Since Ryan was walking around reading off of blue note cards for the game, you’ve got me for the recap again tonight.  I apologize in advance.

The Admirals were looking to get that bad taste out of their mouth from the loss suffered at the hands of the IceHogs last night. They hosted the road weary Houston Aeros, who entered tonight’s matchup just 3 points behind the Ads.  Still missing top producers Linus Klasen and Chris Mueller, the Admirals were forced to find production from elsewhere in the lineup.  They found it in three different forwards, and were able to hang on for a 3-2 victory over the Aeros.

While a better effort than last night, Coach Lambert says it wasn’t a complete game.  Here are some quotes.

Ryan Thang answered the call for offense halfway through the first.  At the 9:18 mark, Matt Halischuk was skating the puck right between the circles when he was met by two Aeros defenders that jarred the puck loose. Thang was trailing Halischuk and in perfect position for said jarred puck. Thang put a slap shot on net that beat Anton Khudobin  to give the Admirals the lead.  The goal was Thang’s third on the year with the helper going to Hallischuck.

The lead would not last the period as the Aeros are able to score 16:17 into the stanza. What seemed to be a harmless shot from the point by Nate Prosser quickly turned into a dangerous redirect, resulting in an Aeros goal. With Prosser at the far point and an Admirals player crashing on him, he put the slap shot on net with traffic in front.  Admirals Roundtable correspondents didn’t see who got a piece of it but the puck quickly went to the ground and beat goaltender Mark Dekanich glove side.  I think the goal was Prosser’s way of sticking it to the Admirals production crew for putting him on the Harry’s Bar and Grille Kiss Cam with a teammate.   (Where is Mitch Love when you need him?)

The Admirals came out for the second period determined to get more opportunities, however five more shots was all they could muster (wait, 5 shots? That’s all they got 5 GD shots? [ Ryan:] hey you can’t type GD on the Interweb. [Sutty] Don’t worry, they can’t read).  Both teams looked sloppy at times but it was the Admirals once again that looked uncomfortable with each other. Way too many turnovers and not enough shooting. The Admirals power play in the second period gave me the impression that we had 5 Cal O’Reilly’s out there because no one wanted to SHOOT THE PUCK CAL!!!!!!!  Sorry had a flash back right there.

The real story of the second period was MARK “I Just Bailed You Out” Dekanich. Not once, not twice, not even thrice. Dex was standing on his head for most all of the shots he faced. He defused a breakaway, he stonewalled a couple of great attempts from right in front, and I think I even saw him save a young child in section 209 who was choking on his pretzel with cheese.  With any other goalie out there the score would most certainly be much larger in favor of the bad guys, but as it stood they were still tied 1-1.

Coach Lambert says Mark is responsible for the big win.

The third period got started with a bang and a pow.  Just 1:35 into the third period Scott Ford shot a puck from the point that struck Aeros winger in the upper body. After striking the Aeros player the puck caromed over to Jamie Lundmark who was at the near side blue line. Lundmark was able to skate up a bit to the top of the circle and put a shot on net that glanced off Ryan Thang in front of the net, and deflected off the back glass.  The puck still had enough juice behind it to bounce back to the front of the net on the other side to a waiting Matt Halischuk, who put the puck in the vacant net. The tally was Halischuk’s 7^th on the year and good enough to give the Admirals the 2-1 lead.

Before the acclaimed Matt Moore (announcer extraordinaire) could utter those responsible for the goal Blake Geoffrion took a pass just inside the blue line from Mark Santorelli.  Geoffrion wound up from the high-high slot and delivered a slap shot that beat Khudobin to give the Admirals the 3-1 lead. The Admirals, scoring two goals in less than 10 seconds, finally had the look of a confident team.

But as they say, the two-goal lead is the most dangerous lead in hockey, even if it was only for one minute and eight seconds.  With Josi in the bin for tripping, the Aeros took advantage of the extra attacker. The play was eerily similar to something I have seen in the past. Like the very recent past. The Aeros’ Chad Rau (like in Street Fighter….haduiken! eh, close enough) fed a puck to the far side point to Maxim Noreau, who put a shot on net through traffic. Only on this shot we do know who redirected it. It was Cody Almond, who changed the course of the puck and beat Dex low glove side.

LINES:

Lane shuffled em up a bit tonight.

Bourque – Geoffrion – Santorelli
Wilson – Begin – Thuresson
Thang – Lundmark – Halischuk
Bartlett – Van Guilder – Hunter

BEST CROWD OF THE SEASON!  For reals.

Let’s go straight to the questions for discussion:

Was this a good rebound game for Geoffrion?  Better to fight with his scoring than his fists? (I don’t know what that even means).  Should we have him do autograph corner EVERY night?

This just in.  Through extensive research, fact finding, soul searching, mathematical analysis, and advanced calculus, it has been concluded that I, Andrew “Sutty” Sutliff, have scored as many goals as Andreas Thuresson in the last 28 games.

