That first-game-of-the-weekend sluggishness?  Mysteriously absent on Friday night.

Mark Van Guilder scored another pair of goals, and Jeremy Smith was perfect in net, as the Admirals shutout the Toronto Marlies 2-0 at the Bradley Center.

It was the second straight 2-goal performance for MVG, and Coach is not surprised to see it.

Van Guilder’s first goal came 15:11 into the first period, off another nice pass from Ryan Flynn.  After skating with the puck behind the goal, Flynn came out the other side, and fed Van Guilder crashing towards the net for another bang-bang goal.

With Tyler Sloan serving a tripping penalty in the 3rd period, Van Guilder intercepted a pass from Mike Zigomanis at the Admiral blue line.  And then it was off to the races.  Van Guilder beat Toronto goaltender Ben Scrivens five-hole for the shorthanded tally.

Here’s Mark on his night.

And Smitty was solid all night.  But he doesn’t think it was his best game of the year.

NOTES:

New lines:

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

We asked coach which of the new lines he liked best….but he liked them all.

The most interesting part about that quote is how he didn’t have to worry about match-ups all night.  Kadri is an elite player, and to not have to worry about a 4th line being stuck out there against him is a luxury.

– So does Coach send Smitty right back out there tomorrow night against Rockford?  He said he didn’t know yet.  But he could report that Smitty had a pretty good week at practice, and it showed.

– Kelsey Wilson made his first return to the Bradley Center as the opposition.  Here are some quotes from him about coming back to town, and whether or not he would have dropped the gloves with Fordo.

– Geoffrion and Blum played their first games of the season for Milwaukee tonight.

First, some thoughts from Blake.

He also said his shoulder felt pretty good.  There was one time where he kind of got stung, but he said it held up fine.

And Blummer — first on whether he was surprised to be sent down, and then how long he thinks he’ll be with us.

A lot can happen.  Also worth noting is that the NHL holiday roster freeze is coming up.  December 19th-27th, players on the NHL roster cannot be sent down.  They can be called up from the AHL if needed, but if they’re on the NHL roster on Monday, they’ll be there until the freeze thaws out, whether they’re getting playing time or not.  So while they may have been told to play the 3 games this weekend, and we’ll see what happens Monday….I certainly won’t be surprised if the freeze starts and they’re still here.

The 3-in-3 continues in Rockford tomorrow night.  I won’t be making the trip….but if you’re going, stop by Beef-A-Roo for me!  They’re known for their beef, I hear….

Playing their third game in three days, the Admirals still had quite a bit left in the tank offensively.  They put 45 shots on goal, eventually prevailing 5-4 in a shootout against the Rockford IceHogs on Sunday afternoon.

Mark Van Guilder had a pair of goals, Ryan Flynn had a pair of helpers, while Jani Lajunen scored his first North American goal.  Jeremy Smith stopped 16 of 20 shots, seeing action in his third game in three days.

Coach Herbers has some very positive feedback for the way Van Guilder has been playing.

Dylan Olsen opened the scoring at 4:09 of the first period, tapping in a perfect centering pass from Jimmy Hayes.  Olsen was on a b-line to the net, and was a lot more wide open than he was supposed to be.

Joel Champagne answered about four and a half minutes later.  Mark Van Guilder created an offensive zone turnover along the far boards, and then Ryan Flynn fed a perfect pass to Champagne from behind the goal line.

Peter LeBlanc gave the lead back to the IceHogs at 13:12, deflecting a shot from defenseman Brian Fahey.

Mark Van Guilder tied the game just under a minute later.  After a long stretch in the defensive zone, Juuso Puustinen and Taylor Beck led the rush into the offensive zone while Michaell Latta went off for the change.  MVG replaced him, and went straight to the net.  Beck and Puustinen maintained possesion long enough for MVG to catch up with the play, and Beck fed MVG for the bang-bang goal.

Jani Lajunen then scored his first North American goal, finishing on a shot from the point by Tyler Sloan.  Goaltender Alec Richards stopped most of it, but it trickled through five-hole.  Lajunen’s stick beat Richards’ glove to the loose puck, and gave the Ads the lead.  Lajunen says it’s a relief to finally get the first one.

So after one period, the Admirals outshot the IceHogs 14-5, and led 3-2.

