Wishart, Ty

And now things get really tight in the playoff race.

NOR-1
WBS-2

Dustin Tokarski allowed just 2 goals on 25 shots, but his first period softie allowed to Jesse Boulerice ended up being the margin of defeat.

First Period
WBS Boulerice, (4) (Conner, Lee), 4:23
WBS Johnson, (13) (Haddad, Wagner), 13:19 (PP)

Second Period
NO SCORING

Third Period
NOR Fornataro, (9) (Wishart, Fadden), 15:22

It was a beautiful stickhandling play by Matt Fornataro that helped pull the Admirals to within one goal late in the game. Defenseman Ty Wishart got his 31st point of the season on the play, but he should be chastized along with Vladimir Mihalik for some very soft play along the wall in the defensive zone, especially in the first period. The soft goal, the soft play along the wall, and a disgustingly bad 0-for-8 power play doomed the Admirals in this one. That, and Mitch Fritz losing his mind at the end of the second period, including the ever-classy crotch chop to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton crowd, drawing a double minor and game misconduct that killed off about a quarter of the third period for a Pens team that only held on by one goal.

On the bright side, the two pro debuts went pretty well tonight. Carter Ashton almost had a beautiful goal chipping the puck between two defenders and showing surprising burst to split them and get himself a breakaway. He got in too tight on the backhand, though, and couldn't lift the puck to notch the goal. He had another chance a few minutes later when he spun out in front from behind the net on his backhand. Had he been a little more patient, he could've taken another half stride and maybe stuck it in far post. Richard Panik had one good chance from the slot, but the defining play for him was a downright nasty check he threw coming back into the Admirals zone. Downright nasty. In case you didn't know, he's strong as a bull.

Norfolk's lead over the Pens is down to 1 point with the Pens holding 1 game in hand. Uh oh. Norfolk has 11 games left to play in the season: 3 on the road and 8 at home. Norfolk draws Adirondack at Scope on Friday.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

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.

Another successful hit for the Presov Mafia.

NOR-4
BNG-3

Dustin Tokarski allowed 3 goals on 37 shots for the win.

First Period
NOR Fadden, (4) (Jones, Szczechura), 7:51
NOR Bochenski, (20) (Parrish, Wishart), 19:11

Second Period
BNG Smith, (9) (Bass, Condra), 16:32

Third Period
NOR Craig, (19) (Tyrell, Hall), 7:28
BNG O'Brien, (4) (St. Pierre, Hennessy), 8:54 (PP)
BNG Smith, (10) (Condra), 9:46
NOR Mihalik, (2) (Hall, Tyrell), 17:28

Vladimir Mihalik and Ryan Craig were the game's first and third stars. Mihalik, the Luca Brasi of the Presov Mafia, has 2 goals in his last 6 games after going 51 games without a marker. More to the point, though, Mihalik is +9 so far in the month of February with 4 games with a +2 rating or better.

Dana Tyrell posted his 4th multi-point game in the past 6 outings. Ty Wishart continued to inch toward the 30 point plateau with his 27th point of the season. Brandon Bochenski became the first Admiral to hit 20 goals this season, with Craig 1 back at 19.

It's a tribute to the veteran leadership of the team that they got the young players prepared and ready to go tonight, and congratulations to Interim Head Coach Leigh Mendelson on his first AHL victory.

The win is critical, as Norfolk is now tied for 2nd place in the East Division at 66 points with Albany with the Rats holding 1 game in hand. They extended their lead to 6 points over 4th place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with the Pens having 2 games in hand and 10 points over 5th/6th place Adirondack and Syracuse with each of those teams also holding 2 games in hand. The win also might've been the final nail in Binghamton's coffin, as they are now 17 points behind Norfolk, and not even 5 games in hand seem likely to save them.

In the crossover, Bridgeport fell to Abbotsford in regulation tonight, so Norfolk opened a 3 point lead on the 5th place team in the Atlantic, and a 7 point lead on 6th/7th place Providence and Hartford with the Bruins and Pack holding 2 and 1 game in hand, respectively. If Norfolk were to fall to 4th in the East Division, they would need to finish ahead of the 5th place team in the Atlantic to make the postseason.

Now things get interesting starting Friday with the Admirals having back-to-back-to-back games. They can really damage Adirondack's chances in a big 4-point contest to start the marathon, followed by another game in Binghamton on Saturday, and then concluding with a game against Syracuse that could further winnow the field of playoff contenders in the East Division. If Norfolk were to win at least those two big 4-point games, they might be able to narrow the playoff field in the division down to 4 teams effectively fighting for 3 spots: Albany, Norfolk, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and whoever ends up being the 5th place team in the Atlantic Division. Will Norfolk's coaching situation be sorted out in the next 45 or so hours? And, with Jaroslav Janus serving as practice netminder in Tampa, will PTO Matt Lundin have to make his AHL debut in one of the weekend's three contests?

Box score from TheAHL.com.

Don Simek gave Devan Dubnyk an offer he couldn't refuse in the shootout.

SPR-2
NOR-3 (SO)

Dustin Tokarski allowed 2 goals on 32 shots and 1 of 6 shooters in the shootout to convert en route to a shootout victory. He broke up 3 of 4 breakaways he had to face in regulation and without him, I doubt very much the Admirals would've won tonight. He was moving well tonight and was up on top of his crease challenging shooters aggressively. It was a very good effort.

