronto would hardly be the end of the world as long as the Admirals manage at least a regulation tie. Milwaukee owns a 8-1-0-2 mark against Marlies over the past five years and an 8-5-1-1 mark against Lake Erie.
So Roundtable . . . Forget about the playoffs for now. Are three or four points actually reasonable this weekend? Are you glad one of the two games isn’t against Rockford?
After a bad game on Saturday, the Admirals followed it up with another poor outing Sunday evening, losing in the rematch to the Rockford IceHogs 3-2 in the land of the Roo.
Down 3-0 with five minutes left in the third period, Taylor Beck and Chris Mueller scored to make the final score look a lot closer than the game actually was. And then Taylor Beck took a boarding penalty with 59 seconds left to halt the rally prematurely.
Nuts and bolts are here. The Admirals recap is here.
Last night, Coach said they would need more desperation in their game coming out of the gate tonight. But what he got was minor penalties, and the team being outshot 18-7.
And again tonight — it wasn’t the skill players who scored for Rockford. It was Ryan Stanton, who scored his 2nd of the year (and 2nd against the Admirals in his last four games). Brandon Svendsen, who scored his third of the year. Rob Flick’s game winner was his third of the year.
Ground control to Kyle Wilson. Your circuit’s dead. There’s something wrong. Still just one assist for him in the season series against Rockford.
Coach Drulia used the word “passengers” when describing some of the players on the post-game show. It doesn’t matter what the coaches draw up for the gameplan if the guys on the ice are just along for the ride.
So yes, it’s an immensely disappointing weekend. And let’s frame this disappointment appropriately. The IceHogs aren’t your typical cellar-dweller team. They are the hottest team in the league right now not named the Norfolk Admirals. They have at least a point in nine of their last ten games. And Carter Hutton wasn’t manning the net the first two months of the season…if he was, who knows…they may be in first right now.
Despite the stinkers this weekend, the Admirals are only 6 points out of the playoffs with games in hand. Not unheard of. But they are running out of chances….even the optimist in me can see that. They can help themselves with four points next weekend against two out-of-division teams ahead of them in the standings.
Let me be clear: I’m not sour on the season. You shouldn’t be either. There’s lots of hockey still left. And this team is able to play well. We’ve seen it. Resist the temptation to throw in whatever towel you have. Five points out of the playoffs, with games in hand.
I am very sour about this game though. The IceHogs continue to own the Admirals, and they took this one 4-1 in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 15,888 at the Bradley Center.
I’m tired of tipping my cap to IceHogs goaltender Carter Hutton. This is the fifth straight game that the Admirals have scored just one goal against the IceHogs. Some of that is Hutton. Some is his defense. Some of that is the Admirals have not been able to adjust.
In the season series so far, the Admirals have 5 of a possible 16 points so far.
Here’s coach Herbers with the High Level Overview, presented by Google Maps.
The IceHogs scored the only goal of the first period, seconds after Juuso Puustinen went down along the nearside boards near the top of the circle after blocking a shot. The referee let play continue and was even talking to Juuso as the play was progressing. Shifting into a power play mode, Brandon Svendsen had the puck at the goal line on the far side, and his pass to the slot went off of Kevin Henderson’s skate, and right to Chris DiDomenico right in front of Jeremy Smith. DiDomenico’s stuff beat Smitty’s poke-check.
After a scoreless second period, the IceHogs doubled their lead courtesy of Svendsen. Scott Valentine was caught snoozing, and Svendsen sped past him along the right wing, and he rifled a shot that beat Smitty up high.
Shortly after that goal, Wade Brookbank was called for interference (Ryan Thang did push him into Smith, but Brookbank took advantage of that real estate to go high up on Smith). And seven seconds into that power play, a Jon Blum shot from the far point had eyes and made it past Hutton to make it a one-goal game. Mueller won the face-off back to Victor Bartley, who had a nice hold-in at the point. He fed Blum on the other side and his wrister was good.
But about three minutes later, Philippe Paradis put the IceHogs back up by two with a shot from the top of the near circle that made its way through a DiDomenico screen, and it looked as if it went off of Smith’s stick and up and in.
Here’s coach on the deflating goal.
Peter LeBlanc had an empty netter, although there are some whispers that we’ve heard that say that it may be changed to DiDomenico for his second of the night, and third of the year. Linesman Roger Behling with the assist, as he got in the way of Jon Blum’s clear, and the puck went straight to LeBlanc/DiDomenico/whoever.
