You can blame the goaltending.

You can blame the defense.

You can blame the lack of goal scoring.

You can credit Abbotsford.

However you choose to approach Wednesday night's Admirals game, the results are the same: A 2-0 defeat that dropped Milwaukee to into a tie for last place in the West Division. Last place in the Western Conference, really.

Before we get into the recap, here are some context-free quotes from Lane Lambert after the game:

• We've got to find a way to rectify that situation
• It's just something we need to recognize and fix
• It's not good enough
• What more do you want to say?
• We'll look at that

The point here is that there are lots of questions marks - and not a lot of answers.

For the seventh time this season, Milwaukee allowed their opponent to draw first blood. Midway through the first period, Abbotsford's Kris Chucko streaked up the left side of the ice. As he drove into the Admirals' zone, Garth Murray went to the front of the crease. Mark Matheson was caught between playing the man and playing the pass, and when Chucko sent the puck toward the net, it somehow caromed off a pad and got behind Dex.

Look at Chirs Jerina's excellent photo here.

You can look at that goal as being fluky, if you'd like. You could say that Dekanich was not in prime position to defend the play, if you'd like. You'd probably be mostly right either way. Regardless, the Heat had the first goal.,,,and the Ads were in a familiar - if unwanted - position.

"We've got to find a way to rectify that situation," said Coach Lambert. "Right now it's not a formula for success. I don't know that it's mental. It's just something we need to recognize and fix."

If you think I'm being unfairly harsh on Dex for the first goal - you will take comfort to know that I can't fault him for the 2nd goal. At the beginning of the second period, Scott Ford carried the puck backward into his defensive zone, setting up an Admirals rush. However - Carsen Germyn was in heavy on the forecheck, and simply took the puck away from Ford between the face off circles. He broke in quickly on Dex and wristed a shot high glove-side for a 2-0 lead.

Later in the second, Dex went behind the net to play the puck. In the face of that same Abbotsford forecheck, Dex hesitated. Jaime Lundmark caught him behind the net and stole the puck. While Lundmark cut to the near side for a wraparound, Dex attempted to scramble back INTO into the crease...stumbled...fell...and left Lundmark with an open chance. Making up for his earlier error - Scott Ford was able to get a stick on Lundmark's shot, and prevent a goal.

It was a play that will not show up on the scoresheet - but fully illustrates some of the struggles Dekanich has been going through.

"He's battling," said Lambert. "We've got to get better exchanges with him and the defense. What more do you want to say? We didn't score any goals for him tonight. So it's pretty hard to win the hockey game when you get shutout at home."

The Admirals had their chances in this one. In the second period, they had :46 to work with a two-man-advantage. Not only didn't they score - they registered only 2 shots on goal and struggled to maintain the offensive zone. Incidentally, the Ads also had a 5-on-3 against Abbotsford a few weeks ago. That lasted a full 2 minutes...and they failed to score on that one, too.

"It's not good enough," lamented Lambert. "We need to be a whole lot better on the five-on-three. That's certainly something we need to fix. You're not going to score every time on the five-on-three, but you better score a lot."

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NOTES

Lambert continued to shuffle the lines and - based on the offensive output - might do so again. The combinations Wednesday night:

The defense was largely unchanged:

Still no update on Laakso. Lambert said he would have to be considered questionable for this weekend's games.

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Hugh Jessiman had a disaster of a shift in the second period. Leland Irving came out of his net to play a puck in the face off circle, but Mark Santorelli beat him to it. Pudding fed a pass to a wide open Jessiman in the slot, who had a shot on a still-recovering Irving. Jessiman ripped his shot high, though, and missed the net. Seconds later, Jessiman was whistled for boarding.

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Andreas Thuresson showed a nasty side in the second. He put a good, legal check on the Heat's John Negrin that sent him into the Admirals bench. Thuresson the proceeded to "finish his check" by shoving Negrin down to the floor of the bench like he was stuffing a pillow into a pillowcase. In all fairness, it should have been a penalty.

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Also should have been a penalty: Kris Chucko clipped Nolan Yonkman in the face with a high stick, while following-through on a pass. The blade of Chucko's stick split Yonkman's lip open, and should have been a four minute double-minor. Amazingly, it wasn't seen. It happened in the neutral zone, and Chucko had just possessed the puck, so I'm not sure how it was missed. I would have asked Lambert about it, but he wouldn't have been able to answer it without getting fined by the league for ripping the officials. It was awful.