Milwaukee continued their unprecedented tear through the month of November, culminating in their 13th-straight win on Sunday night in Texas. The Admirals bested their previous franchise record in the process and vaulted themselves to the top of the AHL standings.
Milwaukee will host Iowa on Friday night before traveling to Rockford to take on the IceHogs on Saturday and Tuesday.
Headlines
- Yesterday, forward Lukas Craggs was suspended two games for an illegal check to the head that occurred Sunday night in Texas.
- On Monday, forward Yakov Trenin was named the AHL player of the week after scoring five goals and two assists in his last three games.
- On Monday, forward Tommy Novak was named the AHL’s rookie of the month. In 12 games, Novak scored three goals and added 10 assists./
Stats and Standings
It’s not hard to determine who is leading the way for Milwaukee offensively at even strength; Colin Blackwell and Yakov Trenin continue their excellence while Cole Schneider, Eeli Tolvanen and Tommy Novak have begun to creep into that echelon.
Frederic Allard has maintained his steadying presence on the blue line, the top pair of Carrier and Tinordi is often bailed out by goaltending, and I think Steven Santini is holding Jeremy Davies back.
Zach Magwood has been excellent for Florida in middle-six minutes; Lukas Craggs provided a good offensive boost in his short time their but has been horrendous in Milwaukee to date.
Game Recaps
November 27 v. Manitoba Moose
Milwaukee paced the Moose much of this game that wasn’t short on goal scoring. Pitlick, Trenin, Carrier, Tolvanen and Jeannot each popped up on the score sheet for the Admirals with Trenin and Tolvanen leading the pack with five combined points.
November 30 @ San Antonio Rampage
The Rampage opened the scoring with a power play marker in the first before Anthony Richard responded with a bounce of his own. Yakov Trenin added his 11th of the year for the only goal of the second, and Tommy Novak added an insurance goal with five minutes to go in the third.
San Antonio connected for their second power play goal of the night late in the period and added another goal just 30 seconds later. After a breathtaking overtime period, Colin Blackwell sent the Rampage home with just 20 seconds remaining in the session.
December 1 @ Texas Stars
Despite a slow first period, Milwaukee opened up the scoring when Yakov Trenin struck for his first of the game off the rebound of a Jeremy Davies shot. Connor Ingram remained stellar all game, but Adam Mascherin tied things up mid-way through a third period where Milwaukee was under relentless attack.
The Admirals took a wayward shot back up the ice for an odd-man rush in overtime where Yakov Trenin buried his second of the game and secured Milwaukee’s 13th-straight win.
Player of the Week
Colin Blackwell (F): The obvious answers here are Trenin and Novak; I even briefly considered Connor Ingram, who has been stellar. But Blackwell has been so crucial to this team’s success and this week was an excellent example of that.
The first-line center quietly has 19 points in 22 games, including one goal and two assists this week on eight shots on goal. Blackwell is rocking an absurd 32.69% relative goals-for rate and has been the engine behind one the league’s most dominant lines with himself, Trenin and Eeli Tolvanen.
All three players, through a handful of manually tracked games, have a Corsi share over 55%; Blackwell, in games I’ve tracked, is carrying the puck into the offensive zone with possession 57.14% of the time.
Musings
In the midst of their impressive winning streak, it came to my attention that many casual AHL fans figured Milwaukee was approaching a league-wide record. Sadly, that was not the case.
The 2011-12 Norfolk Admirals set a professional hockey record with 28 straight wins from February 10 to April 15. That team would also go on to lose just three games in the playoffs in route to their first Calder Cup (they swept the Eastern Conference Finals and Calder Cup Finals).
Current Lightning coach Jon Cooper led a squad highlighted by Tyler Johnson, Alex Killorn, Ondrej Palat, Cory Conacher, Mark Barberio, Radko Gudas and Richard Panik that is one of the best in AHL history.
Musings and Observations, courtesy of Eric:
- Connor Ingram was largely the reason Milwaukee secured win 13 on Sunday, as the Admirals looked helpless for much of the game’s second half. Jarred Tinordi and Steven Santini posted a 39.29% and 44.12% Corsi rating, respectively.
- Yakov Trenin is now fourth in AHL scoring with 26 points in 19 games (as of this morning). He’s played at least two less games than the three skaters ahead of him.
- Milwaukee’s defense is struggling to score this season. All skaters on the blue line have combined for just seven goals in 24 games, but six of them have been at even strength.
- It’s hard to figure out what Jarred Tinordi is bringing to the table for this team. The veteran has just one point in 21 games and 19 shots on goal. He doesn’t have the worst goals-against per 60 minutes rate on the team, but his 44.4% controlled entries-against rate rounds of the bottom of the six regular defenders./
All statistics are courtesy of theAHL.com and eliteprospects.com. Charts are courtesy of Bryan Bastin (@projpatsummitt).