AHL Game Night 11/24: Falcons at Admirals

Remember when I said maybe this wasn't the week the Admirals would make their move after all when Darche and Jancevski were called up? Shows how much I know. My only real regret: not being able to see the look on Springfield Republican writer Fran Sypek's face as the Lightning's "suspects" dismantled the Falcons.

SPR-2
NOR-6

Jonathan Boutin stopped 24 of 26 shots faced tonight to run his record to 6-2-2 this season. When you get at least a point in 80% of your starts, that's pretty darn good in my book.

First Period
NOR Klinkhammer, (2) (Stewart, Jones), 1:55
SPR McDonald, (4) (Thoresen, Reddox), 4:42

Second Period
SPR Schremp, (4) (Kemp, Reddox), 1:01 (PP)
NOR Milley, (4) (Schneider, Fletcher), 7:58
NOR Milley, (5) (MacDonald, Wanvig), 9:50
NOR Keller, (2) (Mihalik, Jones), 18:41 (PP)

Third Period
NOR MacDonald, (3) (Wanvig, Milley), 3:07
NOR Leach, (3) (Stewart, Jones), 14:10

Norm Milley, Craig MacDonald, and Kyle Wanvig were the three stars of the game.

But it's not just the veterans who were chipping in this week. Blair Jones is now riding a three game point streak posting 2 goals and 7 points over that span. Justin Keller is also riding a three game point streak with 1 goal and 4 points over that span. Further adding support offensively: Vladimir Mihalik with 3 assists in the last two games and Rob Klinkhammer with 1 goal and 4 points over the same span.

Norfolk now improves their record to 8-10-2 on the season and sets itself up well for a critical road trip through the division. With 18 points the Admirals are now in a three way tie with Hershey and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for the 4th and final playoff spot in the division, 2 points back of 3rd place Binghamton and 3 points back of 2nd place Albany. Norfolk draws Albany on Wednesday and Friday nights before facing Bighamton next Saturday and Hershey next Sunday. 4 road games in 5 nights. The math isn't complicated, and the stakes are high. The good news is word on the street is Karri Ramo might be ready by next weekend to spell Boutin, who has almost exclusively carried the load for Norfolk over the past couple of weeks.

If the Ads play their cards right, they could be sitting at .500 or better by the end of next weekend and occupying a potential playoff spot. Not bad for a team that was close to being given up for dead just two weeks ago.

Game sheet from TheAHL.com.