***News from Norfolk up top, my answers to your questions for JJ’s Mailbag thereafter.***

It was a tough weekend for the Norfolk Admirals, who fell to the visiting Portland Pirates on both Friday and Saturday evening.

At 3-5 on the young season, the Ads will only get one shot to improve their record this week, with only Syracuse on the upcoming schedule. But the games will start to come fast and furious in November with four games a week throughout the month. Practices this week, as they look to iron out the early season wrinkles, will be of the utmost importance to Norfolk’s future success.

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

GAME RESULTS
Click for individual box scores
Friday, 10/23: Norfolk Admirals 4, Portland Pirates 2
Brandon Bochenski’s hot start for Norfolk continued on Friday as he notched his fifth and sixth goals of the season in the first 5:48 of the contest to give the Ads a quick 2-0 lead. He would add an assist early in the second period on Paul Szczechura’s goal, maintaining his point-per-game pace so far this season.

Ryan Craig scored the fourth Admiral goal of the night, his fifth of the young season, tipping a Vladimir Mihalik pass by Portland netminder Jhonas Enroth just shy of the eight-minute mark in the middle stanza.

Paul Byron and Tyler Ennis cut Norfolk’s 4-0 lead in half with goals in the second period for the Pirates, but the Admirals were able to thwart any potential Portland rally with a scoreless third.

Goaltender Dustin Tokarski made 14 saves in the contest to earn his third victory.

Mihalik’s increased aggression continued with a fight against Portland’s Jeff Cowan in the second period. The hulking defenseman, who drew an instigator penalty as well from the scrap, appears to have rededicated himself to an overly physical game this season. At 6’7” and 240 pounds, that doesn’t bode well for opponents of Mihalik’s in the future and is exactly what the Lightning organization has been looking for from him for some time now.

Scratches for Norfolk were Riku Helenius, Martins Karsums and Juraj Simek.

Three stars of the game:
1 – Brandon Bochenski, Norfolk
2 – Paul Szczechura, Norfolk
3 – Mike Lundin, Norfolk

Friday, 10/24: Portland Pirates 6, Norfolk Admirals 5
Despite their largest offensive output of the season, the Admirals were unable to close things out in Saturday’s return engagement with Portland and fell, 6-5, in a wild affair at Scope.

Just 52 seconds into the contest, the Admirals lost forward Radek Smolenak for the duration after a fight with Portland’s Kyle Rank did not go well at all for the Czech native. Rank connected with a heavy left hand in the scrap that immediately toppled Smolenak, who appeared to be unconscious as he hit the ice. The official word is that Smolenak is day-to-day with an upper body injury but, though I’m no doctor (nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night), that sure looked like a concussion to me. Scary stuff …

Shortly after the fight, Juraj Simek got the Admirals on the board with a bad angle shot that Portland goalie Jean-Phillipe Lamoureaux surely would have liked to have back.

Kyle Wanvig helped Lamoureaux put the Simek goal behind him, evening the score at 1-1 4:27 into the first.

Defenseman Matt Lashoff’s first goal as an Admiral gave Norfolk their second lead of the game at 15:18 on the power play and Justin Keller added an unassisted tally less than a minute later to extend the lead to 3-1 as the first period came to a close.

Portland struck back in the second period as Mike Kostka, Jeff Cowan and Mark Mancari accounted for three unanswered goals to give them a 4-3 lead through two.

Keller’s second of the night tied things early in the third before Rank and Tyler Ennis gave Portland their first two-goal advantage of the game.

Ryan Craig’s sixth goal of the season with just over five minutes to play proved to be too little, too late for the Admirals as Lamoureaux and the Pirates withstood their final comeback attempt.

Lamoureaux stopped 25 shots for the victory, while Dustin Tokarski turned aside 17-of-23 in a losing effort.

Scratches for Norfolk were Mitch Fadden, Riku Helenius and Martins Karsums.

