Aeros in San Antonio tonight

January 21, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Five things you need to know
· Aeros goalie Mike Smith has appeared in 16 straight games - 14 starts - including one game where he replaced the injured Josh Harding with five seconds remaining 11/28. Smith's 16-game run is a new franchise record, eclipsing Frederic Chabot's franchise record, set 12/8/99-1/21/00. Smith recorded his third shutout of the run and fourth overall Wednesday, 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 Harding's 40. Smith, one of five Aeros goalies ever with four shutouts in a season, is 6-7-0 since Harding got hurt, but sports an impressive 2.01 gaa in that span.
· Houston captain Kirby Law, who played in his 500th professional game Wednesday, is on the verge of another milestone, as he has 298 (143=155=298) career AHL points in 423 games.
· The Aeros have lost three of four on the road dating back to 11/24, but they are still an improved 9-7-1-1 away from Houston this season. The Aeros won only 10 road games all of last season (10-22-6-2), so they can match that total tonight in only their 19th road contest.
· Wednesday's win over Edmonton improved Houston to 9-2-0-0 when getting outshot, or the shots are even. The Aeros, meanwhile, are just 9-14-2-1 when outshooting an opponent. Aeros goalies don't mind work - they are only 2-9-0 when seeing 23 shots or less, but 16-9-1 when seeing 24 or more.
· Houston's Mikko Koivu has at least a point in four straight games (3-2=5), a career-high and also tied for the longest such streak by an Aero this season. Koivu also has a goal in each of his last two contests.

Aeros at Rampage (Aeros are 16-5-4-2 all-time, Aeros are 5-3-3-2 at San Antonio)
· Tonight is the 28th all-time meeting between the teams - 14th in San Antonio.
· Houston is 1-1-1-0 this season against the Rampage and earned its first win, 5-2 at Toyota Center 12/23.
· The Aeros lost in regulation only once to San Antonio last season (7-1-2-2).
· The teams have gone to overtime in seven of 27 meetings, and the Aeros are 1-3-3 against San Antonio.
· Houston and San Antonio don't meet again for more than a month, before the Aeros play eight of their final 25 games against the Rampage, beginning 2/27.
· The Rampage's 2-1 Opening Night victory over Houston was the Aeros' first regulation loss at SBC Center in their last eight trips (3-1-2-2).

Scouting the Aeros
Houston is coming off a 2-3-0-0 homestand...Stephane Veilleux (13-11=24) is the Aeros' leading scorer, just ahead of Rickard Wallin (6-15=21)...Veilleux has 13 goals, three more than any other Aero...Houston has 19 players with at least one goal...Nineteen-year-old Brent Burns (5-9=14) and Erik Reitz (0-12=12) anchor the blueline...Mike Smith is 13-10-0 with a 2.41 gaa, while Josh Harding (5-7-1, 2.01 gaa) has missed the last 14 games with a concussion.

Scouting the Rampage
San Antonio won back-to-back home games over reeling Edmonton before falling twice in Milwaukee this week, including a 4-0 shutout last night...Former first-round pick Stephen Weiss is the Rampage's leading scorer with 29 points (10-19=29)...On the blueline, Lukas Krajicek leads the way with 17 points (1-16=17)...Travis Scott is 11-15-3 with a 2.59 gaa, while Patrick DesRochers is 6-9-1 with a 2.29 gaa.

2004-05 meetings (Fourth of 12 meetings, Aeros are 1-1-1-0 overall, Aeros are 0-1-0-0 at San Antonio)
October 15: Houston 1 at San Antonio 2
December 3: San Antonio 2 at Houston 1 (OT)
December 23: San Antonio 2 at Houston 5
Tonight: Houston at San Antonio
February 27: Houston at San Antonio
March 2: San Antonio at Houston
March 3: Houston at San Antonio
March 12: San Antonio at Houston
April 2: San Antonio at Houston
April 3: Houston at San Antonio
April 9: Houston at San Antonio
April 10: San Antonio at Houston

Last game
Mike Smith made 39 saves to notch his fourth shutout of the season in his new Aeros-record 16th straight appearance, as Houston snapped a two-game skid with a 2-0 win over the Edmonton Road Runners at Toyota Center. Mikko Koivu and John Erskine scored 1:05 apart midway through the first period in support of Smith.

Quick Hits
· San Antonio's minus-15 first-period margin (44-29) is the third worst in the AHL. The Rampage has led after one period just 10 times this season.
· Starting tonight, Houston plays 40 of its remaining 43 games against the West Division. The Aeros have a home game left versus Hartford 3/4, before traveling to Manitoba on 3/19-20. Currently, the Aeros have played 21 out-of-division games but only 16 within the West.
· Tonight marks the first time since 12/23 that the Aeros have played a team with a sub .500 record. They also played the Rampage that day. Houston just wrapped up a nine-game stretch against teams with winning records at 3-6-0-0. Five of those nine games were against first-place Milwaukee and Grand Rapids. After tonight, Houston plays seven straight games against Chicago, Milwaukee and Grand Rapids, the top three teams in the division for much of the season.
· The Aeros have allowed 24 third-period goals. Only Rochester (23) has been better defensively in the final 20 minutes.
· The Aeros are on the road for only the third time in 16 games, but they return home tomorrow against Grand Rapids to begin a four-game homestand and a stretch where they play seven-of-eight at home.

