Aeros Gameday

Published on February 23, 2007 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Nine things you need to know

- In their last two games - both losses - the Aeros have surrendered 24 power plays while receiving just nine man advantages. That has continued a trend for Houston, which ranks third in the AHL on the penalty kill at 85.7 percent, despite allowing 363 opponent power plays - third most in the league. Iowa was 3-for-13 on the power play last night, the third time this season the Stars have had 10 or more power plays in a game against Houston, and the ninth time overall the Aeros have yielded double digits. Not surprisingly, the Aeros are 3-6-0-0 in such games. One good thing did come off the Aeros' PK last night, a SHG by RW Joel Ward. The tally was Houston's 12th SHG of the season, tying the Aeros for fifth in the AHL. It marked Ward's second of the season and third SHG of his career, tying him for 12th place on the team's all-time list. C Bryan Lundbohm set up the score. Lundbohm has a hand in five (1-4=5) of the Aeros' 12 SHG.

- The Aeros were again outscored in the third period last night, 1-0. Houston has held a scoring advantage in the third period in just one of its last nine games. In their last five games, the Aeros have been outscored 8-2 in the final 20 minutes. Houston has been outscored 58-48 in the third period this season.

- Houston veteran D Curtis Murphy is closing in on becoming just the fourth player - and first blueliner - in team history to reach 200 points in his career. Murphy enters play tonight with 198 points (55-143=198) in 296 career games. A Murphy assist from the 2/10 game in Peoria has recently been changed to RW Mattias Weinhandl. Murphy, who has not missed a game in his four seasons with the Aeros, ranks ninth among AHL defensemen with 30 points (6-24=30). Murphy, though, is still looking for his first PPG of the season. Murphy is the Aeros' all-time AHL leader with 22 PPG, but hasn't scored one in the last 65 regular- and post-season games, dating back to 4/15/06 at Chicago.

- Aeros RW Matt Foy has team-best and career-highs in goals (23) and points (42). Foy's next goal will be his 62nd all-time with the Aeros, tying him with Brian Wiseman for fifth place on the franchise's all-time list. Only Kirby Law has more goals (68) among the Aeros' AHL players. Eighteen of Foy's 23 goals this season have come at Toyota Center. Foy also has a flare for the dramatic - 11 of his 23 goals have come in the third period. Foy has 370 career PIM, just eight PIM behind Greg Walters for 10th place on the Aeros' all-time list. If Foy passes Walters, he'll become the second player player to be ranked in the top 10 of the Aeros' all-time lists in both points and PIM. Foy is seventh with 131 points. Mike Yeo is also in the top 10 on both lists, ranking tied for 10th in points and fourth in PIM's. Foy's 96 PIM this season are 10 behind D Erik Reitz for the team lead. Foy is looking to become the first Aero in team history to lead the team in both scoring and PIM.

- Houston LW Mattias Weinhandl continued his assault on the AHL with an assist last night against Iowa. Weinhandl has points in eight of his last nine games overall, with 10 points (3-7=10) in that span. Weinhandl scoring a goal is extremely important to the Aeros, who are 7-1-0-1 when he finds the back of the net. Weinhandl has posted exactly one point per game (12-26=28) since joining Houston in mid December.

- Winless in their last eight road games (0-5-2-1) to come within one game of the franchise record, the Aeros are in the midst of a five-game homestand. Houston is 4-3-1-0 in its last eight home games to move to 12-13-1-3 at Toyota Center this season. The Aeros host Milwaukee on Sunday before heading on the road for nine of 10 games to open March.

- The Aeros have scored first in seven of nine games, after going eight in a row allowing the first goal. Houston has scored first in just 23 of its 55 games. The Aeros are 12-7-1-3 when scoring first, but 9-20-2-2 when allowing the first goal.

- Houston is 8-12-3-5 in one-goal games, but just 2-9-3-1 in its last 15 such games. The Aeros have only two non shootout one-goal wins, the last coming 3-2 at Iowa 11/9. Houston's 12 regulation losses and 20 total non-wins in one-goal games are the most in the AHL. Iowa is 14-7-3-1 in one-goal games, including an impressive 10-2-1-0 on the road.

- Houston has been outshot in nine straight games, including a 32-28 margin last night. The Aeros do rank 12th in shots for (30.4), but allow 33.3 per game - 25th in the 27-team AHL. The Stars have outshot Houston in each of the teams' last five meetings.

Stars at Aeros (Aeros are 9-8-0-0 all-time, Aeros are 4-3-0-0 at Houston)

- Tonight is 18th meeting between the Aeros and Stars, who joined the AHL in 2005-06.

- Iowa has won the lone two meetings at Toyota Center this season, after dropping four of five here in 2006-07.

- The Aeros play four of their final 12 home games against the Stars, beginning last night.

- Aeros RW Matt Foy has tallied 16 points (5-11=16) in 16 career games against Iowa.

- Houston G Josh Harding was a perfect 4-0-0 with a 2.32 gaa and a .931 save pct. versus the Stars in 2005-06. This season he is just 3-3-0, but with a better gaa (2.07) and save pct. (.943).

- The teams haven't played OT or a shootout in 17 all-time meetings.

