(We’ll throw in a bunch of audio in a separate post tomorrow….let’s just let it sink in for now, okay?)

I think you would be hard pressed to find two teams that are any more evenly matched than the Milwaukee Admirals and the Texas Stars. Game 6 went to extra innings and this was the 3^rd time it  happened this series. Both goaltenders were solid, special teams were, well, special and this was another epic game. But alas, much like Highlander, there can be only one… Winner, that is….  Tonight, that winner was….. We’ll find out right after these messages…..  Okay, I am sure you read the headline. It was the Admirals that went supernova on the Stars when Mark Van Guilder scored at the 10:42 mark of the second overtime on Monday evening at the Bradley Center.

The win is good enough to clinch the series and send the Admirals to the second round of the Calder Cup Playoffs, where they will face the Houston Aeros. The series will start this Friday at the Bradley Center and you better get your tickets, yo.

But let me tell you about this great game six, and how the Admirals  were able to advance to the second round.

The Admirals struck first at 4:20 into the initial period, with Mike Bartlett getting his first goal of the series. Andreas Thuresson tried to drive the puck to the net from the short side. The puck was stopped as Thuresson and Kelsey Wilson both tried to hack it in. Wilson got a piece of the puck and it caromed to Bartlett crashing the short side and fired it home for the 1-0 lead.

The Stars were able to even the score at 4:41 into the second stanza with Taylor Beck in the sin bin for a holding the stick penalty.  Dan Spang skated through the slot and fired a shot from between the circles. The shot was turned aside by Jeremy Smith but the rebound came back out towards the far side. Scott Ford attempted to clear the puck to the boards but was robbed by Colton Sceviour, who put the shot in the net to tie the game.

The Admirals started the 3^rd period off with a bang.  Just 1:22 in, Thuresson (finally) lit the lamp to give the Ads a 2-1 lead. Wilson was down low and sent a pass to Bartlett along the far side. After Bartlett gathered, he sent the puck to the high slot where Thuresson fired a wrister that beat Bachman. The Admirals had great movement with the puck and Wilson had a nice screen going in front to make the play a little harder for the net minder.

The Texas Stars would not be out done as Travis Morin tied up the game with a nifty goal. Raymond Sawada, Admirals nuisance extraordinaire, was behind the net when he found Ondrej Roman in the near-side circle. Roman sent a pass to Morin in the slot drawing his back to the net. Morin then spun around sending a no-look backhand shot that found the top right corner of the cage. This was a definite ‘hats off to ya’ kind of play that can only be credited to a great shot.

So we went to the first overtime period, where the Stars outshot the Admirals 13-2.  And the Stars dominated the period even more than that stat suggests.  The Admirals even had some PK time, but were able to keep it out of the net.

The ice was a little more even in the second OT period.  And all it took was one sequence in the offensive zone to net the game winner.  Ryan Thang was tripped up at the blue line trying to enter the zone. He got up and stole the puck back from the defender and carried the zone. Thang then put a shot on Bachman from the near circle along the boards. The rebound came right back from the direction it was shot, and Van Guilder gathered it and sent the puck to the back of the net, and sent the Stars packing.

What an exciting series.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS:

If the Admirals had lost this game….would it have been pretty demoralizing?  Like, no chance to win game 7?

Kelsey Wilson had a goal disallowed near the end of the 2^nd period, as he hiked the puck in the net.  Bummer that the call went against us, but the ref was right there, and we think it was the right call.

Special teams – the Stars 1-8 (and they scored on an abbreviated power play), and the Admirals were 0-3.  Think some of them were kind of ticky-tack for a playoff game of this magnitude, and weren’t exactly called both ways.  But pretty much every team can say that after any game.  So we won’t harp on that.

The penalty kill is only as good as your goalie, and the Admirals penalty kill was pretty darn good.  Speaking of goalies, Bachman played pretty lights out too.  Give us your best adjective to describe the goaltending in this game.

Josi and Laakso were good.  They were very good.  They’ve been quietly awesome this series.

Wilson was great in front of the net.  Glad to have him back.

Thuresson – it’s great that you scored.  You’re still on notice.

We made not have sold out the arena, but the fans that showed up were fantastic.  You could feel the playoff energy in the stands.  And thanks to everyone who made it through night with me on twitter.  I was in a dark place, and you gave me light.  Smiley-face, winky, clown.

So.  Friday and Sunday here.  Tuesday, Thursday, Friday down there.  And then Sunday (Mother’s Day) and Tuesday here.  Put it on your calendars, and bring Mom to the games.

We’re hoping to cash in our fake Internet money that Roundy’s totally owes us, so we can get down to Houston.  We’ll let you know how that goes….

Earlier in the week, it was the Stars that sent a game to OT with a last minute goal, and eventually winning it in the extra period.