Rematch tomorrow in the land of Beef-A-Roo. Here’s Coach on what’ll need to be different.
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– Michael Latta is back! Could do without the penalties though…
– Man, what a loss Puustinen is. It always seems to be early in the game that the Ads lose a guy, and then have to shuffle the rest of the night. We didn’t expect specifics from Coach when we asked him afterwards, and from this soundbyte, it sounds like he knew it was coming. Next question please.
Scott Ford missed some time in the second period after getting his lip cut.
– The Ads had a 5-on-3 in the second period cut short with a Zack Stortini penalty in the offensive zone.
– The officiating was awful. Worst of the year in my opinion, at least from the home games I’ve seen. Marcus Vinnerborg was the man in the stripes tonight, and he was Jeff Smith in the first period, Shaun Davis in the second period, and then Ian Croft in the third. It’s not a reason for the loss, and he was pretty awful for both teams, but it’s still frustrating to watch.
– Scoring by committee? The players who scored for the IceHogs tonight….DiDomenico had his 2nd or 3rd goal of the season. Paradis had his 3rd. Svendsen had his 2nd. It wasn’t their offensive stars that beat the Admirals tonight.
And then on the other side….Chris Mueller won the face-off that led to Blum’s goal, and doubled his scoring output in the season series to two points, with a -7 defensive rating. Victor Bartley also had an assist, and leads the team with six points against the IceHogs. Kyle Wilson still only has one assist, and is -5 defensively. Thang has a goal and an assist. Brandon Pirri, who didn’t play tonight, has 11 points in the series….which is more than Mueller, Wilson, Puustinen, and Beck combined in the series.
QUESTIONS:
– When will stick-tossing become an Olympics event, and who has the early edge, Mueller or Hutton?
– Give me some numbers…. The success of the IceHogs against the Admirals….what percentage do you think we should attribute to Hutton, the D, and the lack of offense for the Admirals? Here is Sutty’s breakdown as an example:
Hutton: 40% Rockford D: 20% MKE lack of O: 40%
– You have to think we’ll see Hutton again tomorrow? Who do you throw in there for the Admirals?
– Will the return of Latta be enough to offset the loss of Puustinen?
– Would you rather see Jeff Foss or Tyler Sloan on the blue line?
– Think the Boy Scouts are going to come back next year and sell 9,000 tickets for a game?
College signing season is officially upon us as of Saturday afternoon as the Nashville Predators signed free agent forward Jack Maclellan to a one-year entry-level contract today.
Maclellan just completed his senior season at Brown, where he led the Bears with 30 points, including 15 goals. Over his four-year Division 1 career the Calgary, Alberta native contributed 101 points in 121 games.
Maclellan is plenty familiar to the Predators, having attended the team’s Development Camp last summer. The 23-year-old Brown captain became eligible to leave when the ECAC’s last place Bears dropped their first round playoff series to Quinnipiac in three games last weekend, finishing the season at 9-18-5.
As great as it felt at the Bradley Center Saturday night when the Admirals shutout Chicago 6-0, the Wolves got their revenge Wednesday night, dropping the Admirals 5-2 in Rosemont.
This also clinched the Amtrak Rivalry trophy for the Wolves again.
Turning point of the game? Probably the third Chicago goal. Trailing 2-1 entering the third period, the Admirals started the final frame with 1:35 of power play time, but could not “Fury The Fury”. And then 8 seconds after the penalty expired, Anton Rodin scored his second goal of the game to extend the Chicago lead — a goal that went off of Jeremy Smith’s glove and into the net.
Still trailing by two in the waning minutes of the game, two empty net goals sandwiched a Kevin Henderson jam into the net with 1:55 left.
Taylor Beck opened the scoring with a power play goal 9:48 into the game that went off the right arm of Chicago goalie Eddie Lack, bounced down to the ice and then over the line. Jordan Schroeder tied it around 6 minutes later. But then the Wolves scored with less than a minute left in the period, as a pass from Roden bounced off of a back-checking Kevin Henderson, and past Smitty.
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NOTES:
– Kevin Henderson, Ben Ryan, and Jeff Foss all suited up tonight…meaning that Michael Latta, Brodie Dupont, and Scott Valentine were all banged up. Ryan, who played very well against Chicago on Saturday night, was involved in the play that Henderson scored on late in the game, but also took stick infraction penalties at 11:28 and 14:02 of the second period. Fortunately, the PK for Milwaukee was strong, as they killed off all three Wolf power plays.
