Fadden, Mitch

Norfolk gets shut out in the shootout.

BRI-3
NOR-2 (SO)

Dustin Tokarski allowed 2 goals on 26 shots and 1 of 4 shooters to convert in the shootout session for the shootout loss.

First Period
BRI Haskins, (7) (Flood, Smith), 7:41

Second Period
NOR Craig, (20) (Hall, Tyrell), 1:34

Third Period
NOR Hall, (13) (Tyrell, Jackson), 3:34
BRI Haskins, (8) (Bentivoglio), 12:32

Overtime
NO SCORING

Shotout
BRI- Figren
NOR- NONE

Dana Tyrell and Ryan Craig were the game's second and third stars. For Tyrell, it's his 6th multi-point game in his past 13 contests.

The luster is off the once perfect Juraj Simek in shootouts as he has been stopped in each of his last two attempts. The other Admirals who failed to convert were Justin Keller, Matt Fornataro, Blair Jones, and Mitch Fadden. Credit to Bridgeport goaltender Scott Monroe. Norfolk's shootout lineup is typically a murderer's row.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

No Lashoff? No Parrish? No problem.

LOW-1
NOR-5

Jaroslav Janus allowed 1 goal on 27 shots for the win. He's now 5-6-1 on the season with 1 shutout, a 2.01 GAA, and a rock solid .925 sv%. He's actually got better numbers than Tokarski.

First Period
LOW Palmieri, (18) (Vasyunov, Walter), 12:48
NOR Fornataro, (7) (Craig, Fadden), 17:33

Second Period
NOR Simek, (15) (Szczechura), 12:16
NOR Craig, (15) (Tyrell, Szczechura), 17:25
NOR Craig, (16) (Fadden, Wishart), 18:39 (PP)

Third Period
NOR Mihalik, (1) (Tyrell, Hall), 16:01

Ryan Craig, Paul Szczechura, and Vladimir Mihalik were the game's three stars. It was another banner night for the Presov Mafia between Janus' win, and both Juraj Simek, and Mihalik's goals. Mihalik's marker was his first of the season, and with a +3 night he jumped to +1 for the season.

Lowell got former Lightning d-man Cory Murphy back for this game, so they dressed 5 natural defensemen for this game rather than the 4 from last night, but it didn't matter. Even with Matt Lashoff out for a second straight game attending to family matters and Mark Parrish held out, presumably for a recall to the Lightning, the Admirals still dominated the Devils.

Oh, and Dana Tyrell had his second multi-point game of the season. Mitch Fadden had his third.

Norfolk remains in 3rd place in the East Division, 4 points behind 2nd place Albany, which dismantled Binghamton 7-0 tonight. Albany holds 1 game in hand. They widened their lead on 4th place Adirondack to 6 points after the Phantoms fell to Portland 5-4. Adirondack has 3 games in hand. They are now tied at 52 points with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after the Penguins upset Hershey 5-0 tonight. So the Pens are 6 points back of Norfolk with 2 games in hand. In 6th place is Syracuse, which lost 2-0 tonight to Manchester. They're 8 points behind Norfolk with 2 games in hand. All the way in 7th place in Bighamton, which is now 11 points back of Norfolk with 5 games in hand.

Norfolk's win moves them 1 point ahead of the 5th place team in the Atlantic Division, so the Admirals are starting to take the crossover off the table. Even if they finish 3rd in the East Division, finishing ahead of the crossover 5th place Atlantic team is critical for the Admirals if they want to avoid a date with Hershey in the first round of the playoffs. 5th in the Atlantic is now a 3-way logjam with Providence, Hartford, and Bridgeport all at 57 points. Providence knocked off Springfield 3-1 tonight and Bridgeport beat Hartford 6-4 to create the three team pile-up. Both Providence and Hartford have 1 game in hand on Norfolk.

Norfolk's next game is on Monday, which will be an epic clash in Albany against the River Rats. An Admirals win could pull the team to within 2 points of 2nd place in the East Division.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

Absolute domination.

ALB-0
NOR-3

Jaroslav Janus stopped all 24 shots he faced tonight for his first shutout as a professional. He didn't have to face a ton of quality chances, but he got himself in front of the ones Lowell did have. His athleticism is outstanding, and if his positioning ever catches up, he'll be an NHLer.

First Period
NOR Parrish, (13) (Fornataro, Fadden), 11:58
NOR Simek, (14) (Keller, Mihalik), 17:40 (PP)

Second Period
NOR Tyrell, (3) (Tarkir), 17:37 (SH)

Third Period
NO SCORING

Janus, Dana Tyrell, and Mark Parrish were the game's three stars. It was a big night for the Presov Mafia all around between Janus' shutout, Juraj Simek having a power play goal, and big Vladimir Mihalik getting his 10th point of the season. All three players were born in Presov, Slovakia, and all three played well tonight.

For my money, Tyrell was the best player on the ice tonight, though. He's starting to exhibit a level of hockey sense in how to use his speed that I've never seen in his career, and it's got to have the Lightning salivating. He's so quick and his acceleration is so outstanding, defensemen are terrified of him. He's starting to use that to his advantage and curling when he gets into the zone to buy an extra 2-3 feet of ice, or slowing up a step to also buy him some space, and it gives him the chance to make the pass or shoot. It's a lot like how Martin St. Louis uses his speed, and Tyrell's shorthanded goal was a prime example of it. He barrelled into the zone on a 2-on-2, started to slow up as an Admirals trailer was jumping into the zone, and just allowed the traffic to flow by the net before blistering a top corner shot for the goal. Buy stock in Tyrell now while it's still undervalued. You'll make your money back five fold. On a related note, Mitch Fadden is an absolute magician with the puck when he has time and space. He's fun to watch when he's running the power play from the right wing half board.