Smith sets franchise mark
· Aeros goalie Mike Smith has appeared in 16 straight games - 14 starts - including one game where he replaced the injured Josh Harding with five seconds remaining 11/28. Smith's 16-game run is a new franchise record, eclipsing Frederic Chabot's franchise record, set 12/8/99-1/21/00.
· Smith recorded his third shutout of the run and fourth overall Wednesday, 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 Harding's 40. Smith, one of five Aeros goalies ever with four shutouts in a season, is 6-7-0 since Harding got hurt, but sports an impressive 2.01 gaa in that span.
· Smith is 13-6-0 when allowing zero or one goal in the first period, but he's 0-4-0 with a no decision when yielding two or more.
· Smith's OT loss to San Antonio 12/3 was his first ever in the AHL post-regulation. He is now 3-1 in OT and 3-0 in shootouts, and he went 3-1 in shootouts with ECHL Lexington in 2002-03.
· His three shootout wins are two off Jason LaBarbera's league-best total of five.
· The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder is 5-1-0 with a 2.42 gaa on the road but 8-9-0 with a 2.407 gaa at Toyota Center.
· In 18 home games, Smith has allowed 31 goals in the first two periods but just six in the third.
· Smith has yielded only four third-period goals in 14 games played in December and January.

PP unit tied for seventh
· The Aeros are tied for seventh in the league on the power play at 18.0 percent.
· Houston is 0-for-10 in the last two games on the man advantage and is 3-for-33 (9.1 percent) in the last six games after scoring at least one PPG in a franchise-record 10 straight games. Houston has gone three straight games without a PPG just once this season (11/6-11/12). In their last 21 games, the Aeros have outscored their opponents 25-11 on the power play.
· The Aeros are 14-9-2-0 when scoring a PPG and 4-7-0-1 when not scoring a PPG.
· Overall, the Aeros have outscored their opponents 36-20 on the power play.
· The Aeros have allowed seven shorthanded goals, the last by Norfolk's Quintin Laing 12/18. That total has them three behind Manchester's league-high 10 SHG allowed.
· San Antonio is tied for 18th on the penalty kill at 82.5 percent, and its ranking drops to 27th at home at 80.0 percent. San Antonio has yielded 21 PPG at home, second most in the AHL.
· The Rampage has killed off 15-of-18 (83.3 percent) shorthanded chances over the last five games.

Houston tied for third on PK
· Houston is tied for third in the league on the penalty kill at 88.6 percent.
· Houston has killed off 50-of-54 shorthanded chances in the last 13 games (92.6 percent), and Milwaukee has three of the last four PPG versus Houston.
· The Aeros have killed off 116-of-127 (91.3 percent) of their shorthanded chances over the last 27 games.
· Houston is 12-8-1-1 when not allowing a PPG and 6-8-1-0 when allowing a PPG.
· The Aeros are tied for fifth in the AHL with six SHG, all by different players. Only Lowell and Manchester also have six different players with a SHG.
· San Antonio ranks 28th and last in the AHL at 10.4 percent, including just a 9.3 mark at SBC Center.
· The Rampage is just 1-for-19 (5.3 percent) on the power play in the last five games.

First and last two minutes are crucial
Houston has scored just 10 goals in the first or last two minutes of a period this season. The Aeros' opponents, meanwhile, have 22 goals in this crucial time. Houston is 1-7-0 this season when allowing a goal in the opening two minutes of a period.

Aeros/Rampage connections
· San Antonio's Joel Kwiatkowski and Houston's Patrick Traverse were traded for each other in 2001 (Kwiatkowski went from Anaheim to Ottawa for Traverse).
· Houston's John Erskine and San Antonio's Serge Payer, Ryan Jardine and Eric Beaudoin were teammates in Utah in 2001-02.
· Houston's Brent Burns was a teammate of San Antonio's Kamil Kreps in 2002-03 with OHL Brampton.
· San Antonio's Victor Uchevatov was a teammate of Houston's Ray Giroux in Albany in 2002-03. Giroux was also Juraj Kolnik's teammate in 2001-02 with Bridgeport.
· Houston's Matt Foy and San Antonio's Lou Dickenson were teammates in 2002-03 in OHL Ottawa.
· Brothers Mark (Houston) and Joe Cullen (San Antonio) face each other on the ice for just the four time ever tonight, with the other three occasions coming earlier this season when Cullen played for Edmonton. They were teammates at Colorado College for three seasons.



American Hockey League Stories from January 21, 2005


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