As of Wednesday Milwaukee has played 33 games to date this season. Strangely that total is lower than every other American Hockey League team leaving the Admirals with significant games in hand on all of their foes.
However, Milwaukee will play plenty of catch up over the next couple of weeks. Starting Friday, the Admirals will face five games in just seven days. After a three games in a three days stretch starting Friday at Chicago, Milwaukee gets a two day break before traveling to Hamilton and Lake Erie for a back-to-back road games.
After another two day break, the Admirals play another four more games in just seven days. If you are counting at home that makes nine games in 16 days–a rather daunting stretch.
Therefore, the second half of January represents make or break time for Milwaukee. Play well and a return trip to playoffs becomes a much less difficult task. However, continue the recent struggles (one win for the Admirals in their last five games) and watch more Western Conference teams leap frog ahead in the race to the finish. After these nine games, Milwaukee will have played 42 total on the season, leaving just 34 left the rest of the way.
“We need to improve our consistency,” said Admirals coach Ian Herbers last week describing what his team needed to improve on in the second half of the season. “There are too many highs and lows in our game. We need to put together a (solid) 60 minutes then string some games together.”
I have an easier time with the team losing if the other team scores 4 good goals. In that case, good on them, they beat us. Fine.
Simply put…..after the exhibitions in the last two games….the Milwaukee goaltending needs to be better, or the Admirals won’t be playing meaningful games after your income taxes are due.
The Admirals lost this one 4-2, with Engren giving up three in the first period before being relieved, and then an empty netter at the end of the game. Juuso Puustinen had a power play goal for the Admirals, and Chris Mueller made it a one-goal game late.
Here are the video highlights from the game, courtesy of the Rivermen.
In a game with first place in the division on the line, it was a pretty exciting match for 59:40 of the game.
But two ghastly defensive lapses in those twenty seconds in the third period were the difference in the game, as the Charlotte Checkers came from behind to sink the Admirals 4-3 Saturday night.
Anders Lindback gave up the textbook definition of a “soft goal” 9:01 into the third period that tied the game at 3. With the play heading back up the ice, the Admirals never did clear the zone. Zac Dalpe picked up the puck just inside the blue line, turned, and fired the puck on net. And it went in.
Lindback says that he obviously wants to have that one back.
I’m not fond that he used the word “assuming” in there. But I’m not sure if there’s ever a good explanation when you are caught snoozing.
On the next shift, the regularly reliable Tyler Sloan turned the puck over in the Admirals zone, and it turned into a 2-on-nobody rush. Matthew Pistilli fed the puck across the low slot to Zach Boychuk for the easy goal.
Sloan takes full responsibility for it.
Outside of that, Coach Herbers thought the team played pretty well.
That’ll do it for Lindback’s vacation to Milwaukee. He’ll be going back to Nashville tomorrow morning, and Jeremy Smith will be sent back down. Here’s Coach Herbers on Lindback’s weekend.
The teams exchanged power play goals in the first period. With Zac Dalpe in the box serving a tripping penalty, Kyle Wilson was the toe of a tic-tac-toe passing play, and his shot from the top of the near circle beat Checkers goaltender Mike Murphy.
Dalpe got his revenge a little later in the period while Scott Valentine’s holding penalty was winding down. A pass from Zach Boychuk didn’t make it through the crease to the intended recipient. Instead it kind of bounced around in between Lindback’s pads that were down on the ice. The puck wasn’t secured and squirted out to the right doorstep, and Dalpe found it first.
The Checkers took a 2-1 lead on a goal that took a couple of bad bounces, as the initial shot from Derek Joslin was deflected by an Admiral on its way to the net. The shot ended up going wide, but caromed off of Lindback’s stick, which was laying on the ice behind the net for some reason. The puck came back out front, and Nicolas Blanchard put it in the net. Surprised that the post wasn’t sealed there.
