Aeros try to earn split in Cincinnati tonight

Published on February 26, 2005 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Five things you need to know
· The Aeros, who lead the league on the penalty kill at 89.3 percent, have killed off 51-of-54 (94.4 percent) of their shorthanded chances over the last 14 games and had a string of 22 straight stopped last night. Houston is plus-22 in PPG ratio, second best in the league. Last night marked just the fifth time in 53 games this season that the Aeros allowed more PPG than they scored. The AHL record for penalty kill percentage is an eye-popping 90.7, set last season by Bridgeport, which also established a new mark by allowing only 31 PPG. Houston has yielded 25 through 53 games. The Aeros will again get a test tonight against Cincinnati's power play unit, which has hit on 7-of-29 (24.1 percent) of its chances over its last three games. The Mighty Ducks have gone on a whopping 54 power plays over their last six games.
· Last night, Aeros second-year winger Matt Foy picked up his second career two-goal game, with the other coming nearly one year to the day, last 2/27 in San Antonio. Foy has points in back-to-back games for the fourth time this season and the ninth time in his two-year career. He's never had a three-game point streak. Foy picked up his third two-point game of the season, and he's got seven in his career.
· The Aeros were outshot 37-21 by Cincinnati last night, their second worst differential this season. Cleveland held a 47-25 advantage 11/18. The Ducks outshot Houston 36-21 in the Aeros' home opener 10/16, meaning they have outshot Houston 73-42 in two meetings this season. Counting a 13-1 differential in favor of Utah on Wednesday, the Aeros have been outshot 50-22 in their last four periods.
· There will soon be a new all-time Aeros leader in goals since 2001-02, when the team joined the AHL. Kyle Wanvig's 50 goals have tied Cory Larose for the top spot on the list, while Stephane Veilleux is just one off the pace with 49. Veilleux, meanwhile, is tied with Larose and Travis Roche at 120 points for the top spot on the Aeros AHL points list. The trio is tied for 10th place on the team's all-time list, counting IHL totals.
· Houston's end result is usually dependent on its third-period play . The Aeros have allowed 37 third-period goals, just one off the league lead, but last night they allowed two in the final 2:44 to fall to 2-6-0-0 when yielding two or more in the last 20 minutes. In its 25 wins, Houston has allowed just 10 third-period goals, but in the remainder of its 28 games, it has yielded 27. The Aeros are 1-10-2-1 in their last 14 games when allowing a third-period goal.

Aeros at Ducks (Aeros are 8-5-4-1 overall, Aeros are 3-4-1-1 at Cincinnati)
· The Aeros went 2-3-3-0 in the 2003-04 regular season against Cincinnati, and the Ducks swept the Aeros in two games in Houston in the West Division Qualifying Round.
· Houston's 3-1 home opening win over the Ducks in the last meeting 10/16 snapped its five-game winless streak (0-2-3-0) against Cincinnati. Counting the post-season, the Aeros were winless in seven straight meetings prior to that game.
· The teams have played six overtime games in 18 chances, including three of their final five games in 2003-04. Houston is 1-1-4 in overtime versus Cincinnati.
· Houston is 0-2-1-0 in its last three trips to Cincinnati Gardens, last winning there 12/20/03, by a 3-1 count.

Scouting the Aeros
Houston has points in 12 of its last 17 games (8-5-2-2) to move into fourth place in the West, seven points out of third...A regulation win tonight would close Houston within five points of the third-place Ducks but with five games in hand...The Aeros are 1-1-0-1 to begin a five-game road trip...Stephane Veilleux (15-20=35) and Pierre-Marc Bouchard (9-26=35) are tied for the team lead in scoring, just ahead of Kirby Law (17-16=33)...Bouchard has 16 points (4-12=16) in his last 15games, while Law has 18 points (10-8=18) in 20 games since 1/11...Veteran Ray Giroux (7-15=22) anchors a well-balanced blueline that includes five players in double digits in points...Mike Smith is 14-12-2 with a 2.43 gaa, while Josh Harding is 11-12-1 with a 2.08 gaa.

Scouting the Ducks
Cincinnati won its fourth straight last night to improve to 14-1-0-1 in its last 16 home games...Other than Philadelphia, the last team to win in regulation at Cincinnati Gardens was Edmonton (2-1, 12/17)...The Ducks are led by young guns like injured Joffrey Lupul (15-21=36) and Michael Holmqvist (11-24=35)...Kurtis Foster is the team's top defensive scorer (12-16=28)...Veteran Frederic Cassivi has taken over the No. 1 goalie position with a 15-14-1 mark and a 2.26 gaa...Cassivi has five shutouts since 1/1 and had a shutout streak of 189:39 snapped last night...Ilya Bryzgalov's record is better at 13-10-1, but his gaa is 2.79.

