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Kettles makes 33 saves as Aeros forge fourth straight tie

January 2, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Cincinnati, OH – Stephane Veilleux scored shorthanded in the third period and Kyle Kettles turned aside a season-high 33 shots, helping the Houston Aeros tie the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks, 2-2, at Cincinnati Gardens. Jeff Hoggan scored in the first period for Houston, which has only one loss (9-1-4) in its last 14 and extended its unbeaten streak to a season-high seven games (3-0-4). The Aeros have tied four straight contests and fell two points behind third-place Milwaukee in the West Division. Houston is at Chicago (nine of last 13 meetings have gone into OT) Saturday at 7 p.m. and returns home Sunday for a 5 p.m. matchup against Rochester. Brian Gornick and Chris Armstrong scored for Cincinnati, which is winless (0-3-1) in its last four. Ilya Bryzgalov made 31 saves for the Ducks.

The Aeros entered the third period down 2-1, and things didn't look promising as Cincinnati went on its first power play of the game early in the stanza with Rickard Wallin in the box for interference.

But it was Houston, and not Cincinnati, that got on the board again for the game's final goal.

Marc Cavosie beat Bryzgalov to a loose puck and fed it to Veilleux, who slid it by the netminder for his fifth of the season at 5:46. The tally was the eighth shorthanded score versus Cincinnati this season.

The Aeros continued to turn up the pressure, outshooting Cincinnati 9-3 in the third period.

Houston got the man advantage with 1:44 left in regulation, when Cincinnati was whistled for too many men on the ice. The Aeros didn't score, and watched Mika Hannula go into the box with 5.5 ticks left for tripping, meaning Cincinnati would be on the power play early in overtime.

Bryzgalov stoned Hoggan on a 2-on-1 attempt with Kyle Wanvig with two minutes left in overtime, helping preserve the tie. Thirty seconds later, Bryzgalov stopped Chris Bala's bid for his third game-winning goal this season versus the Ducks.

The Aeros had a golden chance inside of a minute in overtime when Hannula was sprung free on a breakaway. Bryzgalov again made the save, then covered up Wallin's rebound attempt that wasn't credited as a shot.

Kettles stopped Mike Mottau late in overtime on Cincinnati's sixth shot of the extra session to finish off the fine performance The Ducks had a 6-3 shot advantage in the extra session.

Kettles, making his 50th pro appearance but just his seventh AHL start, moved his unbeaten streak to four games (2-0-2), yielding 1.2 goals per game and turning aside 102 of 107 shots (95.3 percent) in that span. The Aeros have scored just nine goals in Kettles' seven starts.

The Aeros finished 0-for-3 on the power play, while Cincinnati also went 0-for-3. The Ducks have just eight power play goals on their last 103 attempts (7.8 percent).

Houston struck first for the 10th time in 12 games. Erik Reitz fed the puck to Hoggan, who got a step on Armstrong, sped through the circle and popped the puck under Bryzgalov's pads for his ninth goal of the season at 3:23 of the first.

Kettles, meanwhile, stopped his first nine first-period offerings. Gornick solved Kettles, though, with his first of the season at 14:14. Gornick, standing just outside the crease, took a pass from Mottau and one-timed the puck past Kettles

Bryzgalov helped keep the game tied heading into the intermission, stopping Dan Cavanaugh twice with three minutes left in the stanza. Bryzgalov turned aside Cavanaugh's transition attempt, then covered up the winger's rebound try.

Kettles stopped Gornick's try for a second goal, swiping away a stuff attempt.

The Aeros were outshot 14-10 in the first period, the first time they were outshot in the opening 20 minutes since December 19, a 4-2 loss in Cincinnati. Houston had outshot its last six opponents in the first.

Bryzgalov stacked the pads to rob Hannula midway through the second. Hannula took a give-and-go, 2-on-1 feed from Wallin and put it on net, but the goalie made a great save.

Kettles equaled his counterpart in brilliance minutes later, taking a goal away from Cam Severson.

Armstrong gave the Ducks a 2-1 lead with 5:32 left in the second. He crossed the blueline and got off a quick wrister that beat a surprised Kettles shortside under the crossbar for his fifth of the season.

Notes:

Aeros defenseman Zbynek Michalek, recalled to Minnesota before the game, was a healthy scratch tonight for the Wild versus Edmonton.

Hoggan has four goals in seven games against Cincinnati in his career. He's got five goals in his last 11 games overall.

Armstrong has his team's last three goals from the blueline.

The flu bug that has run through the Aeros locker room in the past two weeks claimed another victim. Ken Double, the Voice of the Aeros, missed the Internet-only broadcast due to illness.

Houston is 6-0-4 in its last 10 games when scoring first and 11-1-4-1 overall when scoring first. The Aeros have tied each of their last three games when scoring first.

The Aeros' road unbeaten streak reached four games (2-0-2).

Houston has had six chances to move over the .500 mark since opening the season with a victory, but has gone 0-3-3 in those contests.

The Aeros have scored just 16 goals in eight games (2.0 goals per game) since beating Norfolk 5-3 December 17.

Cavosie has six points (1g, 5a) in his last 10 games.

Bryzgalov has just one win in eight games against Houston (1-6-1) in his career.

Houston's four straight overtime games tie a franchise record. The Aeros did that twice before, most recently from October 10-19, 1999. This marks the first time Houston has gone into four straight overtime games since moving into the AHL in 2001-02.

The Aeros failed to score a power-play goal for the third time in 14 games.

Houston picked up its fifth point (0-12-4-1) when trailing after two periods, including in two of its last three games.

Houston's eight-game overtime winless streak (0-2-6) is the longest since a span of 12 games (0-4-8) from December 29, 2001, to March 29, 2002.

The Aeros are unbeaten in their last 17 games (12-0-4-1) when keeping their opponents off the scoreboard in the third period.

Houston allowed four or fewer power plays for the 11th time in 12 games.

Kettles' previous high for saves with the Aeros was 29, on December 1 in a 3-1 loss to Milwaukee. The netminder, in his first AHL season, topped the 50-save plateau last season for ECHL Louisiana.

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