MILWAUKEE - The Admirals suffered their fifth straight loss Friday night, falling 4-2 to the Peoria Rivermen. After a strong showing in the first and second periods, the Admirals looked deflated of any momentum they had gained after the Rivermen went ahead by two goals early in the third.
Speaking of deflated...
The game was delayed an hour because the car the referee and one of the linesmen were driving in blew a tire as the duo made their way to Milwaukee. Once they arrived at the arena and took the ice, it was business as usual at the Bradley Center.
The team looked solid in the first period, and made their presence known early on with a goal from forward Kyle Wilson. Wilson scored on the odd-man rush, sneaking one in on goaltender Ben Bishop glove-side at the 5:03 mark for his 10th of the season. Peoria's Jonathan Cheechoo tied it up at one after redirecting a Shaun Heshka wrister in on Milwaukee goaltender Jeremy Smith.
Milwaukee and Peoria traded goals in the second period, with Milwaukee's Blake Geoffrion giving Milwaukee their second of the game just :12 into the middle stanza. The goal marked the first of the season for Geoffrion, who celebrated his 24th birthday Friday night. Geoffrion's awkward yet effective spin move down low resulted in one of the stranger goals I've seen this season. Although he scored a goal, coach Ian Herbers assessed Geoffrions play as of late as 'average' in the post-game press conference.
Rivermen forward Adam Cracknell tied the game at the 17:07 mark of the second. Smith made an inital save on a Cheechoo attempt, but he couldn't get his stick down quick enough to stop Cracknell from capitalizing on the rebound.
Peoria would go on to score twice in the third period, seeing goals from Cheechoo and forward Derek Nesbitt. All together, Cheechoo scored two goals and added an assist in the contest, earning himself first start of the game. According to Herbers, the go-ahead goals were nothing more than the result of poor decisions by veteran guys.
The team heads to Texas for a trio of games before returning to the Bradley Center Friday night against the Charlotte Checkers. Forward Juuso Puustinen, who was not in the lineup against Peoria, is back in Finland for his grandfathers funeral, but will join the team for their pair of games against the Stars.
Comments