The Admirals are going to the big dance.

Thanks to their 3-2 shootout win over the San Antonio Rampage, the Admirals have punched their Calder Cup playoff ticket.  New guy Atte Engren got the start, and came up huge in the shootout, for his first North American W.

Coach Lambert liked the improvement from Engren’s last start.

“I thought he did a very good job of making some adjustments tonight compared to when he played on Saturday in Rockford.  He played well.”

The game really didn’t get started until the second period and it was the Rampage that got things going.  While Mark Van Guilder was in the sin bin, the Rampage were peppering the crease with shots from all over the zone.  One shot from the near side was kicked to the far side by Engren.  After the save Engren seemed to have tripped or fell but was doing barrel rolls to the opposite side of the crease, and that made for easy pickings for Garrett Stafford, netting his 13^th on the year at the 2:42 mark.  I don’t want to say this goal was Engren’s fault completely, but he seemed to be a bit out of position and unable to get back to a sound hockey position after the initial stop.

The next penalty was called on the Rampage and the Admirals were able to even the score on that power play.  Nick Ross was serving a hooking penalty, and just under a minute later Teemu Laakso put the bisquik in the basket at the 12:12 point.  The play started with the Admirals doing a great job containing the zone when the puck came to Andreas Thuresson, who pushed the puck up to Santorelli on the near side and a couple feet from the cage.  Santo found  Laakso crashing the back side and had a great pass though the crease to the tape of Teemu, and it went to the back of the net immediately.

Exactly 2 minutes later the Admirals took the lead with a delayed penalty goal by Grant Lewis and one for his highlight reel for sure. With Engren out and the extra attacker in for the Admirals, the o-zone was shrinking on Matt Climie. Kelsey Wilson dished the pass forward to Grant Lewis who had some room to move. He took a stride or two forward and was tripped by Viktor Tikhonov but on Lewis’s way to the ice he put on a shot that beat Climie for Grant’s 7^th on the year. This was a great play for Lewis, and a great job by the Ads to get the extra skater out there for added pressure. While the goal doesn’t count as a power play goal it was still with an odd man advantage.

“I don’t know if their team let up at all,” Coach Lambert said.  “Sometimes you can have a tendency to do that, thinking that you’re going to get the puck and the whistle’s going to blow.  He made a great individual effort, obviously, he showed his size and strength and his reach with the play, and made a great play.”

The Rampage tied the game shortly after the Lewis goal on a fluky and incredibly lucky goal by Randy Robitaille at 17:56. With the Admirals struggling to cover or clear the puck, the Rampage were working against a tired Milwaukee crew. After a shot put on Engren that was turned aside, the puck caromed out to the far face off dot. Robitaille skated up to it, spun around, and tried to pass/shoot the puck to the near side boards.  The puck found Brock McBride’s skate which was in the crease following the puck. The puck just smoothly skimmed the ice towards the net and nothing anyone could do to stop it. The goal was unassisted (by a Rampage player) and gave Robitaille his 5^th on the year.

The 3^rd period came and went just like the first period and in the overtime both goalies came up big on a couple occasions forcing the game to go into a shoot out.  Engren stopped the first three shots he faced, and allowed a goal on the fourth attempt to Viktor Tikhonov.  Meanwhile, Gabriel “Money shot” Bourque, Roman Josi, and Andreas Thuresson all beat Matt Climie, to give the Admirals the shootout win.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS:

Time to start growing your playoff beards.  Gentlemen AND ladies.  It starts tonight.

“It’s been a grind all year long,” Coach Lambert said.  “Our team, even though we’ve had some call-ups and injuries, has done a very good job of being resilient.   Especially down the stretch here right now.   We’ve created enough separation….we’ve made the playoffs and that’s step one.  Now the step is to fight for first place.”

Steve Begin was back, and took a really dumb penalty in the first period to put the Admirals down two men. He did have a great return on investment because I think he drew 2 or 3 penalties for the Admirals also.  High marks for the penalty kill early on.

Man, Bourque is on fire in the shootout.   He has scored in his last three shootout attempts.  And way for Thuresson to come up boo-yah huge, on just his 2^nd attempt of the year.

I’m just gonna say what we’re all thinking.  We love Ryan, but he’s still a bit green.  But that’s okay.  He’s just keeping Matt Moore’s seat warm for him.

