Aeros continue road trip in Rochester

November 19, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Five things you need to know
· The balanced Aeros have 17 players with at least one goal, and none with more than four. Only Philadelphia (19) has more players with a goal. Edmonton also has 17.
· Rochester has won six straight, trailing only Philadelphia's 11 consecutive victories for the longest current streak in the AHL. The Amerks have also won four straight at home.
· Aeros captain Kirby Law enters tonight's game with 149 career AHL assists.
· The Aeros, who play in the just-turned-one-year-old Toyota Center, are making a tour for the history books this weekend. Tonight Houston plays at 49-year-old Blue Cross Arena at War Memorial, and tomorrow the Aeros are in Rochester's 53-year-old Onondaga County War Memorial at Oncenter.
· Longtime Denver/Utah Grizzly Chris Taylor, now with Rochester, ranks second among active players with 15 goals versus Houston, third in points with 34 and fourth in assists with 16.

Aeros at Americans (Aeros are 3-0-3-0 overall, Aeros are 1-0-2-0 at Rochester)
· The teams meet for the seventh time tonight - the fourth game in Rochester. The Americans are looking for their first ever win against the Aeros.
· Last season, the teams met twice and tied on both occasions, including a 4-4 game 1/4 in Houston and a 2-2 deadlock 11/26 at War Memorial.
· The teams have skated to three straight ties since Houston won the first three games by a combined 12-3 count.
· Since entering the AHL, the Aeros have played more consecutive OT games against one opponent only once - four straight versus Chicago 1/9-2/22/03.
· In Houston's last trip to Rochester 11/26/03, Rickard Wallin scored twice to rally Houston from a two-goal deficit to a 2-2 tie.

Scouting the Aeros Houston is 7-4-0-1 in its last 12 games despite losing three of its last four...Pierre-Marc Bouchard (4-9=13) is Houston's leading scorer, while Mark Cullen (4-7=11) is just off the pace...Houston has 17 players with at least one goal, and only Stephane Veilleux (five) has more than four...Nineteen-year-old Brent Burns (3-6=9) and veteran Ray Giroux (2-4=6) anchor the blueline...Rookie goalie Josh Harding is 3-6-1 with a 1.83 gaa, while Mike Smith is 5-2-0 with a 3.23 gaa.

Scouting the Americans Rochester sports the AHL's second longest active winning streak at six games, and the Amerks are 7-1-1-0 in their last nine after an 0-3-1-1 start...Chris Taylor (5-11=16) and Derek Roy (4-12=16) are among the league leaders in points, and each Taylor and Jason Pominville (6-6=12) have two GWG during the six-game win streak...Former Aero David Cullen (0-9=9) anchors the blueline...Ryan Miller is 6-5-0 with a 2.79 gaa, while former Aero Tom Askey is 1-1-1 with a 2.05 gaa...Miller has been in net in eight of Rochester's last nine games, including five of six during the win streak.

2004-05 meetings (First of two meetings) TONIGHT: Houston at Rochester December 2: Rochester at Houston

Thursday's game Defensemen Garrett Stafford and Jim Fahey each scored a goal, lifting the Cleveland Barons to a 3-1 victory over the Houston Aeros at National City Rink in Gund Arena. Dmitri Patzold turned aside 24 shots and Patrick Rissmiller also scored for Cleveland, which has won three straight overall and five straight and seven of eight versus the Aeros. The Barons outshot Houston 47-25. Stephane Veilleux scored a power play goal and Josh Harding finished with a career-best 44 saves for Houston, which is 0-3-0-0 this season versus the Barons.

Quick Hits
· Aeros defenseman Brent Burns, the youngest player in team history, has at least one point in six of his last eight games. The Aeros are 6-2-0-0 when he has a point, and last night Houston lost for just the second time when he found the scoresheet.
· Houston is 5-3-1-1 in one-goal games, one off of Hartford's lead for most one-goal wins. In 2003-04, the Aeros were 8-6-0-4 in such games.
· Houston is 6-2-0-0 when playing the second or third game of back-to-back situations. Last season, the Aeros were 11-13-6-2 in those situations, including a 2-4-2 mark when playing the third game in three nights.
· Rochester's Chris Taylor has a six-game point streak, with eight points in that span.
· Houston has allowed an AHL-high 21 first-period goals, but the Aeros have scored 18 in the first period, four off Manchester's league lead.
· Last night in Cleveland, the Aeros lost for the first time when being outshot (3-1-0-0).

Aeros try to avoid third straight loss
· Tonight the Aeros try to avoid a third consecutive regulation loss for the first time this season.
· Houston was winless in regulation for a three-game stretch 10/20-10/23 (0-2-1-0).

It's all about support With his 1.83 gaa, Houston rookie goalie Josh Harding seemingly deserves better than his 3-6-1 record. The Aeros are averaging 1.67 goals per game when Harding gets the start. The 20-year-old has allowed two goals or less in seven of his nine starts, and Houston has scored just two goals in his last three starts. Mike Smith, meanwhile, has a 3.23 gaa, but his record is 5-2-0 largely because Houston scores 3.63 goals per game when he starts. Smith isn't complaining about the support. In his 16 losses over two seasons with Utah, the Grizzlies scored 25 goals for him.

