Gabriel Bourque and Chris Mueller have provided the vast majority of Admirals offense in this series.  And Wednesday night in Texas, some other players stepped up to the plate.

Taylor Beck scored his first professional goal, and Mark Van Guilder scored the game-winner, as the Admirals held on to defeat the Texas Stars 3-2.

“Obviously we needed secondary scoring — that’s why we made some changes,” Coach Lambert said after the game.  Coach made changes on all four forward lines for tonight’s lineup.  “The Mueller Bourque Thang line is doing all the scoring for us.  We can’t win without secondary scoring.  Tonight we got it.”

Although it was Bourque who opened the scoring.  On a power play, Chris Mueller fed a cross-ice pass to Roman Josi, pinching to the far face-off dot.  Josi fired a quick pass to Bourque who had the open shot in the low slot, and beat Richard Bachman at 14:03 of the first period.

Scott Glennie tied the game at 6:25 of the second period, on a play in which I’ll equally credit Glennie and blame Jeremy Smith and Aaron Johnson.  Glennie put his first shot on net from the top of the near face-off dot.  Pretty easy save for Smith, but he kicked it right back out where it came from.  Glennie followed his shot, and Aaron Johnson was unable to tie him up or lift his stick.

About six minutes later, the Admirals regained the lead with Beck’s first professional goal.  (after the game, we’re still unsure whether someone grabbed the puck….we think Mueller may have picked it up).  On a power play, Grant Lewis had a good shot/pass from the near face-off circle that went off of someone’s skates in front of the crease….looked like it may have been Bourque’s, but they didn’t give him the assist.  The puck deflected to a wide open Beck at the bottom of the far face-off circle.

3:13 into the third, Van Guilder scored the eventual game winner.  Ryan Thang fed a pass towards Cory Conacher in the slot.  Conacher couldn’t quite control it, but neither could the defender that was tangling with him.  While they both unsuccessfully tried to play the puck, Van Guilder snuck in there and put a shot on net while he was being tripped.

The Stars got one back on a five-on-three power play that was just silly.  Aaron Johnson earned his cross-checking penalty, but Van Guilder was whistled for holding as the Stars broke out on a play from behind their net.  One of the tickiest-tackiest calls I’ve ever seen.  Greg Rallo got the the goal from the far face-off dot, on a play that Coach says they should have stopped.

“That five-on-three that they had, it’s a play that we’ve completely prepared for.  And we missed the assignment on it.  We’ve got to be better on that five-on-three.  I mean, we knew it was coming to Rallo.  He’s scored three OT winners from that spot this year.”

Down the stretch, the Admirals were able to hang on, and Mark Van Guilder comments on the mindset the team had on the cie during the waning minutes of the game.

“I think for some reason it felt differently today.  It felt like we were just playing better.  Yesterday it seemed like we were just holding on….  We saw it as more of a challenge this time, like we’re not going to let it happen again.”

NOTES AND QUESTIONS:

Lines:

Bourque – Mueller – Beck
Thang – Van Guilder – Conacher
Hunter – Bartlett – Thuresson
Santorelli – Latta – Begin

Ryan Flynn and Ben Ryan were scratched.  And I don’t think they were particularly missed.  Here’s Coach on the line changes…

“Beck got his first profesisonal goal, had a few other chances as well, so he looked good in the game.  We felt like he could probably come in and play with our top line.  He was a high point producer in junior and a high pick.  He came in and did a real good job tonight.  And we were able to balance our lines out a little bit more.  We put Conacher’s speed in the game as well, and i thought his battle level was real good. ”

What do you think of those line combos?  Potential?  Think we’ll see them again on Friday?

Smith had some issues playing the puck again tonight, and found himself fortunate the a shot didn’t go off his skates and in the net as he was scampering back to the crease.  Still, he made 30 and 32 saves on the night.  As touched on earlier, rebounds were still an issue, but for the most part, the defenders and backcheckers were able to scoot pucks out of trouble.

Herbie took a puck to the head on the bench.  He’ll be okay.  But officially, we’ll call it an upper-body injury. (har har har)

If we don’t see Mark Lemelin again for awhile, that would be okay with me.

It’s interesting to watch the Stars, because it sometimes seems that they can turn on their aggression and start to dominate play whenever they damn well feel like it.

Took them two and a half minutes to clean up their chuck a puck.  Our crew usually gets it done in less than 45 seconds.

Very strong game from Laakso and Josi.  Roman had a potentially game saving pass block on a 2-on-1 rush late in the game.  Lewis is getting caught up ice more and more often, but his physical play has been welcome.

Thuresson was horrible in the first period, but seemed to play with some more urgency the rest of the way.  Still, he is SHOTLESS in the series so far.  Shoot the puck Cal Andreas.

