Tokarski, Dustin

Norfolk goes 0-for-10 in the shootout this weekend.

BRI-3
NOR-2 (SO)

Dustin Tokarski allowed 2 goals on 25 shots and 1 of 5 shootout conversions for the shootout loss. I feel bad for Tic this weekend. He stopped 80% of the shootout attempts he faced. That's not shabby. But, if your team goes 0% on their attempts, you can't win.

First Period
BRI Haskins, (9) (Witt, Smith), 16:03

Second Period
NOR Simek, (19) (Marks, Wishart), 7:32

Third Period
NOR Fornataro, (8) (Tyrell, Wishart), 0:37
BRI Reich, (7) (Joensuu, Mauldin), 5:44

Overtime
NO SCORING

Shootout
BRI- Smith
NOR- NONE

Matt Fornataro and Kai Kantola were the game's second and third stars.

Congratulations to Ty Wishart for reaching the 30 point plateau for the season with a pair of assists tonight. With a dozen games to go, Bolt Prospects asks, why not 35, Ty?

Things are tightening up considerably in the playoff race for the Admirals. By virtue of Albany's win today and Norfolk's overtime loss, they've fallen 6 points out of 2nd place in the East Division. The point gained does allow Norfolk to stay 4 points ahead of 4th place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with the Pens having 2 games in hand. 5th place Syracuse lost to Rochester and now the Crunch are 10 points back of the Admirals with 2 games in hand. Despite wins tonight, 6th place Binghamton is 12 points back with 2 games in hand and last place Adirondack is 13 points back with 3 games in hand.

Norfolk's also facing some serious pressure in the crossover scenario with Bridgeport gaining two points on them this weekend in their shootout wins. They sit in 5th in the Atlantic and are on a serious hot streak. The Sound Tigers are now 1 point behind Norfolk and they're playing so well, they've almost chased down the 4th place team in the Atlantic, Lowell, which is 2 points ahead of the Admirals with a game in hand. Norfolk holds a 7 point edge on 6th place Hartford with the Pack having a game in hand and an 8 point edge on 7th place Providence with the Bruins holding 2 games in hand. Bear in mind, if the Admirals fall to 4th in their division, they must finish ahead of the 5th place team in the Atlantic to make the postseason.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

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.

A golden opportunity goes by the boards, and we're reminded how incredibly difficult it is to beat a good team on back-to-back nights.

ALB-4
NOR-2

Dustin Tokarski allowed 4 goals on 28 shots for the loss. The young netminder has back-to-back losses for the first time since early January.

First Period
NOR Tyrell, (6) (Hall, Craig), 10:44
ALB Samson, (29) (Osala, McBain), 17:23
ALB Bowman, (15) (Micflikier, Rodney), 18:47

Second Period
ALB Samson, (30) (Dodge, Terry), 1:55
ALB Chaput, (10) (Osala, Samson), 5:21

Third Period
NOR Jones, (9) (Lashoff), 14:01

Albany moves out to a 3 point lead with 1 game in hand on the Admirals for 2nd place in the East Division. 4th place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was idle and remains 7 points back with 3 games in hand. 5th place Adirondack was blanked 1-0 by Binghamton and will fall into 6th place, 12 points behind Norfolk with 4 games in hand. They'll be passed by Syracuse, which bumped off Portland 4-3, and will now be 10 points back with 3 games in hand.

In the crossover, Bridgeport, which is 5th in the Atlantic, thumped Providence 4-1, so the Sound Tigers are 5 points back of the Admirals with 1 game in hand. Providence is 7 points back with 2 games in hand. Hartford is 10 points back with 3 games in hand. If the Admirals fall to 4th in the East, they must finish ahead of the 5th place team in the Atlantic to make the postseason.

Norfolk will be scoreboard watching until Friday when they finally get back into action hosting the Sound Tigers at The Scope. Norfolk has 10 games remaining at home and 4 on the road. Albany has 6 at home and 9 on the road. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has 8 at home and 9 on the road.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

Things tighten up a bit in the playoff chase...

NOR-2
WBS-4

Dustin Tokarski allowed 3 goals on 33 shots in the loss.

