Another great crowd, and another great win.  The Admirals took the upperhand in the Amtrak rivalry, defeating the Chicago Wolvds 4-2 Wednesday night at the Bradley Center.

The win was their 9th consecutive victory at the Bradley Center, just one short of tying the team record.

Here’s a high level overview of the game, courtesy of Coach Herbers.  On google maps, this definitely would not be considered street-view.

The Wolves got things started at 5:45 in the first with a power play goal as Scott Valentine was in the sin bin for a hooking call. Kevin Connauton fired a shot from the far blueline that found Jeremy Smith but was not covered up. Smith layed out to recover the rebound but the Wolves’ Steve Reinprecht gathered it first and fired top shelf on the wide open net. Smith sold out to gather the rebound in front of the crease but that gamble didnt pay off as Reinprecht had a 6×4 box to work with.

The Admirals retaliated with a power play goal of thier own. The play got started with Victor Bartley showing us that he doesnt just have a pretty smile. Bartley sent a great two line pass from deep inside his own zone that connected with Chris Mueller in stride. Mueller then left the defenders behind as he skated in and beat Eddie Lack at 17:33 to even the score. Did I mention that it was a great feed from Bartley? Well it was.  So there!

The Ads kept the pressure on in the second as Scott Valentine gave the Ads a go-ahead goal at 2:38. With the puck on the far side point Teemu Laakso found Valentine on the near side point with a pass. Valentine wound up and fired a rocket that beat Lack on the far side for for his second goal on the year.

The Wolves’ very own Admiral killer for hire evened the score at 7:36. Reinprecht sent the puck to Darren Haydar who broke into the Admirals zone. Haydar skated to the near side circle and fired a shot that beat Smith far side. It was a fantasitc shot and there was nothing Smith could do about it but make shadow puppets from the red light glowing behind him.

Wouldn’t you beleive it? Even Scott Ford got a goal in this game. Mark Van Guilder skated into the slot with several Wolves defenders hacking at the puck. He “passed” (lost control) of the puck to Ryan Flynn who was also in the slot. Flynn sent a pass back to Ford who was between the circles at the point, and fired a cannon that beat Lack at 13:10 to give the Admirals the 3-2 lead going into the third.

Here’s Fordo on his goal.

The Admirals extended their lead in the third period with a great pass across the crease to a crashing Michael Latta. At 8:48 Taylor Beck skated the puck into the zone and continued the rush to the crease. Beck, within a couple feet of Lack, sent a beautiful saucer pass to the tape of Latta who just redirected it into the back of the net to give the Ads the 4-2 lead.  Probably a play they have done a million times together back on their junior team.

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Happy trails to Gabriel Bourque, welcome back Blake Geoffrion.  Here’s Coach Herbers on the swap, and how he thought Blake did on the Van Flynder line tonight.

Bourque played 8:05 of the Preds game, took 10 shifts, was credited with one blocked shot.  That’s all the box score had for him.  Played on a line with Halischuk and Smithson, but early returns are that it was a good debut.  Read the Preds blogs tomorrow….there will be a ton of positive reaction to Bourque.  Here’s a taste from Coach Trotz:  “I can guarantee you this: If [Bourque] plays like that … night in and night out, I know he’s gonna play a lot more.”

– 4 goals, 8 assists, 12 Admirals with one point on the night.  Would that be the definition of scoring by committee?

– Robert Slaney.  On the 4th line.  Holding his own, I think.  Good on him.

– This home streak?  The Admirals are outscoring their opponents by Taylor Beck to Chris Mueller.  41-18.  What does the coach think the team needs to do to be successful at home?

– I asked Scott Ford about the warm-up music change.  He’s the one that put the request in.

He’s on twitter now, if you didn’t already know…

Soooooo….questions…… In a game where none of the Admirals had multiple points, who would you have voted for three stars?  (Ryan edit:  Reinprecht probably should have made the final list for Chicago…had a goal and an assist).  How cool was Matt Kenseth to do that trike race?  What a good sport.  What did you think of Blake’s game tonight?  Everyone will be done with their hangover by the New Years Day game, right?

Santa brought the Admirals a new power play for Chirstmas, apparently.

Milwaukee went 5-for-7 with the man-advantage, and dropped the Rockford IceHogs 7-3 Monday night at the Bradley Center.  The win vaulted Milwaukee to 1st place in the division.

The last time the Admirals scored 5 power play goals in a game was March 1, 2008 at Chicago.  Goals by Santorelli, Peverley, Laliberte, Ellison, and Niskala.  The Ads won that game 6-4 behind Pekka Rinne in net.

It was a long break between games for the Admirals, but Coach Herbers liked the way they came out.

The Admirals were the first to put up a crooked number, and it came on the Mountain Fury Power Play. Scott Valentine got the puck to Teemu Laakso whos skated it into the near side circle and fired a shot that connected with all three pipes and in. Oddly, that wasnt the most impressive part. The impressive part is that he sniped it in where the smallest of openings was. If asked how he hit that “impossible” shot i am sure he would have said something like “I used to bullseye wombats in my T-16 back home, they’re not much bigger than [that opening].”