And finally, he’s Coach Lambert to wrap it up for the night.

“Key to Friday’s game is to understand that we need to have a better effort than we had tonight, and come out and take momentum right from the start.”

For nearly 56 minutes, Game 3 of the Admirals opening round series against Texas was all Milwaukee–at least on the scoresheet.  A pair of goals by the Admirals top line gave Milwaukee a 2-0 lead late in the hockey game.

However, Texas would rally with a pair of goals in the waning seconds of the third period, before Travis Morin scored the game winner in overtime to complete a 3-2 comeback win.

The Texas rally started with 4:09 left in the third period.  On their sixth power play of the game, the Stars efficiently moved the puck before setting up defenseman Philip Larsen in the low slot.  Larsen made no mistake cutting Milwaukee’s lead to one.  Gabriel Bourque’s holding penalty at 15:14, his lone blemish on a strong night, gave Texas a costly man advantage.

“A lot of our penalties were the result of mistakes and turnovers,” Admirals assistant coach Ian Herbers told Aaron Sims after the game.

Pushing for the equalizer, the Stars dominated the final minutes, but Admirals goaltender Jeremy Smith looked like he was going to deliver a regulation win–at least he did until the oldest player on the ice struck with 21 seconds left.  Setup just inside the blueline by Morin, who would pick up his second assist in a three-point night, Stars captain Brad Lukowich’s point shot snipe through traffic beat Smith to tie the game at 2-2.

Overtime saw continued pressure from Texas as Milwaukee struggled to get the puck out their own the end.  With 8:44 gone by in the extra session, veteran Admirals forward Andreas Thuresson turned the puck over to defenseman Maxime Fortunus.  Fortunus’ point shot was deflected by an undefended Morin for the game winning tally.

Milwaukee took a 2-0 lead with a pair of gritty goals by their top line of Ryan Thang, Chris Mueller and Bourque.  The first goal came three and minutes after the opening faceoff, after Stars goaltender Richard Bachman badly misplayed a puck behind his own net, allowing Mueller an empty net to deposit his third goal of the series.

Then skating 4-on-4, Bourque made it 2-0 in the first minute of the third period.  On a second rebound chance, Bourque picked up his third goal and seventh point of the series by beating Bachman, who was caught out of position.

“The first period we showed a lot of jump,” Herbers said.  “We did not play like a team that spent a long day traveling.”

Despite a late 2-0 lead, Milwaukee only controlled the first period of the game.  Texas dominated the second 20 minutes, outshooting Milwaukee 11-1, but the Stars missed out on four power play chances.  Texas continued to pressure throughout the third period and overtime, finally overcoming Smith’s superb goaltending.

“We got away from our game plan in the second period,” Herbers said.  “Texas really transitioned quickly and we got away from forechecking aggressively (like we did in the first period).”

Smith finished as the hard luck loser, and was just 21 seconds away from his second win of the series.  The Admirals netminder finished with 37 saves on 40 shots and deserved to be one of the game’s three stars.  After a tough night at home in Game 2, Smith nearly delivered an improbable victory.

Bachman only had to make 21 saves for his second playoff win, including just 10 after the first period.

For the third straight game the team that scored first did not go on to win the hockey game–a bizarre outlying statistic in a series where goals are at a premium.

The Admirals/Stars Game 3 completed a full eight-game playoff slate in the AHL.  In the other three Western Conference series, Houston finished off the only 4-game sweep of the first round with a 2-1 win over Peoria, Oklahoma City finally got their first ever playoff win 2-0 over Hamilton and Lake Erie took a 2-1 edge over Manitoba with a 2-1 win.  In the Eastern Conference, Connecticut and Portland are tied at 2 games a piece after the Whale’s 3-1 win, Manchester is up 3-1 after a 6-3 dusting of Binghamton, defending Calder Cup champion Hershey held on for a 3-2 win over Charlotte to take a 2-1 series edge, and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton finally got on the board with a 2-1 win over Norfolk, but still trail the “other” Admirals 2-1 in the series.

To read more on the game, check out Hundred Degree Hockey’s game recap:

I have got to admit, after the completely bizarre weather today in Wisconsin, 100 degrees is starting to sound pretty good.

So Roundtable,

1) Is Wednesday’s Game 4 a must win for Milwaukee, especially after the back-breaking fashion that the Admirals lost Game 3?

2) If you were watching or listening to the game, did you ever feel safe with Milwaukee’s 2-0 or 2-1 lead, or did the game seem like it did to me, that it was only a matter of time before Texas was going to comeback?

3) What adjustments does Milwaukee need to make for Game 4?

4) Which team will the quick turnaround favor?

