NORFOLK — The only thing missing in Thursday night’s almost carbon-copy win by the Norfolk Admirals in their ECHL Kelly Cup first-round matchup was an empty net goal in the end.
Goaltender Thomas Milic finished with 33 saves and Darick Louis-Jean tallied the opening goal as the Admirals blanked the Wheeling Nailers 4-0 in Game 2 of the best-of-seven series, the same score as Wednesday’s Game 1.
Milic’s “goaltending has obviously been tremendous right now,” Admirals head coach Jeff Carr said. “I just like the way that we let (Game 1) go into Game 2. We didn’t complain and we didn’t get caught up in any of the stuff that they were trying to do.”
It took just 35 seconds into the game for Louis-Jean to score and get the crowd of 3,846 on their feet. Brady Fleurent flung a pass that freed up Colton Young just to the left side of the cage. Young’s centering attempt pitched up into the air off a defender’s stick, and Louis-Jean was able to poke a deflection down past swiveling Wheeling netminder Sergei Murashov.
Ben Zloty pushed the advantage to 2-0, collecting a pass from Fleurent on the left and then circling around the bottom of the circle before sneaking the puck past Murashov’s glove down low.
Milic had the fans feeling déjà vu less than seven minutes into the second period with a double save, stopping an initial Wheeling attempt with his pads and then snaring the rebounded shot with his glove.
“When you have a guy like that back there, so calm and collected, it makes our lives a lot easier,” Fleurent said. “I always feel protected back there, so it’s great to have him back.”
It was a cleaner game until that point, with just one penalty by the Admirals, when moments later Wheeling’s Cole Tymkin was called for a roughing penalty. Norfolk’s Denis Smirnov won the ensuing faceoff, and the Admirals cycled the puck to Hank Crone at the point. Crone dished the puck off to the top of the right circle back to Smirnov, who pulled his stick back and rifled a shot in for a 3-0 lead.
“What I really liked is the refs did a really good job,” Carr said. “They allowed it to be a playoff atmosphere around the net scrums. We eventually turned those into power plays.
“I think that third goal — the way we scored that with a one-timer hit with our top line — it didn’t put an exclamation point on the game, but it put enough of an exclamation point of capitalizing on their mistake of trying to turn it into a jungle.”
With five minutes remaining in the second period, Fleurent was through on a breakaway attempt, but was impeded by the trailing defender, who hooked him with his stick. On the penalty shot, Fleurent skated down the left and then quickly darted across the face of
the cage trying to cross up Murashov, but Fleurent’s high shot was deflected into the rear netting above the glass.
Wheeling mounted more and more pressure in the third period, trying to break the series scoring drought, but the Admirals’ defense swarmed in front of Milic’s crease, getting sticks and bodies in the way of numerous shot attempts.
The fourth goal came with less than six minutes remaining on the clock. Josh McDougall, from deep in the defensive zone, sailed a pass all the way to Sean Montgomery, who was waiting at the blue line. Montgomery timed his stride into the offensive zone and past his Wheeling defensive cover perfectly while receiving the puck, dashed in on a breakaway and sailed a puck
in high past Murashov.
Wheeling pulled its goalie shortly after, but after failing to capitalize on the man-advantage, showed its nerves with three players heading to the locker room early for misconduct penalties in the final three minutes.
The Admirals, who have held Wheeling scoreless for 140-plus minutes dating back to late in the second period of their 9-3 win on Jan. 4, will travel to West Virginia for Game 3 Wednesday at 7:10 p.m. The remaining games of the series will all be played in Wheeling.
“We played two great games and now it’s time to hit the road and take care of business,” Fleurent said. “We just need to play our hockey, clog the middle a little bit and I think we’ll be successful there.”