Aeros host Chicago on Cap Night

February 18, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Five things you need to know
· Tonight is the latest edition of one of the top rivalries in all of the AHL. Consider this: 14 of the last 24 meetings between Houston and Chicago have gone into overtime, including four of six overall this season and one of two at Toyota Center. The second game in Houston was decided with less than one minute left in regulation. Each team has eight points through six meetings this season. One thing is for sure - neither coach wants to see his team take a multiple-goal lead tonight. In each of the last three meetings between the teams, the losing team has coughed up a two- or three-goal lead, including Saturday, when Houston rallied from three goals down for a 5-4 shootout win. The team to score first has won just two of the six meetings this season.
· Houston defenseman Todd Reirden is set to play in his 700th professional game tonight. The 33-year-old Reirden, who played for Chicago from 1995-97, has posted 243 points (71-182=243) and 991 PIM's in 699 games with 16 different teams in four leagues. Reirden has played in 183 career NHL games, with 46 points (11-35=46).
· The Aeros, who are tied for second in the league on the penalty kill at 88.7 percent, have killed off 31-of-33 (93.9 percent) of their shorthanded chances over the last nine games. Houston hasn't yielded a PPG at home in its last five games, knocking down 16 straight chances. The Aeros are plus-21 in PPG ratio, third in the league. Houston has scored 36.0 percent of its goals with the man advantage, second in the AHL.
· Tonight's game is the second of three straight meetings between the teams. This marks the seventh time in the Aeros' four seasons in the AHL that they've played the same team three straight times in the regular season. It happened twice in 2003-04 - Cincinnati and Grand Rapids. Since joining the league in 2001-02, the Aeros are 4-2-1 in game one, 3-2-1 in game two and 2-4-0 in game three when playing a team three straight times. Houston is in the midst of quite the stretch, one in which it plays Milwaukee and Chicago - the top two teams in the division - in nine of 11 games. After tomorrow's game against Chicago, seven straight games are against Utah, San Antonio and Cincinnati.
· A victory tonight would move the Aeros to five games above the .500 mark, tying their season-high. Houston was 15-10-2-1 on 12/23, before losing six of eight games.

Wolves at Aeros (Aeros are 31-21-14-4 overall, Aeros are 18-6-8-2 at Houston)
· Tonight is the 71st all-time meeting between the Wolves and Aeros - 35th in Houston.
· Houston is 3-1-2-0 this season against the Wolves, including a pair of dramatic one-goal home wins.
· The Aeros have won three straight home games against the Wolves and are unbeaten in five straight home meetings (3-0-2-0). Houston's three-game home winning streak in the series is the longest since a four-game stretch from 11/13/97-11/4/99. Chicago's lone win at Toyota Center in seven attempts came 11/22/03, a 4-3 decision.
· Houston went 1-5-4 against Chicago in 2003-04, including a 1-1-3 home mark and an 0-4-1 record on the road.
· The Aeros have just four wins in the last 17 matchups (4-7-6-0) but have points in 10 of those games. Houston has only six wins in the last 22 matchups (6-7-6-3), but it has points in 15 of those games.
· The Wolves have three former Aeros on the roster: Travis Roche and Cory Larose - the top two point-getters in AHL Aeros history - and Greg Hawgood.

Scouting the Aeros
Houston has points in nine of its last 12 games (6-3-2-1) to move into fourth place in the West..Stephane Veilleux (14-18=32) is the Aeros' leading scorer, just ahead of Pierre-Marc Bouchard (8-22=30)...Nineteen-year-old Brent Burns (8-12=20) anchors a well-balanced blueline that includes five players in double digits in points...Mike Smith is 14-12-1 with a 2.49 gaa, while Josh Harding is 9-10-1 with a 2.04 gaa to rank sixth in the AHL.

Scouting the Wolves
Second-place Chicago, the AHL affiliate of the Atlanta Thrashers, is 2-0-0-1 in its last three following two straight losses to Cleveland..J.P. Vigier, who spent the entire 2003-04 season in the NHL and was a 10-goal scorer for Atlanta, leads the Wolves with 46 points (18-28=46)...Former Aeros Greg Hawgood (3-31=34) and Travis Roche (10-23=33) pace the blueline...Kari Lehtonen is 23-15-2 with a 2.32 gaa, while Michael Garnett is 6-4-0 with a 3.05 gaa.

2004-05 meetings (Seventh of 10 meetings, Aeros are 3-1-2-0 overall, Aeros are 2-0-0-0 at Houston)
October 20: Houston 4 at Chicago 5 (OT)
October 24: Chicago 3 at Houston 4 (OT)
November 24: Houston 0 at Chicago 3
January 29: Chicago 2 at Houston 3
February 2: Houston 2 at Chicago 3 (OT)
February 12: Houston 5 at Chicago 4 (SO)
Tonight: Chicago at Houston
Tomorrow: Chicago at Houston
March 9: Houston at Chicago
April 15: Chicago at Houston

Last game
Mark Cullen tied the game with 10:06 left in regulation, Houston didn't allow a shot in the third period, and Junior Lessard scored the deciding goal in the 10th round of the shootout, as the Aeros rallied from three goals down to earn a hard-fought 5-4 decision over the Chicago Wolves at Allstate Arena. Josh Harding made 17 saves, plus nine in the shootout, and All-Star Mikko Koivu and Marius Holtet scored seven seconds apart in the second period for Houston.