Three stars of the game:
1 – Tyler Ennis, Portland
2 – Justin Keller, Norfolk
3 – Mark Mancari, Portland

AHL STANDINGS UPDATE
Click here for full American Hockey League Standings
The Admirals currently rank seventh in the AHL’s East Division at 3-5-0-0 with 6 points on the season. They trail the division-leading Albany River Rats by 4 points and the Adirondack Phantoms by 3 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 – Brandon Bochenski: 8-6-2-8-(E)-4
2 – Ryan Craig: 8-6-2-8-(+3)-4
3 – Paul Szczechura: 8-2-5-7-(-1)-8
4 – Juraj Simek: 7-1-5-6-(-1)-0
5 – Radek Smolenak: 6-0-4-4-(E)-13

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: 3-3-0, 2.86, .894, 1

AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE LEADING SCORERS
(PLAYER NAME, TEAM: GP-G-A-P-(+/-)-PIM)
1 – Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau, Hartford: 9-8-6-14-(E)-12
2 – Andy Wozniewski, Providence: 8-5-9-14-(E)-6
3 – Chris Minard, Springfield: 10-7-5-12-(+5)-6
4 – Andrew Gordon, Hershey: 9-6-5-11-(+2)-5
5 – Michal Repik, Rochester: 9-6-5-11-(+4)-8

AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE GOALTENDING LEADERS
(PLAYER NAME: W-L-SOL,GAA,SV%,SO)
1 – Jeff Zatkoff, Manchester: 2-1-0, 0.67, .978, 1
2 – Braden Holtby, Hershey: 2-1-0, 1.01, .967, 1
3 – Curtis Sanford, Hamilton: 4-1-1, 1.28, .949, 2
4 – Jonathan Bernier, Manchester: 5-1-0, 1.34, .963, 2
5 – Matt Climie, Texas: 2-1-2, 1.34, .963, 1

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

TRANSACTIONS
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***ADMIRALS PLAYER OF THE WEEK***
Forward Brandon Bochenski, with two goals and four points in the pair of weekend games, is the Admirals player of the week.

Bochenski and Ryan Craig share the Norfolk scoring lead currently, with six goals and eight points each. His power play tally on Friday night was the 28th of his career as an Admiral, tying him with Casey Hankinson for the most all-time in that department.

THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS
Friday, 10/30 vs. Syracuse, 7:15 PM

*****JJ’s Mailbag*****
Ruthe writes:

Just wanted your opinion of Riku Helenius. I have followed his career since he was drafted and it appears the more he plays, the better he gets.

Since Dustin Tokarski appears to be the guy in Norfolk, do you think Riku will get lost in the shuffle? Could he play in Finland again? I still have faith he will be an NHL goalie one day.

Hi Ruthe,

I agree that, like most goalies, Helenius has appeared more effective and more comfortable with added playing time. Right now, however, it looks like Tokarski is indeed getting the bulk of the action in the Admirals net.

He was good in Norfolk last year but lost time to the likes of Mike McKenna and Karri Ramo. This year, with Tokarski and (for now) Jaroslav Janus in the fray at the AHL level, a similar battle appears in front of Helenius, though I don’t think there’s much of a danger of him getting “lost in the shuffle”, as you say.
Hampering Riku, at least somewhat last season, had to be the bouncing around he did at the ECHL level. Aside from his time in Norfolk and a brief stint with the Lightning, Helenius bounced from Augusta to Mississippi to Elmira for a couple of appearances in the ECHL playoffs. With that in mind, I’m sure the organization is looking for some more stability for him and will do everything they can to make sure he finds that.

Honestly, I haven’t seen him play enough with my own two eyes just yet to have a valid opinion on what kind of potential the kid has, but I do know that his name always pops up from high-ranking members of the Lightning organization, when boasting of their goaltending depth.

Thomas C. writes:

The Lightning have a lot of free agents after this year to re-sign. Who do you think will be back with the Bolts next year?

Also, do you think they will stop signing 6-7+ players in the offseason each year? It seems like it hurts the chemistry early on.

Hi Thomas,

Like to be way (way, waaaaay) ahead of things, do you? Fair enough, I suppose.

