Sports stats



Griffins down Aeros 3-0 as teams clash in final minute

February 14, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Grand Rapids, MI – Joey MacDonald made 35 saves for his second consecutive shutout and third straight at home and Jiri Hudler, Ryan Barnes and Kevin Miller provided the goals, as the Grand Rapids Griffins beat the Houston Aeros 3-0 at Van Andel Arena in the first of three meetings between the teams over the next five days. Monday (7 p.m.) and Wednesday (11 a.m.) at Toyota Center promise to be exciting, as the team's combined for more than 100 penalty minutes in the final minute of play. Grand Rapids, playing without leading scorer Nathan Robinson (injured groin) and starting goalie Marc Lamothe (in Detroit), moved to an AHL-best 72 points and extended its franchise-record home unbeaten streak to a league season-high 12 games (9-0-3-0).

Johan Holmqvist finished with 22 saves for the Aeros, who went 0-4-1-0 on their five-game road trip. Houston (49 points), which tied a franchise record by holding Grand Rapids to just one shot in the first period, fell one point behind fourth-place Cincinnati, which beat Manitoba 3-1 tonight. The Aeros remained five points ahead of sixth-place San Antonio, which still has seven games in hand on Houston. The Aeros' six-game road winless streak (0-5-1-0) is one shy of their franchise record, set earlier this season.

MacDonald, who turned 24 last week, stopped 15 shots in the first period, 10 in the second and 10 in the third. He shut out Manitoba on 22 shots last night and picked up his third shutout of the season tonight. MacDonald, who went undrafted, lowered his goals against average to 1.87, moving past the veteran Lamothe (1.88) for fifth in the AHL. It was Lamothe who was the last Griffins netminder to post back-to-back shutouts, ironically against Manitoba and Houston, on November 12-15, 2002. MacDonald, generally known for his success on the road, also became the first Griffins netminder to record three straight home shutouts and hasn't yielded a goal in the last 194:41 at Van Andel Arena.

The Aeros took it to the Griffins in the first period, getting the game's first 15 shots and holding Grand Rapids without a shot in the opening 18 minutes. But MacDonald, coming off a 22-save shutout of Manitoba last night, let none by. Houston ended the opening stanza with a 15-1 shot advantage, and the Aeros' one shot allowed tied a franchise record for a period. The last time it happened was March 23, 2003, in Grand Rapids.

MacDonald's best save in the first came off the stick of former Griffin Chris Bala on an odd-man rush with 5:20 left. Seconds after that, Houston's Derek Boogaard tangled with the Griffins' Darryl Bootland, with Boogaard landing several punches while holding the much smaller Bootland away from his body. Boogaard continued bashing Bootland, hitting the Griffin with several roundhouse rights before the linesmen stepped in. Bootland's fighting major was just the 26th this season for Grand Rapids, but there were plenty more to come.

Houston appeared to go on top with two minutes left in the first, but referee Brian Pochmara waved off an apparent goal by Stephane Veilleux.

The Griffins reversed the trend in the second period, getting six of the period's first seven shots, but Holmqvist survived a flurry of three quick shots in front early on.

Grand Rapids, fourth in the league on the man advantage, finally went on its first power play at 11:58 of the second, with Jeff Hoggan off for tripping. Derek King, briefly a teammate of Houston head coach Todd McLellan with the New York Islanders in the mid 1980's, sent a shot on Holmqvist from the near point, and Hudler deflected the puck past the netminder for his 10th of the season at the 13:02 mark.

Grand Rapids went up 2-0 just 1:24 into the third, when Bala couldn't clear the puck away from the goal line. Barnes notched his second of the season to stretch the Griffins' advantage to a pair of goals.

Just after the Aeros got Holmqvist out of the net, Miller took a feed from Barnes and slapped the puck into an open cage for his 18th of the season with 1:55 left.

The teams gathered in the first of many scrums with 57 seconds left. Boogaard knocked down Bootland with a linesmen in between them, while Houston's Dan Cavanaugh and the Griffins' Dave Van Drunen also battled. The festivities started with the Aeros' Jason Beckett squaring off with Jeff Nelson. The Griffins were awarded a 5-on-3 as a result.

Seconds later, Barnes jumped Travis Roche from behind, and as that was going on, Houston's Kyle Wanvig and Danny Groulx duked it out.

With a stoppage in play with 36.3 seconds left, MacDonald and Holmqvist refused to get into the fun, instead playing catch with the puck the length of the ice.

Before the game ended, the Griffins' Ryan Bonni pushed and shoved with Erik Reitz at the 19:56 mark.

Grand Rapids entered the game averaging less than 16 penalty minutes per game and had with just 25 major penalties.

The Griffins improved to 25-4-5-0 when scoring first. Grand Rapids has now outscored opponents 42-26 in the third period, including 6-1 in five meetings with the Aeros. The Griffins' 26 goals allowed in the final 20 minutes are a league-best by seven goals.

Houston is one of four AHL teams winless when trailing after two periods (0-21-5-1).

The Aeros finished 0-for-1 on the power play, while Grand Rapids went 1-for-4. Houston, which leads the AHL with 319 power plays, was held to just two opportunities over the last two games.

Notes:

The Aeros have led after one period just once in the last 12 games. They have allowed their opponent the first goal in 12 of the last 18 games.

Grand Rapids has surrendered just 14 goals over the last 12 games.

Veilleux had his career-best six-game point streak snapped. The streak tied Cavanaugh's team season-high.

The team that has scored first has won all five games in the season series.

The Aeros fell to 1-9-4-0 in their last 14 road games and have an AHL-high 17 road losses.

Houston has been held to two goals or fewer 19 times in the last 28 games. The Aeros have scored one goal or fewer in 15 of 56 games overall, but had notched at least two in each of the last eight games prior to tonight.

The Aeros are 4-20-4-2 overall when allowing the first goal and 0-13-3-0 on the road.

Grand Rapids' 35 first goals are the most in the AHL.

Houston is 4-8-3-1 playing the second of back-to-back games, including a 1-4-3-0 mark in the last eight tries.

Grand Rapids has won six straight at home, tied for the second longest run in the AHL this season. Hamilton won nine straight at home November 7-December 5.

Three of the Aeros' four shutouts this season have come against the top three defensive teams in the league – Hartford (two) and Grand Rapids. Worcester pitched the other shutout.

• Discuss this story on the American Hockey League message board...

American Hockey League Stories from February 14, 2004


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Houston Aeros Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central