The Admirals continued their hot start –their best since the 04-05 season — as they moved their record to 3-0 after a 3-2 shootout win over the Chicago Wolves Saturday night in Rosemont.

Michael Latta, Ryan Thang, Kyle Wilson, and Juuso Puustinen all scored in the shootout, while Jeremy Smith made two saves on the four shots he faced.

Here’s Coach Muller on his shootout lineup.

The Admirals got the first goal for the second straight night.  Jani Lajunen deserves some credit for a good forecheck in the Wolf D-zone that stalled the Chicago breakout.  Once the Wolves were able to gain control of the puck again, their clearing pass was intercepted by Victor Bartley just inside the blue line.  He had a quick pass to Kyle Wilson in the high slot, and he skated down Broadway, and beat Chicago goalie Eddie Lack.

About 5 minutes later, the Wolves answered back with a fluky goal.  A dump into the offensive zone bounced off the end boards back in front of the goal line.  Smitty was caught behind the net, and a sliding Ryan Ellis couldn’t stop Matt Clackson’s shot in close.

Two minutes later, Chris Mueller put the Ads back on top, and Chicago D-man Yann Sauve should get the primary assist.  In his own defenseive zone, Sauve made the perfect pass to Mueller on the tape, and his shot from the far side beat Lack high.  Again, the Admirals cashed in on what Coach Muller describes as kind of a high IQ forecheck.

In the second period, there was a lot penalty action for both teams, with some questionable calls going both ways.  But neither team’s power play unit could convert.

The Wolves did tie the score on a play that featured a lot of Admirals just waving their sticks at puck carriers.  Victor Oreskovich fired a shot from the point that went off of Ryan Ellis, and changed direction enough to beat Smitty high.  The deflection came from above the faceoff circles, and one could argue that it’s a shot Smitty needs to stop.

The Wolves had a goal waived off late in the period, as Francis Charron ruled that the puck went in off of a high stick before it dribbled past the goalline.

Chicago carried most of the play in the 3rd period, but the Admirals got somewhat of a second wind with a power play chance in the 2nd half of the period.  The teams ended the game tied in shots.

And yes — the Admirals string of road games with at least a point is now at 18 games.  Pretty slick.

LINES

Champagne – Mueller – Thang
Wilson – Lajunen – Puustinen
Cahill – Van Guilder – Flynn
Stortini – Latta – Beck

Ellis – Sloan
Ford – Bartley
Aronson – Valentine

– Sloan left the game after being hit — a “clean hit” Coach said after the game.  They’ll have a better idea of the damage tomorrow.

– This was Taylor Aronson’s pro debut, and with Sloan out, he was playing some pretty meaningful minutes late in the game.  And Coach gives him high marks on his first game.

– Lajunen continues to be a monster on the forecheck.  One thing that we’ve seen with the Admirals in the first three games is that there are times when they make things very difficult for the opponents to get the puck out of their defensive zone.  And it’ll be even better when we get Gabriel Bourque back in the lineup.

– Power play was not as sharp tonight.  Passes not clicking as easily as they seemed to yesterday.  And Eddie Lack was pretty solid for the game, when he wasn’t hung out to dry.

– Taylor Beck has played on a different line in all three games.  He has been underwhelming thus far.  Doesn’t look like a guy that scored 95 points last season.  For some perspective, Mark Santorelli scored 101 his last season in juniors.  Beck is here to develop into a power forward, and we’re not seeing a lot of power yet.  But coach says that this line hopping isn’t due to his play.

– The Wolves and Rivermen remain winless in the division.

Questions for discussion — If Sloan misses some time, who do you bump up to play with Ellis?  How has Beck met your expectations thus far?  Do you think Aronson and Valentine held their own as the 3rd defensive pair?  Do you wish we didn’t have to wait until the end of next week for the next game?  When you travel, do you like Rosemont or Rockford better?

Special teams were indeed special on Friday night, and behind three Mountain Fury power play goals, the Admirals were victorious in their home opener.  The Ads outran the Chicago Wolves 4-2.

In the first period, the Admirals put 15 shots on net, and scored two power play goals.  Juuso Puustinen scored his second of the year off of a great pass from Chris Mueller.  And then Ryan Thang capitalized on a Kyle Wilson shot that beat Chicago goaltender Eddie Lack, but didn’t quite make it past the goal line.  Thanger spotted it and finished the job.

The new Captain of the Wolves, Darren Haydar scored a power play goal for the Wolves in the 2nd period.  He had the puck on the goal line on the far side and tried to thread a pass to to the low slot.  The pass was blocked and kicked right back to him, and he put a quick shot on Smitty from a tough angle.  There was some daylight there on the short side as Smitty was trying to get back to the pipe after playing the pass.

So the Admirals started the 3rd period nursing a 2-1 lead, the same way they did on opening night in Peoria.  And in a similar fashion, they scored a goal in the first five minutes.  With Michael Davies serving a tripping penalty for the Wolves, Chris Mueller scored his first of the year.  We’ll let him explain how it happened.

Jordan Schroeder got another power play goal for the Wolves about seven and a half minutes later, and it was one that Smitty would like to have back.  Skating in along the right wing boards he put what seemed to be a harmless shot on net.  That one was a softie.

