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Houston in Utah tonight

March 18, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Five things you need to know
· An Aeros victory tonight, combined with a Cincinnati home loss to Chicago, would move them into a third-place tie with the Ducks. Houston has a game in hand on Cincinnati, which is in Cleveland tomorrow. Grand Rapids, which is six points behind Houston with two games in hand, plays host to Edmonton tonight and Sunday, while traveling to Chicago tomorrow. Houston hasn't had a share of third place since 12/6.
· Aeros fourth-year winger Kyle Wanvig is picking a perfect time to hit full stride. Wanvig has six points (3-3=6) in his last three games and seven (3-4=7) over the last four, including a pair of three-point contests. Wanvig had two goals, including the game-winner, and an assist in Wednesday's 5-1 win over the Grizzlies. Houston's leading scorer in 2003-04 with 25 goals and 41 points, Wanvig now has 10 scores and 24 points this season. Wanvig's GWG Wednesday was his 15th with the Aeros, moving him past Brian Wiseman and into second place on the team's all-time list. Mark Freer holds down the top spot with 21.
· The Aeros have allowed the game's first goal in five of six contests. The Aeros are 11-20-4-3 when allowing the first goal, but 20-4-2-0 when scoring it. Houston has scored first just 26 times in 64 games, only two off the lowest total in the AHL. Houston has trailed at some point in 13 of its 31 victories. The Aeros are 7-11-5-2 when trailing on the road.
· Aeros centerman/winger Pierre-Marc Bouchard continued his power play mastery Wednesday with two more assists on the man advantage. Bouchard, who leads the team with 44 points (10-34=44), has tallied 24 of those points (5-19=24) on the power play. Bouchard has been on the ice for six of his team's last seven PPG. Bouchard is first on the Aeros with 12 multiple-point games, and his team has only one regulation loss (7-1-3-1) when he has two points or more.
· Special teams have played a huge part of the season series. Houston is an impressive 10-for-27 (37.0 percent) on the power play against Utah this season, while the Grizzlies are only 2-for-26 (7.7 percent) on the man advantage versus the Aeros. The Aeros' 10 PPG versus Utah are their most against any team in 2004-05. In four of the six meetings, Houston has put up at least two goals with the man advantage.

Aeros at Grizzlies (Aeros are 49-39-4-2 overall, Aeros are 24-23-1-1 at Utah/Denver)
· Today marks the 95th all-time meeting between Houston and the Utah franchise, including its play in Denver in 1994-95. The 95 meetings are the most between the Aeros and an opponent.
· Houston's five-game unbeaten in regulation streak (4-0-1-0) versus Utah is the longest in the history of the series.
· Since dropping the first game of the season 5-3 on 11/26, Houston has outscored Utah 19-7.
· Houston is 9-3-1-1 after losing three straight 3/20-11/7/03.
· The Aeros are 18-8-1-1 in the last 28 meetings and 21-13-2-2 versus the Grizzlies since joining the AHL.
· Houston has six wins in its last 10 trips to The "E" Center (6-3-0-1) and tonight is looking for its first two-game series sweep in West Valley City since 3/28-3/29/03.
· The teams have combined to average 92 PIM's per meeting this season.
· The Aeros have scored five goals in five of the last eight meetings.

Scouting the Aeros
Houston is 6-3-1-0 in its last 10 and has points in 20 of its last 28 games (14-8-4-2) for a .607 winning percentage in that span...Pierre-Marc Bouchard (10-34=44) leads the Aeros in scoring and has 25 points (5-20=25) in his last 26 games...Veteran Ray Giroux (9-18=27) anchors a well-balanced blueline and is a team-best plus-six...Mike Smith is 16-15-2 with a 2.43 gaa and five shutouts, while Josh Harding is 15-14-1 with four shutouts and a 2.00 gaa to rank tied for sixth in the AHL.

Scouting the Grizzlies
Utah, the AHL affiliate of the Phoenix Coyotes, has only one win in its last six games (1-4-1-0) and has the league's worst point total...The Grizzlies have scored more than two goals in two of their last 14 games...Peter White is the Grizzlies' leading scorer with 27 points (9-18=27) with the team and 35 overall (11-24=35)...Keith Ballard, Utah's All-Star, is the leading defenseman with 20 points (2-18=20) but is a minus-29...Jamie Storr was acquired on loan from Springfield last month and is 4-2-0 with a 2.05 gaa since the transaction and 11-24-2 with a 2.98 gaa overall...David LeNeveu, a 2004 AHL All-Star, is 8-25-3 with a 2.97 gaa and is tied for the league lead in losses.