It’s far too early to tell who from the current roster might help make up the 2010-11 Tampa Bay Lightning, though you are correct in saying they have a lot of expiring contracts at season’s end.

Jeff Halpern, Zenon Konopka, Alex Tanguay and Stephane Veilleux will all go unrestricted from the forward ranks, as will Kurtis Foster, David Hale and Lukas Krajicek on defense and Antero Niittymaki in goal.

Best I can do with this bunch for you is reemphasize that very few, if any, expect Krajicek to even finish this season with Tampa Bay, let alone return next year. Currently, he’s about eighth on the defensive depth chart, making almost $1.5-million and probably better suited elsewhere. I expect the Lightning to eventually make a move with Krajicek, either via a trade or through waivers.

As for your chemistry question, I don’t think that’s been nearly as big an issue this year as it was last and, even then, the poor start there may have had more to do with the ineffectiveness of Barry Melrose’s training camp than anything else.

Still, you have a point. One would think that, eventually, the massive influx of free agents and trade acquisitions off-season after off-season would slow down a bit. Before then, however – before you press on from one season to the next with primarily the same group of players – you have to get good. The Lightning are on their way but they aren’t there yet.

And if we’ve learned anything from this management group, it’s that they’re willing to make significant change to improve the hockey club. If they see fit, they’ll continue to do so on a widespread level.

(But don’t be afraid to root conversely and seek consistency.)

Don in St. Pete writes:

What will be the Bolts decision on James Wright?

Hi Don,

Barring a last minute change of plans, it looks like Wright will suit up for his 10th game of the season on Thursday against the Ottawa Senators and (probably) remain with the club from that point on.

He’s impressed the Lightning enough, it appears, to allow his entry-level contract to kick in now, rather than send him back to junior and push back his first crack at restricted free agency by a full calendar year.

He could still go back, of course, but his contract becomes active when he dresses for that 10th game, making it far more likely that he’ll stick around with the big club.

Alex L. writes:

What’s going on with Paul Ranger?

Hi Alex,

As you know by now, Ranger has asked for and has been granted an indefinite leave of absence from the team to tend to personal matters. That is all I know and probably all anyone really knows (save for Paul and the club, that is).

I haven’t heard any rumblings otherwise and, even if I had, I’d probably leave that alone out of respect for Ranger. To speculate on what might be going on in his (or any player’s) personal life wouldn’t be fair, particularly since both the player and the team have respectfully asked for privacy.

All we can do is continue to wish him the best in resolving whatever it is that is keeping him away from the team and hope to see him back (and better than ever) as soon as possible.

HockeyBay writes (via Twitter):

What’s Matt Lashoff been up to lately?

Howdy,

Lashoff has dressed in all eight games for the Norfolk Admirals so far and has recorded a goal and an assist. He has played with more of an edge than we’ve seen of him since being acquired from Boston as well, as evidenced by his team-leading 27 PIM to this point. (Lashoff was prompt in his defense of teammate Matt Smaby when he was run from behind by Albany’s Nicolas Blanchard two weeks ago.)

My guess is that Lashoff will probably spend the entire season in Norfolk, so as not to be exposed to re-entry waivers, where he’d probably be plucked by another team.

All the better for his seasoning, as he just turned 23 in September.

Shawn E. writes:

Do you think the crazy amount of minutes Victor Hedman is playing so far will burn him out long before the end of the season?

Hi Shawn,

I wouldn’t call Hedman’s almost 25 minutes of ice time per night “crazy” so much as impressive. Still, I understand your point, particularly when you consider Victor’s experience in the Swedish Elite League where the largest number of regular season games he’s played is 43.

But the kid is in excellent shape, has been effective and is gaining invaluable experience with every shift. Until he starts costing the team games (and I doubt that’s going to suddenly start happening), I say give him as much as he can handle.

It will sure be fun to watch his game continue to develop for years to come.

Thanks for your questions, everyone! And, if I didn’t get to yours this time, I’ll do my best to do so later on.

JJ

jon.jordan@hockeybuzz.com

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