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Aeros host Wolves again tonight

February 19, 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 25 meetings between Houston and Chicago have gone into overtime, including four of seven this season. The Aeros and Wolves have played six, one-goal games, just one off Springfield/Portland's AHL season-high. All three games in Houston have been decided by one goal, and one in overtime. Houston has 10 points to Chicago's eight in the first seven meetings. One thing is for sure - neither coach wants to see his team score the first goal or take a multiple-goal lead tonight. The team to score first has won just two of the seven meetings this season. In three of the last four meetings between the teams, the losing team has coughed up a two- or three-goal lead, including last Saturday, when Houston rallied from three goals down for a 5-4 shootout win.
• 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 tonight's contest, seven straight games are against Utah, San Antonio and Cincinnati - three divisional opponents with winning percentages lower than the Aeros. Houston opens up a five-game road trip Monday afternoon in Utah.
• The Aeros, who lead the league on the penalty kill at 88.9 percent, have killed off 34-of-36 (94.4 percent) of their shorthanded chances over the last 10 games. Houston hasn't yielded a PPG at home in its last six games, knocking down 19 straight chances. The Aeros are plus-22 in PPG ratio, third in the league.
• Tonight's game is the last 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, 4-2-1 in game two and 2-4-0 in game three when playing a team three straight times. Since joining the AHL, Houston has never swept a three-game regular-season set from the same opponent. Three times, the Aeros won the first two games but lost the third.
• Last night's victory moved Houston five games over the .500 mark (24-19-4-2), tying a season-night. The Aeros were last six games over .500 when they finished the 2002-03 campaign 47-23-7-3. Houston was 15-10-2-1 on 12/23, before losing six of eight games. A win tonight would mark the Aeros' fifth three-game winning streak this season, and they haven't seen any of the first four streaks extended to four games. A win tonight combined with a Cincinnati loss to Grand Rapids would also move Houston into a tie for third place for the first time since 12/6.

Wolves at Aeros (Aeros are 32-21-14-4 overall, Aeros are 19-6-8-2 at Houston)
• Tonight is the 72nd all-time meeting between the Wolves and Aeros - 36th in Houston.
• Houston is 4-1-2-0 this season against the Wolves, including a trio of dramatic one-goal home wins.
• The Aeros have won four straight home games against the Wolves and are unbeaten in six straight home meetings (4-0-2-0). Houston's four-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 eight 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 five wins in the last 18 matchups (5-7-6-0) but have points in 11 of those games. Houston has only seven wins in the last 23 matchups (7-7-6-3), but it has points in 16 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 10 of its last 13 games (7-3-2-1) to move into fourth place in the West, just two points out of third...Stephane Veilleux (14-19=33) is the Aeros' leading scorer, just ahead of Pierre-Marc Bouchard (8-24=32) and Kirby Law (16-16=32)...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 10-10-1 with a 2.13 gaa.

Scouting the Wolves
Second-place Chicago, the AHL affiliate of the Atlanta Thrashers, fell in regulation for the first time in four games last night...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 47 points (18-29=47)...Former Aeros Greg Hawgood (3-31=34) and Travis Roche (11-23=34) pace the blueline...Kari Lehtonen is 23-15-2 with a 2.32 gaa, while Michael Garnett is 6-5-0 with a 3.20 gaa.

2004-05 meetings (Eighth of 10 meetings, Aeros are 4-1-2-0 overall, Aeros are 3-0-0-0 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)
Last night: Chicago 4 at Houston 5
Tonight: Chicago at Houston
March 9: Houston at Chicago
April 15: Chicago at Houston

Quick Hits
• Last night, Houston's Zbynek Michalek, Kyle Wanvig and Kirby Law combined to score three goals in 1:27, betting the previous record held by Stephane Veilleux, Jean-Guy Trudel and Curtis Murphy by 12 seconds. Chicago's Karl Stewart also scored in that span, and the four goals in a combined 1:27 were a new Aeros team record.
• The Aeros have allowed 34 third-period goals, tied with Hartford and Manchester for the league-lead. Houston is 1-8-2-1 in its last 12 games when allowing a third-period goal.
• Pierre-Marc Bouchard has 11 points (3-8=11) in only six games versus Chicago. The Aeros were shut out in the lone game that Bouchard missed in the series, 11/24.
• Houston's Kyle Wanvig became the 11th player in team history with 50 goals last night, tying current Wolves centerman Cory Larose for 10th place on the all-time list. Stephane Veilleux is in 12th place with 48.
• Last night, Mark Cullen's three assists moved him into a ninth-place tie with Mike Yeo on the team's all-time list with 72. Stephane Veilleux's helper moved him into an 11th-place tie with Larose.
• The Wolves have played in eight consecutive games decided by one goal (3-4-0-1) to tie a franchise record. Chicago previously played in eight consecutive one-goal games from 3/19/00-4/2/00 (7-1-0-0).
• Houston has allowed the game's first goal in four straight contests.
• The Aeros are 10-6-2-0 in games two and three of back-to-back situations.
• The line of Mikko Koivu, Kyle Wanvig and Stephane Veilleux has been on the ice for each of Houston's last four PPG.
• Kirby Law enters tonight's game with 149 AHL goals.

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 5-3-0 with a 2.33 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 10-7-1 with a 2.00 gaa since an 0-3-0 start to his pro campaign.
• Harding ranks 10th in the league in gaa (2.13).
• The rookie has won back-to-back games on four occasions this season, but he's looking for his first three-game winning streak as a pro.
• Harding has allowed 21 goals in the first period, but only 11 in each the second and third this season.

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. 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 went 1-for-6 on the power play last night, snapping an 0-for-4 skid over a two-game stretch. The Aeros have gone three games without a PPG just once this season - 11/6-11/12.
• In their last 32 games, the Aeros have outscored their opponents 35-15 on the power play.
• Overall, the Aeros have outscored their opponents 46-24 on the power play.
• Houston is 18-11-3-1 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 18th in the league on the penalty kill at 82.7 percent. The Wolves have yielded 57 PPG, tied for the second most in the league.
• The Wolves have allowed five goals on 46 shorthanded chances (89.1 percent kill) over their last seven games.

Houston first on PK
• Houston leads the league on the penalty kill at 88.9 percent, including 91.3 percent at home.
• Houston has killed off 34-of-36 shorthanded chances in the past nine games (94.4 percent) and 87-of-95 shorthanded chances in the last 22 games (91.6 percent).
• The Aeros have killed off 153-of-168 (91.1 percent) of their shorthanded chances over the last 39 games.
• Houston is 16-11-2-1 when not allowing a PPG and 8-8-2-1 when allowing a PPG.
• Chicago is seventh in the AHL on the power play at 17.6 percent.
• The Wolves are 6-for-41 (14.6 percent) with the man advantage over their last seven games.

A special welcome – Saint Arnold's Army, a group of more than 500 fans, will be seated in the defensive end zone tonight. They are self proclaimed, loyal supporters of Saint Arnold's Brewing Company. Located in Houston for over a decade, Saint Arnold's Brewing Company is Texas' oldest microbrewery. They'll be easy to spot with their red, Saint Arnold's/Houston Aeros thunder sticks. For more information, visit them at www.saintarnold.com.



American Hockey League Stories from February 19, 2005


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