After trailing 2-0 in their best-of-five series the Milwaukee Admirals stormed back on home ice to reverse sweep the Texas Stars. Games one and two were eye-openers, and they are still alive in the race for the Calder Cup.
Forward Zach L’Heureux came up clutch posting nine points in five games with six coming on home ice to advance in his first-ever professional playoff series.
“At the end of the day this is when people make their money, this is where you know everyone is watching,” L’Heureux said. “There’s not a lot of hockey left this season. I think this has been a good opportunity for me to open eyes. The Preds aren’t playing so I know they’re watching and seeing how good we’re playing.”
L’Heureux added the first-round win means nothing now with the Griffins in sight. Both teams had four wins against each other in the regular season.
Head coach Karl Taylor has been impressed by the 20-year-old––whose birthday is Wednesday––so far in the playoffs and hopes he continues his pace of play.
“These last three games he took huge responsibility off the team and put it on his own shoulders,” Taylor said. “You can see that in his effort and also how direct and how bad his passion and fire burn to continue to play this year. He didn’t want it to end.”
L’Heureux is now producing at an encouraging rate in the postseason and is the leader in points by an active player still in the tournament. Taylor said that feat alone was “pretty amazing.”
Taylor said despite forward Joakim Kemell not scoring he’s doing the right things this postseason. The patience in his team is something Taylor has exercised and worked on throughout the year.
Additionally, forward Philip Tomasino has taken a step in his play away from the puck. Taylor and his staff have worked with him while he’s been an Admiral to sharpen his sense on the ice.
“He’s committed to this team and wants to be a big part of it,” Taylor said. “I see a player that’s trying to change the narrative and doing everything he can to do that. There’s always room for improvement with every single player. With Phil, I feel he’s been more engrained with our team and been a bigger part of the Milwaukee Admirals way. He has to continue to press forward and lean into being the best player possible.”
Game 1 of the Central Division Finals is Wednesday night against the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Zach L’Heureux celebrates a series win over the Texas Stars.
“There was never a doubt that we had to the skill and talent to win that series,” L’Heureux said. “Even though we lost Game 2 I thought we deserved better. We knew with home-ice advantage we would have a hard barn to play in. I think we avenged everything perfectly.”
There is one thing to pay attention to as the Admrials move into their next series against Grand Rapids. Will Taylor start Troy Grosenick or Yaroslav Askarov who has yet to win a playoff game this spring?
“Lots of conversations. If I had or haven’t I wouldn’t be sharing it,” Taylor said on Tuesday.
Altogether, Askarov is 9-9 in his last 15 games and this postseason is 0-2 allowing eight goals and stopping 42 of 50 shots faced. Last season he went 6-6 in the playoffs before Devin Cooley took over in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final.
“It’s less about what Askarov has done or hasn’t done, it’s about coming back home and making the decision to give Troy a try to try and change the flow of the series,” Taylor said. “It’s just a change and that’s what we did in this situation. It worked out for us to get the three wins and move on to the next round.
“That’s something that was important to us, as is the development of our players. We’re very focused on development here. We don’t make these decisions lightly, they’re very well thought out. Whether it’s right or wrong when you do it, you don’t know. Because we won it doesn’t make it right or wrong. At the end of the day, you make a decision and move on the best you can.”
While it’s unclear if Askarov will play or not he may get his chance sooner rather than later to prove he can lead Milwaukee to another series victory. Askarov went 2-3 against the Griffins in the regular season.
Follow Nick Kieser on Twitter/X: @KieserNick
Photos courtesy of Milwaukee Admirals
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