– Peoria also won….they came from behind to top 1st place Oklahoma City 4-3 in overtime. Down 3-0 with two minutes left to go in the second period, the Rivermen scored three power play goals, including a power play marker from new-guy Patrick O’Sullivan in overtime. So both the Rivermen and Wolves extend their lead in the division standings. Not ideal.
– So now it’s back to the drawing board to try and figure out how to beat the IceHogs in a home-and-home series this weekend. 2-4-0-1 is Milwaukee’s current record against Rockford. We sweep, then that record looks better. They sweep, they’re a point behind us in the standings. Yikes.
So Roundtable……are these “must win” games this weekend? Are all games “must win” at this point? Is “must win” an overused sports cliche? Why do you think the Admirals have such a hard time with Rockford? Milwaukee is one of only three teams the IceHogs have a winning record against (5-1-0-1)….the others being Grand Rapids (3-0-0-1), and Houston (1-0).
Just a quick note to let you know the Clear Day roster was officially announced.
From the AHL website…
Atte Engren (G), Jeremy Smith (G), Victor Bartley, Taylor Beck, Jonathon Blum, Gabriel Bourque, Joel Champagne, Brodie Dupont, Ryan Ellis, Ryan Flynn, Scott Ford, Teemu Laakso, Jani Lajunen, Michael Latta, Chris Mueller, Juuso Puustinen, Tyler Sloan, Zach Stortini, Ryan Thang, Scott Valentine, Mark Van Guilder, Kyle Wilson
So Kevin Henderson did not make the clear day roster, but expect to see plenty of him going forward. As long as Ellis and Bourque are in Nashville, just one other player on that list needs to be injured or called up for Henderson to be able to play.
Henderson, Taylor Aronson, Ben Ryan, Garrett Suter, Chet Pickard, David Leaderer, and Jeff Foss are all “in residence”.
The other interesting thing is that they spelled Stortini’s first name wrong on the AHL site. Supposed to be Zack with a K. Not an H. I hope there isn’t some technicality about his eligibility now…
The American Hockey League announced today that Rockford goaltender Carter Hutton was named the league’s Player of the Week. Yes, he is an extremely deserving candidate, but WHY am I blogging about that on the Admirals Roundtable?
Simple: It was Hutton’s fault that Milwaukee did not record a 6-point weekend, when he stopped 44 of 45 shots against Milwaukee on Saturday night. But what Hutton take-ith away, Hutton give-ith as well for the Admirals, as the Ice Hogs second-year netminder made 24-saves as Rockford knocked off Peoria on Sunday.
Beyond just the weekend Hutton has had a superb year for the pigs, posting a 15-8-3 record (including two shutouts), with a 2.50 goals against average and a .916 save percentage for what’s been a basement of the Midwest Division-dwelling Rockford team.
Before the season Hutton was on an AHL-only deal. However, with the Chicago Blackhawks goaltending situation in disarray this season, on February 24, the Hawks upgraded Hutton’s contract to a two-way deal. Considering Chicago’s issues with Corey Crawford and Ray Emery, it is conceivable that Hutton could be given a shot at some point with the Blackhawks.
But at the present time Milwaukee needs to figure out the former UMass-Lowell product, or face a spring without playoffs. Four of the Admirals’ next 11 games come against Rockford, and five of the last 19 (and in case you didn’t notice, Milwaukee has a home-and-home with Rockford this weekend). Milwaukee has lost four games in a row in the season series–all with Hutton in between the pipes for the Ice Hogs.
So Roundtable . . . How can Milwaukee Solve Carter Hutton? Are you secretly hoping Chicago will recall Hutton, or are the Admirals due for another six-goal output against the second-year Rockford goaltender?
It started with a perfectly placed shot by Zack Stortini.
And then to capitalize on the 5-on-3 power play? That’s a big deal.
First the Coach….then the goal.
The Wolves brought some more energy in the second period, and were the better team for the majority of the frame I’d say. But a hot goalie can make a difference.
First the Coach, then the save of the game, and then some thoughts from Smitty.
I like that Smitty gives some credit to assistant coach Stan Drulia for helping him stay sharp.
And then Ben Ryan got into the act. He had actually been having a pretty good night. He had some good chances, including being part of a 2-on-0 rush against Climie with Taylor Beck. Beck’s pass was bouncy (Thanks for the high quality ice, Marquette basketball), and Ryan couldn’t quite finish the play. But he finished this next one. Frankly, I’m surprised he was so wide open to get the tip and then the poke.
