Admirals Aftermath: Five Straight Losses Make Way for Crucial Series with Hershey

Since our last update, a shootout victory over Albany, the Admirals have gone on a 5 game skid and are now 2-8 in the last ten games. During this stretch the Ads have been outscored 20-7 and have never really been competitive for a full 60 minutes, although two games were only lost by one goal.

The desperate Admirals have had to throw everything on net, even a kitchen sink or two, and have outshot the opponents 174-157. The only game in which the Ads were out shot was Sunday against the Connecticut Whale, but thanks to Chad Kolarik's hat trick they were never really in the game.

With one game left in the month, Frederik Andersen has become the de facto number one goalie. While neither goalie is really performing right now, it's not exactly entirely their fault.

Andersen has a goals against average of 2.86 and a .913 save percentage in eight games this month. His numbers are nothing spectacular, but in comparison to Igor Bobkov, who's played significantly less, he's a star.

Bobkov has a 5.49 GAA and a .840 save percentage for November, letting in 20 goals in five games. To make matters worse, he was pulled in two of those five games after only one period and remained the goaltender of record in both.

Among forwards, Peter Holland is showing the best form. He leads the team with nine goals and 16 points.

Kyle Palmieri is not too far behind with six goals and 14 points, but he seems content in the last five games to just shoot as soon as he reaches the circles in the offensive zone. As a result, Palmieri leads the team in shots on goal with 59, in contrast to Holland's 43.

Defenseman Sami Vatanen's three goals and 12 points rank third on the club, while the only other player in double digit points is Patrick Maroon with six goals and ten points.

Captain Nate Guenin leads the team in plus/minus at plus-8 and is one of only seven Admirals in the black. Devante Smith-Pelly trails the pack with a minus-10.

Three of the Admirals' next four games come against the division rival Hershey Bears, including a game played at Verizon Center in Washington DC, home of the Bears' NHL Affiliate Washington Capitals. [Ed. Note: Jen will be reporting live from the game in DC, with proper press credentials and everything.]

Both teams are struggling right now and the six points at stake could prove vital if either team is going to make a push for the playoffs. Last season six points was the difference between the final playoff spot and 12th place in the conference.

Hershey will likely lean on Washington's playoff hero, and borderline head case, Braden Holtby in goal. Last season PC Labrie made a habit of getting into Holtby's head, causing him to take roughing penalties and throwing him off his game altogether.

Troy Bodie may be the closest thing this Admirals team has to a player like Labrie. He always hustles, can be a tough guy if he needs to be and is looked to for leadership. They also happen to wear the same number.

On a more troubling note, Hampus Lindholm took a pretty nasty hit from Blake Parlett late in the last game against the Whale and stayed down for a while. I haven't seen anything on twitter or from the Admirals on his status.

In fact the team completely ignored the incident - which resulted in three game misconducts and 55 combined penalty minutes - in their official game summary Sunday night.

This is the only footage I have seen of the hit and the beating that followed to Parlett. For now, all we can do is hope for the best.