December heats up as Admirals roll

NORFOLK

Mark Parrish, who is trying to resurrect what was once an All-Star career in the NHL, showed Friday night what a little second effort can accomplish.

The right winger, who has more than 700 NHL games under his belt, thought he'd hit Juraj Simek with a perfect pass, only to have it stone-cold blocked.

Instead of hanging his head and relenting, Parrish took the puck back and discovered that Simek was still wide open in the middle of the ice.

"That first pass, a defenseman got a foot on it," Parrish said. "But that's why you don't give up on it. When I got the second pass off and saw the puck was flat on the ice, I almost started to skate back to the bench because I knew Simek would score."

He did, giving the Admirals their first goal in what would be a 3-1 victory over the Binghamton Senators.

Hockey might be played on ice, but the Admirals are hoping Parrish and linemate Brandon Bochenski stay hot. In combining to assist that first goal, the pair extended their run of games with points to five straight.

And after a brutal schedule in November, the Admirals seem to be finding their sea legs in December.

"December's schedule is much more favorable and hopefully we can create an identity for this team and give the fans something to cheer about," Admirals coach Darren Rumble said. "They had something to cheer about tonight for sure."

Adam Hall scored in the second period to put the Admirals up 2-0.

Goaltender Dustin Tokarski was gunning for his second straight shutout, but he had to settle for the win when Drew Bannister's slap shot from the left point fluttered over his glove and found the net with 5:04 left.

Hall added an empty-net goal with 47 seconds left.

The win was Norfolk's third straight, and the Admirals will try to match their season high for consecutive victories when these two teams play again tonight at 7:15. In moving into third place in the AHL's East Division, the Admirals climbed above .500 on their home ice and evened their overall record at 15-15-1-0.

Tokarski made 25 saves as the Admirals outshot the Senators 33- 26.

"I don't want him to get a big head, but he's playing pretty well," Rumble said about his young goaltender.

Notes: The Tampa Bay Lightning assigned veteran defenseman Lucas Krajicek to the Admirals on Friday. The 25-year-old Krajicek was a first-round draft pick of the Florida Panthers in 2001. He has played in 301 NHL games with Tampa Bay, Florida and Vancouver. In 23 games with the Lightning this season, he had one assist.... The first 2,000 fans through the gates tonight will receive the first set of Admirals trading cards for the 2009-10 season. The Admirals will also hold a Toy Toss, with fans encouraged to bring stuffed toys to toss onto the ice as part of the Marine Corps' annual Toys for Tots campaign.... Fans can skate with the Admirals post-game tonight.

Rich Radford, (757) 446-2463, rich.radford@pilotonline.com