About seven and a half minutes later, Taylor Beck tied the game on a great offensive rush. Ryan Flynn’s penalty had just expired, and the two of them led the rush into the offensive zone on the right wing. (see video)
Jon Blum crashing the net helped open things up a bit, and after Murphy committed to the poke-check, it was a great play by Beck to bring the puck in front and around the goaltender.
Later in the period, the Ads regained the lead on a Chris Mueller goal. Pistilli couldn’t control the puck in the high slot, and it kicked behind him to Zack Stortini, who found Mueller all alone in front of Murphy.
– Playing the Checkers makes you realize how slow the Admirals are. They go on lots of odd-man rushes…they don’t always execute well, and some of the credit for that goes to the other team pushing back…but they had a lot of chances to have good things happen.
– The Admirals didn’t get their second shot on goal in the third period until there was 7:33 left in the game.
– Here’s a positive. I really like the way Taylor Beck is playing right now. I was pretty critical earlier in the season, but he’s arguably grown as a player more than anyone else on the team. In his last 15 games, he’s totaled 4 goals, 10 assists, and has gone from being -9 to being +1 defensively. He hasn’t been a minus since November 27th.
– Here’s a negative. Blake Geoffrion. Not an impact.
– Jon Blum. Mixed bag again. There are some heady plays, there are some plays where he tries to force things, and there are X’s and O’s plays that just aren’t being made.
– I thought Chris Mueller played one of his best games of the season on both ends of the ice.
– And for our friends in Windsor…..mazel tovs are in order for Ryan Ellis, as he scored his first NHL goal tonight against Kirk and the Canes. It was a power play marker with 5:32 left in the game, which gave the Preds a 5-1 lead.
– Referee Shaun Davis. The King of calling a penalty that has nothing to do with the actual infraction that took place on the ice. Do you think it’s stage fright, or he just isn’t watching all that closely?
Questions:
Okay — you saw two games of Anders Lindback this weekend. Of the seven goals he gave up this weekend, how many of them would you consider GOOD goals? Any other thoughts on his play?
Would Chet Pickard have made that save on the game-tying goal?
How do you fix Blake Geoffrion? Linemates? Is it an attitude thing?
Ryan Thang. One assist in his last 5 games. Is he snakebitten, or is he not having as much of an impact as he did the second half of last year and out of the gate this year?
Can they rebound in Peoria tomorrow night? The Rivermen were off tonight, so they won’t be finishing a 3-in-3 set like the Admirals will be. Taking two of three games this weekend sounds better than losing four of their last five.
So here’s the play we were talking about in last night’s recap.
Stortini with a big hit that was ruled a clean hit. Brophey takes exception. Stortini gives him what he asked for and more. And a gloved punch comes in from the bench.
Liffiton got two minutes for roughing on the play, and was NOT tossed from the game.
Trying to bust a two game losing streak, the Admirals jumped out to a 3-0 lead, and cruised to a 6-3 victory over the visitng Lake Erie Cleveland Monsters Friday night.
Michael Latta had a Gordie Howe Hat Trick, and Anders Lindback stopped 30 of 33 shots in his first start of the season for Milwaukee.
Pretty good night.
The Admirals were the first to light the lamp and Michael Latta was the one to do it. Victor Bartley gathered the puck in the Admirals zone and fired a pass just outside the Monsters zone where it struck Blake Geoffrion and was sent chest high to Latta who was along the far side boards. Latta snagged the puck out of the air, tossed it in front of himself and skated it in the zone, firing a shot that beat Trevor Cann. Good play by Latta getting into the zone and getting a shot on net, and in the spirit of youth sports and over celebrating “good plays”, YAY BLAKE, you got on the score sheet.
The second period erupted in a fury of goals and fights. Here’s the coach.
The Admirals got the flood gates to open with a goal scored by someone who had yet to do it in the year. Taylor beck found the puck at the far side point and fired a shot towards the Monsters’ net minder. Ryan “dont call me Matt” Flynn was down low screening Cann when he put his stick to rubber to redirect the puck right past the goalie for the 2-0 lead. The “No Goal Club” just got one member smaller and who knows, this could be just the begining for Flynn, who had been playing pretty well in pretty much every other facet of the game.
