(Photo credits:  Eric W Kent)

Anders Lindback got the start for the fourth time in five days, and had some good moments and bad moments, as the Admirals lost to the Rockford IceHogs 4-3 in overtime Saturday night.

The Admirals never led in the game, coming back from three one-goal deficits, but still managed to get out of town with a point in the standings.

After putting his whistle away in the 3^rd period, Shaun Davis whistled Teemu Laakso for a cross-checking call 1:34 into the overtime period.  The IceHogs converted with a Ben Smith goal from down low, that popped over a down Lindback.

Here’s Coach Lambert on the overtime period.

“The first thing I saw was a bad call, from a guy driving to the net who gets pushed off balance.   And then I saw our guy get picked twice, on a set play that they run…that’s interference.  And then I don’t know how the puck went in the net.”

Here’s the penalty, and the goal…

Evan “Don’t Taze Me” Brophey opened the scoring just 42 seconds into the contest with a shot that Lindback had trouble tracking.

The Admirals answered back with a power play goal by Kelsey Wilson.  After Aaron Johnson’s shot from the point was saved but not covered, Wilson finished the job in the crease.

Rob Klinkhammer was the best player on the ice for both teams tonight, and he shifted into another gear past Admiral defenders on multiple occasions.  In the second period, one led to a shot wide of the net.  A couple minutes later, it was a goal.

Ryan Flynn answered back later in the period, skating with the puck from the near boards to the slot, and his backhander beat Alec Richards.  Richards had Dylan Hunter in front of the net to worry about, that may have helped open some space for the shot.

The 3^rd IceHogs goal is just unacceptable.  A shot from Jeff Taffe deflected off of Scott Ford’s skates and bounced softly right on net.  Easy glove and cover, right?  Wrong.  Lindback couldn’t cover it, and Klinkhammer was Johnny-on-the-spot for his second goal of the game.

“I didn’t like the third goal,” Coach said after the game.  “I don’t know if I necessarily like any of the goals.  I thought he struggled with his rebound control  and he struggled playing the puck.  I think it caught up with us in the end.”

The Admirals tied the game again with a Mike Bartlett goal at 10:53 of the third period.  Ryan Flynn had a shot, and the rebound went through the defenders skates at the left post.  Bartlett was there to bury it.

Lines were shuffled tonight, and that Bartlett – Hunter- Flynn line was OUTSTANDING.  And Coach agrees.

“Bartlett, I thought was his best game of the year by far. Flynn wasn’t far behind him, and Hunter is a solid and responsible guy.”

NOTES:

Asked after the game how much longer he expected to have Lindback on the roster, Coach Lambert said, “He’s going to be here for about 45 minutes and then he’s going back.”

Roman Josi left the game with an injury.  They’re calling it a lower body injury, and don’t know what the outlook is.

Houston won tonight, so the Aeros now sit one point back of the Admirals in the standings, and have played three more games.

DISCUSSION POINTS:

How would you grade Lindback?

With Blum in Nashville and Josi possibly hurt, that really puts a dent in the defensive corps.   Is it Scott Lehman time, or do you think the Admirals sign someone else to a PTO?

Most….creative….headline….ever.

Finding themselves a bit shorthanded after the recalls of Blake Geoffrion and Matt Halischuk, the road-weary Admirals had a difficult time solving Drew MacIntyre, as the Chicago Wolves defeated the home team 2-1 on Dropkick Murphys night.

Anders Lindback picked up his first AHL loss, and had a hand in giving up the game winning goal, misplaying the puck behind the net while the Admirals were on a power play.

Despite the goof, Coach Lane Lambert was complimentary of his goalie after the game.

“I thought he made a ton of great saves.  He kept us in the game at the start when we were on the penalty kill.  I thought he played an outstanding game.  Those kinds of things happen once in awhile.   I thought our team played hard, I thought we battled, I thought we had more than enough opportunities to win the hockey game, and it didn’t work out for us.”

After a scoreless first period, former Admiral Mark Matheson was first to beat Lindback.  On a rush up the right wing, Fredrik Pettersson left a touch pass for Andre Deveaux, who left a touch pass for Matheson, who fired a shot from the top of the near circle that was perfectly placed in the top left corner of the net.  It was a perfect shot, and you have to tip your hat to “Mad Dog”.

With Squirrel Face (see the glossary) serving a high sticking penalty, Tim Miller met Lindback behind the net.  Lindback misplayed the puck, and Miller’s wrap around  made it a 2-0 lead.

With 1:43 left in the game, Mark Van Guilder deflected an Aaron Johnson shot from the far face-off dot, to give the Admirals some late hope.  But they couldn’t beat MacIntyre again.

Andreas Thuresson had a shot that bounced off the bottom of the crossbar and then straight down on top of the goal-line.  Close play, but the no-goal call looked to be the correct one.

Coach recognizes the tough part of the schedule, but isn’t interested in making it an excuse.

“We knew this was going to be a tough stretch for us playing 11 games in 15 nights.  Not a lot of rest and on our off-days we’ve been traveling.  So welcome to the American Hockey League!  There’s your incentive to play in the National Hockey League. “

NOTES:

LINES

Here’s how they started….

Thang – Hunter – Thuresson
Bourque – Mueller – Santorelli
Wilson – Van Guilder – Flynn
Shields – McLean – Bartlett

Hunter had been playing well lately, but I would rather not have seen Bartlett drawing the short straw and having to start with the 4^th line of doom.

Admirals were awful early on winning face-offs, but got better towards the end of the game.  And I think they actually had a great game keeping pucks in at the offensive blue line, which we’re not really used to seeing.

See anything interesting about Shields or McLean tonight?

Klasen is still day-to-day with that upper-body injury.  But he’s very unlikely to play tomorrow in Rockford.

Which goalie do you want to see tomorrow in Rockford?  Lindback or Smith?  It would be Lindback’s fourth in five days.  But he’s here to get some work in.  What do you think?

Do you miss Jon Blum?

How long before Blake comes back from his promotional call-up to the big club?