If the team wasn’t motivated by Coach Lambert to play with more energy and passion in this game, the Peoria Rivermen made them do it out of self-defense.

While the Rivermen likely won the hits stat category tonight, the Admirals scored twice in 11 seconds in the second period, en route to a 2-1 victory Sunday evening at the Bradley Center.

A much better game than Friday against the IceHogs.  Here’s Coach Lambert.

Mark Dekanich made 26 saves 31 saves (they added five after the game….gotta love it)  and the one that got by him was a great deflection from the slot by Derek Nesbitt.

Chris Mueller had a goal in the 1^st period.  It didn’t count though.  After getting behind the defense, he beat Jake Allen glove side.  And the Oscar goes to….Jake Allen!  For his role in scooping the puck back out from behind the goalline, and keeping the play going.  Fooled the goal judge and the referee.  But replays clearly showed it should have been a goal.

We had Roundtable resident digital sketch artist Johnny B give us this re-enactment of Mueller’s goal.

It gives Coach another chance to plea for video replay.

Mark Van Guilder scored the first Admiral goal that counted.  Kelsey Wilson was skating with the puck around the boards behind the goal line.  But instead of taking it with him behind the net, he fired a quick pass to Van Guilder in front of the net on the near side.

11 seconds later (sure felt like less than `11 seconds), Mike Bartlett used his speed to get behind the defense for a breakaway, and beat Jake Allen glove side.  It was a pretty good move, and may move Bartlett up the charts a bit on the shootouts.

The two goals were the second quickest Admiral goals this season, with the fastest pair coming in at ten seconds against Rockford January 29^th….featuring  Geoffrion and Bartlett.

Later in the period, Mark Cundari boarded Linus Klasen into the near boards.  He was assessed a five minute boarding major, a game misconduct, and we won’t be surprised if the league asks him to take a few more games off too.  All of the Rivermen were taking their shots at Klasen over the first half of the game, finishing their checks and making sure he heard footsteps.  Here’s the coach:

Klasen played on the power play that resulted from the hit, but did not come back for another shift after that.  And he won’t be making the road trip.

NOTES:

Lines:

Wilson – Van Guilder – Thuresson
Bourque – Mueller – Klasen
Flynn – Bartlett – Hunter
McBride – Shields – Thang

Thang moved up to the Mueller line after Klasen’s hit.

The Admirals were not penalized at all in the game.  In the last two games, they’ve just taken one penalty.  17 minutes for Cundari, and a bench minor for too many men on the ice.  Sounds like a typical Jeff Smith game.

Speaking of Jeff Smith – yeah, it’s frustrating to see some of the liberties that our opponent was able to get away with….but it’s a Jeff Smith game.  This is what happens in Jeff Smith games.  He lets them play.  He gets in the way of live play.  He looks bored most of the time.  Anything else would have been surprising.  I’m just happy to see he got the Cundari call correct.

Five of the Rivermen’s previous seven games were against the Wolves.  Maybe some Andre Deveaux rubbed off on them in preparation for this game?  Pretty awful scheduling quirk.

Houston also won, so the Admirals still will hold down the top spot in the division by one point.

Sutty is considering litigation against Roscoe after that cheese race.  Yes, Sutty dressed as Beer Cheese tonight.  But it’s Roscoe’s birthday, so I don’t think his argument will hold up in court.

Questions For Discussion:

Did you feel like our guys were getting beaten up?  Do you think the team did a good job using its speed to neutralize the physicality?  Are you surprised there wasn’t a fight?

Do you think the power play is better with or without Klasen?  We haven’t been able to give out our Mountain Fury power play bottles these last two games….

Do they look like a playoff team?  Do you remember the last time they played a full 60 minutes?

And why have goal judges if the referee won’t even talk to them?

That’s head coach Lane Lambert after the IceHogs 2-0 victory over the Admirals Friday night.

Hannu Toivonen stopped all the shots he faced, and the IceHogs rode a power play and empty net goal to the victory.

“We didn’t play good enough.  He made a couple of fantastic saves, yes, but we didn’t generate enough opportunities.  I’m very bothered by this game.  I’m disappointed in our push, and the fact that we in my mind, didn’t come out and generate enough passion or energy into this game, and there’s no excuse for it.”

The first two periods came and went as the Admirals and IceHogs failed to record any goals, drop the gloves or really dent the scoresheet in any way. The first period came and went in about 32 minutes real time and contained as many whistle stoppages as the Daytona 500. ‘bout as exciting as it also. (Note: not a NASCAR fan)

(Editor’s note:  Sutty has been advised that he’s going to probably be flamed for that comment.  -RM)

The second period also went by very fast, but did however contain the game’s first two penalties. Rob Klinkhammer went to the bin for a slash, and Brandon Pirri served a too many men on the ice penalty for the IceHogs. I bet right about now you are wondering why we are talking about two rather uneventful penalties and frankly the only answer I have is, whelp, because that was all that was noteworthy. Did the Ads have shots on goals? Sure. Did they have good chances? Yep. Are you wondering why I am still typing? Me too!

The third period was a little more eventful.

At the 6 minute mark, Toivonen made a save that I am sure will go on his highlight reel.  With the Admirals driving the zone a centering pass was made in front of the net where the “down and out” Toivonen was able to sprawl out and knock the puck up into the air, eventually corralling it up, to the sadness of everyone cheering for the good guys.  One of the best saves we’ve seen this year.

The stalemate was broken at the 12:41 mark of the third period, when Brian Connelly scored from just above the near faceoff circle. Earlier in the shift, Chris Mueller got hit in the face with or by something and went down. The puck was cleared; Mueller got up but was unable to get off the ice. Connely re-entered the zone with the puck, as the slow moving Mueller was trying to defend the play. Connelly wound up and sent the puck past a defensive Mueller and past a shocked Mark Dekanich for the first score of the game.  Looked like it went off his helmet and in.

Coach Lambert doesn’t like the play that led to the penalty, that eventually led to the goal.

“We got caught out of position in the defensive zone and we had to slash.  We’re in game 64 now.  We work on positioning in the D zone all the time.  And it’s times like now….like I say, you never know when five seconds is going to win or lose you a hockey game.  Everything comes in to play.  Everything.  All the details.”

The Admirals pulled Dekanich with 1:23 left in the match and were unable to convert as the Icehogs added to their lead with an empty net goal by Igor Markarov during a much needed (but sloppy) Admiral line change.  Klasen had to have been out there for 3 minutes.

NOTES:

Mark Santorelli was scratched…perhaps by his cat before the game, and did not play as a result of the injury.  Shields, McBride, and Hunter played.  And Klasen and Josi returned after missing some time.

Did I mention it was a fast game?  It’s 9:31 right now as I’m typing this.  We should just be finishing up the third period about now.

Roscoe should have been better at the axe throwing contest.  I’m just saying.

Got to hand it to Dekanich and Toivonen.  Both made some outstanding saves.

Not happy about losing to Rockford.  Houston and Texas both lost in shootouts… so they inched closer, but Milwaukee holds on to 1^st place.  Except for the game on the 26^th, we’ll be cheering for Rockford from here on out, though.  Anytime they can beat someone else, that can only be good for us!

It’s a four game home losing streak now.  Here’s the coach:

“In those four games we’ve lost at home, we’ve played well enough to win three of them.  We’ve scored four goals in the four losses.  Total.  So you’re not going to win too many games when you score a goal a game.”

What kind of adjustment does the team need to make for Peoria Sunday?

“Have some life, energy, and passion.”

The question I’ll leave you with – Is Sunday evening against Peoria a MUST-WIN game to get the train back on the track?