It's not "Hard" to figure out his talent with these stats
· Aeros rookie netminder Josh Harding, the second youngest goalie in the AHL behind Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's Marc-Andre Fleury, has lowered his goals against average to 1.83, seventh best in the AHL and tops among rookies. Harding is the first Aeros rookie netminder ever with two shutouts.
· Since falling to 0-3-0 October 23, the 20-year-old Harding is 3-3-1 with a 1.30 gaa.
· Harding made 40 saves 11/6 for his second shutout in three starts. He joined Frederic Chabot as the lone Aeros goalies with 1-0 road wins, and his 40 saves trail only Chabot's 43 on 2/15/97, versus Long Beach for most in a shutout.
· Only Philadelphia Flyers goalie Robert Esche had two shutouts with the Aeros prior to 11/6. Esche had two shutouts by 11/4.
· Harding has stopped an eye-popping 101-of-104 shots in the third period for a .971 save percentage.

Smith is no slouch either
· Aeros goalie Mike Smith won four straight decisions 10/24-11/13 before falling 6-4 to Edmonton 11/14. Smith's four straight wins tied his career high, set 11/28-12/7/03.
· Smith, who spent the past two seasons with an offensively-challenged Utah team, is at the the .500 mark in the AHL at 18-18-0.

Cullen, Veilleux in a race of their own
· Aeros center Mark Cullen and left wing Stephane Veilleux are in a race to become the 18th player in team history with 100 points.
· Cullen and Veilleux each have 96 points and are tied for 18th on the all-time list.
· Dan Cavanaugh is next on the list with 88 points.

Aeros have PPG in three straight games
· Houston, which is 13th on the power play at 15.7 percent, has a power play goal in each of the last three games after going three games without one.
· The Aeros are 6-4-1-0 when scoring a PPG and 2-3-0-1 when not scoring a PPG.
· Houston's Pierre-Marc Bouchard has a hand in nine of the Aeros' 14 PPG's this season. He has also been on the ice for seven of the last nine PPG.
· Rochester is ranked eighth on the penalty kill at 87.8 percent, and at home the Amerks are ranked third at 93.3 percent.
· The Amerks have killed off 20 consecutive shorthanded chances over the last four games.

Houston 14th on the PK
· Other than a 2-for-4 power play performance by Milwaukee last Saturday, Houston has been rock solid to move to 14th in the AHL at 85.4 percent.
· The Aeros have killed off 31-of-34 (91.2 percent) shorthanded chances over the last six games.
· Houston is 4-4-0-1 when not allowing a PPG and 4-3-1-0 when allowing a PPG.
· The Aeros are tied for the AHL lead with four SHG.
· Rochester is 10th in the AHL on the power play at 16.7 percent, and the Amerks are seventh at home at 21.1 percent.
· The Amerks are 5-for-22 (22.7 percent) with the man advantage over the past four games, including a pair of games with two PPG.

What's on tap
· Today Houston plays game two of a five-game road trip, its second long trek in less than a month. The Aeros, who survived a six-game trek with a 3-2-1-0 mark 10/29-11/6, play tomorrow in Syracuse, then Tuesday in Cleveland and Wednesday in Chicago.
· The Aeros are in the final portion of a stretch of 13 road games out of 15 before beginning a season-long, eight-game homestand beginning 11/26.

Fine work on the road
· The Aeros have won three of five on the road, and their 12 road points trail only Manitoba's 19 for the AHL lead.
· Each of Houston's first nine road games was decided by one goal, tying the franchise record originally set 1/27-3/1/97. The Aeros are 4-3-1-1 in one-goal road games, and they have a league-best four wins and 10 points in one-goal road games.
· Houston had its two-game road winning streak snapped 11/12. The Aeros haven't won three straight on the road since 1/22-1/25/03.
· The Aeros, 5-4-1-1 on the road this season, were 3-6-1-1 in 2003-04 through their first 11 road games.

Toyota Center is home, but Aeros may not recognize it
· The Aeros, who are in a stretch of 13 games out of 15 on the road, are 3-3-0-0 on home ice, but they are 2-1-0-0 since a 1-2-0-0 start.
· Houston is 3-0-0-0 when scoring first at home, but 0-3-0-0 when giving up the first goal.
· The Aeros open up an eight-game homestand 11/26 versus Utah.

Getting better as they go Houston has allowed an AHL-high 21 first-period goals this season, but the goalies get downright stingy after that, especially in the final 20 minutes. In the third period, Aeros goalies have allowed only seven goals on 164 shots (.957 save percentage). Opponents do have four empty-net goals. Houston's save percentage increases from .879 in the first period to .914 in the second and .957 in the third.

First and last two minutes are crucial Houston has scored just three goals in the first or last two minutes of a period this season, the latest coming Thursday night on Stephane Veilleux's goal two minutes into the second period. The Aeros' opponents, meanwhile, have 11 goals in this crucial time.

Attendance up nearly 20 percent. Houston is averaging 4,985 fans per game through five home games, an 18.8 percent increase over the same span in 2003-04, when the Aeros increased their average attendance for the first time in team history.

Aeros/Americans connections
· Rochester goalie Tom Askey played 13 games with Houston in 1999-2000, going 4-7-1 with a 2.72 goals against average.
· David Cullen was an Aero in the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons, helping the team win the Calder Cup in 2003.
· Houston's Junior Lessard (2004) and Rochester's Ryan Miller (2001) each won the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey's top player.
· Aeros winger Christoph Brandner and Rochester's Thomas Vanek each hail from Austria.



American Hockey League Stories from November 19, 2004


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