With just one game played last week, I decided to lump that one in with the two games the Admirals played in Manitoba on Monday and Tuesday. (Quirky AHL scheduling!)

Norfolk will hit the road this weekend without forward Ryan Craig, who was placed on re-entry waivers yesterday by the parent Tampa Bay Lightning and will either be recalled to Tampa or claimed by another NHL club. (I should have word on whether or not he’s cleared very shortly. Twitter’s your best bet for that news, if you want it right away: @JonJordan)

***Update: Craig cleared, will join the team in Ottawa and Paul Ranger (out on personal leave) has now been placed on injured reserve ... Interesting ...***

Taking Craig’s place in the Ads lineup this weekend could be Radek Smolenak, who is traveling with the club after warding off the woes of an upper body injury.

But that’s this weekend. Now, a look back at the last three games:

GAME RESULTS
Click for individual box scores
Friday, 10/30: Syracuse Crunch 2, Norfolk Admirals 0
Norfolk was stymied by a focused netminder in Syracuse’s Dan LaCosta last Friday, who turned away all 32 Admiral shot en route to his first shutout of the season and the seventh of his AHL career.

Jaroslav Janus shined at the other end for Norfolk, only allowing Alex Picard’s goal 32 seconds into the contest and making 19 saves overall.

Pascal Pelletier hit an empty net late in the third to ice the 2-0 decision for the Crunch.

Scratches for Norfolk were Mitch Fadden, Justin Keller, Radek Smolenak and Dustin Tokarski.

Three stars of the game:
1 – Dan LaCosta, Syracuse
2 – Jaroslav Janus, Norfolk
3 – Alex Picard, Syracuse

Monday, 11/2: Norfolk Admirals 3, Manitoba Moose 1
In the first-ever meeting between the Admirals and Moose, an early third period power play goal by Brandon Bochenski led Norfolk to the victory.

Bochenski’s goal made him both the all-time Admirals leader in power play (29) and game-winning (13) goals, breaking ties with Casey Hankinson for power play tallies and Ajay Baines and Matt Keith for game-winners.

Ryan Craig opened the scoring for the Ads just 1:29 into the first with his seventh of the young season.

Dustin Tokarski made 25 saves for the win (his fourth) and earned a first star nod for his efforts.

Scratches for Norfolk were Mitch Fadden, Jaroslav Janus, Radek Smolenak and Matt Syroczynski.

Three stars of the game:
1 – Dustin Tokarski, Norfolk
2 – Matt McCue, Manitoba
3 – Ryan Craig, Norfolk

Tuesday, 11/3: Norfolk Admirals 3, Manitoba Moose 1
The Admirals completed the two-game sweep of the Moose with another 3-1 decision on Tuesday night on goals from Martins Karsums, Adam Hall and Paul Szczechura.

Norfolk was able to overcome Tom Maxwell’s first goal of the season in the first period for Manitoba to score three unanswered goals of their own. Szczechura and Karsums each tallied in the second, while Hall’s first goal of the season added insurance midway through the third.

Riku Helenius made 19 saves in the Admirals net for his first victory of the season.

Scratches for Norfolk were Mitch Fadden, Matt Lashoff, Jaroslav Janus and Radek Smolenak.

Three stars of the game:
1 – Dana Tyrell, Norfolk
2 – Paul Szczechura, Norfolk
3 – Nolan Baumgartner, Manitoba


AHL STANDINGS UPDATE
Click here for full American Hockey League Standings
The Admirals currently rank fifth in the AHL’s East Division at 5-6-0-0 with 10 points on the season. They trail the division-leading Hershey Bears by six points and the Albany River Rats by one point 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: 11-7-2-9-(-2)-4
2 – Ryan Craig: 11-7-2-9-(+3)-4
3 – Paul Szczechura: 11-4-5-9-(E)-12
4 – Juraj Simek: 10-1-6-7-(-1)-0
5 – Mike Lundin: 11-0-6-6-(+3)-0

NORFOLK ADMIRALS GOALTENDING STATISTICS
(PLAYER NAME: W-L-SOL,GAA,SV%,SO)
1 – Jaroslav Janus: 0-2-0, 1.52, .939, 0
2 – Riku Helenius: 1-1-0, 1.53, .930, 0
3 – Dustin Tokarski: 4-3-0, 2.59, .904, 1

AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE LEADING SCORERS
(PLAYER NAME, TEAM: GP-G-A-P-(+/-)-PIM)
1 – Corey Locke, Hartford: 12-8-9-17-(-2)-8
2 – Alexandre Giroux, Hershey: 8-7-10-17-(+11)-4
3 – Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau, Hartford: 10-8-8-16-(+2)-12
4 – Andrew Gordon, Hershey: 12-7-9-16-(+5)-5
5 – Charles Linglet, Springfield: 13-5-11-16-(+7)-6

AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE GOALTENDING LEADERS
(PLAYER NAME: W-L-SOL,GAA,SV%,SO)
1 – Jeff Zatkoff, Manchester: 3-1-0, 0.75, .978, 1
2 – Jason Bacashihua, Hershey: 4-0-0, 1.00, .962, 1
3 – Matt Climie, Texas: 3-1-2, 1.30, .956, 1
4 – Curtis Sanford, Hamilton: 5-1-2, 1.32, .950, 2
5 – Jonathan Bernier, Manchester: 6-2-0, 1.49, .956, 2

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

TRANSACTIONS
10/29: Signed forward Matt Syroczynski to PTO.
11/4: Released goaltender Jaroslav Janus from PTO.

***ADMIRALS PLAYER OF THE WEEK***
(My personal selection this time and not the official team nomination for player of the week, since I’ve combined parts of two weeks and all.)

With a goal and an assist and an aggregate plus-3 rating in the pair of wins over Manitoba on Monday and Tuesday, Martins Karsums earns “player of the week” honors (again, as far as I’m concerned).

Karsums has battled a lower body injury early this season and has been a scratch for three of Norfolk’s games to this point but his play in the last two has been impressive. He assisted on Ryan Craig’s goal to open Monday’s contest and scored the eventual game-winner in Manitoba on Tuesday for his first points as an Admiral.

An offensive surge from Karsums could put him in prime recall position for the Lightning and Monday and Tuesday’s efforts have a healthy Karsums on his way.

THIS WEEK'S REMAINING OPPONENTS
Friday, 11/6 at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, 7:05 PM
Saturday, 11/7 at Syracuse, 7:30 PM

JJ

jon.jordan@hockeybuzz.com

JJ on Facebook

JJ on Twitter