Norfolk outshot Lowell 41-24 in the game, and it seemed like they played 3/4 of the night in the Devils' zone. In fairness, Lowell only dressed 4 natural defensemen tonight due to injuries and call ups. Norfolk gets Lowell again tomorrow night, and considering the way the blueliners on Lowell's tongues were wagging from fatigue, it's a prime chance for Norfolk to get back-to-back wins in two nights against the same opponent, which is difficult to do.

From a standings standpoint, it was a nearly perfect night for the Admirals. In the East Division, 2nd place Albany fell to Hershey, so the Admirals now close to within 4 points of second place with the River Rats having 1 game in hand. 3rd place Norfolk extended its lead over 4th place Adirondack, which was idle, to 4 points with the Phantoms holding 3 games in hand. They also extended their lead over 5th place Syracuse to 6 points after Syracuse was defeated by Portland. Syracuse holds 2 games in hand over Norfolk, and fell into a tie at 50 points with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, which defeated Binghamton tonight in a shootout. The Pens hold two games in hand on the Admirals. The Admirals extended their lead over 7th place Binghamton to 9 points in the process, but the Sens hold 5 games in hand.

In the crossover, Providence blew out the Atlantic Division's 5th place team, Hartford, pulling the Admirals to within 1 point of the Wolf Pack with Hartford holding 1 game in hand. As readers of this blog are probably sick of hearing at this point, if the 5th place team in the Atlantic Division finishes ahead of the 4th place team in the East Division, they will still go to the playoffs, so it's important for the Admirals to not only take care of business in their division. They also need to try to make sure they outpace 5th place in the Atlantic to maximize their playoff chances. Bridgeport and Providence are tied for 6th in the Atlantic with 55 points, 1 point behind Norfolk with the Bruins having 1 game in hand on the Ads.

Norfolk has 15 home games remaining on the schedule and 11 on the road. They've pulled to 2 games under .500 at The Scope and they're 4 games over .500 away from home. Point being: if the Admirals can keep improving on their Division-worst home mark, they'll be in fantastic shape.

Jim Johnson is 9-1-1-1 in his first dozen games as Head Coach. Instant gratification.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

Norfolk caps the Mother of All Road Trips with a 13 round shootout victory. They finish their long journey 6-0-1, undefeated in regulation.

NOR-2
BRI-1 (SO)

Dustin Tokarski allowed 1 goal on 37 shots before stopping 9 of 13 shooters in the penalty shot session for the victory in his first shootout as a pro.

First Period
NOR Fornataro, (5) (Wishart, Craig), 14:58 (PP)

Second Period
BRI Haley, (4) (Gannon), 16:11

Third Period
NO SCORING

Overtime
NO SCORING

Shootout
NOR- Jones, Fadden, Simek, Cruthers, Wishart
BRI- Smith, Mauldin, Moore, Haskins

Ty Wishart and Tokarski were named the game's first and third stars. Amazingly, this was only the second shootout of the season for Norfolk. They sure did get their money's worth, though, by going 13 rounds. I said in the NHL recap the other night when the Lightning played the Ducks that shootouts usually aren't that exciting. Well, trust me, this one was exciting.

Norfolk came out very strong in the first period and could've easily had a 3-0 lead after the opening frame were it not for how well Bridgeport's goaltender, Scott Munro, played. In particular, I though the line of Ryan Craig, Blair Jones, and Dana Tyrell were excellent on the forecheck in that period and throughout the game. As the game progressed though, the Admirals started to tire and they were dragging mightily by the time overtime came around. This was their 7th road game in 10 days, and it's a testament to their conditioning that they rose to the occassion and pulled out wins these past couple of days.

Mitch Fadden is electric with the puck in space, and he had the cold blooded trigger finger of an assassin in the shootout tonight. If he can just bulk up to help him be stronger on the puck along the wall, he's got a chance to be a really good NHL player.

The victory pushes Norfolk back to .500 for the season at 23-23-3 with 49 points. For the moment, they hold third place in the North Division outright by 2 points with 4th place Adirondack locked in a 1-1 tie at Rochester as of this posting. 5th place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton kept pace with a 3-1 win over Manitoba, and remain 3 points back of the Admirals with 2 games in hand. 6th place Syracuse, which is now 5 points back of Norfolk, is idle and will gain a game in hand. Last place Binghamton is down 1-0 to Hershey as of this posting and have now fallen 7 points behind Norfolk. Binghamton will have 4 games in hand on Norfolk, but they're in danger of losing their 4th game in a row and falling out of the chase.

Norfolk has also moved within 3 points of Hartford and Bridgeport, which are tied at 52 points for 5th in the Atlantic Division. Norfolk holds 2 games in hand on Bridgeport, but none on Hartford. If the 4th place team in the East finishes ahead of the 5th place team in the Atlantic, they will get in and nullify the possibility of a crossover.

Norfolk's big schedule advantage is that they now have 20 home games and just 11 road games remaining. They are 4 games under .500 at home and 4 games over .500 on the road. Traditionally, though, The Scope has been one of the toughest places to play in the AHL, and if the Admirals can regain their superiority there they should be in fantastic shape. Norfolk will get their first home test under Head Coach Jim Johnson Wednesday. It will be a big one, as they face Hershey, which has been the class of the league for much of the past two seasons.

Box score from TheAHL.com.