First Period
SPR Linglet, (15) (Hisey, David), 7:18
NOR Wishart, (9) (Szczechura), 8:25 (PP)

Second Period
SPR Linglet, (16) (Wiseman, Armstrong), 0:19 (PP)

Third Period
NOR Bochenski, (19) (Parrish), 2:50

Overtime
NO SCORING

Shootout
SPR- Minard
NOR- Parrish, Simek

Brandon Bochenski and Ty Wishart were the game's first and third stars. Juraj Simek, the Don of the Presov Mafia, remains a perfect 3-for-3 in shootout attempts this season. Never ask him about his business.

Kidding aside, Norfolk is lucky they had Springfield tonight and not a better grade of opponent. They were very sloppy in the first couple of periods of the game and allowed multiple breakaways and odd man rushes to the Falcons. They need to clean that up quickly, because if they have a night like that against a higher caliber opponent like Hershey or Portland and they'll be sitting on the bad end of a blowout 20 minutes in.

Norfolk did outshoot Springfield 53-32 in the game, but it was a pretty even contest in terms of scoring chances. Once again, Devan Dubnyk of Springield looked very good for the Falcons, but the Admirals did start to get to him by adjusting their strategy a bit in the third and shooting more from the high slot and the top of the circles. Against a big goaltender who is a little deep in his crease, that's the prime scoring areas.

Norfolk remains in 3rd place in the East Division at 64 points, 2 points back of Albany, who beat Adirondack earlier today. The Rats hold 1 game in hand on the Admirals. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton defeated Lowell 1-0 today to move into sole possession of 4th place, 6 points behind Norfolk with 3 games in hand. 5th place Adirondack is 8 points back with 3 games in hand. 6th place Syracuse defeated Binghamton in an outdoor game today to stay 10 points back of Norfolk with 2 games in hand. Last place Binghamton looks done like dinner 15 points behind the Admirals, even though they have 5 games in hand. They've lost their last 3, and are just 3-6-0-1 in their last 10 games.

In the crossover, the 5th place team in the Atlantic, Bridgeport, lost to Abbotsford today and Providence lost to Manchester. Hartford defeated Worcester, so the Admirals have a 3 point lead on Bridgeport and a 5 point lead on Providence and Hartford. Providence has 2 games in hand and Hartford has 1. If the Admirals were to fall to 4th in the East Division, they'd need to finish ahead of the 5th place team in the Atlantic to make the postseason.

Norfolk moved to .500 at home with their win last night and are now 1 game over .500 at home for the year, to go with their mark of 4 games over .500 on the road for the season. Norfolk has 21 games left in the regular season: 12 at home and 9 on the road. Norfolk travels to Binghamton on Wednesday.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

Norfolk brought out the big 16 inch main guns tonight, and blasted Hartford into oblivion.

NOR-7
HFD-3

Jaroslav Janus allowed 3 goals on 24 shots and bathed in sweet, sweet goal support for the victory.

First Period
NOR Simek, (16) (Jones, Tyrell), 11:57
NOR Bochenski, (17) , 14:49 (PP)
HFD Dupont, (11) (Nightingale, Roche), 16:19

Second Period
NOR Hall, (10) (Craig, McGinnis), 0:53
NOR Lashoff, (6) (Szczechura, Bochenski), 12:07 (PP)
NOR Jackson, (1) (Bochenski, Parrish), 17:52

Third Period
NOR Craig, (17) (Tyrell, Lashoff), 1:18
HFD Crowder, (11) , 12:45
NOR Wishart, (8) (Szczechura, Lashoff), 17:37 (PP)
HFD Nightingale, (2) (Owens, Brashear), 19:45

Brandon Bochenski, Ryan Craig, and Matt Lashoff were the game's three stars. It's a shame the Admirals can't keep all this weaponry past the end of the Olympic break, because they're terrifying now that they've got Parrish and Bochenski in the fold, Lashoff is playing better, and guys like Tyrell and Fadden are starting to show their potential. Bochenski set the all-time Norfolk Admirals record for goals scored in the AHL with his first period marker.

Norfolk outshot Hartford 45-24 in the game. Awesome.

Ty Wishart is now up to 8 goals and 25 points for the season. The goal of a 30 point season is in the crosshairs.

Paul Szczechura has 1 goal and 9 points in 9 games since being sent back down to Norfolk, including 3 multi-point games in his last 5 outings.

Juraj Simek, the Don of the Presov Mafia, has goals in 4 of the past 5 games and 4 goals and 6 points in his past 6.

Tyrell has 2 multi-point games in his past 3 outings and 1 goal and 5 points in his past 4.

Lashoff has 2 goals and 7 points in his last 6 games.

Norfolk moves back to within 4 points of Albany for 2nd place in the East Division with the Rats holding 1 game in hand by virtue of their victory and Albany getting pasted 9-2 tonight by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The 4th place Pens are 4 points behind Norfolk with 2 games in hand. Norfolk is also 6 points up on 5th place Adirondack with the Phantoms holding 3 games in hand. 6th place Syracuse is 8 points back with 2 games in hand. Last place Binghamton is fading, 11 points back of Norfolk with 5 games in hand.

In the crossover, Norfolk holds a 3 point lead over Providence, Hartford, and Bridgeport with the Bruins holding 2 games in hand and the Wolf Pack and Sound Tigers each with 1 game in hand.

Box score from TheAHL.com.