In the third period, Kevin Henderson got in the act. He was promoted off of his PTO contract earlier this week, and scored his first goal as an Admiral early in the third period to make it a 4-0 lead.
Here’s Coach Herbers on the play of Ryan and Henderson.
What I find interesting is that Herbie says that Ryan will need to string some of these good outings together, even though Ryan seems like an odd-man out when it comes to the clear day roster. Does Henderson have a chance? Maybe. Brodie Dupont was a scratch last night. If Henderson does make the clear day roster, maybe it would be at Dupont’s expense?
Chris Mueller had this power play goal…. It was one of those nights when they got the bounces going their way.
And then Kevin Henderson wrapped this one up with a short-handed goal. Climie I think usually makes that save…but Adam Polasek is really the one who blew the play.
Henderson is happy to be here and contributing. And he talks a little bit about the injury that kept him sidelined for so long this season.
Like I said in the post yesterday….it’s nice to get a laugher every now and then. But there’s plenty more work to be done. If the season ended today, we’d be out of the playoffs. But 12 of their last 19 games are against teams that are currently ahead of them in the standings. The whole 4-point-game concept is the old cliche, but that’s what most of these will be. It’ll be a sprint to the end.
(Editor’s Note: We’ll have post-game audio tomorrow….We’re enjoying the Styx show tonight)
It’s good to get a laugher every now and then.
Jeremy Smith was solid in net, and the offense showed up in a big way, as the Admirals shutout the Chicago Wolves 6-0 on Saturday night.
Smitty was playing his first game after coming back from a tweeked-non-specific injury, and stopped all 27 shots he faced for his fifth straight win.
The Admirals outshot the Wolves 18-6 in the first period, picking up right where they left off last night in that category. Only tonight, they converted some more of those shots.
37 seconds after coming out of the penalty box, Zack Stortini put the Ads on the board at 9:34. He took a nice cross-ice pass from Mark Van Guilder that missed a couple of Wolves’ sticks on its way across the slot. Stortini was near the bottom of the near circle, and he chipped it far-side past Matt Climie.
Later in the period, Matt Clackson was given a double-minor for high sticking, and then Nolan Baumgartner boarded Stortini, setting the Ads up for a 5-on-3 power play.
At 16:31, Victor Bartley fired a shot from the top of the far circle that beat Climie through a Stortini screen. But what I’d like to highlight is what a good shift it was. Bartley did a nice job playing goaltender at the blue line, blocking multiple clear attempts.
The second period started with the Wolves on an extended power play due to Teemu Laakso’s 2nd and 3rd penalties of the game…but the Ads PK did a nice job blocking shots and not allowing prime scoring chances.
The Wolves did dominate the play for a good chunk of the period, but Ben Ryan was the only person to score in the frame. After he tipped a Victor Bartley shot on net, he poked the unsecured puck below Climie’s arm pit.
The Ads sailed away in the third period with three more goals. Juuso Puustinen led a 2-on-1 rush with Kevin Henderson against former Admiral Mark Matheson. Puustinen’s feed across the slot was deflected by Matheson, but it still made its way through to Henderson, who was able to control and fire past Climie for his first with the Admirals.
After a scuffle in front of Jeremy Smith netted the Ads a power play, Chris Mueller was able to ‘Fury The Fury’ on a play where he skated along the goal-line, and flipped the puck around and over Climie.
And then while Tyler Sloan was serving a tripping penalty, the Admirals cleared the zone just after the face-off, and Kevin Henderson won the race for the puck against Adam Polasek, who kind of lost his balance for a moment in front of the Milwaukee bench. Henderson went in all alone and beat Climie five-hole.
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Notes:
– A very strong game for both Ben Ryan and Kevin Henderson — two guys that may or may not be on the clear day roster on Monday. Ryan had some great chances, and it was great to see him convert on his goal. And Henderson….man, he shifted into another gear on the shorthanded goal.
– Didn’t see it happen…but I’m told someone tossed something into the Wolves penalty box. Not cool. Ever. Doesn’t matter who it is. Not cool.
– Special teams: Chicago went 0-6 on the power play. Ads went 2-4.
– Playoff picture: Ads sit in 9th place after tonight with 64 points. Houston is in 8th with 64 points, having played one less game. Peoria and Chicago have 65 points. San Antonio and Abbotsford have 67 points. 4th place in the conference is just three points ahead of us.
– I hope this game quiets the people who like to say that the Admirals play bad in front of big crowds.
