After an opening-night win over the rival Chicago Wolves, the Milwaukee Admirals dropped two straight against division opponents. On Wednesday, Milwaukee came up short in a first-round goalie battle between Yaroslav Askarov and Sebastien Cossa; on Saturday, the Ads were stomped by the Moose in a 5-2 defeat.
Milwaukee will look to regroup when hosting Texas tomorrow night. They then welcome rare Eastern Conference opponent Belleville to town on Friday before driving back down to Chicago on Saturday to close out the month of October.
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Quick Hits
- Last Tuesday, defenders Xavier Bouchard and Luke Prokop were assigned to the ECHL’s Norfolk Admirals
- Over the weekend, Tomáš Vomáčka got his first start for Norfolk, stopping 29 of 32 shots in a 3-2 loss to Greenville
- Last Wednesday, captain Cole Schneider became the 97th player in AHL history to score 500 career points
- On Saturday, Milwaukee announced that Kevin Gravel, Tim Schaller, and Roland McKeown will serve as assistant captains this season/
Milwaukee Admirals (2) @ Grand Rapids Griffins (3)
The Admirals came out against Grand Rapids with the same lineup they iced versus Chicago—except for Yaroslav Askarov getting his first AHL start. He faced just six shots in the opening frame and looked solid, but that period was highlighted by Luke Evangelista scoring his first pro goal:
Luke Evangelista opens the scoring tonight with his first AHL goal.#Smashville #MILHockey pic.twitter.com/goza0HO9fi
— OTF: Preds Prospects (@OnTheFutureOTF) October 19, 2022
The Griffins took a 2-1 lead in the second period, hanging Askarov out to dry. He put in another good period but was beaten by Austin Czarnik—who was left alone in front of the net—and Taro Hirose with a great shot on a 2-on-1:
Askarov gets beat clean over his blocker shoulder. 2-1 Griffins#Smashville #MILHockey pic.twitter.com/22V4eIyFN2
— OTF: Preds Prospects (@OnTheFutureOTF) October 20, 2022
Milwaukee pushed back with an impressive third period, and Tommy Novak notched his first of the season to tie things up. But the Griffins ultimately won with a goal off of some rebound troubles from Askarov, upsetting an otherwise solid debut.
Milwaukee Admirals (2) vs. Manitoba Moose (5)
On Saturday, Milwaukee hosted the Moose, and Askarov got the start again. Additionally, Navrin Mutter came into the lineup for Jachym Kondelik. Milwaukee mostly avoided their penalty woes from last season in the first period and dominated possession, but the Moose escaped the frame with a 1-0 lead.
The final two frames went a little more off the rails. The Admirals took three more minor penalties, giving up one power-play goal. Mark Jankowski scored on the man advantage, and Tommy Novak added his second of the season, but Manitoba inched out to a 4-2 lead halfway through the third period.
Milwaukee continued to lead possession-wise as evidenced by a 59.46% and 55.56% Corsi rating at even strength for Adam Wilsby and Marc Del Gaizo, respectively. But, they were porous defensively. Del Gaizo—who played a vast majority of the game’s final minutes—gave up four high-danger shots against, and Wilsby added another three.
Despite the 5-2 loss, Karl Taylor felt good about how his group played—particularly of their offensive pressure.
The Week Ahead
- Wednesday, October 26 vs. Texas Stars
- Friday, October 28 vs. Belleville Senators
- Saturday, October 29 @ Chicago Wolves/
All statistics are courtesy of eliteprospects.com, theAHL.com, or manually tracked.