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Third place on line tonight

March 30, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Five things you need to know
· With three weeks left in the AHL's regular season, the Aeros and Ducks are part of a three-way tie for third place in the West Division. Grand Rapids also moved to 77 points last night by beating Cleveland 5-0. Cincinnati has a game in hand on both Houston and Grand Rapids. The tiebreaker would currently go to the Griffins and Ducks, who have 37 and 36 wins, respectively. An Aeros win tonight would put them in sole possession of third place for the first time since 12/4. Following tonight's game, Houston plays six of its last nine games against San Antonio and Utah, the bottom two teams in the West. Cincinnati is in San Antonio Friday, then home to face Chicago on Saturday and Utah on Sunday. Grand Rapids, meanwhile, plays host to Utah on Friday and Saturday, and is then in Hamilton on Sunday.

West Division standings/schedule (3-5 only)
3t. Cincinnati 69 GP, 77 PTS
3t. Houston 70 GP, 77 PTS
3t. Grand Rapids 70 GP, 77 PTS
CIN (11GR, 6H, 5R); HOU (2, 1H/1R), GR (2, 1H/1R), CHI (2, 1H/1R), UTA (1, 1H), CLE (2, 1H/1R), MIL (1, 1H), SAN (1, 1R)
HOU (10GR, 5H, 5R); CHI (1, 1H), CIN (2, 1H/1R), MIL (1, 1R), SAN (4, 2H/2R), UTA (2, 1H/1R)
GR (10 GR, 4H, 6R); MIL (1, 1R), SAN (2, 1H/1R), CIN (2, 1H/1R), HAM (1, 1R), UTA (4, 2H/2R)
· Through the season's first 65 games, the Aeros allowed only 41 third-period goals, but in the last five games, they've given up eight while scoring only three. Houston is still second in the AHL with its 49 third-period goals allowed. Only Hartford (43) is better. In their last 14 wins, the Aeros have outscored their opponents in the third by a huge 18-3 margin, but Houston is 3-14-2-2 in its last 21 games when allowing a third-period goal.
· The Aeros have scored the first goal in two straight games, after going nine of 10 games allowing the first goal. Amazingly, a first goal by Houston tonight would mark the first time all season it has scored first in three consecutive games. The Aeros are 12-22-4-4 when allowing the first goal, but 21-4-2-1 when scoring it. Houston has scored first just 28 times in 70 games (40 percent). Only three other AHL teams have scored first fewer times.
· In its last three games against Houston, Cincinnati has scored five power play goals. The Ducks rank only 15th in the league on the man advantage at 15.0 percent, but they have scored a whopping 37.2 percent of their goals on the power play. Cincinnati is fourth in the league in PPG with 67. The Ducks have gone on an AHL-high 448 power plays, 36 more than any other team and 102 times more than the Aeros. Cincinnati is plus-54 in power play attempts this season, trailing only Cleveland (75) and Manchester (56) for the league lead. True to form, the Ducks have gone on 30 power plays in their last five games while allowing only 17. They've outscored their opponents 6-1 on the power play in that span.
· Cincinnati is 5-0-0-1 in its last six road games after beginning the season 9-18-1-1 away from home. Houston, meanwhile, has been hot at home, going 6-1-0-1 in its last eight after a 13-12-1-1 start. The one regulation loss in the last eight games was to the Ducks.

Ducks at Aeros (Aeros are 8-6-5-1 overall, Aeros are 5-2-3-0 at Houston)
· Houston is 1-2-1-0 this season versus the Ducks, including three straight losses since a 3-1 home opening victory 10/16. In the last meeting, 3/14 in Houston, Stanislav Chistov scored twice and Ilya Bryzgalov made 24 saves for the shutout in a 3-0 win.
· 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.
· Counting the 2004 post-season, the Aeros are 1-6-4-0 in the last 11 meetings with Cincinnati.
· The teams have played seven overtime games in 22 chances, including four of the last nine meetings.
· The Aeros, who are fourth in the league in shots and eighth in shots against, have been outshot by the Ducks by an average of 36-25 in four meetings this season.

Scouting the Aeros
Houston is 6-1-0-1 in its last eight home games and plays game four of a five-game homestand tonight...Pierre-Marc Bouchard (12-36=48) leads the Aeros in scoring and has 29 points (7-22=29) in his last 32 games...Veteran Ray Giroux (11-18=29) anchors a well-balanced blueline along with 20-year-old prospect Brent Burns (9-14=23)...Mike Smith is 18-15-3 with a 2.42 gaa and five shutouts, while Josh Harding is 15-16-2 with four shutouts and a 2.11 gaa to rank ninth in the AHL...The Aeros also signed goalie Larry Sterling to a PTO this morning.

