The Norfolk Admirals put together a 1-2 record for the second consecutive week in the early stages of their 2009-10 AHL schedule. While early season struggles persist in some areas, there is reason for encouragement in others.

The power play is a league-worst 1-for-23 at present but, on the other side of special teams, the penalty kill is a respectable 18-for-21.

Norfolk has only managed 11 goals in total so far (tied for last in the AHL with the Grand Rapids Griffins) but has only yielded 14 against, better than all but five of their league adversaries.

The three-headed goaltending monster, dubbed “Tokjanius” by my friends at Boltprospects.com, have been solid with a combined 2.19 goals against average and a .925 save percentage, despite the overall 2-4 record.

Without further delay, a look at last week’s action:

GAME RESULTS
Click for individual box scores
Wednesday, 10/14: Albany River Rats 3, Norfolk Admirals 1
Despite a goal from forward Brandon Bochenski for the third consecutive game, the Admirals fell 3-1 in Albany Wednesday night.

River Rats netminder Justin Peters was outstanding in the contest, thwarting 37 Norfolk shots for the victory. At the other end of the ice, Jaroslav Janus made his professional debut for the Admirals, stopping 27 of 29 shots in defeat.

Steve Goertzen and Stefan Chaput tallied in the second period for Albany and Jerome Samson iced things with an empty netter late in the third.

Late in the second period, defenseman Matt Smaby was injured as a result of a hit from behind by Albany’s Nicolas Blanchard, who was assessed a boarding major on the play. Defense partner Matt Lashoff came to Smaby’s defense, dropping the gloves with Blanchard immediately. Smaby did not return to the contest and was listed as day-to-day with an upper body injury.

Forward Radek Smolenak led all Admirals with five shots on goal.

Scratches for Norfolk were Mitch Fadden, Riku Helenius, Chris Lawrence and Ty Wishart.

Three stars of the game:
1 – Justin Peters, Albany
2 – Stefan Chaput, Albany
3 – Steve Goertzen, Albany

Friday, 10/16: Syracuse Crunch 5, Norfolk Admirals 4
Despite their largest offensive output of the season, the Admirals lost their second straight on Friday night in a wild, back-and-forth tilt in Syracuse against the Crunch that featured four lead changes and nine goals in total.

Stefan Legein opened the scoring for the home squad just 48 seconds into the opening frame but veteran Norfolk forward Mark Parrish found the equalizer just over two minutes later for his first goal as an Admiral. Parrish also earned his first Norfolk assist when Ryan Craig notched a power play tally at the 6:45 mark of the first period, giving the Ads their first lead of the night at 2-1.

Tom Sestito pulled Syracuse even with his second goal of the young season before Paul Szczechura restored Norfolk’s one-goal lead to round out a fast-paced first period of play.

Craig’s second goal of the game put Norfolk ahead by a pair early in the second. Admirals forward Adam Hall, with a secondary assist on the goal, earned his first AHL point in eight seasons.

Syracuse’s Maksim Mayorov brought the Crunch back to within a goal as the second period came to a close but, as the Admirals offense stalled in the third, they fell victim to goals by Alex Picard and Jared Aulin as the home squad completed their comeback with a 5-4 decision.

Mitch Fritz exchanged pleasantries with Jon Mirasty in the first period. Mirasty hung in there, despite a significant size disadvantage, but Fritz earned the decision in the bout.

Scratches for Norfolk were Mitch Fadden, Jaroslav Janus, Chris Lawrence and Matt Smaby.

Three stars of the game:
1 – Stefan Legein, Syracuse
2 – Ryan Craig, Norfolk
3 – Tom Sestito, Syracuse

Saturday, 10/17: Norfolk Admirals 2, Bridgeport Sound Tigers 1
Dustin Tokarski nearly recorded his second professional shutout on Saturday night, backstopping Norfolk to their second victory of the season over the previously unbeaten Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

Tokarski’s shutout bid ended with just 1:16 to play when Bridgeport’s Greg Moore beat him through a screen for his second goal of the season. Tokarski (2-2) made 27 saves in the Norfolk crease.

Brandon Bochenski and Ryan Craig led the offensive attack for the Admirals with a goal apiece.

Sound Tigers netminder Mikko Koskinen made 14 saves in the losing effort.

Scratches for Norfolk were Mitch Fadden, Jaroslav Janus, Justin Keller and Matt Smaby.

Three stars of the game:
1 – Dustin Tokarski, Norfolk
2 – Ryan Craig, Norfolk
3 – Greg Moore, Bridgeport

AHL STANDINGS UPDATE
Click here for full American Hockey League Standings
The Admirals currently rank seventh in the AHL’s East Division at 2-4-0-0 with 4 points on the season. They trail the division-leading Albany River Rats by 4 points the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins by 2 for the fourth and final East Division playoff spot.