A parade to the Admiral penalty box in the middle of the game led to two power play goals for Texas, as the Stars took Game 2 of the playoff series with a 3-1 final score.

You can check out Hundred Degree Hockey’s recap here.

“At the end of the day that’s the difference in the game,” Coach Lambert said.  “Their power play scored and ours didn’t, and their penalty kill held and ours didn’t.  Special teams are going to be a huge factor in these games, and we’ve got to find a way to win that special teams battle.

“I think the frustrating part was we took some bad penalties too.  We talk about discipline and staying out of the box against that hockey team, and they’ve got a good power play.  Eventually it’s going to catch up to you.”

Things were looking promising for the Admirals and their special teams in the first period, and they did what the Stars couldn’t do in game one – convert on the 5-on-3 power play.  With Brenden Dillon and Maxime Fortunus in the penalty box, Teemu Laakso gave the Admirals a 1-0 lead with a shot from the high slot.  Laakso and Roman Josi were passing back and forth, waiting for a shooting lane to open up, and Laakso’s shot beat Richard Bachman stick side.

The Admirals ended the game 1/7 on the power play.

With 3:11 left in the first period, the Stars scored what looked to be a game-tying goal.  A centering pass from the near boards went off of Raymond Sawada while he was being worked over by Brett Palin on their way to the crease.  The referee behind the goal line ruled it a goal, but Jeremy Smith got up right away and did some air-kicks to show everyone what he thought about the play.  The two referees discussed it at center ice, and to our surprise, waived it off.  In the NHL, the play would go to Toronto for review.  But in the AHL?  It’s up to the guys in the black and white striped shirts.  We try to be objective, and Sutty and I think the Admirals probably got away with that one.

Cory Conacher got called for tripping with 1:51 left in the first, after waiving his stick at a guy while he skated by in front of the Stars net.  That opened up the doors of the Milwaukee penalty box, as the next six penalties went against the Admirals into the 3^rd period.

“We can handle taking penalties that are warranted, but we can’t have little trips in front of their net 200 feet in front of our goal, or cross-checks behind the net,” Coach said.  “We shot ourselves in the foot with that.”

Philip Larsen took a Travis Morin pass that Jeremy Smith appeared to think was going to go across the ice.  Larsen tapped it in past Smith.  Sawada looked to be in the crease, but it was ruled a good goal.

Aaron Gagnon got credit for a goal about two and half minutes later.  Smith made an initial save, and then Gagnon and Andreas Thuresson were tied up heading to the crease.  The puck went off Gagnon and in.

In the 3^rd period, Ryan Thang was assessed a ghost holding penalty, and the combination of Travis Morin and Raymond Sawada made them pay.  From the far boards, Sawada skated with the puck behind the net.  Smith thought he was going to come out the other side, but Sawada instead offered a no-look backhand pass to Morin, who had a vacated net to shoot at.  Great decision and great play by Sawada, and boo on Smith for biting.

“The goaltender has to hold that side there, and make sure that that puck is coming out the other side before he moves,” Coach Lambert said.  “Give them credit, they made a great play and it worked.  But you can’t get caught cheating to the other side.”

After Thang’s penalty early in the third, four straight Stars were sent to the box. But the Admirals power play couldn’t convert on any of them.  Bachman made some great glove saves when the Admirals did have some good chances.  Bachman made 29 saves on the night, and should have been a star of the game. (we voted for him)

So now, it’s off to Austin for three road games.  And with the way the Admirals played on the road down the stretch, it may not be the worst thing in the world.

“We’re comfortable playing on the road, and we play well in Texas, so we’ve got that to look forward to,” Coach Lambert said. “Nobody said it was going to be an easy series.  Give them credit, they played hard.  I thought they elevated their game tonight.  We pride ourselves on details and so do they.  We made a mistake on a faceoff play that can’t happen.  You never know what little thing is going to end up hurting you and costing you a hockey game.”

NOTES:

Lines were the same as last game.

Bourque – Mueller – Thang
Thuresson – Van Guilder – Conacher
Santorelli  – Begin – Beck
Flynn – Bartlett – Ryan

So from those forward lines, how many of those players would you say were invisible tonight?

Do you like any of the goals that Smith gave up?

Waived off goal……Do you think the officials got the call right?

Mark Dekanich – no update on his progress….but he’s not making the trip.   Looked sharp, though.

Streaky penalties…..Three against the Stars, then six against the Admirals, and then four against the Stars.  Do you think the officials dictated play too much?

Anyone making the trip to Austin?

What adjustments do the Admirals need to make to be better in game 3?

Well this makes Texas’ gameplan for Game 2 pretty easy, right?

