Injuries meant the Firebirds had to go without defenseman Cale Fleury and forward Mitchell Stephens for Game 1 against the Canucks on Friday. Fleury is listed as day-to-day; Stephens, who scored three goals in two games during the first round against Calgary, is out indefinitely.
“At the end of the day, this is an opportunity for our guys that we have in the lineup to play,” head coach Derek Laxdal said after Game 1.
As Pacific Division rivals and with plenty of time to pre-scout, Game 1 did not reveal any secrets between the clubs. Still, there is a difference between video work and actually trying to handle the Canucks on the ice in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
“The one thing that I think caught us off-guard was their physicality in the first period and the activation of their ‘D,’” Laxdal continued. “They really came at us. We got caught watching a little bit, but once we jumped into the pool, we didn’t dip our toes in the water, I thought we played with them. We have to have that mindset going forward.”
The first two periods of Game 1 for the Milwaukee Admirals? Lots to like. The rest of the game? Needs some work.
And the message in the room after a 3-2 overtime loss to the IceHogs? Let it go.
Milwaukee built a 2-0 lead on home ice before it crumbled in the final 10 minutes of regulation. The end came after just 12 seconds of overtime.
Captain Cal O’Reilly preached that message after the game. “You sulk and sit on it for a bit and then tomorrow we come to the rink, it’s done. It’s playoff hockey. Things change quick. We’ve got to look at it a little bit and then forget about it.”
Said head coach Karl Taylor, “I really liked most of our game. Sometimes you like your game and you lose. We need to move on. They get an hour to be mad or disappointed and (then) we’ll shake it off and get ready for Saturday.”
Colton Dach has handled high-pressure hockey before. He represented Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship, one of the biggest stages in the game. He went to the Memorial Cup two years ago. There are 25 NHL games with the Chicago Blackhawks to his name. Now there’s an overtime-winning goal in the Calder Cup Playoffs on his resume.
“It’s a pretty good feeling,” Dach said after his Game 1 winner. “A bunch of guys on the bench were saying a goal would erase every other emotion during the game, and they were right.”
The 22-year-old Dach was in the Rockford lineup for the first time since Feb. 23. He had not played a game since sustaining an elbow injury in an NHL game on Mar. 20. Interim head coach Mark Eaton slotted Dach on a line with captain Brett Seney and Joey Anderson for Game 1 and came away impressed with the second-year forward’s performance.
“He’s a presence out there,” Eaton said. “He can do it all, and he’s the kind of player you lean on in playoffs and games where it gets physical, it gets chippy. He has the size and physicality to be able to withstand that and still make a positive impact, and that’s what he did.”
― with files from Patrick Williams
