Admirals down Thunder in shootout

      The Utah Grizzlies went 1-9-0 in their last 10 regular season games last year, yet still went on to capture the Turner Cup.
      That should come as heartening news for the Thunder, which is playing as if it might finish the regular season in the 1-9 range.
      It was more of the same Saturday as a combination of injuries, mental mistakes and missed opportunities allowed the Milwaukee Admirals to leave the Thomas & Mack Center with a 5-4 shootout victory.
      It was a game that could have easily gone to the Thunder, but as happened so often recently, it wasn't to be. Las Vegas is 0-3-1 in its last four at home, its second-ever four-game home winless streak.
      "Poor goals and untimely penalties," Thunder coach Chris McSorley said when asked for an explanation of the team's woes. "I'm not addressing this as completely (goaltender) Parris (Duffus') fault. We just need to get better and smarter in all positions."
      The shootout victory enabled Milwaukee to tie Las Vegas for sixth in the Western Conference standings with 79 points apiece.
      Other than Alexander Semak's second hat trick in the week, there was little good news for the Thunder, which lost two more defensemen to injury. Captain Kevin Dahl suffered a concussion in the first period, and Kerry Huffman strained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee and only played two shifts.
      Huffman is out of tonight's game in San Antonio, but Dahl will attempt to play.
      Their absence, combined with the dislocated shoulder injury which has kept Ruslan Salei out for two games, left Las Vegas with three defenseman and forced McSorley to use forward Jason Simon on defense.
      "I loved playing back there," Simon said. "I played defense all through junior, and I still play there a lot in the summer."
      The Thunder's problems extend deeper than the injury situation. For the second straight night, it blew a 2-0 lead.
      And by the third period, the short bench was clearly taking its toll on the Thunder.
      "We were very tired, and last night's game took a lot out of the guys," right wing Patrice Lefebvre said.
      Things began positively for Las Vegas. Semak got things going at 5:45 of the first when he redirected a shot from the right point by Steve Bancroft past Milwaukee goaltender Danny Lorenz. Bancroft then collaborated with Patrice Lefebvre just 24 seconds into the second period to set up Martin Gendron.
      But Las Vegas seemed to put it in cruise control at that point, and Milwaukee scored three unanswered goals.
      "We've been struggling ourselves, and it was real big for us to come back and win this game," said Admirals coach/general manager Phil Wittliff. "We kept our composure and kept working."
      Milwaukee's Michael Harder snapped a shot past Duffus at 3:50 of the second to make it 2-1. The Admirals tied it when Mike McNeill cut in front and back-handed a shot past Duffus at 6:08. Six minutes later, Steve Tuttle one-timed a shot off a 3-on-2 to put Milwaukee up 3-2.
      Semak, though, continued his excellent play with two special teams goals. He scored short handed from a horrendous angle a minute into the third to tie the game, then scored a power-play goal at 12:30 to put the Thunder ahead, 4-3.
      "If we get everyone back and playing, this is a very good hockey team, and it's going to win a lot of games," McSorley said. "But you can't play with three defensemen and a couple of forwards down and expect to win."
      A holding penalty on Bancroft at 14:13 sent the Admirals back on the power play, and Milwaukee's Sylvain Couturier capitalized, jamming in a loose puck to tie the game and force the shootout.