– Styx is opening with Blue Collar Man.
QUESTIONS:
– Was this as close as you’ve seen to the cliched “60 minute game”?
– This was the last audition for Henderson and Ryan before the clear day roster. Do you think either of them make it?
– Should we consider re-naming Johnson’s Office something like Teemu’s Tent? Or something along those lines? The amount of trips he’s taking lately, it may be time to pass the torch….
– Were the Admirals that good or were the Wolves that lackluster? Do you think that Climie played a lot better than the score suggested?
The Admirals tied a season high with 45 shots on goal, but could only get one past Hutton, as the IceHogs sank the Admirals 3-1 Friday night.
Here’s the Coach Herbers High Level Overview, presented by Google Maps…
Hutton is now 5-1 against the Admirals this season.
Over the first two periods, the Ads out-shot the IceHogs 33-13. So the first 40 minutes can be summed up by two words. 1) Missed 2) Opportunities.
At 12:27 Icehog’s D-man Ryan Stanton gathered the puck and fired a shot on net from just above the near-side circle. The puck found its way to Teemu Laakso’s knee and was re-directed enough where a set and ready Atte Engren could not recover in time. This goal was Stanton’s first on the year. It was also a first for Laakso’s knee, which has been held scoreless, while his skates have gotten all the credit for past goals scored on his own net.
The Admirals were able to answer back in the second, and it was Victor Bartley playing deep in the offensive zone that got them on the board. The play of the puck brought Bartley down low inside the near circle. He received the puck off the back boards and dished a pass to Juuso Puustinen in the slot. Juuso tried to receive the pass, but as soon as it hit his stick it was slapped away by an IceHogs’ defender. The puck bounced right back to Bartley, who had a 6’x4′ box to work with as all defenders including the goalie sold out on the pass.
Here’s Bartley with some chalk talk about the goal.
The play of the 2nd period came in the last 2 minutes. As the IceHogs were skating into the zone Paul Zanette had the puck. Scott Valentine turned around and started to skate backwards though the neutral zone. He never took his eyes off Zanette and started to cheat to his side. I thought he was out of place and in danger of letting a man free but he honed in on the puck carrier and leveled him with a shoulder to the chest. Zanette’s helmet came flying off, which aided his view of the ceiling as he was flat on his back. Shawn Lalonde took exception to the hit and came over to give Valentine his thoughts. Lalonde received 4 minutes to think about what he had done while the Admirals received no penalty, and rightfully so.
No-go on that 4 minute power play. The team went 0-4 for the night with the extra man.
After the power play expired a couple minutes into the third period, Admiral killer Brandon Pirri scored after a Tyler Sloan turnover in the neutral zone. It was an odd man rush for the Hogs. Rockford’s Ben Smith skated the puck into the zone with Pirri on the other side of the slot. The Admirals last line of defense was a chasing Laakso. Smith flipped a pass to Pirri, who took a couple strides and snapped a wrister past Engren, busting his water bottle to add insult to injury.
Then an offensive zone penalty on Joel Champagne, and a defensive zone penalty on Laakso gave the IceHogs a 2-man-advantage. While on that power play, Jeremy Morin was down low when he gave the puck to Rostislav Olesz inside the near circle. Olesz passed the puck right back to Morin, who fired a one timer from a tough angle to beat Engren and extend the IceHogs lead to 2 goals.
And the Ads couldn’t really get anything going the rest of the way. They put 12 shots on net in the third, but nothing like the high quality chances earlier in the game.
NOTES:
Brandon Pirri = Admiral killer. 11 points on in the season series. 5 goals, 6 assists. Olesz has 8 points. Bartley leads the Ads in points….1 goal, 4 assists. Chris Mueller has one goal. Kyle Wilson has one assist.
Here’s Coach Herbers on the chances we see Smitty tomorrow, and what he thought about Atte tonight.
The IceHogs have killed 38 of their last 40 penalties. Pretty good.
Admirals and Wolves tomorrow…don’t forget, 7:30 scheduled start…but Marquette has senior day…..so we’ll see how quickly they get in and get out.
QUESTIONS:
– Was Hutton good or lucky or both? Lots of rebounds out there.
– Thoughts on Valentine’s big hit?
– What made you pull out your hair more….the lack of success on shots, or the lack of success on the power play?
– Hutton has played 28 games for the IceHogs…. If they had him all year long, do you think they’d be in first place?
– How big is the game tomorrow? A 4 point week sounds a lot better than a 2 point week.
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