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

****************

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.

****************

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. 

****************

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. 

Time to make good on the line from those Admirals Short Shifts t-shirts we gave out last year...

That's right.....media room cookies for tonight's game, for the best caption of the photo below (courtesy of Chris Jerina).

Good luck!

The first submission was pretty darn tuff to beat. Jasonbohn9 with:

Ref: Dude, you were my favorite NHL '92 player on Sega Genesis

Chelios: Want me to autograph it, I'm kinda hurting for money here in the AHL.

However, we are going to go with Myron's caption:

Give me a break on that call or I'll do to you what I did to Lambert years ago...

Sorry, Jason - but anytime someone calls back to a previous Shorts Shifts post - they get massive bonus points!

Myron - if you're going tonight, find Ryan Miller outside section 200. (Or anywhere else you can find him - he is Game-Hosting tonight). If you're not going tonight, let us know and we will make other arrangements.

Thanks to all our contributors, and Congrats to Myron!

Now that I have calmed down a little from yesterday's blow-up, I can take the promised look back at Wednesday and deliver some additional recapiness.

It was pretty obvious that the Admirals made quite a few positional mistakes in Wednesday's game against Chicago.

"We didn't manage the game well at all," said Coach Lambert. "We turned the puck over too many times in the neutral zone against a team that is a high octane, transition team. We gave up as many outnumbered rushes in this game as we have all year."

Another result of all those turnovers was a low shot total for the Admirals. 17, in fact - which is a season-low.

 "You're not going to win too many games getting seventten shots," continued Lambert. "That's something we've done a pretty good job of up until now - generating chances and shots. Give them credit, they played pretty well systematically  and kept us to the outside."

**********

One highlight in the game was actually Nolan Yonkman. While he was partially to blame for the 3-on-1 that le dto the Wolves first goal, he also set a physical tone for the game. (Pictured above by Chris Jerina)

Late in the first when Joey Crabb hit Ryan Jones into the boards, Yonkman went over and doubly roughed Crabb for a while. Truth be told, Yonkman beat the piss out of him. Crabb actually pulled his own sweater up over his head and turtled on the ice. How Yonkman avoided a fighting major is beyond me.

The Captain also had a big hit on Riley Holzapfel in the Admirals defensezone. He absolutely lit him up.

Despite the penalty, Coach Lambert is pleased with the way #43 is playing this season.

"He's leading our team through his physicality. When he plays with an edge like that, he's effective. There's not a lot of guys in this league that like playing against him when he's playing like that."

**********

It sounds like we won't be seeing Ryan Maki any time soon. The Admirals forward broke his leg on this hit from teammate Triston Grant early in the third period Wednesday (Paul Oetlinger with the pic).

Maki tried to come back out for his next shift...but had to go off immediately after the faceoff. Word yesterday is that Maki could miss about 6 weeks. Chris Mueller was recalled to take his roster spot.

It was horrible timing for Maki - who got credited for his first goal of the season earlier in the game. We happen to think it was Nick Spaling's goal, but Spaling played the good teammate and didn't argue. He said he was just happy to get a point on the assist (his first point of the year).    

**********

I have a post that I'm working on that will provide additional recapiness from last night's loss to Chicago. There is a discussion about Nolan Yonkman, and about what really stood out for Lane Lambert about the loss, as well as some more great photo work from Chris Jerina. But that post has to be put on hold for a minute.

I've spent the last 24 hours completely befuddled. I've been saying on these very webpages that I expect Nashville to recall another Admirals player for tonight's game against Anaheim. At this hour, it appears that I am wrong. Now - I don't mind being wrong. I don't like it...but it happens on occassion. This case, however, defies all logic to me.

The Nashville Predators have 6 defensemen and 12 forwards with them in California. That's it. 18 skaters. What happens if one of those skaters suddenly becomes unavailable? The game is still 10 hours away (at the time I am writing this). A LOT can happen in 10 hours.

For instance:

• October, 2008: Manny Legace suffers a hip injury while stepping on the red carpet placed on the ice for Sarah Palin.
• March 1993: Brian Leetch breaks his ankle while stepping out of a cab, as did former Rangers Captain Jean Ratelle in 1972
• April 2007: Brent Sopel throws out his back picking up a cracker from the floor
• October 2005: Wade Belak misses the season opener after he is bitten by a spider
• February 1999: Rich Parent is hit by an Al MacInnis slapshot in pregame warmups, suffering a "serious testicular injury."

Freak accidents happen. I believe it is irresponsible of David Poile to allow the Predators to walk into the Honda Center with only 18 skaters. The Predators finished ONE WIN behind Columbus last season - and missed the playoffs. Wouldn't it be a shame to basically give up the chance at a win by only skating 17 players against Anaheim? Especially given the fact that it is completely unneccessary?

The Milwaukee Admirals exist to provide the Predators with players. Why not use them when needed? Tell Peter Olvecky to get on a plane. "Sorry, buddy - you're not gonna play...but we need you here just in case."

Adding to my outrage today is that I am the only person that seems to think this is a problem. I asked several people in the Admirals organization last night if they thought another recall was coming. They all seemed genuinely surprised that I would even bring it up.

The foks we talk to in Nashville on a regular basis don't seem to think there's much of a problem here, either. The beat writers at the Tennessean haven't even mentioned it. (They've mentioned the injuries...but not the tenuous position it puts the roster in).  

You can feel free to disagree, too. What I would really like to know, though, is WHY NOT? Why not call somone up for the day? Are the Predators really that concerned about paying someone NHL money for ONE day? If so, why not recall Ryan Jones? He's making NHL money regardless, due to his one-way contract.

