PEORIA, ILL – The Milwaukee Admirals are a strong team, to be certain. But if the Admirals have an Achilles Heel, it is their penalty killing. Ranked 29th out of 30 teams going into Sunday’s game, they are fortunate enough to be one of the least penalized teams in the league.
That luck ran out Sunday evening in Peoria, where they gave the hometown Rivermen six power plays. Peoria capitalized on half of those on the way to a 4-2 victory in front of 4114 fans.
The other story was the return of Jake Allen in goal. After a miserable first half of the season, Allen gave a strong outing as he kept turning away a resilient Admirals offense.
The scoring on the first Peoria power play started when Admirals goaltender Atte Engren tried to cover against the post on a dump in and couldn’t. That drew all four Milwaukee skaters to that corner trying to corral the puck. Brett Sterling, Jonathan Cheechoo and TJ Hensick were in the fray for Peoria. Hensick retreated from the clump of players and Sterling was able to tip the puck in his direction, where Hensick was able to fill the empty backside of the net for the 1-0 lead at 4:55 of the first period.
Three minutes later, Milwaukee had a power play of their own. Juuso Puustinen’s shot from the right faceoff dot caught the inside of Rivermen goalie Jake Allen’s pads and bounced in to tie the game. Machael Latta and Blake Geoffrion got assists.
Consecutive penalties to Ryan Thang and Tyler Sloan near the 15-minute mark for the first period gave the Rivermen a five-on-three advantage for over a minute-and-a-half. Peoria used most of that time, applying constant pressure, not allowing Milwaukee a chance to clear the puck and change their line. Finally, alone in the right faceoff circle, Derek Nesbitt smacked a hard shot that went through Engrens pads and into the back of the net for a 2-1 Rivermen lead at 16:18 of the first period. Hensick and Danny Syvret added assists on the play.
As the period wound down, Milwaukee pressured but was not able to score. As the puck came down to the other end of the ice, Syvret fired from just inside the blueline. The puck nipped Sterling, who had set up a screen in front of Engren, and the puck continued on it’s way into the net. Sterling was later officially credited with the goal while Syvret and Adam Cracknell snagged assists on the play that made it 3-1 Rivermen with less than a minute left in the first period.
The Admirals made a change in the crease at the start of the second period, removing Engren and inserting Jeremy Smith. Smith held the opposition scoreless in the second period, as did his counterpart, Allen.
Milwaukee turned on the heat in the final period, officially holding the Rivermen to no shots in te first 13 minutes. Despite a swarming defense, Milwaukee could not score. It wasn’t until 17:30 of the period when that swarm finally lit the lamp, and even then it required a conference of all four men in stripes and the two team captains before it was determined that, yes, Chris Mueller had scored, drawing the Admirals within a goal 3-2.
The Rivermen countered, though, and Smith was unable to get out of the crease for an extra attacker. He eventually was able to get to the bench, but at 19:20 of the third period, Anthony Nigro put the puck in the empty net to seal the game for the Rivermen.
Peoria scored on half of their six power play attempts while Milwaukee cashed in only once in three man advantages. Engren played one period for Admirals, stopping seven of ten shots. Smith played most of two periods for Milwaukee, stopping all 17 pucks he saw. Jake Allen got the win for Peoria, stopping 33 of 35 shots on goal.
The Rivermen continue their home stand this coming Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Contact the author: Shaun.Bill@ProHockeyNews.com
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