Rockford scored twice in the second period, first on a great individual effort by Andrew Shaw, after deeking Scott Valentine out of his skates before his shot.

Rostislav Olesz scored a power play goal while Taylor Aronson was serving a Yonking penalty.  Shawn Lalonde had the shot from the point, and Olesz won the battle in front of the crease and put it behind Smitty.

At 13:44, Jeremy Morin was given a five minute major for elbowing, and a game misconduct.  Joel Champagne took the brunt of the elbow, and was wheeled off the ice on a stretcher.  The Admirals could not score on that 5-minute power play.

Despite outshooting the IceHogs 28-13 after 40 minutes, the Admirals found themselves down a goal and down a player that had been playing very well.  We asked Coach Herbers what the message was in the 2nd intermission.

3:02 into the 3rd period, Mark Van Guilder tied it up with his second of the game.  The play was similar to Champagne’s goal earlier, in that Ryan Flynn passed the puck from behind the goal line to the guy crashing the net.

In the shootout, Smitty stopped all four tries he faced, and Michael Latta and Ryan Ellis scored five-hole on Richards.  Here’s Coach Herbers on tonight’s plan on the shootout.

—-

Lines:

Bourque – Mueller – Thang
Champagne – Van Guilder – Flynn
Beck – Latta – Puustinen
Slaney – Lajunen – Stortini

Ellis-Sloan, Ford-Bartley, Valentine-Aronson

So the $64,000 question….how is Joel Champagne?  We’ll let him tell you.

So he doesn’t remember much…but he got an elbow in the jaw.  He said he doesn’t think he had a concussion.  So it looks like the team dodged a huge bullet there, especially since he’s been playing so well lately.

– Seemed as though Mueller (-3) and Thang (-2) weren’t on the ice as much late in the game while the other three lines were rolling pretty consistently, with Bourque taking Champagne’s spot with Van Flynder.

– Rockford scored their four goals on their first NINE shots.  Smitty wasn’t as sharp, but had to deal with some deflections, missed assignments, and lost battles by his defense on a few occasions.  Smitty looked better over the 2nd half of the game.

– Ryan Ellis — not playing like the best prospect in the system.  The similie was brought up in the comment section of a previous post….but does he remind you of Cody Franson, just without the size?

– Special teams….still struggling on both sides of late.  Another power play goal allowed, and another 0h-fer with the man-advantage.

Questions:

What does Van Guilder need to do to get on Nashville’s radar for a call-up?  Do you agree with Coach Herbers that he’s been the best and most reliable forward this year?  Are we being too hard on Ryan Ellis?  What specifically do you want the team to work on this week before Toronto comes to town on Friday?

Milwaukee’s first three wins this season against Chicago are quickly becoming a distant memory.

Instead Saturday night represented the Admirals their third straight loss to Wolves, this time falling 4-2 to Chicago at Allstate Arena.

Other than the location the game played out in much the same fashion as Milwaukee’s previous two losses to the Wolves.

In the first period the Wolves built up a 3-1 lead, chasing Admirals starting goaltender Atte Engren. Joel Champaign scored Milwaukee’s only goal of the period.

Early in the third period Taylor Beck got the Admirals back within two goals, but Wolves goaltender Matt Climie shut the door from that point forward.

Other than a 23-shot second period, the game featured few highlights for Milwaukee. Three of the Admirals top players, Chris Mueller, Gabriel Bourque and Ryan Ellis all finished as -2s. And Chicago scored a pair of power play goals against a Milwaukee penalty kill that continues to struggle.

The only other moment of significance in the game for Milwaukee came from former Admiral Darren Hayder, who with his first period assist, reached 700 career points in the AHL. Haydar is just the 22nd player ever to do so.

So Roundtable . . . Another tough pill to swallow for Milwaukee against Chicago. What can the Admirals do differently against the Wolves? Was tonight just an example of poor Milwaukee goaltending? Or is Chicago starting to click under new head coach Craig MacTavish? Any love for Haydar’s remarkable accomplishment?

It wasn’t the prettiest of games, but a happy ending is a happy ending.

Trailing at the start of the 3rd period, the Admirals battled back to send the game to overtime and a shootout, ultimately prevailing 4-3 over the Grand Rapids Griffins.