2004-05 meetings (Seventh of 10 meetings, Aeros are 4-1-0-1 overall, Aeros are 2-0-0-1 at Utah)
November 26: Utah 5 at Houston 3
November 28: Utah 2 at Houston 5
February 2: Utah 2 at Houston 5
February 21: Houston 1 at Utah 2 (SO)
February 23: Houston 3 at Utah 0
Wednesday: Houston 5 at Utah 1
Tonight: Houston at Utah
March 23: Utah at Houston
April 6: Houston at Utah
April 17: Utah at Houston

Last Game
Kyle Wanvig scored twice and added an assist, and he, Junior Lessard and Patrick Traverse scored on three consecutive power plays, as the Houston Aeros shook off a slow start for a 5-1 victory over the Utah Grizzlies at The "E" Center. Mikko Koivu tallied a goal and an assist, Pierre-Marc Bouchard chipped in two helpers and Lessard added an assist as the Aeros moved to 71 points, two behind third-place Cincinnati with a game in hand. Houston, which got 27 saves from former Grizzlies goalie Mike Smith, converted three straight power plays for the second time in three games.

Quick Hits
· In its 31 wins, Houston has allowed just 11 third-period goals, but in the remainder of its 33 games, it has yielded 30. The Aeros are 2-12-2-1 in their last 17 games when allowing a third-period goal. Houston has yielded 41 third-period goals, tied with Hartford for the best in the AHL.
· Utah has scored a league-worst 30 first-period goals and is minus-33 (63-30) in the first period. The Grizzlies have allowed a league-high 78 in the third period, while scoring 43 for minus-35 margin. Utah is minus-30 (67-37) in the second.
· The Grizzlies rank 28th and last in the AHL in both goals scored per game (1.86) and goals allowed (3.38).
· Utah is 12-11-1-4 in one-goal games, but 5-30-0-0 in games decided by two or more. Ten of the Grizzlies' 12 home wins have come by one goal (10-4-1-2).
· Wednesday, Aeros goalie Mike Smith, who played the last two seasons in Utah, improved his career mark at The "E" Center to 9-5-1 with an impressive 2.25 gaa.
· Kyle Wanvig scored 21 seconds into the second period of Wednesday's 5-1 victory over Utah. That marked just the second time this season on the road that the Aeros have scored a goal in the first two minutes of a period. Stephane Veilleux also scored a momentum changing early goal, 11/18 at Cleveland. The Aeros have scored a goal in a period's first two minutes on eight occasions overall, and they are 6-2-0-0 in those contests.
· Aeros defenseman Ray Giroux had an assist Wednesday, so it's no surprise the Aeros were victorious. Houston is 8-1-0-0 when Giroux scores a goal, 12-2-2-1 when he picks up an assist and 18-3-2-1 when he has a point of any kind.

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 10-7-0 with a 1.99 gaa.
· Harding, the second youngest goalie in the AHL behind WBS' Marc-Andre Fleury, has four shutouts. No other Aeros rookie goalie had more than one shutout.
· Harding is 15-11-1 with a 1.94 since an 0-3-0 start to his pro campaign.
· Harding is tied for sixth in the league in gaa (2.00), and second among rookies. Lowell's Cam Ward is at 1.93.
· Harding has allowed 26 goals in the first period, but only 15 in the second and 16 in the third.

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 joins Frederic Chabot (seven) and Ryan Bach (five) as the lone Aeros netminders with five shutouts in a season, and his five overall trail only Chabot (18) and Derek Gustafson (six) for the most in team history.
· The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder is 7-4-1 with a 2.57 gaa on the road but 9-11-1 with a better 2.34 gaa at Toyota Center. Each of Smith's five shutouts have come at home.

PP unit tied for fourth
· The Aeros are tied for fourth in the league on the power play at 17.9 percent. They moved up from seventh with Wednesday's 3-for-5 performance.
· Houston is 6-for-16 (37.5 percent) with the man advantage in the last three games, including a pair of games with three PPG.
· In their last 47 games, the Aeros have outscored their opponents 46-25 on the power play.
· Overall, the Aeros have outscored their opponents 57-35 on the power play.
· Houston is 21-12-5-1 when scoring a PPG and 10-12-1-2 when not scoring a PPG.
· Utah is 28th and last in the AHL on the penalty kill at 78.2 percent. At home, the Grizzlies are an improved 80.7 percent.
· The Grizzlies had killed off 25-of-29 shorthanded chances (86.2 percent) over a five-game stretch before Houston scored three PPG Wednesday.

Houston fourth on PK
· Houston is fourth in the league on the penalty kill at 87.7 percent, but that drops to 84.5 percent on the road.
· Following a 46-of-48 kill streak 2/4-2/23, the Aeros have allowed 11 goals on 54 chances (79.6 percent kill rate) over their last 12 games.
· Houston is 21-13-2-2 when not allowing a PPG and 10-11-4-1 when allowing a PPG.
· Utah is 26th in the league on the power play at 13.6 percent, including only 12.6 percent at home.
· The Grizzlies are 2-for-37 (5.4 percent) with the man advantage in their last six games.

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