Tonight, it was the Admirals with that storyline.  Gabriel Bourque tied it with 4.4 seconds left in the third period, and Ryan Thang fired a laser into the top left corner of the net with 3:31 left in the overtime period.

“That was a good hockey game by both teams, really,” Coach Lambert said after the game.  “Obviously, both teams could have won the game and we managed to turn the tables on them a little bit with some late game heroics and get that one back.  The ‘wow’ for me wasn’t so much the result, it was more the game itself.  That was one of the best hockey games I’ve seen in a long long time.”

Those two shots by Bourque and Thang spoiled a magnificent performance by Stars goaltender Richard Bachman, who stopped 36 of 38 Milwaukee shots, with many of them quality scoring chances.

Jeremy Smith was no slouch either, as he stopped 40 of 41 shots on the night — a career high in saves.  The only one that got by him was a power play goal midway through the first period.   A shot went off of Philip Larsen, off Roman Josi, and bounced right to Raymond Sawada in front of the net.  He finished the play, and has been arguably the best skater for the Stars this season.

Here’s Coach on Smitty.

“I thought he played good, I thought he made a number of terrific saves to keep the score at 1-0, and allow us an opportunity to come back, and that’s what he did — he gave us a chance to come back.”

Gabriel Bourque scored his fifth of the playoffs with just 4.4 seconds left in the game.  Positioned in front of the crease, he received an end zone feed from Chris Mueller, kicked it to his forehand, and then lifted it over Bachman.

“He did that in game one too, on the goal he scored late in the second period,” Coach reminded us.  “He’s got quick hands quick feet and good skills, and he showed that on that last goal.”

On their way to the locker rooms (the teams don’t have an exit from their benches….the Stars leave through the corner, and the visitors from directly behind the net on that end), Kelsey Wilson and Brenden Dillon collected fighting majors, and there was mutual pushing and shoving along the boards, as both teams were on the ice.  Captains of both teams were in there pulling their guys away from the scrum, but it was only Wilson and Dillon that collected penalties.

In the OT period, the teams alternated stretches of some pretty good momentum, but about midway through the period, the ice seemed to be tilted towards Bachman.

Ryan Thang led a 3-on-2 rush, and the defender gave him the open lane to shoot.  So he did.  It was a slapper from the top of the near face-off circle, and it beat Bachman over his right shoulder.

“I’ve been trying to look for passes most of the series, and tonight I showed up to the rink (saying) I’m going to be a shooter,” Thang said after the game.  “Bachman is obviously a great goalie and he’s been seeing a lot of shots, stopping a lot of shots and making some great saves.  Tonight I was pulling the trigger even if guys were in the lane, hoping to get some through.  Obviously, Van Guilder made a great play, it was a 3-on-2 rush.  The D kind of stayed with Van Guilder and it cleared up the lane for me.  Coach has been stressing all week that if you’ve got a lane, you got to shoot the puck.  I was fortune to get one past Bachman — it doesn’t happen very often.”

NOTES AND Q’S

LINES:

Wilson – Bartlett – Thuresson
Conacher – Van Guilder – Thang
Bourque – Mueller – Beck
Flynn – Latta – Begin

Santorelli, Hunter, and Ryan were scratched.

The Stars were 1-4 on the power play, the Admirals were 0-4.

Wilson looked pretty good, and certainly agitated the Stars over the course of the game.

Thuresson got his first shots on goal for the series.  But his highlight of the game was checking Mathieu Tousignant over and into the Admirals bench.  Earlier in the game, Tousignant put a huge check/charge on/into Scott Ford that went uncalled, so it was nice justice.

Bourque said after the game that it was the most important goal he’s ever scored.

Smitty has been playing great.  If Dex gets healthy, is he automatically the #1 guy again, or do you dance with the guy that brought you here?

Is Bourque punching his ticket to Nashville for next season?

How loud did it get at Goolsby’s when Bourque scored?

So the Admirals will return home with a 3 games to 2 lead in the series.  What do the Admirals need to do to finish off this Stars team on Monday?

Admiral fans, in case you missed the end of the third period in Game 5, Milwaukee trailed 1-0 against Texas until the final seconds.  Gabriel Bourque scored his fifth goal of the series with five seconds remaining in regulation, with Chris Mueller and Steve Begin assisting on the tying goal.

The two teams are currently battling in overtime after near bench brawl that ended up in a fight between Kelsey Wilson and Brenden Dillon at the end of regulation.

Can the Admirals finish off the incredible comeback?  So far Texas has won all three extra-hockey games in the season series.

UPDATE:  Ryan Thang scores the winner, and I think it might be worth checking to see if Aaron Sims can still breath!  Ryan will be along with a full story on the game.  HUGE win for Milwaukee in another incredible hockey game!