On Friday night (Oct. 25) the Norfolk Admirals took to the road for the first time this season to take on the Maine Mariners and came away with a 6-3 win at Cross Insurance Arena. Maine’s powerplay struggles continued as they scored just once on four powerplay chances. The Admirals were held scoreless on theirs as they went 0-for-2. The Admirals were outshot by a 34-22 margin for the game.
In his first start just days after signing with the Admirals, Dante Giannuzzi picked up the win with a 31-save performance.
Ryan Bischel takes the loss for the Mariners after he allowed four goals on nine shots in the first period after being pulled to start the second period. Coming on in relief, Brad Arvanitis gave Maine some hope as he stopped 11 of the 13 shots he faced.
Three Stars
First Star – Kamerin Nault (1g,1a)
Second Star – Stepan Timofeyev (1g,1a)
Third Star – Patrick Guay (1g)
Recap
Just 36 seconds into the game, a misread by the Admirals defenders allowed Guay an early grade-A chance on a mini breakaway. With Darick Louis-Jean quickly closing in the Guay, he released a shot at the bottom hash mark high on the blocker side of Giannuzzi, who turned it away with a big shoulder save to prevent an early Maine goal.
After a not-so-good weekend last weekend in their home opener against the Adirondack Thunder, the Admirals were looking to get off to a hot start and reset on the road, and they did just that. On just their second shot of the game, Keegan Iverson put the Admirals on the board first at 6:07 of the first period. A broken play in their own zone allowed Nault to pick the puck up in the middle of the ice. Making it look easy, he skated right through the Mariners’ defenders. Looking shot the whole way, Nault made a pass right to Iverson directly in front of the goal, and Iverson made no mistake in burying the puck by a sprawling Bischel on the glove side.
Directly off the faceoff at center ice, the Admirals tacked on a second goal just 17 seconds after their first on just their third shot of the game. A faceoff win by Brandon Osmundson gave the Admirals possession of the puck. A d-to-d pass and across to the weak-side wing gave them easy entry into the Mariners’ zone. With the puck deep in the zone, the Admirals went hard, sending two guys on the puck to create a bit of chaos. Carson Golder gained possession of the puck, skated up to the blue line with the puck, pivoted, and riffled a quick shot on net. Standing high in the slot, Osmundson was able to get the blade of his stick on the puck and deflect it right by the blocker of Bischel for his first goal of the season. Sanghoon Shin‘s great forechecking helped him pick up the secondary assist. After that, the floodgates opened as the Admirals went up 3-0 in the span of 1:48. A play that started with Timofeyev batting the puck past three Maine players ended with him picking up the goal. The chipped pass landed on the tape of Brady Fleurent, who was patient with the puck. Fleurent found Denis Smirnov on the far side of the 3-on-1. With the puck on his tape, Smirnov quickly tapped the puck for Timofeyev to step in and riffle it hard and low past the blocker of Bischel. It was their third goal on just their fourth shot.
Looking for some sort of lifeline, the Mariners nearly stopped the bleeding as Guay was all alone with Giannuzzi at 8:48. After receiving a pass in tight on Giannuzzi, Guay released a quick shot in which the 22-year-old netminder was able to get his blocker on it. The puck would lie behind Giannuzzi, but he was able to find it for a freeze before any damage could be done. At 12:13, Bischel came up with a huge blocker save on TImofeyev, who was in on a breakaway, to keep his team to within three.
The Admirals were not done with their first period onslaught as an offensive zone faceoff with 26.3 seconds left was won cleanly to Golder by Justin Young. The left-hand shot was lined up just to the right of Young, and wasted no time getting a shot off on net, which went high glove and in the back of the net to make it a 4-0 game, all in the span of two seconds.
Despite scoring four goals in the period, the Admirals were tied in the shot total with the Mariners 9-9. Maine had the only powerplay and went 0-for-1.
With the fourth goal to end the period, the Mariners made a change in net, which saw Arvanitis come on in relief. Right out of the gate in the second period, the Admirals came out flying as they welcomed Arvanitis into the game with two big chances of which he was able to turn away. At 4:28 of the second period, Louis-Jean joined in on the fun to put the Admirals up 5-0 on just their 13th shot of the game. A mad scramble in front of the net after a few huge saves from Arvanitis on Timofeyev saw Maine find the puck and try to clear it. A failed clearance landed right on the stick of Louis-Jean, halfway between the blue line and the top of the circles. Seeing all the bodies in front of the net and Arvanitis far out of his crease, Louis-Jean ripped one high and into the back of the net.
After the fifth goal, it was all Maine, as it had 10 of the next 11 shot chances. Though he was not needed to come up big through the first nine minutes of the second, Giannuzzi did make a very difficult save at 9:37 as a shot by Mason Millman from the blue line that was going wide ended up being deflected, forcing him to be alert and make a shoulder save. At 10:12, the Mariners went on their second powerplay of the game as Young was sent off for Hooking. After failing to convert on their first, they were able to bring the game to 5-1 off a one-time shot from the blue line by Jake Willets on the powerplay at 11:55. Xander Lamppa found Willets all alone on the left side of the blue line and fire over a pass. Willets riffled a long shot through Giannuzzi who had a clear look at the shot, but could not pick it up as it went right by his glove hand.
With just 1:39 to go in the middle frame, Maine was looking to make a comeback as it made it a three-goal game. Throwing the puck towards the front of the net, and Maine’s second goal proved that to be true. With the puck in the corner, Owen Pederson threw the puck towards the net. The puck took a bounce off the skate of Guay, making it a weird save for Giannuzzi to make. He left a rebound out in front of the crease and Guay was able to find the loose puck as he was falling to his back and bang home the rebound just far enough the goal line for the goal to count.
The Admirals took a 5-2 lead into the locker room, but the Mariners had all the momentum. Maine held a 15-11 shot advantage for the period. Maine went 1 for 2 on the powerplay, while Norfolk went 0-for-1.
With all the momentum of bringing the game to within three, the Mariners made it a 5-3 game just 4:52 into the third period. A 2-on-1 into the Admirals’ zone saw Evan Vierling sauce a pass over to Wyllum Deveaux. Deveaux batted home the one-time shot, which looked to have barely crossed the line as the officials had to review the play to confirm the puck did fully cross the line. The Admirals found a way to regain their three-goal lead as they made it a 6-3 game just 1:17 after the Mariners’ goal off a beautiful passing play that got all three Mariners’ defenders mesmerized. Marko Reifenberger picked up the loose puck in the neutral zone, bringing it into the Mariners’ zone. He found Graham Sward wide open on the right-wing side of the ice, and dished a pass over to him. Nault continued with his speed to drive the backdoor as Sward dished a backdoor pass to the left side of the net for Nault to tap in.
Maine tried to storm back, but the Admirals locked down on defense to hold on for the win. Maine outshot Norfolk by a 10-2 margin in the final frame. Both teams were 0 for 1 on the powerplay for the period.
