Admirals Outlast Griffins 3-2
Teen terrors Zadina and Seider stand tall…
November 22nd, 2019
The Milwaukee Admirals won the special teams battle, scoring a shorthanded tally and a powerplay goal to edge the Grand Rapids 3-2 at Van Andel Arena. The Griffins played a strong game but were unable to get another puck past former Wings Camp Tryout Connor Ingram who made 34 stops on the night. GR got goals from Jarid Lukosevicius (4) and Flip Zadina (7) and combative netminder Calvin Pickard made 21 stops in the loss.
Moritz Seider very engaged physically early, stripping the puck away from Jeannot and then knocking the Admirals forward flying. The Griffins with back to back powerplays early in the first but their 4 forward and one defenseman powerplay scheme backfired again as the allowed a couple of great shorthanded chances and then Dauphin got behind the D and blew a shot past Pickard low for a shorty and a 1-0 lead. The Griffins recovered and carried play for most of the period after that goal. Great pressure by Grand Rapids cycling the puck deep and creating scoring chances sometimes keeping it in for two shifts. Eventually the pressure led to Shine drawing a penalty putting the home team back on the powerplay. Seider way up in the play carrying the puck in for a scoring chance. Shots on goal: GR 15 – Mil 6.
Jarid Lukosevicius working hard on the forecheck created a turnover and turned on the burners. He flew up the middle of the ice, blew by the defenders and went in alone on Ingram, snapping a shot past him stick-side for a 1-1 tie. Filip Zadina turnover and a good chance right on the doorstep, but Pickard came up with a big save. The Griffins got into penalty trouble around the five-minute mark with Elson in the box for high-sticking when Brian Lashoff inadvertently cleared the puck over the glass and was assessed a delay of game penalty. Turgeon tossed from the faceoff circle, the only forward on the ice, and Seider stepped in and won the faceoff cleanly. The Griffins were in control during the powerplay and used the momentum of killing the penalties to really drive the pace of play. Zadina with a nice move around the net to thread a pass to Loggins. Loggins at the side of net banked the puck off the endboards to Zadina at the other side and he shopped the puck into the open side of the net for his 7th of the campaign and a 2-1 lead. Kuffner snuck into the slot as the late man and ended up with a point-blank chance in the slot that Ingram stopped. The pace of the second period was incredible as the Griffins used their skating to attack the Admirals in waves. Shots on goal: GR 10 – Mil 13.
Dangerous chance for Milwaukee right after a Griffins penalty expired and Svechnikov hooked the shooter so he couldn’t get a clean shot off. Svechnikov went to the box, giving Milwaukee another powerplay. Seider in the middle of a big scrum with Trenin not backing down, Pearson also trying to get into it. Milwaukee strikes for man-advantage score to tie the game at two. The Admirals caught a break when Saarijarvi lost his man who carried to the net and then Lashoff lost his balance and couldn’t get enough leverage to completely take his man out of the way allowing a goal right to the side of the net and giving Milwaukee the lead again. Zadina got roughed up on a scoring play and was hot, his play picked up as he really started to charge the net in an attempt to get payback on the scoresheet. Lashoff with several big shots as he is playing like a man possessed trying to make up for the goal that went in while he was on the ice. Pickard to the bench and the Griffins attack creates a couple of dangerous chances. Time out with 1:24 on the clock, but the home team couldn’t get the equalizer and time ran out on a 3-2 loss. The Ad’s fired the puck into the empty net right after the buzzer, so it didn’t count. Shots on goal: GR 11 -Mil 5; For the game: GR 36 – Mil 24.
Lines:
#37 Svechnikov – #23 Turgeon – #11 Zadina
#15 Elson – #90 Veleno – #25 Terry
#21 Kuffner – #22 Pearson – #14 Lukosevicius
#8 Troy Loggins – #10 MacLeod – #65 Shine
Pairings:
#53 Seider – #5 Lindstrom
#18 Lashoff – #29 Saarijarvi
#7 Kaski – #29 McCrea
Starter: #31 Pickard
Backup: #30 Larsson
Scratches:
#3 Hillman
#27 Rasmussen – Injured
#54 Smith
#55 Ford
#73 Puempel – Concussion
PP:
#37 Svechnikov – #15 Elson/#23 Turgeon – #25 Terry
#5 Lindstrom/#53 Seider – #11 Zadina
#21 Kuffner – #22 Pearson – #14 Lukosevicius
#53 Seider/#5 Lindstrom – #90 Veleno
PK:
#22 Pearson – #90 Veleno
#18 Lashoff – #29 McCrea
#23 Turgeon – #65 Shine
#53 Seider – #5 Lindstrom
Observations:
One of the big stories of this game was Moe Seider. Coming off his first AHL goal on Wednesday, Seider looked extremely confident. In addition to carrying the puck up ice with authority and playing stellar defense, the 18 yr old blueliner added a new dimension to his game. He was really throwing the body and knocked several players to the ice with seemingly little effort. He also was in the middle of a couple of scrums, showing that he was not going to back down. He played a very good game and may have been Grand Rapids best player this game.
Zadina got roughed up a bit and really played with a chip on his shoulder after that. His compete level was high and he had some great scoring chances. I am not sure what was more impressive watching his determination to get the puck to the net, or watching how hard he worked away from the puck to win battles
Troy Loggins made his AHL debut and scored an assist (along with Seider) on the Zadina goal. The diminutive forward battled hard and did a good job on the fourth line.
Lukosevicius continues his hot streak, scoring another goal tonight and playing a very noticeable game with a promotion to the third line with Kuffner and Pearson along with Powerplay time on the second unit. The contribution of Lukosevicius, MacLeod and Shine has been a key as of late.