Scouting the Aeros

The Aeros (21-27-3-5) have 50 points, two points behind sixth-place San Antonio with four games in hand...Houston is 10 points behind Iowa and 11 away from Peoria, which is in fourth place in the West Division and has three games in hand on the Aeros...Houston is playing the fourth contest a five-game homestand before going on the road for nine of 10 games...Team scoring leader RW Matt Foy has 42 points (23-19=42)...Next are veteran D Curtis Murphy (6-25=31) and rookie LW Benoit Pouliot (17-12=29)...G Josh Harding is 17-16-4 with a 2.48 gaa and a .920 save pct., but is on recall to NHL Minnesota...D Dieter Kochan is 2-8-0 with a 3.57 gaa and a .896 save pct...G Miroslav Kopriva is 2-2-1 with a 3.15 gaa and a .915 save pct.

Scouting the Stars

Iowa (28-24-3-1), AHL affiliate of the Dallas Stars, is fifth in the West Division with 60 points, one point behind fourth-place Peoria, which has three games in hand on the Stars...Iowa is 3-0-1-0 in its last four following a four-game losing streak...Iowa has won four straight road games and is an impressive 17-9-1-0 away from Wells Fargo Arena this season. ...C Joel Lundqvist paces the Stars in scoring with 38 points (16-22=38), but is on recall to Dallas...RW Vojtech Polak (17-21=38) and former Aeros RW Junior Lessard (18-17=35) are the active scoring leaders...D Mark Ardelan (8-22=30) leads the Stars blueline...G Dan Ellis is 17-14-1 with a 3.30 gaa, while G Tobias Stephan is 9-12-0 with a 2.75 gaa.

2006-07 meetings (8th of 10 meetings, Aeros are 3-4-0-0 overall, Aeros are 0-2-0-0 at Houston)

October 8 Iowa 6 at Houston 3

October 12 Houston 1 at Iowa 3

October 14 Houston 3 at Iowa 4

November 9 Houston 3 at Iowa 2

November 10 Houston 3 at Iowa 1

January 12 Houston 3 at Iowa 1

Last Night Iowa 3 at Houston 2

Tonight Iowa at Houston

April 11 Iowa at Houston

April 13 Iowa at Houston

Quick Hits

- Ten of the Aeros' 21 victories have been in come-from-behind fashion, including five of their last eight. On 2/1 against Milwaukee, the Aeros trailed 2-1 with seven minutes remaining, but won 3-2 in a shootout. The Aeros have trailed in 15 of their last 17 games.

- The Aeros are winless (0-17-1-4) when allowing four goals or more.

- Houston is 0-3 in OT and 6-5 in shootouts. The Aeros' 11 shootouts are a league-high. Iowa has played just nine extra session games, going 4-3 in OT and 1-1 in shootouts. The Stars' two shootouts are the fewest in the AHL.

- The Aeros are 19-9-1-4 when scoring three or more times. Houston is just 2-18-2-1 when scoring two or fewer goals.

- Only three AHL defenseman have more than one SHG this season. Two of them are Aeros - Erik Reitz and Curtis Murphy. The Aeros rank tied for fifth in the AHL with 12 SHG.

- Houston has allowed 175 goals in 56 games for a 3.13 team gaa. The Aeros are on pace to allow 250 goals - the most since yielding a franchise-record 328 in 1995-96, the only season in team history they didn't make the playoffs.

Thursday's game

Chris Conner's second power play goal of the game snapped a tie midway through the third period and former Aero Marius Holtet also scored a man advantage goal, as the Iowa Stars outlasted Houston 3-2 at Toyota Center. Dan Ellis made 26 saves for Iowa, which enjoyed a 13-5 advantage in power plays and moved within a point of fourth-place Peoria. Peter Olvecky and Joel Ward scored a goal apiece and Dieter Kochan made 29 saves for Houston.

Power play update

- Houston is 24th in the AHL with the man advantage at 14.6 percent.

- The Aeros are 0-for-9 on the power play in their last two games after scoring a PPG in six straight games.

- Iowa is tied for 14th in the AHL on the penalty kill at 82.8 percent.

- The Stars have allowed four goals on 20 shorthanded chances (80.0 percent PK rate) in the last three games.

- Houston is 6-for-48 (12.5 percent) on the power play against Iowa this season.

Penalty kill update

- Houston is third in the AHL on the PK at 85.7 percent.

- Opponents are 9-for-51 (17.6 percent) on the man advantage in the last six games.

- Iowa is 21st in the AHL on the power play at 15.6 percent. The Stars have yielded 16 SHG - second most in the AHL.

- The Stars are 7-for-23 (30.4 percent) with the man advantage after failing to score on 15 chances in their last three games.

- Iowa is 10-for-68 (14.7 percent) on the power play against Houston this season.

Aeros/Stars connections

- Aeros D John Scott and Iowa LW Chris Conner were teammates at Michigan Tech for four seasons, 2002-06.

- Aeros D Peter Ratchuk (2000-01) and RW Joey Tetarenko (2000-01, 2002-03) were teammates with Iowa C Mike Green in the Florida Panthers system.

- Iowa LW Marius Holtet posted 12 points (7-5=12) in 54 games for the Aeros in 2004-05, while C Junior Lessard put up 22 points (11-11=22) in 71 games.

- Stars D Marty Wilford was an Aero in 1999-00, and he was briefly Aeros C Bryan Lundbohm's teammate in Milwaukee in 2001-02. Wilford also spent the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons alongside Aeros C Jason Morgan in AHL Norfolk.

- Aeros D Shawn Belle began his pro career with Iowa in 2005-06 before being acquired by Minnesota from Dallas last March.

- Iowa D Colin Peters notched one assist in 30 games for Houston last season.

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American Hockey League Stories from February 23, 2007


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