The Admirals, refusing to ease up “blasted” another goal home giving them the 3-0 lead. 4:30 into the period Blake Geoffrion fired a puck into traffic (not towards the net). After pin-balling around, it fluttered to the slot where El Capitan Scott Ford swiped at it, sending the puck very slowly towards the net, where Cann could not recover enough to get a pad on it.
Then it was the Monsters’ turn to score a goal and it came with Kyle Wilson in the sin bin for a high-sticking call. 9:11 into the period Patrick Rissmiller attempted a pass acorss the crease to a teamate. It never found said teamate as it instead found the skate of Teemu Laakso, which in turn found the back of the net giving the Monsters their first goal.
The Admirals answered back just under 5 minutes later and Kyle Wilson found the net to atone for his previous infraction. While the Ads were on the Mountain Fury Power Play, Wilson got the puck and was in the lower far side circle when he fired a snipe top shelf beating Cann, and giving the Ads the 4-1 lead. The awesome thing about this goal was the Chris Mueller was celebrating the goal before it went in as he was right behind the net watching the puck the whole time. I guess he knew it was going in.
After the goal by Wilson, the Monsters switched goaltenders putting in James Reid, hoping for a little better result. It didn’t work, as the Admirals scored just over 2 minutes later, and just 6 seconds into another Mountain Fury Power Play. With the Admirals winning the face off, Geoffrion passed it to Taylor Beck who was down-low near-side. Beck then fired a no-look pass across the slot to a crashing Victor Bartley, who buried it the open net. Now all joking aside this WAS a great play started by Geoffrion, and I am glad Bartley is getting some lamp time as he has been playing lights out all year. (See what I did there with the light fixture joke?)
Towards the end of the period Evan Brophey tallied a power play goal for the Monsters. To be honest I really dont remember what happened and all we need to know is that it was a goal against.
***** Please see Appendex A for the fights in the period*****
Speaking of fights, the 3rd period started off with a big one that I am guessing the league will be talking to Lake Erie’s Captain David Liffiton about. Zack Stortini finished a check on a Monsters player and Brophey took exception to said check. Storts and Brophey dropped the gloves but the fight while on their feet only lasted a moment but Storts kept firing punches on Brophey while they were on the ice. Liffiton, from the bench, did not like the scenario that was playing out, so he decided to start throwing punches from the bench into Storts’ face. Let me say this again, Liffiton was punching Stortini from the bench while Stortini was punching Brophey. What was the call you ask? Liffiton got 2 minutes for roughing. Yeah, I know, right? Here’s Coach Herbers…
The third period has a goal by each team and the Monsters’ goal came shorthanded while Liffiton was serving for the above infraction. Talk about salt in the wound.
Puustinen scored for the Admirals to get back the 3 goal lead on a play that gave Latta the Grodie Howe Hat Trick.
NOTES:
Appendix A: Second Period Fights.
Bordeleau VS Stortini. Edge Bordeleau.
Fordo VS Stoa. One of Fordo’s best of the year, I think. I wish that was more of a compliment than it really is, though.
Brennan vs Latta. Seemed like a good idea at the time for both of them. They won’t be confused for Jeremy Yablonski.
– Anders Lindback and Jon Blum were back tonight. Here’s the coach on their peformances…..happy to have Lindback, and thought it was a mixed bag for Blummer.
– Blake got three assists. But wake me up when he goes into a battle in the corner.
– Great to see Flynn get that first goal. That play was a perfect example of why good things happen when you put the puck on the net. Doesn’t need to be a laser. Just needs to be on net.
– We talk a lot about how much we like Victor Bartley. From that beautiful sparkling smile in the Toyota Tundra Race, to the way that he plays well on both ends of the ice. Great goal for him, and he was stellar late in the game. Perhaps you remember the Admirals killing off the late power play, and there was a mad scramble in front of Lindback. Anders deserves credit for finally getting the puck frozen, but Bartley was there blocking shots, blocking passes, and keeping the puck out of the net.