What else can we say about Mark Dekanich?  He’s got the swagger.

Should the Admirals keep Bob Vila on retainer, just in case some more stuff breaks?  I hear that was the second time a door has been broken from these new boards…

 

Grant Lewis got to play tonight.

Oh, you want to know why?  Ok.  Teemu Laakso has a lower body injury.  He’s day-to-day….it’s not expected to be serious.

Did I mention it was the best crowd of the year?

Anything else you’d like to share?

(BTW:  Thanks to Andy Grebe for providing the sound clips)

After a 2-1 win against the IceHogs in Rockford Sunday night, the Admirals dropped the second half of the home-and-home set in unspectacular fashion, losing to the IceHogs 4-1.

With Linus Klasen and Chris Mueller up with Nashville, others needed to step up their games.  And nobody really did.

Early on, Kelsey Wilson tried to light a fire under his team at the 5:36 mark, as he and Kyle Hagel dropped the gloves, shed their helmets and circled the blue line for a good ole fashion fisticuffs.  Once they locked up it was a great fight as Wilson got out to the early lead with a good couple jabs. Hagel wouldn’t be out done and had some crosses and jabs of his own. The fight lasted a good while and after it was all done the score card was given to Hagel. They both spent the subsequent five minutes in Johnson’s office to think about what they did.

Half way through the first period, Ryan Thang was called for a questionable slashing offense whilst (yea, I said whilst, what ya gonna do about it?) in the offensive zone.  With the IceHogs up a man, they quickly converted at 10:54 when Peter LeBlanc sent the puck around the boards to Brandon Pirri on the near boards near the face of circle. Pirri gathered and sent a pass to Mathis Olimb at the point who put a cannonade on net and beat Ads goaltender Mark Dekanich high side through traffic. The goal was Olimb’s fourth on the year and gave the IceHogs the 1-0 lead.

The Admirals had their chances in the first but were unable to convert. With 2:05 to go in the stanza Roman Josi got through the defense and into the slot where it was just he and IceHogs goaltender Hannu Toivonen.  Josi tried to put a quick move on the goaltender but was stonewalled in the process.  The Admirals would surrender the first period trailing 0-1.

8:24 in the second period Dylan Hunter evened the score 1-1 with a goal from about 2 feet out. Gabriel Bourque was fed the puck at the point and he fed it to Laakso on the far side blue line. Laakso fired a shot on net that Toivonen initially saved but couldn’t control. The puck spit out to Hunter who was waiting in the slot and put the rebound past the goaltender.  The tally was Hunter’s first goal of the season in his 3^rd game played with the Admirals this season.

Both teams got into penalty trouble in the second period but it was the IceHogs who capitalized on the opportunity.  Matt Halischuck (second game back from injury) was sent to the sin bin for a slash at 17:35 and 1:14 later Ben Smith gave the IceHogs the lead again. Jeff Taffe dished the puck to Smith who skated down the near side and fired a puck on net from the right faceoff circle. The uncontested shot beat Dex short side about glove height. It was most likely a shot that Dex would have stopped 9 times out of 10 but failed on this attempt.

The third period didn’t prove any easier for the Admirals. At 5:45 in the 3^rd Ben Smith got behind the defense and put a shot on goal that Dex was able to knock down with his glove but not contain. The Admirals’ Aaron Johnson tried to clear with a backhanded swing. Johnson was able to hit the puck but unfortunately for him, right into the crashing Evan Brophey.  Brophey was able to gather the puck from the bottom of the near circle and put on a shot from a sharp angle that found the little daylight that Dekanich gave him.  The goal was Brophey’s 3rd of the season giving the IceHogs a 3-1 lead.

(BEGIN RANT)

That goal would be more than enough to beat the stagnant Admirals as the IceHogs went on to win 4-1. From the start of the match the Admirals seemed complacent and lacking on, well, offense (duh statement of the month, and coming from me that says a lot).  With the lack of offensive production we could make excuses that the Admirals were still without their production guys in Klasen (15 goals) and Mueller (12 goals).  We also could talk about how the vuvuzelas were super distracting and the Admirals couldn’t focus.   Or we could even talk about why the NFL would move a game to Tuesday when they know Lane has Vick going at QB in his keeper league and needs 25 points to win it all.

Instead we should focus on some other questions, like why hasn’t Thuresson scored in over 2 months, or who is going to step up on this team and start to score goals.

Oh, and Blake Geoffrion?  Your attempt at that fight pretty much summed up the entire game.  Outmatched.

(END RANT)

They’ll try again tomorrow against Houston.  Feel free to leave a rant of your own in the comments section.

Hope everyone had a great holiday yesterday.

The Admirals scored two more power play goals, and that’s all they needed, defeating the Rockford IceHogs 2-1 Sunday evening.

The last four Admiral goals have come with the man-advantage.

After a scoreless 1st period, Blake Geoffrion converted 9:09 into the second, unleashing a one-time snapshot from the near face-off dot, after taking a feed from Jon Blum.  It was Blake’s second goal of the year, and second on the power play.