The Admirals are still having a tough time getting off to a good start after week-long layoffs.  Here’s Coach Herbers.

The Griffins scored first, with Gustav Nyquist finishing a give-and-go play Tomas Tatar in front of the right post.  Ryan Ellis was the lone defender back, and got stuck in the middle, and as soon he inched towards Tatar, the pass went back to Nyquist for the easy goal.

Brendan Smith scored a little less than two minutes later.  After J. Smith made a save, B Smith picked up the puck by the right post, skated behind the net, and beat J. Smith to the left post for the wrap-around goal.

At 15:12, Scott Valentine and Mitch Callahan squared off for a fight.  The stare-down lasted longer than the fight itself, but Valentine was hands down the winner, and the hope was that it would light a fuse under the Admirals. More from the Coach…

About a minute later, Ryan Thang got one back for the Ads.  After Gabriel Bourque stole the puck in the offensive zone (and after kind of getting away with a hook), the play went back to Tyler Sloan at the near point.  His shot was saved, and while lots of sticks were whacking at the puck in front of the crease, the puck bounced out to Thang higher in the slot.  Thanger had space to shoot and put the Admirals on the board.

Once again, we had a wild third period.

Scott Valentine scored his first pro goal on a fantastic individual effort that’ll be on video montages in the near future.  He essentially stole the puck from teammate Taylor Beck at the Admirals blue line, skated up the ice, went around Griffin D-man Brian Lashoff after he couldn’t knock the puck away.  And then as Lashoff was taking Valentine down, he put a shot on net that beat Joey MacDonald.

Coach Herbers says it was a good thing that he scored on that play…

To help celebrate, Teemu Laakso took a high-sticking penalty 31 seconds later.  And Tomas Tatar finished a give-and-go play of his own on the power play, backhanding a shot over Smitty by the far post.

To help redeem himself, Laakso scored a goal of his own 1:08 later.  Michael Latta won the faceoff, and Juuso Puustinen sent the puck back to the near point.  Bodies were falling in front of MacDonald, and Laakso’s shot had eyes to get into the back of the net.

To help celebrate, Laakso took another penalty with 3:11 left in the game, but the Ads were able to kill it off, and the game went to overtime.

The Ads were awarded a power play after a questionable holding call against Landon Ferraro…it wasn’t much of a hold.  It was an attempted hold for sure.  But he didn’t get much of the Admiral skater.

The ensuing power play lacked any kind of urgency.  And they ended the night 0-3 with the man-advantage.

So we went to the shootout.  Louis-Marc Aubry scored on the Griffins first try, but Smitty stopped the rest.  Michael Latta scored in the 3rd round, and Chris Mueller went high to beat MacDonald in the 5th round.  Brendan Smith’s try in the bottom of the fifth hit iron.

Coach Herbers talks about the shootout lineup strategy.

———

LINES:

Bourque- Mueller – Thang
Champagne – Van Guilder – Flynn
Beck – Latta – Puustinen
Slaney – Lajunen – Stortini

– I’d say the Ads looked like they hadn’t played a game since last Saturday.  Passes were not crisp or accurate, assignments seemed to be missed, and early in the game, the Griffins were taking advantage of it.  But good teams find ways to win on nights when they aren’t playing their best hockey.

– How about Scott Valentine’s night?  Almost a Gordie.  Were those fisticuffs just what the doctor ordered at the right time?

– When the score was 2-1, we figured MacDonald was going to be the number one star of the game.  Looking back, we should have made the iron the #1 star of the game….bailed both goaltenders out a bit.  Smitty more so than MacDonald….

– Not one of Ellis’ best games.  Bartley wasn’t as good as he usually is.  Fordo’s fight left plenty to be desired.  Laakso had more 3rd period penalty trouble.  I thought Sloan had a pretty good game overall.

– Bourque had one of his more physical games of the season.  Probably got away with a few infractions.  I was waiting for him to get called for another snow-job penalty in the 2nd period…

– Pesky Ads go to Rosemont tomorrow to face the Wolves, and then back here to play the first of 12 against Rockford.

Thoughts on the game, Roundtable?  Is this the first win of the season that they didn’t really deserve to win?  How would you cure the long layoff blues?

And finally, here’s a shot for Valentine to frame, courtesy of Scott Paulus.