NORFOLK ADMIRALS LEADING SCORERS
Click here for full Norfolk Admirals player statistics

(PLAYER NAME: GP-G-A-P-(+/-)-PIM)
1 – Ryan Craig: 6-4-1-5-(+2)-4
2 – Brandon Bochenski: 6-4-0-4-(+1)-4
3 – Paul Szczechura: 6-1-3-4-(-1)-6
4 – Juraj Simek: 6-0-4-4-(+1)-0
5 – Blair Jones: 6-1-2-3-(E)-0

NORFOLK ADMIRALS GOALTENDING STATISTICS

(PLAYER NAME: W-L-SOL,GAA,SV%,SO)
1 – Jaroslav Janus: 0-1-0, 2.03, .931, 0
2 – Riku Helenius: 0-1-0, 2.05, .913, 0
3 – Dustin Tokarski: 2-2-0, 2.27, .926, 1

AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE LEADING SCORERS

(PLAYER NAME, TEAM: GP-G-A-P-(+/-)-PIM)
1 – Andy Wozniewski, Providence:6-4-9-13-(+4)-4
2 – Scott Parse, Manchester: 7-2-9-11-(+8)-6
3 – Alexandre Giroux: 6-5-5-10-(+5)-4
4 – Jerome Samson, Albany: 6-4-6-10-(-2)-0
5 – Vladimir Sobotka, Providence: 6-4-6-10-(+6)-4

AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE GOALTENDING LEADERS

(PLAYER NAME: W-L-SOL,GAA,SV%,SO)
1 – Matt Climie, Texas: 2-0-1, 0.95, .950, 1
2 – Jason Bacashihua, Hershey: 1-0-0, 1.00, .970, 0
3 – Braden Holtby, Hershey: 2-1-0, 1.01, .967, 1
4 – Jeff Zatkoff, Manchester: 1-1-0, 1.01, .967, 0
5 – Jonathan Bernier, Manchester: 4-1-0, 1.60, .955, 1

For full American Hockey League scoring and goaltending leaders, click here.

TRANSACTIONS
10/19: Defenseman Matt Smaby recalled by Tampa Bay (NHL).

ADMIRALS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
With three goals and an assist, Ryan Craig was named Norfolk’s latest player of the week. Craig scored twice against Syracuse in the 5-4 loss on Friday and tallied the game-winner against Bridgeport the following night.

Assigned from the parent Lightning after clearing waivers late in training camp, Craig, a veteran of 192 regular season and playoff games at the NHL level, is looking to reestablish his game and restore some of the promise he showed as a rookie in 2005-06, when he managed 15 goals and 28 points in 48 games for Tampa Bay, as well as provide a leadership presence for his younger Admirals teammates.

Here’s Craig himself, discussing his play of late:

“ My game’s starting to come. Obviously, I’ve battled injuries the last few years. I’m trying to get back to where I was and beyond. I’m fortunate to get to play with some good players here. I’m put in all types of situations and I’ve been able to put a few pucks in the net.”

On the team’s recent road swing:

“We were happy with getting the win on Saturday night (in Bridgeport) but I think we left some points out there by not playing a full 60 minutes in Albany and Syracuse. For us, we’re moving in the right direction. We just have to find a way to finish games and get the results that we need but I thought it was a big effort by the team on Saturday night.”

On preparation for this weekend’s back-to-back home games against the visiting Portland Pirates:

“ I think we’ll have a good week of practice. The way the AHL is, where you sometimes just play weekends, for us, we have to make sure we have good skates and have some good competition throughout the week and we’ll have to be ready to go come Friday night.”

A familiar face for Lightning fans, Ryan Craig: Your Norfolk Admirals player of the week.

THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS

Friday, 10/23 vs. Portland, 7:15 PM
Saturday, 10/24 vs. Portland, 7:15 PM

***Lightning Notes***
Reunited and it Feels So Good?

The reunion of Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis, who will play together (on a line with rookie James Wright) Thursday night when the San Jose Sharks visit, will naturally excite long-time Lightning fans.

But the fact that, in an effort to jumpstart the struggling Lecavalier (0-5-5 and a minus-5 through seven games), head coach Rick Tocchet had no choice but to dismantle the dominant line of Ryan Malone, Steven Stamkos and St. Louis is a bit disconcerting. Steve Downie looks to spell St. Louis on the Malone-Stamkos unit but, in robbing Stammer to pay Vinny, aren’t we messing with too much of a good thing here?

If that line now begins to struggle, any rekindled success for Lecavalier and St. Louis would be, at best, a wash.

More troubling than breaking up the line I’d dubbed “St. Malkos” – surely an as yet undiscovered Greek isle, no? – are the struggles of free agent acquisition Alex Tanguay during his time alongside the captain. Brought in specifically to play with Lecavalier, a single assist is all Tanguay could manage thus far. Now grouped with Jeff Halpern and Drew Miller, one wouldn’t expect the former Canadien to suddenly find an offensive spark.

With secondary scoring a longstanding problem for the Bolts, this line shuffle certainly has its risks.

In a perfect world, Lecavalier will pot his first of the year, the Malone-Stamkos-Downie line will tally a few points and, hell, maybe even Tanguay will find the net with his new linemates.

If not, the questions will linger …

Where are they now?

With so many faces in and out of the Lightning lineup last year, you may not have caught wind of where they all ended up. Here’s the line on a couple of former Bolt forwards whose signings elsewhere flew under the radar:

Matt Pettinger, Manitoba (AHL): On a 25-game PTO with the Moose, Pettinger is looking to get his game up to par with the Canucks affiliate. So far, so good, as Pettinger has tallied a goal and an assist in his first two games.

Jason Ward, Adirondack (AHL): On a one-year, two-way deal with the parent Philadelphia Flyers, Ward has a goal and three points in four games for Adirondack thus far. At the time of his signing, Ward’s decent size and style of play seemed to me to be a good depth addition for the rough-and-tumble Flyers organization.

Doh!

My Cory Murphy-could-score-40-points-in-the-right-situation bet isn’t looking too good right now with the former Lightning and Panthers d-man currently on waivers in New Jersey. Murph is pointless in three games with the Devils so far this year.

Maybe somebody picks him up and he catches fire. If so, and he somehow manages to reach that magical number 40, I’m owed many a beer. (You folks know who you are.)

More likely, I’ll be a pretty popular guy for postgame beverage hour for some time to come …

JJ

jon.jordan@hockeybuzz.com

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