The second period had a light show, as 5 goals were scored in the stanza. The Ice Hogs got the show started when Jimmy Hayes put away a wide open goal off of a great pass from Rostislav Olesz, leaving Scott Ford in no-mans land. Ford did have a great view of the goal as he was doing his best Pete Rose impression towards the net.

The second goal came :58 later on what looked to be the very same play just with different actors.  This one stared David Gilbert as “The Passer” and Ben Smith as “Light the Lamp-er”.  Teemu Laakso played the role of “Scott Ford”, and Jerry Mathers as “The Beaver”, as the Ice Hogs took the lead 2-1.

That was all the Ice Hogs would get that frame, as the remainder of the second period belonged to the Admirals. It started with the Ads on the “2-Man Fury” and Mark Van Guilder getting the goal. At 11:08 Juuso Puustinen fired a shot on net form the slot that was initally stoped by Carter Hutton but MVG was there to pick up the loose change and cash in a goal. The tying goal was MVG’s 8th goal on the year.

The Fury kept flowing as it was Juuso Puustinen’s turn to light the lamp. 14:36 into the period with the Ice Hogs down a man, Victor Bartley and Gabriel Bourque played catch a couple times and then Bartley sent the puck over to Puustinen who fired a one timer that found its way though Hutton. The goal gave the Ads the lead and they kept the pedal down.

Exactaly one minute later with both teams at even strength, Gabriel Bourque was fighting for the puck down low and dished it a few feet to Ryan Flynn who was just behind the net. Flynn found MVG who was in front of the net took a stride to his right and fired a shot top side to beat Hutton for the second time in the game and gave the Ads the 4-2 lead.

Another 2-goal game for Van Guilder.  We asked Coach the obligatory why-is-MVG-so-awesome question after the game.

The lightshow continued in the third period. At 6:51 Chris Mueller put the puck in the twine after a shot was fired from the slot that was stopped but not covered.  Before Matt Moore could announce the goal the Admirals tacked another one on off of a redirect from Zack Stortini giving the Admirals a 6-2 lead and ending Hutton’s night. Alec Richards, his replacement, didnt stop the bleeding as Ryan Thang netted the Ads another Mountain Fury Power Play goal.

Byron Froese had a goal for the IceHogs during garbage time.

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NOTES:

Apparently, Ryan Ellis was just holding the power play back this whole time.  Here’s Coach Herbers on the power play unit.

– Jeff Foss was called up, and skated tonight with Tyler Sloan.  We asked Coach about that pairing.

I thought he held his own pretty well.

– Ellis did debut tonight for the Preds against the Red Wings.  He did not register a point.  He was -1 defensively, two minutes of penalties, three shots, two blocked shots, and two hits, according to the box score.  I cannot comment on how he played, as I was watching a more entertaining game here.

– What a great crowd!  You’re all coming back on Wednesday okay?  Also, did you notice they changed the warm-up music?  I guess they can keep the new mix.

So what do you think?  Is the power play fixed, or were they just fortunate tonight?  Did you miss Ryan Ellis?  Always enjoy the skating juggler?  And other thoughts you’d like to share on the game?

After a less than stellar effort against Rockford last night, the Admirals were able to hit the holiday break on a high note, after a 3-1 victory over the Peoria Rivermen Sunday evening.

Kyle Wilson and Chris Mueller both had a goal and an assist, and Atte Engren was solid in net for the Ads, stopping 29 of 30 shots.

This moves the Ads record to an unprecedented 5-0 against Peoria this season.  We asked Coach Herbers what he attributes the success to.

The Admirals hit the holiday break with a 17-8-0-1 record, putting them in second place in the division, one point behind the Charlotte Checkers…who have played four more games.

With 3:02 remaining in the game, Tyler Sloan went to the box for a cross-checking penalty, and the Rivermen pulled goaltender Jake Allen for the extra attacker, setting up a 6-on-4 power play.  1:17 later, Teemu Laakso went to the box for a holding penalty, so Peoria had some time to skate 6-on-3.  But the penalty killers did a great job getting into passing lanes, and were able to kill everything off.

The penalty kill had been a weakness for the Ads of late…Coach Herbers talks about their effort tonight at the end of the game.

The Rivermen scored first, and it was courtesy of Admirals nemesis/pest Brett Sterling. TJ Hensick had a shot from the top of the far circle that was saved.  After drawing a delayed penalty, Sterling won the battle in front of the crease, and put it in past Atte Engren.

The Admirals tied the game about midway though the game while on a delayed penalty of their own.  It had to have been about 40 seconds with the extra man when Kyle Wilson scored from a sharp angle at the bottom of the near faceoff circle.  Chris Mueller had the pass from behind the net before Wilson scored his 5th of the year, and first one since being returned from Nashville.

The Admirals were awarded a power play after Jonathan Cheechoo boarded Chris Mueller along the far boards in the Ads defensive end.  Mueller skated off on his own power, and took his next shift on the power play.  Mueller said after the game that he didn’t see the train coming (sorry….too easy), but chalked it up to a hockey play instead of a dirty play.