Quick Hits
· The Aeros have allowed 34 third-period goals, just one off the AHL lead held by Hartford and Manchester. Houston is 1-8-2-1 in its last 12 games when allowing a third-period goal.
· Saturday's victory was Houston's fifth of the season when trailing after two periods - tying the Aeros for third in the AHL. In 2003-04, Houston had zero victories when behind after 40 minutes.
· In two games against Utah, Houston has scored 10 goals in support of Josh Harding. In the remainder of his 16 starts, the team has scored just 32 times (2.00 gpg).
· Pierre-Marc Bouchard has nine points (3-6=9) in only five games versus Chicago. He has a hand in 9 of the team's 17 non-shootout goals scored versus the Wolves this season. The Aeros were shut out in the lone game that Bouchard missed in the series.
· Houston's Kyle Wanvig and Stephane Veilleux are in a race to become the 11th Aero with 50 goals with the team. Wanvig has 49 - one behind Chicago's Cory Larose for 10th place on the team's all-time list - while Veilleux has 48. Veilleux and Mark Cullen, each with 69 assists, are both one away from tying Larose for 10th place on that list as well.
· The Wolves have played in seven consecutive games decided by one goal (3-3-0-1). Chicago played in a franchise-high eight consecutive one-goal games from 3/19/00-4/2/00 (7-1-0-0).

Harding back in a big way
· Aeros 20-year-old rookie goalie Josh Harding missed 17 games due to a concussion, but he has returned with a vengeance, going 4-3-0 with a 2.10 gaa.
· Harding, the second youngest goalie in the AHL behind WBS' Marc-Andre Fleury, has three shutouts. No other Aeros rookie goalie had more than one shutout.
· Harding is 9-7-1 with a 1.88 gaa since an 0-3-0 start to his pro campaign.
· Harding ranks sixth in the league in gaa (2.04).

Smith establishes franchise mark
· Aeros goalie Mike Smith appeared in 19 straight games - 17 of the appearances starts - from 11/26-1/25. Smith's 19-game run was a new franchise record, eclipsing Frederic Chabot's old mark of 15, set 12/8/99-1/21/00.
· Smith recorded his third shutout of the run and fourth overall 1/19, making 39 saves in a 2-0 win over Edmonton. It marked the third-highest save total for an Aeros goalie in a shutout, trailing only Chabot's 43 and Josh Harding's 40. Smith is one of five Aeros goalies ever with four shutouts in a season.
· Smith is 3-1 in his AHL career in OT and 3-1 in shootouts, and he went 3-1 in shootouts with ECHL Lexington in 2002-03.
· The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder is 6-1-0 with a 2.37 gaa on the road but 8-11-1 with a 2.55 gaa at Toyota Center.

PP unit fifth
· The Aeros are fifth in the league on the power play at 18.1 percent.
· Houston is 0-for-4 on the power play over its last two games. The Aeros have gone three games without a PPG just once this season - 11/6-11/12.
· In their last 31 games, the Aeros have outscored their opponents 34-15 on the power play.
· Overall, the Aeros have outscored their opponents 45-24 on the power play.
· Houston is 17-11-3-1 when scoring a PPG and 6-8-1-1 when not scoring a PPG.
· The Aeros have allowed seven shorthanded goals, but none since Norfolk's Quintin Laing 12/18.
· Chicago is tied for 19th in the league on the penalty kill at 82.7 percent. The Wolves have yielded 56 PPG, tied for the fourth most in the league.
· The Wolves have allowed four goals on 40 shorthanded chances (90.0 percent kill) over their last six games.

Houston tied for second on PK
· Houston is tied for second in the league on the penalty kill at 88.7 percent, but it's just .1 behind Rochester.
· Houston has killed off 31-of-33 shorthanded chances in the past nine games (93.9 percent) and 84-of-92 shorthanded chances in the last 21 games (91.3 percent).
· The Aeros have killed off 150-of-165 (90.9 percent) of their shorthanded chances over the last 38 games.
· Houston is 15-11-2-1 when not allowing a PPG and 8-8-2-1 when allowing a PPG.
· The Aeros are tied for 12th in the AHL with six SHG, all by different players.
· Chicago is tied for seventh in the AHL on the power play at 17.7 percent.
· The Wolves are 6-for-38 (15.8 percent) with the man advantage over their last six games.



American Hockey League Stories from February 18, 2005


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