Just 1:27 later on another power play, Jon Blum scored his fourth of the year, and second in as many games.  After the Ads lost the opening power play face-off and had to regroup in their own zone, they were able to set up shot in the offensive zone.  Roman Josi’s pass to Blum at the center of the point gave him a shooting lane, and his blast beat goaltender Alec Richards stick-side.

Another controvercial goaltender interference call, with the Admirals as beneficiaries.  With three seconds left in the game and already on a power play after Matt Halischuk was called for Yonking, Ryan Potulny was called for G.A. while engaged with Steve Begin.

The Admirals didn’t need to call anyone up to replace Linus Klasen on the roster, because the previously-alluded-to Matt Halischuk was able to return to action for the first time in awhile.  Halischuk had one shot on goal, and was assessed that untimely Yonking penalty.

Aaron Johnson missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury, allowing Grant Lewis to get some ice time.

Day off Monday, rematch with the IceHogs Tuesday at the Bradley Center.

As for Klasen…He had 16:21 of ice time, and his one shot on goal was one of 32 that didn’t beat Jaroslav Halak.  Blues win 2-0 over Preds.  Klasen was not on ice for the even strength goal in the 2nd period or the empty netter in the 3rd.  Linus played along side Goc and Kostitsyn, and accounts say that he wasn’t out of place.

After a disappointing effort against the Wolves on Saturday, the Admirals rebounded with a much better performance Tuesday night, beating the Wolves 3-2 in a shootout.

LINKS:  Box score, Ads recap, Wolves recap, Game highlights (thank you Wolfkeeper), Kulda lynching

I won’t go into the descriptions of each goal, as the highlights speak for themselves, and the play-by-play guys do a pretty good job with analysis.  But I’ll share some thoughts…

– Some fluky goals against tonight, and the interesting thing is that’s not usually how the Wolves beat you.  It’s usually skill, speed, power-play, and crashing the net.  But the two goals?  A long shot catching Dex cheating, and a play where Dex kind of taps it in himself.  Despite those goals, good marks to Dekanich and the defense for neutralizing the high powered offense.

– Dex really did settle down after that first goal.  Very poised, and stayed that way with all the chaos around him, and getting run into a few times.  The Admirals had a goaltending interference penalty called in their favor tonight, with Riley Holzapfel bowling into Dekanich at the end of the second period.  That was the penalty that gave the Admirals the power play that they tied the game with.  The Wolves complained was that Holzapfel was pushed by Brett Palin, but I’m not sure the physics work out in their favor.  Palin was late with his push, and had he been successful, I think it would have pushed Holzapfel wide of the net.  Yes, he did get a get a little bit of Holzapfel, but I think Riley still had time and space to avoid contact with Dekanich.  I think it was the right call.  But I had the benefit of replays….the ref had to make a call on a bang-bang play.  In defense of the Wolves, the ref did let a ton of stuff go, and a lot of that was to Milwaukee’s advantage.

– Touching on the 2nd Wolves goal for a moment.  The ref didn’t have a good angle on the puck, and I think one could make the argument (Lane probably tried to) that the play should have been blown dead as soon as he lost site of the puck.  The camera angles were great, but the ref doesn’t have those.  He didn’t call it a goal right away, but after discussion with the linesmen, and a conversation on a phone in the penalty box area, the play was ruled a goal.  I’m certainly not arguing that the puck didn’t cross the line, and credit the goal judge for being on top of it.  We’re able to read Lane’s lips in the highlight video…I’d be interested to know what the ref said back to him.

And Wolfkeeper (or anyone else who may know) — is the league testing out video replay in the All-State Arena?  Any idea who was on the other end of that Bat-phone call?

– Great special teams from the Admirals.  Great puck movement on the power play.  Some nights pucks bounce over sticks at the blue line and passes aren’t clean.  Tonight they moved the puck well, and won battles down low to spend a lot of time in the attack zone during their power play chances.

– I’d be interested to know what Lundmark was yapping about after his shootout goal.  But man….Mannino looked like a different goalie in the shootout.  If you’re going to try to poke it away like that he did on Lundmark’s attempt, you better get it.

– After going backhand and forehand on previous shootout attempts/penalty shots against the Wolves, Klasen goes five-hole.  Way to keep ’em guessing!  Pretty good offensive night for Klasen on the stat sheet, and overall play too.

– Took the camera folks less than 3 minutes to put my wife and I on the Megatron.  Grand.  We elected to find some new seats.

– 3 stars on the box score?  Not the 3 that were announced.  Mannino and Machacek were in the original announcement, if I recall correctly…

– Preds are playing the Blackhawks Wednesday night, and the Preds brass made the trip to Rosemont tonight.  I had the chance to talk with Coach Trotz and Mr. Poile, and we’ll share some of their thoughts with you over the holiday break.

Discussion?  Watch the highlights and opine away!