I hope this becomes a moot point. I hope all is well, and all 18 skaters are healthy. But if something happens - and there's a late scratch - I am going to hire a sky-writer to scrawl "I Told You So" above the Preds corporate officers.

Anyone wanna chip in?

A month and a day after the Admirals opened their season with a thrilling victory over the Chicago Wolves in their building, the Wolves returned the favor Wednesday night at the Bradley Center, earning their first road victory of the season.  The AHL gamesheet is here, the Milwaukee recap isn't up yet, and the Wolves recap is...well, screw them. They beat us, they get no link.

The loss is bad enough for Coach Lane Lambert; the method may be more troubling. 

"There was a lack of communication and a lack of focus," said Lambert, "and that can't happen." 

Chris Chelios had two assists in his Bradley Center debut return to the Bradley Center, including an NHL caliber pass to set up the game winning goal.  Chelios carried the puck down the near offensive boards and fed the puck toward the net.  The key word is TOWARD the net.  Dekanich went down to make the save, but the puck was actually a pass to forward Tim Stapleton, who scored into the open net.  Tough to fault Dekanich on it -- it was a pretty play, and Stapleton's second (and arguably third) goal of the game.

Coach Lane Lambert certainly didn't fault Dex for that play. He placed most of the blame about 15 seconds earlier - when Scott Ford pinched in at the offensive blueline.

"When the mistake is made, Chelios has the presence of mind to see it. It was a lay-up goal. It looked too easy."

Drew MacIntyre made 14 saves on only 17 shots for the win, and came up with some big saves in the last couple of minutes of the game -- a storyline that should sound familiar to Admirals fans.

The Wolves scored the first two goals in a wild first period with Tim Stapleton scoring both goals within 2:03 of each other. (The first goal was given to Anthony Stewart, but we call B.S. on that, with Chris Jerina's great photo below as exhibit A)

Before the period was over, though, the Admirals responded with a wild 56 seconds that tied the score. Nick Spaling scored a goal off a rebound (credited to Ryan Maki), and a highlight reel goal from Wacey Rabbit tied it up.

The Spaling/Maki goal was the result of some great work by the reunited Grant-Spaling-Maki line. Grant had a shot blocked, got another shot off the rebound, Maki then got a shot off THAT rebound that either went in or went to Spaling in front, depending on who you believe. 

The Rabbit goal was....impressive. Mark Van Guilder gathered a loose puck in the neutral zone and broke down the the right boards. He centered to a wide-open Rabbit who made a move to his forehand, got MacIntyre to drop, deftly switched to his backhand, and roofed a shot over Mac's glove.  

Mark "Pudding" Santorelli gave the Admirals their only lead of the game with his 3rd goal of the season (30% of the way to a new nickname!) on a poorly-defended power play goal. The power play was earned by Ryan Jones, who got position on Brett Sterling and drew an interference call. 

About a minute into the man-advantage, Ben Guite fed Santorelli between the circles. Santorelli, with his back to the net, had time to turn around, gather the puck again, take a stride toward the net and THEN shoot the puck. It beat MacIntyre, who was screened by none-other-than Ryan Jones.

That lead lasted about 4 minutes, when some bad luck and some inertia conspired against Milwaukee. Ben Guite was back-checking on a 3-on-2. He actually caught up with the play, and blocked a centering pass. Unfortunately, his momentum carried him past the slot while the puck sat idle about 5 feet in front of the crease. Guite fell down trying to stop, and Jon Blum could do nothing to get to the puck...but Arturs Kulda swung at it and slid it towards the net. Dekanich didn't appear to see the puck until it was by him and into the net.

While that goal turned out to be the game winner, Coach Lambert recognizes that, for the 9th time in 11 games, his team fell behind early. This time - by two goals.  

"Whatever is going on in the room before the game has to change, because we can't come out and play like we are in the first period. It's time for them to step up to the plate and prepare themselves and be ready to go. It's professional hockey."

The Admirals didn't go down without a fight at the end, though. On the power play, Lambert pulled Goaltender Mark Dekanich for 1:28 of 6-on-4. Cal O'Reilly had a point-blank chance that he couldn't elevate, and Robert Dietrich hit a post. While the Ads couldn't get the puck in the net - there may be a silver lining there.  

"As poorly as I thought we played, we were still in the game," said Lambert. "At least there's some positive sign there."

NOTES

Jason Jozsa was the only scratch for the Admirals tonight. 

Ryan Maki left the game in the third period after getting checked by Triston Grant behind the Wolves net. He tried to take his next shift - but couldn't make it. He appeared to be favoring his left leg as he hobbled down the tunnel and was assisted to the lockerroom. His status for Friday - based only on this observation -  has to be "doubtful" or "questionable."

The Admirals only registered 5 shots in the third period according to the game sheet (4...according to our usually more accurate count). In fact, they had only 17 for the game.

The Admirals had a horrendous night on face offs. They went 0-7 in defensive zone draws in the first period, and 3-16 on the night. That's out of character. 

LINES

Maki-Spaling-Grant

Jones-O'Reilly-Santorelli

Olvecky-Guite-Jessiman

Rabbit-Van Guilder-McKenzie

That fourth line was flipped after the 1st period, as Rabbit was moved to center. 

 *************

Do NOT be surprised if an Admirals player gets called up tonight (or tomorrow morning). Nashville has only 18 skaters in Anaheim. That's the bare minimum needed to field a team. It would be irresponsible of them NOT to call someone up.

Likewise, we still expect a Mueller recall tomorrow - especially with Maki's status undetermined.