I think Engren was better tonight than he was on Saturday in Rockford, but he sure does come with a fair share of fan anxiety. He seems a bit jumpy and very excited to skate out of the crease.  Excluding Chet Pickard, who was the last goalie that made you nervous every time the opposing team would enter the zone?

Did you like the dodgeball game, or was it another excuse to take a lap or two around the concourse?

Ryan Thang is quietly playing great. The past couple games he has really been fighting and making good things happen on rushes.

So Austin Watson is here.  And a couple others (not Beck, Ellis, or Latta) will be signed to ATO contracts tomorrow.  We asked Lane if he thinks they may be playing at some point this weekend.

“We’ll see.  Obviously our team is sort of built on our fundamentals and our structure and we want to make sure that we don’t throw anybody to the Wolves so to speak before they are ready to play.  We want to people in the best possible position to succeed, so tomorrow will be a big day for all those guys.”

My translation:  Bring your “A” game to practice, and then MAYBE we’ll talk about ice time.

The Mountain Fury Power Play would be the difference in the game tonight, as the Admirals scored 2 special team goals to beat the San Antonio Rampage Sunday evening 2-1. With both teams playing their third game in as many days the question was how the teams would respond.  Here’s what coach Lambert thought about the weekend, which gave the Admirals five of a possible six points in the standings.

The Admirals had their first Mountain Fury Power Play of the game at the 6:06 mark of the first.  Being bored with the normal 2 minutes given for a minor infraction, the Admirals chose to convert at the 6:12 mark of the first period. Randy Robitaille didn’t even have a chance to sit down in the box before Teemu Laakso netted his 5^th goal of the year.  Ryan Thang was able to gather the face off and send the puck to the far point to Roman Josi. Roman then sent the rink wide pass to Laakso who gathered and fired beating Jimmy Joe Fallon top right for the first goal of the game.

The second period was also beneficial for the special teams as both squads lit the lamp with a power play goal. It was San Antonio that was first to score in the frame. With Dylan Hunter in the box for a tripping call it was the Rampage’s Mathieu Beaudoin who netted the equalizer at the 3:12 mark. Beaudoin was down low around the goal line when he put an innocent enough shot on net that just squeaked past the lazy leg of Jeremy Smith and just over the line for his 21^st on the year. It was one of those plays that would not be a goal 9 times out of 10 but this is the time he caught Smith sleeping a little.

Despite that play, Coach Lambert was pleased with Smith’s performance, and how he’s been playing in general of late.

Not to be outdone the Admirals answer back at 15:41. This Mountian Fury Power Play was brought to us by a Matt “one point twenty one giga” Watkins slashing penalty. The Admirals had an odd man rush entering the offensive zone, but the Rampage were quick on their heels. Kelsey Wilson was carrying the zone along the far boards when he sent a pass backwards and across the rink to Johnson, who fired a shot on net.  Johnson’s shot was stopped by the pad of Fallon (no, still not Jimmy) and Andreas Thuresson was there to stuff home the loose change.  This goal was Thuresson’s 3^rd in two days.

The Ads were outshot 14-6 in the third period, which is kind of what we expected considering the long weekend.  But Smith and the Admirals defense were up to the task, and keep their hold on 1^st place in the West Division.

The Admirals magic number is now…………… 2.   Wednesday sounds like a great day to punch the playoff ticket, don’t you think?   See you back here at the BC then.

Notes:

Ford drops the gloves for the second time in as many days. It was an okay bout.  Better than his fight yesterday.

Injuries:  Dylan Hunter took a stick to the face and went down to the ice. When he got up he had a nice little pool of blood under him.  His status you ask?  Coach says upper body injury, and he doesn’t know the timetable yet.  Conor Shields update, by popular demand:  He had Butler and VCU in the final four.  Steve Begin is likely to be back in the lineup this week, maybe even Wednesday.  Dekanich and Klasen are not “out for the year”, but probably won’t play again in the regular season.

Other than the “lazy leg” goal smith was very consistent. I can’t recall any big WOW saves or remember any moments where I covered my eyes and had to peek through my fingers either.

Santorelli was a scratch…. Again… Must be that cat-scratch.

QUESTIONS:

Does the power play look to be fixed?  Or is it more of the same, just with some good bounces?

Do you like the dog promotion?  I always feel bad for those that sing the National Anthem on dog days….I hope they don’t take it personally!

If Smith keeps playing well when Dex is ready to go, do you think they’ll play the hot hand, or is Smith just keeping the crease paint warm for Dex?