Exactly two minutes after the penalty was assessed, Mike Latta scored what would eventually be the game winner.  Taylor Beck had a shot from the top of the circle that deflected off of Ryan Thang in the slot…..right to Latta low in the near face-off circle.  Allen didn’t make it over in time before Latta scored his 9th of the season.

With 4:55 left in the third period, Chris Mueller scored an insurance goal after a give-and-give-and-go play with Kyle Wilson.  I was afraid they were going to get burned for making one pass too many, but Mueller was able to finish for his 10th goal of the season.

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Lines:

Bourque – Van Guilder – Flynn
Wilson – Mueller – Puustinen
Geoffrion – Latta – Thang
Beck – Lajunen – Stortini

Blum-Laakso, Sloan-Ellis, Ford-Bartley

In the second period, Herbie shook up his lines a bit…dropping swapping Geoffrion and Beck.  Here’s what he said about it after the game.

I don’t know.  My thought is that it was a promotion for Beck — and it worked, as he assisted on Latta’s goal.  I didn’t like Blake’s weekend.  If he was making these kinds of mistakes in Nashville, he would have been sent down to Milwaukee.  Sloppy passes in his own end and in the offensive zone too…dumb stick infraction penalties… He wasn’t anywhere close to being the best player on the ice.  If he was supposed to come here and dominate at this level, he failed.  Maybe my expectations are too high on that… But if he’s on his way back to Nashville tomorrow, it certainly isn’t because he played his way back.

I asked Coach Herbers which of the guys that were sent down (Blum, Geoffrion, and Wilson) had the best weekend.  He kind of punted.

Blum I thought was better tonight….(although he was the victim of a bum holding penalty when he lifted Sterling’s stick and Sterling tumbled to the ice.  Good to see Sterling get the dive call on that.)  I thought Wilson showed up for the first time this weekend when he scored in that second period, and pretty good the rest of the game.

– Blum tweeted that he’s on his way back to Nashville.  Don’t know if he’s just going to be “in residence” or when he’ll officially be recalled and paid as an NHL guy.  Roster freeze starts tonight, Admirals don’t play again until the 26th.  Whatever happens will be.

– Sterling is such a pain.  Can I just reiterate that?

– Didn’t like Fordo’s game either.  Engren bailed him out a couple of times.  Tough to scratch the captain though.  Sorry, Scott Valentine.

– This is an awfully negative recap after a big 3-1 win.  Let’s get back to Engren.  I’ve figured out his deal.  He’s the Admirals version of Rex Grossman.  The Redskins have Good Rex and Bad Rex.  The Admirals have Good Atte and Bad Atte.  Great to see him rebound after being pulled in his last start.  Here’s more from the Coach.

– So we’re at the break now.  Coach says he’ll get some time to relax, but they’ve got a game to prepare for…

So Roundtable….here are your discussion questions….

– Am I being too hard on Boomer?
– What did you think of Blummer’s game?
– Would you have liked to have seen Valentine out there?
– Thoughts on the penalty scramble at the end of the game?
– Why do the Ads have the Rivermen’s number?
– Anything else you’d like to comment on about the game?

After a great effort on Friday night against Toronto, the Admirals played like a different team Saturday night in Rockford, losing to the IceHogs 4-2.

The Admirals gave up three power play goals, and gave up a season high 44 shots to the last place IceHogs.

Rockford scored first 10:35 into the first period while Tyler Sloan was serving a cross checking penalty.   Peter LeBlanc was working in front of the net, and tipped the puck past Jeremy Smith.

Jon Blum got one back on a power play for the Admirals, with a shot that was deflected over IceHog goaltender Carter Hutton’s glove.

The IceHogs outshot the Admirals 19-11 in the first period, but the second period is really where the pulled away from the Admirals, taking advantage of Admiral penalties and sloppy play in the neutral zone.

Brandon Pirri had a power play goal, just under five minutes into the second period after some great puck movement from the power play unit.

Brandon Bollig scored his first of the year with a little less than five minutes left in the second period, as a shot from the top of the left circle went over Smitty’s right shoulder.

Brandon Pirri scored another power play goal in the 3rd, but it was more like an empty net goal, as Smitty vacated the net to play a puck that he thought was going to go around the boards.  Of course, it hit a seam in the glass, bounced back in front of the net, and Pirri had the cupcake.

Jon Blum scored his second goal with less than a minute remaining in the game while Chris Mueller was working down low.

Looking at the box score, people may say, hey, Blummer scored two goals, he had a pretty good game.  But this was a team loss.  They got away from the formula that had been successful lately, and the IceHogs got to dictate the style of the game.

So the 3-in-3 will conclude tomorrow against a Peoria team that will also be playing their 3rd.  The Rivermen shutout the Toronto Marlies tonight, and are riding a three-game winning streak.

If the Admirals can play their type of game tomorrow, they may be able to continue their success against Peoria this season.  If it turns into a run-and-gun game, there may be some trouble.  Since Smitty played tonight, I expect Atte Engren will play tomorrow, and hopefully he’ll rebound after being pulled in his last game.