Admirals Falter Deep in the Heart of Texas

Milwaukee Admirals Head Coach Karl Taylor said in a pregame interview broadcast Friday that “we’re nowhere near a finished product and probably shouldn’t be at this time of the year.”

The good news for the Admirals is they’ve regained their scoring touch in recent games after struggling in the opening weeks. Now, they need to shift their focus on defense.

Milwaukee kept it even through two periods of a back-and-forth game, but faltered late in a 6-4 loss to the Texas Stars in the first of a two-game set in Cedar Park, Texas.

The Admirals were hoping to build off Wednesday’s 7-3 win over the Toronto Marlies, with Troy Grosenick making his second straight start in goal in place of the scratched Yarolslav Askarov (3-2-0, 1.60 goals-against average, .935 save percentage) and the Admirals got off to a rough start. Roland McKeown was called for slashing 27 seconds in and rookie Logan Stankoven’s seventh goal gave the Stars 1-0 lead just 32 seconds later.

Milwaukee’s Anthony Angello evened the score at 3:23 with his first of the season, but the Admirals found themselves trailing again just over 2 1/2 minutes later when Fredrik Karlstrom scored his first of the game.

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Milwaukee’s recent scoring binge continued when Fedor Svechkov notched his second goal of 2023-24 at 9:29. That was the Admirals’ ninth tally over the last 3 1/2 periods — a welcome development logging just 14 goals over the first seven games.

Milwaukee’s inability to stay out of the penalty box hurt them once more. Nine seconds after Navrin Mutter was called for roughing, Riley Damiani gave Texas a 3-2 lead at 13:55.

“It’s tough to play that back-and-forth style because you’re going to get bit more times than not,” Admirals Assistant Coach Scott Ford said in broadcast interview after the game.

The Stars extended their lead 6:21 into the second when Chase Wheatcroft tucked in his first professional goal from in front. Wheatcroft (47 goals, 60 assists) was second in scoring in the Western Hockey League last season behind top overall NHL Draft pick Connor Bedard.

Texas did not have much time to enjoy its latest lead. Just 19 seconds later, Admirals captain Kevin Gravel scored his first of the season to make it 4-3, and Cal O’Reilly added his first at 15:07.

Wheatcroft scored his second of the game at 1:58 of the third when he corralled a rebound and slipped the puck past Grosenick. Karlstrom scored into an empty net the final minute.

Grosenick stopped 23 of 28 shots for the Admirals.

Milwaukee (4-5-0-0) has dropped both its matchups with Texas (6-3-1-1) this season but won’t have to wait long to face the Central Division leaders. The teams will wrap up a weekend series in the Lone Star State Saturday night.

“We’ve got to find a way to play a little more detailed defensively and still somehow create and get the production we did today,” Ford said.  “The last couple of games, we put 11 in the back of the net. When we do that, we’ve had success in the past.”

THREE STARS

1. Chase Wheatcroft, Texas: Junior star scores his first two pro goals.
2. Fredrik Karlstrom: Two goals for the Swede.
3. Denis Gurianov, Milwaukee: Former Star picks up two assists.

COMING UP

After Saturday, Milwaukee won’t play again until Friday night when it starts a stretch of three games in as many days. After a road meeting Friday against the Rockford IceHogs, the Admirals head home to face the Grand Rapids Griffins on Nov. 18 followed by an afternoon tilt Nov. 19 in suburban Chicago against the Wolves.