Aeros vs Peoria 3/22 -- Aeros Overcome Karma, Defeat Peoria 4-3 in Shootout

The Aeros were cruising with the 3-1 lead, and they were easily holding off the Peoria Rivermen as the minutes in the third period clicked ever so slowly away. And if the3836 fans inside of Toyota Center would have access to the stats that I did, they would have felt even more confident in the upcoming Aeros victory than those of us in the press box did. The primary stat being that Peoria, when trailing after two periods, was just 3-25-1-0 on the season.

So what could go wrong?

Well, at 10:43, Peoria’s Trent Whitfield got the puck past Nolan Schaefer to make the score 3-2. But still, there was no reason to worry. And Marco Rosa got the puck in front of the Peoria net at 14:12, only to be robbed by Peoria goalie Manny Legace. Then at 15:10, last night’s hero, Jason Ryznar committed a tripping penalty and was sent to the penalty box, which gave Peoria the perfect power play opportunity. And at 15:37, Yan Stastny got the puck into the net to tie the game at 3-3.

It shouldn’t have come to this.

At 13:56 of the first period, Matt Beaudoin’s shot rebounded off of Legace and the puck came at just the right angle to find the stick of the on-rushing Corey Locke who sent the puck past Legace and into the net for the 1-0 lead. At 3:12 of the second and on the power play, Brandon Rogers fired the puck from high up down to the goal. Marco Rosa, standing close to Legace, got his stick up and deflected the puck into the goal to make it 2-0. After Peoria made it 2-1, the Aeros got the two goal lead back when, at 17:29 of the second, Jesse Schultz flicked the puck from side of the net to another where Corey Locke buried the puck past an out of position Legace.

Yet here the two teams were in overtime, and these stats weren’t in the Aeros favor. Not the Aeros with their 6-9 overtime record matching up against Peoria’s 9-3 overtime record. But Peoria failed to get off any shots in the overtime, and the team’s were headed to the shootout.

Nolan Schaefer shut out the first two Peoria shooters while Marco Rosa and Corey Locke hit theirs. And Krys Kolanos, who looked to be barely moving and appeared to just barely touch the puck on his shot, put the Aeros up 3-1 in the shootout after Nicholas Drazenovic had made a shot for Peoria. But Julian Talbot and Steve Regier got the puck past Schaefer, Jesse Schultz and Matt Beaudoin were shut down.

Both teams missed their sixth shot, then Regier hit his shot, leaving it to Corey Locke. If Locke were to miss, the game was over. But Locke didn’t miss; instead, he made one of the most spectacular shots of the season as he appeared to be falling away from the net and at impossible angle. Yet the puck got past Legace.

“I did one move the first time, so I had to mix it up,” Locke said. “I just wanted to come in on an angle…I knew he goes down, and I just had to get it upstairs. I went a little farther than I wanted, but luckily I found a corner there.”

And when Carl Corazzini missed his shot, it was all up to Krys Kolanos, who once again just hit this easy-going stride that just seemed to freeze Legace. “I feel that I’ve got to mix up my speeds and vary it,” Kolanos said. “It was different speeds, and different angles. You’ve got to keep them guessing.” Kolanos got the goal, and just like that, the Aeros had pulled victory from the jaws of defeat from a game that had been almost a sure victory.

“We got two points, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Locke said. And with 11 games left in the season, the Aeros will take the two points no matter how they get it.

SOME MISCELLANEOUS GAME NOTES:

With the win, the Aeros gained a point in the standings on Peoria, and two points on everybody else chasing them in the playoff standings. The Aeros are in second place at 35-25-1-8 (79 points). Peoria sits in third place at 36-31-2-2 (76) points. Rockford is in fourth, by percentage points, with a record of 34-29-0-6 (74 points), and Chicago is in fifth at 35-32-2-2 (74 points). Iowa is in sixth at 30-27-4-8 (72 points), and Quad City is just barely hanging in at 28-30-6-6 (68 points).

The Aeros have a difficult week this week as they play the division leading Milwaukee Admirals in Milwaukee on Wednesday, then play Rockford in Houston on Friday, Peoria in Peoria on Saturday, and Rockford in Rockford on Sunday.

As for this weekend just ended, Kevin Constantine said “We’ll take our two and count our blessings. We needed to get points at home. We’ve got to take care of that part.”

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The Aeros are now 4-1-0-1 against Peoria this season, with two games remaining against them this season. Both teams have scored 188 goals this season, and both teams have surrendered 195 goals.

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Corey Locke’s two regulation goals gave him a nine game point streak (4-7=11) which is the team high for the Aeros this season, and a career high for Locke. Locke is now also just one point shy of 300 points for his career (he has now played in 380 professional games).

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Mitch Love and Barry Brust were the only injured Aeros scratched from the game. Dean Crowley, Morten Madsen, and Bryan Lundbohm are healthy.

Tony Hrkac played in his second game since returning to hockey and signing with the Aeros. “Yesterday was tougher,” he said. “Today felt a little better. It will take a little while to get adjusted to the speed again.”

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The Aeros have twice come from behind to get the victory against Peoria this season, and they came from behind to force another game into the shootout, so it was perhaps an instance of karma that Peoria came from behind in the third period against Houston to get this game to the shootout.

And that gives me an opportunity to play the video of one of my favorite songs. So here's John Lennon with "Instant Karma."