This picture pretty much sums it up.

1 Peoria Goal Scorer.

1 Beaten Admirals Goaltender.

1 Glowing red light...mocking the Admirals with it's menacing aura.

The Admirals need to be fixed. Something is pretty wrong right now - and it has to change. 

For one of the few times this year, the Admirals actually struck first. Very early, in fact. Cal O'Reilly took the puck into the offensive zone along the right boards. As linemates Mark Santorelli and Peter Olvecky lined up to form a double screen in front of goaltender Ben Bishop, Cal O'Reilly shot the puck past all of them. (Personally, I have to believe he was trying to pass to Santorelli - and simply missed).

Just 1:13 into the game, the Admirals had the lead. 

It wouldn't last, though.

Despite Lane Lambert's assertion that the Admirals would protect the puck better in this game - it was another neutral zone turnover that led to Peoria's 1st period goal. 

Adam Cracknell and Chris Porter broke in on a 2-on-1. Wacey Rabbit did a good job coming back to support, but he ended up hooking Cracknell to prevent a shot on goal. The Peoria power play lasted just 29 seconds. Bryce "I Love" Lampman ripped a shot from the right point. Mark Dekanich was screened by King Julian Talbot, and the shot beat him to tie the score at one.

Things didn't get any better in the second period. With Nick Spaling in the box for holding, Peoria's Danny Richmond got the puck at the left circle. Dekanich was already in his butterfly position when Richmond wound up to shoot. By the time the puck came flying at him, he was unable to react to his right and it found the net for a 2-1 Rivermen lead.

Four minutes later - Peoria scored their third straight goal. Teemu Laakso got beat to a puck in the neutral zone, and Adam Cracknell again broke in on Dex. Laakso either fell down, or tried to dive from behind and swat the puck away. He failed, and Dex went down on the ice o poke check the puck away from Cracknell. Dex succeeded, but with Laakso sliding out of the play, the only player around to get the puck was Peoria's Cam Paddock. He shot the puck into a wide open net for a 3-1 Peoria lead.

The Ads would cut that deficit in half and gain a little momentum with about 4 minutes left in the period. Cal O'Reilly carried the puck into the offensive zone along the left boards. He cut in behind the Peoria net, and centered a pass out front. Mark Santorelli was cutting to the net - but he let the pass go. That surprised Ben Bishop, who went down to stop the one timer. The puck slid to Peter Olvecky, also cutting to the net, and Olvecky had  an easy shot to the right side of the net. Olvecky's third goal of the year tied him for the team lead. In fact, Olvecky, Jon Blum (3) and Mark Santorelli (3) are the only current Admirals with more than one goal for the season.

The Admirals continued their stronger play into the third period. 11:39 in, they actually broke through and tied it up. Nolan Yonkman fired a shot from the point that was helped along by Chris Mueller. Hugh Jessiman was camped out next to the crease, and was able to shovel the puck underneath Ben Bishop's glove. Jessiman was actually on his knees when he shot the puck. And why wouldn't he be? He seems to score more unusual goals than normal ones.

"I thought we showed some character," said Coach Lane Lambert. "We scraped back and played much better in the last twenty-five minutes. For us to fight back from down three-one, I think we showed some character and showed some heart."

"It was coming - someone was going to score a goal there," said the goal-scorer Jessiman. "We had momentum for the last twenty-five minutes of the game. We came away with a point, and I guess that's the silver lining. But it's never good to come away with a loss."

The game went to overtime...and then to a shootout. The plan for a shootout is actually pretty simple, according to Lambert:

"You don't want to get scored on every shot." 

Sounds easy enough. "But it happened," continued Lambert, "and that's the way it goes."

Peoria sent four shooters out...and all four beat Deckanich. For the Ads, Mark Santorelli and Robert Dietrich scored, while Nick Spaling and Peter Olvecky did not. 

It would be easy to blame Dex for the loss...and may even be appropriate. But Lambert also points to the special teams, as the Ads went oh-for-2 on the power play...and only killed one of their three penalties. 

"They got a good power play, there's no question about it," said Lambert. "Our penalty killing didn't do the job tonight."

Lambert also pointed to the odd-man rushes the Ads continued to give up. 

"(Peoria) had a few. We've got to sort it out. We went over it yesterday, so we've got work to do, there's no question about it. We're not playing the game nearly the way we need to play it in order to have success on consistent basis."

NOTES

LINES

Jones-Spaling-Guite

Olvecky-O'Reilly-Santorelli

Grant-Van Guilder-McKenzie

Jessiman-Rabbit-Mueller

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Hugh Jessiman scored his first goal of the season, which ultimately earned the Ads a point. Jessiman had been growing out his mustache in an attempt to bust up his scoring slump. That wasn't the source of his mojo on this one, though.

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Peoria had two goals waved off. One because Yan Stastny had crashed into Dekanich...badly. Another that apparently didn't go in, even though all five Peoria players raised their hands in jubilation, and all six Admirals players (including Dex) hung their heads in disarray. 

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This was a very physical game. Ryan Jones checked Nicholas Drazenovic into the Ads bench, where he dangled for about 5 seconds; Triston Grant beat the holy hell out of Ryan Reaves. It was actually a GREAT shift for Grant. He shoved Chris Porter to the ice in the midst of a scrum along the boards. He then chased the puck around to the other side of the rink, and checked Steve Wagner off his skates. That's when Reaves tried to defend them...Bad idea, dude.

Ian McKenzie also fought Anthony Peluso...which was fairly tame by comparison. McKenzie leveled Stastny in the neutral zone with a good check, and Peluso tried to defend him.