It certainly wasn't their best performance of the season -- especially in the eyes of their coach -- but it was enough to put the Admirals in first place.
Milwaukee needed a pair of shootout goals to do it, but finally outlasted the Houston Aeros for a 2-1 victory Wednesday night at the Bradley Center, giving them two points and pushing them a point ahead of Chicago in the American Hockey League's North Division.
"I didn't think we played very good," head coach Lane Lambert said. "We just addressed it.
"You'll always take the win, but I talk about the process and how you get there. We just felt as a group -- everyone -- that we need to play better as a group to continue having success."
While he didn't elaborate on the specifics of the team's post-victory discussion, he made it clear that the message has been received.
Wednesday, the Admirals didn't play with the explosiveness that they've used in games past, and missed on a number of opportunities -- especially a late 5-on-3 situation that the power-play unit couldn't convert.
Milwaukee converted just 1 of 7 power-play opportunities, but came into the game as the league's second-best conversion unit, scoring 22.3 percent of the time and converting 10 of the previous 22 opportunities.
Luckily, Drew MacIntyre was hot in the nets. The goalie, signed during the offseason to replace Pekka Rinne, stopped 17 Houston shots.
"It wasn't the greatest of games for us," Lambert said. "It's nice to find a way to win a game when you're not at your best, so you have to credit our guys for sticking with it and somehow finding a way."
Despite the perceived problems, the victory kept the Admirals hot, extending their winning streak to six games. Milwaukee's won seven of eight and is 15-3 since Halloween. The offense gets a lot of credit for the recent success, scoring 27 goals during the winning streak and 78 during the last 20 games.
Anchoring the offense is Mike Santorelli, who's been a sparkplug for the team.
The center picked up the assist on Alexander Sulzer's game-tying goal at 16:03 of the second period to extend his scoring streak to 13 straight games; the AHL's longest run this season. He's the Admirals' second-leading scorer with 31 points, trailing Cal O'Reilly who has 32.
"You'd be hard-pressed to find a better player in the AHL right now than Mike," Lambert said.
But the hold on first place is slim. The West Division is the league's tightest; the top six teams in the division were separated by just four points heading into play Wednesday. After a day off Thursday, the Admirals will get back on the road to play three games in three days -- at Grand Rapids on Friday and Saturday and back home against Iowa on Sunday evening.
The key to surviving those next few days? Rest. Lots of it.
"We leave on the bus tomorrow afternoon," Lambert said. "We won't be practicing, but we'll hit the video Friday morning in Grand Rapids. Rest is going to be paramount."
Notes: Cal O'Reilly's four-game streak of multiple-point games was snapped. He had recorded nine points during that stretch. He leads the AHL with 27 assists and has made 161 consecutive starts. ... Santorelli's scoring streak is well-behind the franchise record of 33, set by Claude St. Sauveur in 1979-1980. ... He also has the team's only four-point game this season ... Milwaukee is 2-2 against Houston this season. ... Jerry Mathers, known best "The Beav" on TV's "Leave it to Beaver," was the Admirals' guest Wednesday night.