First Period
WBS Grant, (2) (Johnson, Tangradi), 5:50
NOR Hall, (11) (Tyrell, Craig), 9:25

Second Period
WBS Wallace, (18) (Smith, Conner), 8:22 (PP)
NOR Jones, (8) (Tarkir, Fadden), 10:07

Third Period
WBS Pushkarev, (6) (Lee, Tangradi), 8:06
WBS Jeffrey, (19) (Wallace), 19:56 (EN)

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton now pulls within 5 points of Norfolk with the Pens holding 3 games in hand. The good news is that, after tonight, Norfolk has just 4 road games remaining on their schedule and 12 at home.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

Don Simek makes sure the Crunch will sleep with the fishes.

NOR-3
SYR-2

Dustin Tokarski allowed 2 goals on 22 shots for the win.

First Period
NOR Simek, (17) (Lashoff, Tarkir), 4:21 (PP)
NOR Tyrell, (5) (Lashoff, Parrish), 19:40

Second Period
SYR Bell, (10) (MacKenzie), 2:26 (PP)
SYR LaVallee-Smotherman, (6) (Sestito, Frischmon), 19:32

Third Period
NOR Simek, (18) (Szczechura, Mihalik), 15:54

Juraj Simek and Matt Lashoff were the game's first and second stars. Simek, the Don of the Presov Mafia, is now 2 goals shy of the first 20 goal season of his AHL career and has had multi-point nights in each of the past two games.

Vladimir Mihalik, the Luca Brasi of the family, assisted on Simek's winner and finishes the month of February at +13 with 6 out of 11 games at +2 or better. He had only one minus game the entire month, and had 2 goals and 5 points, too. He's now 2 points shy of his AHL career high of 16 points set in his rookie season.

Norfolk moves back into a tie for 2nd in the East Division at 70 points with Albany. The Rats are losing 4-2 late in the third period to Portland as of this posting. If that score holds up, all will be square with Albany holding 1 game in hand. Norfolk picked up 1 point on 4th place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, which lost in a shootout to Hershey 2-1. They are now 7 points back of the Admirals with 3 games in hand. Norfolk also picks up 2 points on idle Adirondack, which is 10 points back with 3 games in hand. The Crunch are now 12 points back with 2 games in hand, but are on a 2 game losing streak and sub-.500 in their last 10 games. They're falling out of the mix quickly. Binghamton is being fitted for a toe tag. They're now 20 points behind the Admirals and not even 6 games in hand can save them.

In the crossover, the Atlantic's 5th and 6th place teams, Bridgeport and Providence, are idle, so Norfolk is now 7 points up on Bridgeport and 9 points up on Providence with the Sound Tigers holding 1 game in hand and the Bruins holding 3 games in hand. Hartford, which is tied in points with Providence, is down 3-1 to Lowell in the 2nd period as of this posting. They'll burn one of their 2 games in hand they hold over the Admirals, win, lose, or draw tonight. If the Admirals were to fall to 4th in the East Division, they would have to finish above the 5th place team in the Atlantic Division to make the postseason.

So, it was a critical weekend, and the Admirals got their minimum requisite 4 of 6 points and came 1 goal shy of really burying the Phantoms' playoff chances too. That leaves Norfolk in a very nice position schedule-wise for the rest of the season. The Admirals have just 5 games left on the road and 12 games left at the friendly confines of The Scope left on the schedule. That's a potentially huge advantage for the Admirals down the stretch. Compare that to Albany, which has just 7 home games left this season.

And, on a very nice note, the Admirals' win tonight places them at 19-13-3 this season on the road, so they've clinched a better than .500 road record. That's pretty impressive for a team that was 10 games under .500 away from Scope last year. Their 33 wins also ties their win total of all last year and they are just 5 points shy of their point total for all last season, too. The corner is being turned. It'll be interesting to see if the Admirals can finish off this run they're on and clinch home ice for the first round of the playoffs, and if they'll be able to utilize some of the Lightning's best prospects as ATO's once their junior seasons are over to help push the team over the top in the postseason.

Expect a couple of moves with the Lightning returning to work on Tuesday. Janus heading back down seems a certainty, and my money is on Parrish moving back up as well.

Box score from TheAHL.com.