– You know who else has been playing pretty strongly lately? Taylor Beck. I liked him on that line with Van Flynder.
– Welcome back Joel Champagne! 4th line was very effective tonight.
– My 3 stars ballot was 1. Latta, 2. Barrie (1g, 1a), and then 3. Stortini. Bartley was under consideration, but Stortini was a force tonight over the course of the game.
– Game again tomorrow against the 1st place Checkers. Different style of hockey, says the coach.
Questions: So you think the Lake Erie captain will get some supplementary discipline for his actions? Happy to see Hughie? Surprised that none of the Lake Erie goals were even-strength? Happy to see so many fights? Think Blum will be here a longer time this time?
UPDATE: As you know, news doesn’t wait for after business hours…
Lindback and Blum are the winners of a most-expenses-paid trip to Milwaukee this weekend.
Jim Diamond, who writes for the Nashville Predators Examiner site, published some news late Thursday night that will likely have quite the impact on this upcoming weekend for the Admirals.
So good for Smitty on his promotion. And good for us to get some time with Lindback. Smitty will be the 5th Admiral this year to earn their first NHL call-up, after Thang, Josi, Ellis, and Bourque (who scored his first NHL goal tonight, incidentally….)
It’s a well done piece by Diamond, and I urge you to read it…but I’ll quote here what he said at the end of the article.
With Lindback headed north, the question is whether or not he will have some company on his flight. The team is currently carrying eight defensemen. Head coach Barry Trotz said following the Dallas game that they will soon be discussing their blue line situation. Smart money says Ryan Ellis will be headed back with an outside chance that Jonathon Blum is reassigned for the second time this season.
It’ll be interesting to see who they decide and for what reason. Who would you rather have sent back?
So congrats to Chris Mueller and Ryan Ellis, who were selected as All-Stars for the Western Conference.
If you like counting stats, these are the guys for you (If you like counting 2nd assists, then Ellis REALLY is the guy for you).
Mueller is a fine pick….personally, I was lobbying for Michael Latta.
Ryan Ellis….eh, I don’t want to sound like a broken record.
But you know who was really snubbed?
Ben Bishop.
He’s responsible for 15 of the 17 Peoria wins this season. Leads the league in shutouts.
But Matt Hackett from Houston makes the roster instead… With fewer wins, a lower save percentage, winless in shootouts (0-3….Houston as a whole is 0-7), and doesn’t have to compensate for Brett Sterling’s lack of interest in playing in his own end?
Tough year for Bishop. Not wanted in STL when Brian Elliott remembered how to play the position…and now not recognized for having a pretty awesome year so far for Peoria.
Also surprised that Mr. Sterling isn’t on the list….but I’m not interested in making a case for him. What a punk.
30 games into the 2011-2012 season, the Milwaukee Admirals stand 19-10-0-1, having accumulated 39 points. It is enviable position to be in as the Admirals sit comfortably in the playoffs with games in hand on every other Western Conference foe (I will have more on this Friday).
But one statistic stands out as a major issue going forward for Milwaukee. The Admirals penalty kill ranks a surprising 26th in the AHL, successful only 77.8% of the time having allowed 28 goals–or nearly a goal a game.
Considering how stout Milwaukee is defensively, how tenacious the Admirals pressure the puck at times and the fact that Mark Van Guilder is one of the top penalty killers in the league, this statistic really stands out like a sore thumb.
The only goal Sunday came on the power play, yet on all accounts Milwaukee’s penalty kill was effective, killing three first period minors.
After the game I asked coach Ian Herbers what he thought of his team’s progress short handed:
“We’ve done pretty well overall, but we’ve just had a break down here and there,” Herbers said. “We’ve been okay, but the numbers just haven’t been good for us.”