2004-05 meetings (Third of 6 meetings, Aeros are 1-1-0-0 overall, Aeros are 0-1-0-0 at Cincinnati)
October 16: Cincinnati 1 at Houston 3
Last Night: Houston 2 at Cincinnati 3
Tonight: Houston at Cincinnati
March 14: Cincinnati at Houston
March 30: Cincinnati at Houston
April 8: Houston at Cincinnati

Last Game
Tim Brent snapped a tie with 16 seconds left in regulation just 2:28 after Pierre Parenteau knotted the game, as the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks stunned the Houston Aeros 3-2 at Cincinnati Gardens. Frederic Cassivi made 19 saves and Chris Kunitz tallied a power play goal for Cincinnati, which moved to 64 points - seven more than the Aeros, who seemingly were on their way to closing that gap to three points. Matt Foy scored both goals and Josh Harding made 34 saves for Houston, which lost on the road in regulation for the first time this season when holding a lead at any point in the game (12-1-1-0).

Quick Hits
· In the last two seasons, the Aeros have only three wins in 16 February road games (3-8-4-1).
· Aeros winger Bill Kinkel and Cincinnati's Lee Jacobson fought five times in the ECHL this season when they played for Pensacola and Mississippi, respectively. Two of those fights came in the pre-season.
· Aeros defenseman Ray Giroux has five points (1-4=5) in his last six games and eight points (2-6=8) in his last nine games. Giroux picked up his 150th AHL assist Wednesday.
· Houston's John Erskine played in his 300th professional game last night.
· The Aeros have scored the first goal in each of the last two games, after seven straight games allowing it. The Aeros, who have trailed at some point in 11 of their last 13 games, are 9-17-2-3 when allowing the first goal, but 16-4-2-0 when scoring it. Houston has scored first just 22 times, two off the AHL-low. Houston has scored a first-period goal in just four of its last 13 games.
· The Ducks' plus-30 goal margin at home is second best in the Western Conference.
· Cincinnati is an impressive 17-7-1-3 in one-goal games. Houston is 12-9-4-3. Five of the teams' last eight meetings have either ended in a tie or been decided by one goal.
· The Ducks have led after one period at home only seven times in 27 games. They are 4-1-0-2 in such situations.

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 strong, going 6-5-0 with a 2.16 gaa.
· Harding, the second youngest goalie in the AHL behind WBS' Marc-Andre Fleury, has three shutouts, as Wednesday's game didn't go down as an individual shutout. No other Aeros rookie goalie had more than one shutout.
· Harding is 11-9-1 with a 1.95 gaa since an 0-3-0 start to his pro campaign.
· Harding ranks ninth in the league in gaa (2.08), and trails only Lowell's Cam Ward among rookies (2.01).
· The rookie lost Saturday against Chicago despite allowing only two goals, marking the fourth time he's seen a winning streak snapped at two games.
· Harding has allowed 21 goals in the first period, but only 13 in the second and 14 in the third.
· Harding fought opposing goalie Jamie Storr on Wednesday, making him just the third goalie in team history to pick up a fighting major. The last was Ryan Bach on March 21, 1998, against San Antonio's Sergei Zvyogin. Jamie McLennan was involved in two skirmishes in the 2002 Calder Cup playoffs against Hershey, but he got a minor penalty for leaving the crease for his role, which ironically also came in a 3-0 shutout win.

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 is 0-2-2 in his last four starts, a new career-mark for a winless streak. His gaa in that span is 2.66. Smith was previously winless in three straight games on two occasions, once this season.
· Smith is one of five Aeros goalies ever with four shutouts in a season.
· Smith is 3-2 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 6-1-1 with a 2.20 gaa on the road but 8-11-1 with a 2.55 gaa at Toyota Center.

PP unit sixth
· The Aeros are sixth in the league on the power play at 17.6 percent.
· Houston is 0-for-8 on the power play over its last three games. Prior to this run, the Aeros were held without a PPG in three straight games just once this season (11/6-11/12).
· In their last 36 games, the Aeros have outscored their opponents 36-16 on the power play.
· Overall, the Aeros have outscored their opponents 47-25 on the power play.
· Houston is 18-12-3-1 when scoring a PPG and 7-9-1-2 when not scoring a PPG.
· The Aeros have allowed seven shorthanded goals, but none since Norfolk's Quintin Laing 12/18.
· Cincinnati is 11th in the league on the penalty kill at 84.9 percent.
· The Ducks have killed off 24 straight shorthanded chances over their last four games.

Houston first on PK
· Houston leads the league on the penalty kill at 89.3 percent.
· Houston has killed off 51-of-54 shorthanded chances in the past 14 games (94.4 percent) and 104-of-114 shorthanded chances in the last 25 games (91.2 percent).
· The Aeros have killed off 170-of-186 (91.4 percent) of their shorthanded chances over the last 43 games.
· Houston is 16-13-2-2 when not allowing a PPG and 8-9-2-1 when allowing a PPG.
· Cincinnati is 18th in the AHL on the power play at 14.5 percent.
· The Ducks are 9-for-54 (16.7 percent) on the power play over their last six games, and they are averaging nine power play opportunities over that span.

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American Hockey League Stories from February 26, 2005


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