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Griffins rally to down Aeros 3-1

February 16, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Houston, TX - Kevin Miller snapped a tie on the power play early in the third period and Joey MacDonald continued his strong play with 26 saves, as the Grand Rapids Griffins rallied for a 3-1 victory over the Houston Aeros at Toyota Center. Matt Ellis and Jeff Nelson also scored for the Griffins, who have won three straight and six of seven and improved to 25-0-4-0 when tallying a power-play goal. Grand Rapids, which visits Houston again on Chronicle in Education Day Wednesday at 11 a.m., moved to an AHL-best 74 points. Jason Marshall scored 3:10 into the game and Johan Holmqvist turned aside 17-of-19 shots for Houston, which is winless in six straight (0-5-1-0). The fifth-place Aeros' lead over San Antonio was trimmed to one point, as the Rampage earlier in the evening snapped Syracuse's six-game winning streak, 6-3, on the road. San Antonio has seven games in hand on the Aeros.

Marshall scored early on for Houston and the Aeros carried that lead into the early stages of the second period, when Grand Rapids scored a goal just two seconds after a power play expired at the 1:48 mark to tie the score. Michel Picard, in the lower left circle, slid a pass to Ellis between the circles, and Ellis poked the puck under Holmqvist for his fourth of the season.

The Griffins continued to keep up the pressure, but Marshall dove to break up a sure 2-on-0 at the 5:30 mark of the second.

Grand Rapids' Darryl Bootland was sent to the dressing room with 11:08 left in the second when he and Houston's Jeff Hoggan collided at center ice.

Houston struggled to find shots in the second stanza, recording just one in the opening 11 minutes. The Aeros' best attempt of the second came when Mika Hannula rang one off the near post from the left circle with 8:30 left.

The Aeros got their second power play a minute later, but failed to set up the man advantage in the Griffins zone.

Grand Rapids went ahead on the power play 4:17 into the third after Erik Reitz was called for cross checking behind the play in front of the Aeros bench. Houston enjoyed a fine shorthanded rush, but when it was broken up, the Griffins had numbers the other way. Jiri Hudler, at the right point, slipped a pass ahead to Tomas Kopecky, who slid a cross-crease pass to an unmarked Miller, who swiped the puck easily past Holmqvist before he could recover. The tally was the team-best 19th of the season for Miller, who at 38 is the eldest Griffin and also two years older than Aeros coach Todd McLellan. The youngest Griffin (Kopecky, 22) assisted on the eldest Griffin's goal.

Nelson finished the scoring when, with the Aeros pinching deep inside a minute left, he scooped a rebound in front of MacDonald and backhanded the puck 170 feet down the ice into an open net with 31 seconds remaining.

MacDonald, coming off back-to-back shutouts, including a 35-save performance Saturday versus the Aeros, stood tall particularly in the third period, making 12 saves.

Grand Rapids has now outscored Houston 8-1 in the final period of their meetings this season. The Griffins have allowed a league-low 26 goals in 55 third periods, and they are plus-18 in the third, also the best in the AHL.

Houston went 0-for-4 on the power play, while Grand Rapids finished 1-for-3 on the man advantage.

The game has featured none of the bad blood created between the teams Saturday, when they combined for 104 penalty minutes in the final 57 seconds. The teams had a combined 14 penalty minutes tonight.

The Aeros' Stephane Veilleux hit the post with a one-timer from the right circle on a power play just 90 seconds into the game.

Just four seconds after a penalty to Ellis expired, Marshall cranked in his seventh of the season. Marc Cavosie dished the puck between the circles to a wide-open Marshall, who set the puck up and blasted it by a screened MacDonald for his seventh of the season at the 3:10 mark. The goal helped the Aeros lead after one period for just the second time in the last 13 games and in the process snapped MacDonald's shutout streak at 144 minutes, 40 seconds.

A spectacular glove save by Holmqvist with 51 seconds left in the first kept the Aeros in front. With Grand Rapids on the power play, Bootland ripped one from the lower left circle that appeared destined for the net, but Holmqvist flashed some serious leather.

Notes:

The much talked about goaltender injury problems that have plagued Detroit all season extended today to its affiliate in Grand Rapids. The Griffins had to call goalie Mark Scally up from ECHL Texas in a pinch, when backup goalie Bujar Amidovski went down with a groin injury during the morning skate. Grand Rapids' other netminder, Marc Lamothe, is in Detroit, backing up Manny Legace, with Curtis Joseph and Dominik Hasek out with injury.

Tonight marked the first time in the six-game season series that the team scoring first failed to win.

Grand Rapids has killed off 36-of-38 shorthanded chances over the last nine games.

The Aeros are 2-for-28 on the power play versus Grand Rapids, which entered the game fifth in the league on the penalty kill at 88.0 percent.

Grand Rapids is 6-for-29 on the power play versus the Aeros, with six different goal scorers.

Houston fell to 2-26-7-2 when allowing more than one goal.

The Aeros dropped to 14-6-5-1 when scoring first, and tonight was just their second home loss when scoring first in 12 games (7-2-3-0).

Houston is 3-8-0-0 in the last 11 regular-season meetings with the Griffins.

The Aeros suffered just their third regulation loss in the last 17 home games (9-3-4-1).

Houston fell to the .500 mark in the last 35 games (13-13-8-1), and is eight games under the .500 mark overall to tie its season low. The Aeros were 5-13-2-2 on December 3 before reeling off six straight wins and nine in 10 games.

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