Thank God November is over, Admirals snap losing streak on Dec. 1

The Admirals headed to Hershey (Washington Capitals) for the rematch of last Wednesday's game where the Bears won 5-2. The Admirals had tons of chances in the previous game, and in my opinion, had a lot of positives to build on.

Norfolk got off to a great start, scoring first for the first time since Nov. 6th. Emerson Etem put the puck in the net just over five minutes into the game. Patrick Maroon and Chris Wagner were credited with the assists.

Peter Holland took a holding the stick penalty at the but the Admirals would kill the power play. Seconds after leaving the box, Holland continued his scoring ways and put the Admirals up 2-0. Maroon added a second assist of the game; goaltender Frederik Andersen earned the other helper for his second assist of the season.

Towards the end of the first period, Maroon was get hurt on a play, I believe it was his arm, and skated off the ice as soon as he could. Admirals play-by-play guy Pete Michaud said he stayed on the bench, though. The Admirals would out-shot the Bears 12-8, silencing the large crowd in Hershey.

Early in the second period, John Mitchell swiped the puck from Hershey's defense and scored the Admirals third goal of the game, his fifth on the season. Andersen's perfect night came to an end quickly into the second, when the Bears Tomas Kundratek put in a rebound, taking the score to 3-1. With his goal, stuffed animals started to shower down onto the ice in Hershey for their annual toy toss night. The game was delayed for about 20 minutes as the toys were picked up off the ice. Nothing of importance happened for Hershey after this. If you think about it, they pretty much throw in an extra intermission RIGHT after a goal for the home team. It killed any momentum that the Bears might have gained.

The second period ended with the Ads still holding the lead, 3-1. They killed three penalties, including a 5-on-3.

The third period started off with a 5-on-4 power play for the Bears that ended in a successful penalty kill for Norfolk. Soon thereafter, Jordan Hendry took the Ads' third consecutive delay of game penalty. Once again, they would killed off that penalty. In total, Hershey had nine power plays and the Admirals killed all of them.

Norfolk quickly began the turtle-style that hasn't gone well for them throughout the season. It took the Ads nearly half the period to register a shot-on-goal. On the Ads third shot of the period, Etem's netted his second goal of the night, his sixth of the season. A not severely injured (as far as we know) Pat Maroon picked up his third assist of the night on Etem's tally.

Chris Wagner was boarded by former-Admiral Alex Berry and Maroon went after him. Berry hugged for his life, so Maroon couldn't really do any damage. This is the second time this season that Maroon has stepped up when a younger player gets done wrong. The Admirals scored on the power play that followed as Devante Smith-Pelly tappedin a Holland shot. The Ads finished the game killing of the ninth penalty, beating Hershey 5-1.

[Ed. Note: Admirals fans are probably unaware that November tends to be a craptastic month for the Anaheim Ducks. Last year, the Ducks were so bad in November, it cost Randy Carlyle his job.]