Nashville’s AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals, dropped their fifth straight contest on Friday night in a 2-1 loss to the Rockford IceHogs. This was Rockford’s second matchup since their head coach, Jeremy Colliton, was hired by their parent club, the Chicago Blackhawks, to replace Joel Quenneville. Rockford lost on Wednesday night 3-0 to the Iowa Wild.
This was another uneventful start for these two teams going into the Friday night matchup, the second of the year for these two teams. The first period saw no goals for either club. The first also had an uncharacteristically low amount of penalties for Milwaukee. Milwaukee committed just one penalty at 6:07 when right-winger Zach Magwood was called for tripping. Rockford also had a penalty early in the period at 1:23 when goalie Anton Forsberg was called for tripping. The penalty was served by Henrik Samuelsson. Milwaukee led in shots on goal during the first period with 9, while Rockford only had 5. Both teams seemed to be putting out equal effort throughout the first. There was a lot of back and forth hockey and a few quality scoring chances for the Admirals, but Forsberg was up to the task on each.
The second period saw more in terms of scoring. Both teams had 6 shots on goal through the second period. At 14:42 Rockford right-winger Justin Auger scored his first goal of the season, beating Milwaukee netminder Tom McCollum. Milwaukee wasn’t far behind to tie the game up at one when at 15:28 Colin Blackwell showed off his tremendous speed. He picked up possession at center ice and skated around the Rockford defenders to backhand the puck through Forsberg’s left side. This was Blackwell’s third goal of the season; his second in two games. Blackwell missed several weeks of hockey due to an injury that took place during the first week of the season. There were no assists on the play. The second also could very well be the first period of hockey the Admirals have played this season without a single penalty. Neither team was called during the second, despite some plays by the IceHogs that looked as though there should have been whistles.
The third period seemed very similar to the first period of this game. There was a lot of back and forth hockey; each team had a few quality scoring chances. Eeli Tolvanen was called at 5:24 for tripping, as was Tyler Gaudet at 9:40. Rockford’s Connor Moynihan was called for 13:09 giving Milwaukee its best powerplay chance of the night. The Admirals had a slapshot from the point that ricocheted off the cross bar, causing the goal light to turn on. The referee waved it off and play continued. At 15:59 Rockford’s Joni Tuulola scored his first goal of the season through a perfect screen in front of Tom McCollum. The Admirals pulled McCollum with around two minutes left to play in the third. There was about 20 seconds of play where the Admirals lost the offensive zone and had to defend an empty net. Matt Donovan stood in goal for a good five seconds while the Admirals tried to regain control. Alexandre Carrier also took a shot to the chest, that easily would have gone into the Milwaukee goal had he not been standing there. The Admirals had a last second shot on net to try to tie it up, but Forsberg was able to stop it at the buzzer. Rockford led shots on goal with 8 in the third period to the Admirals 5. Final game totals were 20-19 Admirals leading. 2-1 was the final score.
Game Notes:
The last several game recaps have included rants about the Admirals’ weak powerplay. There’s not much to say on that topic in regards to this game because the Admirals only had two powerplay opportunities. They also didn’t have to show off their penalty kill skills as the IceHogs only had three powerplays throughout the game. Regardless, scoring on just one of the powerplays would have led to a much different end result to this game.
Over the last five losses, the speed and aggressiveness of this team has visually dwindled. One has to believe that the desire to win the game plays a strong factor in the final outcome, and it hasn’t seemed like the Admirals were the team that wanted the win more in their last five matchups. Shots on goal have been low, and even then, it is debatable whether these were quality shots to begin with.
Admirals head coach Karl Taylor talked earlier this season about the difference between defending and checking. He has worked with this team to spend more time checking in order to avoid the need to defend all together. That hasn’t been apparent in these last few matchups.
This was Anthony Richard’s first game back after a minor injury that kept him out of Wednesday’s game against Chicago. Richard has been a big part of this team’s offense. In his first game back, he generated 2 shots on goal. Top Nashville prospect Eeli Tolvanen also had 2 shots, but had a -1 rating.
The Admirals’ strong start October has allowed them to still cling to the first-place spot in the Central Division with 19 points. However, Rockford and Chicago play each other on Saturday and both have 17 points in the standings. Whichever team wins that matchup will be tied for first with Milwaukee.
The Milwaukee Admirals play again on Sunday November 11th at 3:00PM Central against the Chicago Wolves in Rosemont, Il. Chicago is 3-0-0-1 at home this season, the sole shootout loss having been to the Admirals in October. You’ll find the game recap here on PenaltyBoxRadio.com.