Stop Gabriel Bourque and Chris Mueller.

Those two combined for 9 points, as the Admirals shot down the Texas Stars 5-2 Thursday night in the first game of their playoff series.

Bourque’s five point night ties an Admirals playoff record.  Last person to have it?  Libor Pivko against Chicago in 2004.

Not bad for a 20 year old.

It was the Stars who were first to strike.  While Scott Ford sat in Johnson’s office for a cross check, the Stars made quick work of the odd man attack. 17 seconds later, Aaron Gagnon had the puck at the top of the near side circle, took a couple strides towards the net and fired a wrister that looked to have been deflected. The puck remained on target and past Jeremy Smith, who was being screened by Raymond Sawada.  The shot looked funny and had a weird trajectory,so I am assuming it was redirected. Perhaps some conspiracy theorist can look and come up with a grassy knoll type idea. Either way, the score counted, and the Ads were down halfway through the stanza.

The Admirals evened the match when Gabriel Bourque got the biscuit past Richard Bachman off of a great pass by Roman Josi. Andreas Thuresson got a loose puck on the near side boards and quickly sent it to the far side circle, where Josi gathered it. After a stride, he found Bourque crashing back side, and put the puck right on the tape, which Bourque converted into his first goal of the game.   It was a great play by all parties involved and woke up the crowd.

Just under three minutes later the Admirals extended their lead while on the Mountain Fury Power Play.  Bourque had the puck and was skating down the far side wall.  He dished the puck slightly forward to Mueller, who took the puck on the other side of the circle, skated around a defender, and put a back hand past Bachman short side for the Fury goal.  This was a goal off of great stick handling and also a great job by Bourque to find Mueller in space.

The Admirals kept the momentum going in the second period,  and scored a couple more goals.  The first came off Ryan Thang’s stick, and a great re-direct at that.  Mueller gathered the puck in the slot and unleashed an awkward shot that looked to be sailing high. Thang was being boxed out by a Stars D-man but was able to track it and make contact with the puck on his stick below the crossbar. The puck then went straight down and spun like a top over the line, right before another Stars D-man could bring it to safety. This play looked weird right from the start, but a great job by Thang to get some wood on it for the score.

The Stars had a golden opportunity to get back in the game, with the help of some 5-on-3 power play time.  Instead, it was the penalty kill unit and specifically Jeremy Smith who kept the momentum with the Admirals.  The 5-on-3 was courtesy of a Roman Josi Yonking penalty, and when Ford got called for “carrying two many sticks”.  It put the Admirals down two men for 1:05 and the the penalty kill unit was great. They found a way to keep the puck out of their net with the help of some great acrobatic saves by Smith. I tell you what, if there was a back breaker for the Stars in this game, that was it.

Coach Lambert says Smith was mirac…..great tonight.

What’s that? You want a little more of the Mueller and Bourque show? Well funny you should mention that.  Bam!!! Bourque goal!!!!! With a turnover in the Admirals o-zone Mueller was able to gather the rock and carry it to the near side corner where he spotted Bourque coming to the net near side. Mueller put a pinpoint pass on Bourque’s tape, and Gabriel took it top shelf to give the Admirals a three goal lead.

Mueller talks about the chemistry between himself and Bourque.

The third period started with a Texas goalie change, and a little bit later, a Stars goal. Mathieu Tousignant gathered the puck just atop the near circle and fired a shot that hit Grant Lewis, who was covering a crashing Stars player. Smith was unable to compensate for the redirection, and it beat him far side to half the deficit at 4-2. The goal was a great example of ‘get the shots on net and good things happen’. Nothing special, it was just the right place, right time, and a right decision by Tousignant.

With the crowd chanting encore like a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert that had yet to play Freebird, the Mueller and Bourque show continued to fly high, giving Bourque his fifth point and Mueller his second goal of the night. Bourque created the turnover,  and then shoved a pass to Mueller, who was near side down low. Mueller just casually skated in putting on a stick handling clinic, and eventually just putting the puck 5-hole on a frozen Tyler Beskorowany.

Mueller says it was just one of those nights.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS:

Lines started:

Bourque – Mueller – Thang
Thuresson – Van Guilder – Conacher
Santorelli – Begin – Beck
Flynn – Bartlett – Ryan

Lane shuffled them a bit in the 3^rd period, but after talking to Coach, we shouldn’t read too much into it

The Admirals scored five goals tonight.  They scored seven goals in the season series this year.

Surprised Beck got the call instead of Latta?

Describe the upgrade of Aaron Johnson over Jeff Foss.  How nice was it to have him back?

Ever seen that illegal stick call before?

When was the last time the Admirals had a #1 line like this?

What kind of game to you expect on Saturday night?