Taylor Beck scored the empty netter — a shot from center ice that came seconds after another Beck shot from the slot was blocked by a Wolves defender.

—————

Lines

Thang – Mueller – Beck
Wilson – Lajunen – Puustinen
Champagne – MVG – Flynn
Cahill – Latta – Stortini

– Mueller had a four point night, with a goal and three assists. Kyle Wilson had 2 helpers as did Ryan Ellis.  Ryan Thang had a goal and an assist.

– With the offense that first line is providing, Coach Muller has reason to be pleased.  But here’s why he is REALLY pleased with that first line.

– How about that Admiral power play?  Looked like they had purpose out there.  That first power play unit had Thang, Wilson, and Mueller down low, and Ellis and Puustinen at the point.  Do you like Puustinen on the point like we used to see Cal O’Reilly do it?  Here is Coach’s thoughts about Juuso on the point.

– There were a couple of big hits from Valentine that sent him to the box.  One an open ice collision that drew a hit-to-the-head penalty.  And then a boarding penalty in the 3rd period that the Wolves eventually scored on.  Was your first reaction A) nice hits or 2) What would Shanahan say about them if this was his jurisdiction?

– This is fun — the Admirals have yet to yield an even strength goal in their two games.

– Bourque is day to day and will probably be back after tomorrow’s game.  Josi is day to day, but he’s starting to work out, so that’s a good sign.  They’re being cautious with both of them.

– Here’s Coach talking about the move to send Chet Pickard down to Cincy.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:

Did you like the pre-game tribute and the post-game salute?  What’s the best adjective to describe the fancy schmancy new Admiral power play?  Do you like seeing Puustinen on the point like that?  Was it weird seeing the Wolves without guys like Squirrel-Face, Spencer Machacek, and Riley Holzapfel?  Thoughts on the Valentine hits?  Which of the new guys impressed you tonight?  Which guys didn’t?

The road success for the Milwaukee Admirals has carried over to the new year and the new roster.  Ryan Thang had two goals including the eventual game winner, and the Admirals won their 17th straight regular season road game, defeating the Peoria Rivermen 4-1 on Saturday night.

Box score here, Admirals recap here, Rivermen blog recap here.

Jeremy Smith made 22 saves on 23 shots for the victory.

Coach Muller (I typed “Lambert” in at first….I’ll get used to it) said he thought the team stayed true to the game plan.

Peoria got on the board first at 9:06 of the first period.  Admiral nemesis Brett Sterling welcomed himself back to the Western Conference by deflecting a Danny Syvret shot from the point amidst a lot of traffic in front of Smith.  It was a power play goal that came just after a 5-on-3 power play ended.

Michael Latta was awarded a penalty shot at 15:45 after a hook from behind foiled a breakaway.  On the penalty shot attempt, Latta came in slow, flinched to fake a wrister, went to his forehand, and beat Jake Allen five-hole.

The ice conditions were a problem (it was 85 degrees in Peoria today), and both teams had some issues with puck control.  As the first period was concluding, a Riverman forward took a pass out of their defensive zone, but couldn’t control it, and ended up playing it back IN to the defensive zone.  A few seconds later, Victor Bartley had a shot from the point that hit iron, but Ryan Thang put the rebound past Allen with 1:04 left in the period.

After a scoreless second period, the Admirals stretched their lead to 3-1, with a Jusso Puustinen goal.  But the major credit on the play goes to Jani Lajunen.  Despite Rivermen D-man Mark Cundari having position in the neutral zone, Lajunen went around him, stripped him on the puck, and led a rush back into the offensive zone.  He found Puustinen in the slot for the goal that Coach Muller said was the turning point of the game.

Ryan Thang scored an empty-netter with 1:30 left in the game.

NOTES:

Thang – Mueller – Bourque
Wilson – Lajunen – Puustinen
Champagne – Van Guilder – Beck
Cahill – Latta – Flynn

Ellis – Sloan
Bartley – Ford
Foss – Valentine

Coach Muller says he got contributions from all of his lines.

That line of TJ Hensick, Brett Sterling, and Jonathan Cheechoo….lots of offensive talent.  They can try to be too cute at times, and they can be a little slow back into the d-zone.  The only Admiral goal they weren’t on the ice for was the penalty shot.  They all finished -3 on the night.  Here’s how Coach Muller prepared for that line.

Biggest change in this game compared to last year:  there was no sign of the prevent-defense.  They weren’t playing to hold on the lead.  The Admirals played hard the whole game.  They outshot the Rivermen 30-23 overall, and 11-6 in the 3rd period.  This is very encouraging.

Lajunen and Puustinen have some great chemistry together already, and Kyle Wilson had some great chances on that line too.

Jeff Foss….looked miles better than the way he played at his ATO at the end of last year.

Atte Engren dressed as Jeremy Smith’s backup.  Chet Pickard didn’t.  Don’t know if we should read anything into that, but you can if you want to.

New referee….Graham Skilliter.  Or as he’ll be known as for the rest of the year, Graham Skeletor.

OK Roundtable — whether you made the trip to Peoria, or made the trip to Buck Bradley’s, or made the trip to your radio to listen to Aaron, what did you think of the first game?  Which line did you think was best?  Who are you excited to see more of?