So Roundtable . . . Critique the Admirals’ penalty kill. Is it just occasional break downs causing issues, or are the problems deeper? What can attribute Milwaukee’s ineffectiveness short handed?
There were two teams at the Bradley Center tonight. One was victorious, despite playing their third game in three days, and one was playing their goaltender for the third time in three days.
The other team was the Admirals.
The Admirals only managed 18 shots against Ben Bishop, and he stopped them all, vaulting the Rivermen to their first vicotry over the Admirals this season. 1-0 was the final score.
When the highlights of the night were a big clean hit from Scott Valentine and a close Merkt’s Cheese Race, it’s a tough night for the home team.
Milwaukee recorded only 5 shots on goal in the first stanza and Atte Engren stoped the 9 shots he faced. The second period is when the game got its only goal.
With Jeff Foss in the box for interference, the Rivermen skated the puck into the zone along the near side boards when Scott Valentine had a huge hip check on Jay Barribal. Struggling to get off the ice, the Rivermen’s Adam Cracknell regathered the puck and drove into the zone again firing a shot on net from inside the far circle beating Engren for the only goal. It’s one that I think Engren should have had.
As for the aforementioned check,(in my best Dick Vitale) it was huge baby. The check sent Barribal’s helmet flying and left him on the ice for a couple seconds. The Rivermen were quite upset with the no call but another look at the check proved that it was a clean one. Regardless of the no-call, Stefan Della Rovere wanted to enforce his own justice and dropped the mitts with Valentine a little bit later in the period. Della Rovere even waived off the linesman at one point letting him know that he was not done. He had some (I am guessing) very nice things to say to Valentine as he was being pulled away. Stuff like “Happy new year” and “I love your twitter posts” and stuff like that.
Notes:
– Tough weekend for the Admirals. But they played four games this week, and if they want to blame it on fatigue, I’ll buy it. I won’t like it…but I’ll buy it. And if that is the case, they’ve got to get that fixed because there are going to be some more weeknight games as the season gets going, and we can’t have them running out of gas on Sunday’s.
– David Leaderer skated in place of Tyler Sloan, who is a bit banged up. He’ll hopefully be ready to go next weekend.
– Still didn’t like Blake’s game. I think he’s bringing down the Van Flynder line.
– So who had a good game, and who failed to show up tonight? Leave your thoughts in the comments!
Call it puck luck, call it a game of inches, and call it a loss tonight.
Five Admiral shots hit metal behind Grand Rapids goaltender Tom McCollum, as the Griffins defeated the Admirals 3-2 on Saturday night.
After a Zack Stortini goal tied the game early in the 2nd period, a Griffins power play goal with 15 seconds left in the frame gave Grand Rapids the lead they would not give up.
The Admirals had just killed off a stretch of 5-on-3 power play time, but couldn’t finish off the second penalty, as defenseman Brian Lashoff’s shot beat Jeremy Smith.
Eight minutes into the 3rd period, the Griffins extended their lead to two goals, as former Badger Brendan Smith’s shot trickled through Smitty’s legs.
With Jeremy Smith pulled for the extra attacker late in the 3rd period, Chris Mueller scored a milestone goal to bring the Admirals back within one. Working down low in front of goaltender Tom McCollum, Mueller’s shot went high over the goaltender’s glove. It was his 50th goal as an Admiral and 100th point as an Admiral.
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– Robert Slaney got his first point as an Admiral, assisting on Stortini’s goal by intercepting a pass McCollum tried to make behind the net. Slaney’s pass to Stortini in the slot led to the goal.
– Mark Van Guilder was whistled for hooking….only his second penalty of the season. It snapped a 25 infractionless game streak.
– Ads were 0-4 on the power play, and killed off 3 of 4 Griffins chances.
– That’s all for the season series. Ads finish 2-2. Griffins officially win the series, going 2-1-0-1, getting five points.
– Milwaukee finishes 2011 with a 44-24-5 record. Pretty good.
– 5pm game on New Years Day against the Rivermen at the Bradley Center.
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