Admirals Weekly: Nov. 20, 2017

Last Week:

Thursday, Nov. 16 vs. Adirondack (L, 2-3)

Friday, Nov. 17 vs Wheeling, (L, 2-6)

Sunday, Nov. 18 vs Wheeling, (W, 4-1)

This Week:

Wednesday, Nov. 22 vs. Florida, 7:00 pm

Friday, Nov. 24 vs. Florida, 7:00 pm

Saturday, Nov. 25 vs. Florida, 7:00 pm

Week Ahead:

Norfolk heads into the third straight three-game week as they host the Florida Everblades for a trio of matchups this weekend. The Admirals will reveal their new third jerseys on Wednesday night before wearing them in all three contests. In addition, Friday is Star Wars Night at the Scope.

Florida, making its first trip of the season to the Scope, heads into Wednesdays game with the best record in the ECHL (12-2-0-1). Since dropping a pair of games to Cincinnati the Everblades have won each of their last four outscoring opponents 14-7.

Week in Review:

A win on Saturday night over the Nailers snapped a five-game winless streak and allowed the Admirals to stay ahead of Orlando and Jacksonville in the South Division standings. Saturday was the first regulation victory at home of the season.

Ty Reichenbach made back-to-back starts on Friday and Saturday making 82 saves over the two games. The Billings, MT native had his best outing of the season on Saturday stopping 36 of 37 shots. Defenseman Joonas Lyytinen netted two goals and added an assist to lead all skaters. The victory on Saturday night was the largest victory for the Admirals this season.

Lyytinen the Lamp:

Defense Joonas Lyytinen, reassigned by Milwaukee on November 14, became the fourth Admiral to record a multi-goal game this season with a pair of goals in Saturday’s victory. The Finish defenseman was the third blue-liner to record a multi-point game this season, joining Jordan Abt and Michael Young. In addition Tim Daly added a pair of assists on Saturday to become the fourth.

In five games with the Admirals Lyytinen has now scored three goals, leading all Norfolk defensemen. Michael Young is second with two goals. Rookie TJ Melancon leads all Norfolk blue-liners with eight points (1g, 7a) through the first 16 games of the season.

Potent Power Play:

With a pair of man-advantage goals on Saturday night, Norfolk continued its recent run of success on the power play. The Admirals have scored a power play goal in six of the last seven games converting on eight of 42 chances (19%). Over the seven game span the power play has risen to 16.5% and is the 14th ranked unit in the ECHL. The current seven game stretch comes on the heals of a four-game span where Norfolk went 0-for-20 on the man-advantage.

Wrapping Up the Home Stand:

After Saturday night’s game against Florida the Admirals will have concluded their second six-game home stand of the season.  The remainder of the season the Admirals will only have one more extended home-stand. Apart from nine-straight home games in February the Admirals will only play more than two straight at home twice the rest of the season.

And Then There Were Three:

The Admirals will release a new third jersey on Wednesday night when they take the ice against Florida. Norfolk will wear the third jersey for all three games over the course of the weekend.