Scouting the Ducks
Cincinnati has just two regulation losses in its last eight games (2-5-0-1) and is 10-4-0-1 in its last 15...The Ducks rebounded from a 4-3 loss Friday by whipping Milwaukee 7-0 Saturday...The Ducks are led by young guns like Joffrey Lupul (20-25=45) and Michael Holmqvist (14-28=42)...Kurtis Foster is the team's top defensive scorer (14-19=33) and is second among AHL blueliners in goals...Veteran Frederic Cassivi is 18-16-2 with a 2.27 gaa...Ilya Bryzgalov's record is better at 16-12-1, but his gaa is 2.61.

2004-05 meetings (Fifth of 6 meetings, Aeros are 1-2-1-0 overall, Aeros are 1-1-0-0 at Houston)
October 16: Cincinnati 1 at Houston 3
February 25: Houston 2 at Cincinnati 3
February 26: Houston 3 at Cincinnati 4 (OT)
March 14: Cincinnati 3 at Houston 0
Tonight: Cincinnati at Houston
April 8: Houston at Cincinnati

Last Game
Derek Boogaard scored his first career AHL goal in his 106th game, and Mike Smith made 30 saves, as the Houston Aeros moved into a third-place tie in the West Division by holding on for a 3-2 victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins at Toyota Center. Kyle Wanvig scored 1:50 into the game and Kirby Law also had a goal for Houston. Niklas Kronwall and Tomas Kopecky each scored and Joey MacDonald turned aside 13 shots in two periods for Grand Rapids, which had won five straight.

Quick Hits
· In its 33 wins, Houston has allowed just 13 third-period goals, but in the remainder of its 37 games, it has yielded 36.
· The Aeros have scored five goals in their last seven losses (0-5-0-2), but 21 in their last four wins.
· Aeros center/winger Mikko Koivu enters tonight's game with 99 points (34-65=99) in 210 professional games. Koivu, an All-Star in his first season in North America, is Houston's second leading scorer with 41 points (17-24=41).
· Over the last three seasons, Houston is 13-5-1-2 at home in the month of March.
· Counting the 2004 post-season, Cincinnati goalie Ilya Bryzgalov is 5-0-3 in his last eight games against Houston. Prior to that, the netminder was 1-6-0 versus the Aeros.
· Just how close are Houston and Cincinnati? The teams have scored the same number of goals (180) and are separated by just two goals allowed.

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 10-9-1.
· 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 ninth in the league in gaa (2.11), and second among rookies. Lowell's Cam Ward is at 1.96.
· Harding has allowed 28 goals in the first period, but only 19 in the second and 19 in the third. He's allowed only four third-period goals in 13 Toyota Center appearances, but two of those came Friday.
· Harding is 8-3-1 with a 1.85 gaa at home, but 7-13-1 with a 2.25 gaa on the road.

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 7-4-2 with a 2.60 gaa on the road but 11-11-1 with a better 2.31 gaa at Toyota Center. Each of Smith's five shutouts have come at home.
· In his last four Toyota Center appearances, including a no decision in relief, Smith is 3-0-0 with a 1.09 gaa. He is unbeaten in regulation in his last four starts overall, going 3-0-1 with a 1.47 gaa. Smith's recent run has improved his record to 18-15-3 with a 2.42 gaa and a .913 save percentage. After going winless (0-2-1) with a 2.89 gaa in February, Smith is 4-2-1 with a 2.21 gaa in March, his second lowest gaa of any month this season.

PP unit eighth
· The Aeros are eighth in the league on the power play at 17.1 percent.
· Houston is 2-for-28 (7.1 percent) on the man advantage over its last six games after scoring six times over a three-game stretch. Overall in their last 13 games, the Aeros are 8-for-64 (12.5 percent).
· Houston's Pierre-Marc Bouchard has been on the ice for his team's last six PPG, and eight of the last nine.
· In their last 53 games, the Aeros have outscored their opponents 48-29 on the power play.
· Overall, the Aeros have outscored their opponents 59-39 on the power play.
· Houston is 22-12-5-2 when scoring a PPG and 11-14-1-3 when not scoring a PPG.
· Cincinnati is 11th in the league on the penalty kill at 85.3 percent.
· The Ducks have killed off 16-of-17 shorthanded chances (94.1 percent) over their last five games.

Houston fourth on PK
· Houston is fourth in the league on the penalty kill at 87.5 percent. The Aeros have yielded 39 PPG, three off the league lead.
· Following a 46-of-48 kill streak 2/4-2/23, the Aeros have allowed 15 goals on 81 chances (81.5 percent kill rate) over their last 18 games.
· Houston is 23-13-2-3 when not allowing a PPG and 10-13-4-2 when allowing a PPG.
· Cincinnati is 15th in the AHL on the power play at 15.0 percent, but just 26th on the road at 11.4 percent. The Ducks lead the league in PP chances (448) and are tied for fifth in PPG (67).
· The Ducks are 6-for-30 (20.0 percent) on the power play in their last five games.

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