Gameday Preview: Stars v. Milwaukee Admirals

Texas Stars
6-4-2-0, 14 pts
#6 Western Conference
v.Milwaukee Admirals
6-0-2-0, 14 pts
#5 Western Conference
November 8th at 7:30 PM
Cedar Park Center, Cedar Park, TX

The Milwaukee Admirals and Texas Stars have the exact same record... well, they do when you take out those pesky regulation losses on the Texas side of the ledger. Somehow, through the entire month of October and into November, the Ads have yet to suffer the indignity of a loss without earning points. How are they not leading the league? They have a 87.5% points percentage.

The difference between Texas and Milwaukee is still games played, just as it was two weeks ago. The clubs are even in the standings, but the Ads still have not caught up to Texas in games played. With this weekend's two games ending the season series with Milwaukee in the first week of November, it will be the only opportunity Texas has to directly impact the fate of a team that looks poised to challenge them for the Western Conference regular season crown.

Since they last played Texas, the Ads have swapped a few pieces on their roster. Marek Mazanec, who started the second game against Texas in Milwaukee, was called to Nashville, and Magnus Hellberg was reassigned in his place. It will be the first chance Hellberg has to face the Texas team that knocked the Admirals out of the 2012 Calder Cup. Scott Darling backs up the Swede. Darling has just one AHL game to his record, having played most of his career in the SPHL and ECHL.

Texas fans should not be so quick to judge the Admirals goalie situation though. Their goalie tandem is similarly inexperienced. Barring a recovery from Jack Campbell before this evening, Josh Robinson will probably play in his third career AHL game this weekend with PTO Allen York getting the other game.

Campbell's injury is seen as being more minor than Nilstorp's, but both are forced out of the lineup.

Another addition for Milwaukee is first round pick Filip Forsberg. Forsberg was drafted by Washington at #11 in 2012 and came to the Nashville org in a trade for Martin Erat and Michael Latta. Forsberg has 11 games under his belt in Nashville this season with a goal and four assists.

On the Forecheck commented on the assignment:
"While the coach cited a desire to see Forsberg get more minutes and build up some confidence, it's a bit of a shame because he's done well with the limited opportunity he's been given at the NHL level (just 5:07 of ice time at Los Angeles Saturday, and 6:42 last night). He's currently 3rd on the team in the amount of shots on goal being produced per 60 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time, and his general puck possession stats are very solid."
The Predators 'behind-the-scenes' report, Kevin Wilson, later noted "Filip Forsberg will join @mkeadmirals in Texas to gain valuable minutes in a 3-in-3 weekend."

Keys for the game tonight will include the cliched 'playing a full sixty' as Texas had a terrible last two outings against the Ads, getting ahead 2-0 in the first and losing both games. The Stars need to limit quality shots on their goalie, something they did well in Iowa on Saturday. Texas could get some fire from their power play, which is tops in the league at home (40%). That number is inflated considerably by the 9-4 game against Abbotsford, however.

Stars injury/call up report:
Campbell (knee injury, questionable)
Nilstorp (lower body injury, questionable)
Glennie (likely)

Admirals Web Resources:
Website: milwaukeeadmirals.com
Blog (Official): In The Crease
Blog (Unofficial): Admirals Roundtable (@adsroundtable)
Twitter: @mkeadmirals

Comments

  1. I hope Campbell and Nilstorp get better soon. Torp's Tots is such a kind thing to do! We're lucky to have Nilstorp on our team.

    ReplyDelete

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