Aeros vs San Antonio 4/10: The MASH Unit Is Open As Aeros Clinch Playoff Spot

One point was all that the Aeros needed coming into tonight’s game with San Antonio. One point and the Aeros would be in the playoffs. Of course, the Aeros have needed a point for a bit now, and they’ve had no luck with getting that point. So it’s safe to say that nerves of the players, coaches, and 11,391 in attendance at Toyota Center were a bit on edge as the game started.

With one minute left in the game, the Aeros were losing to San Antonio 2-1, and it looked as if, once again, the Aeros would fail to clinch a playoff spot. Then Krys Kolanos, freshly returned from a stay with the Minnesota Wild did what Krys Kolanos does. He got behind the San Antonio net with the puck, saw that goalie Karl Goerhing was out of position, and stuck the puck into the net to tie the game with 51 seconds left.

Corey “Locke made just a key pass to me,” Kolanos said. “Goehring, he was down, and I just saw that he wasn’t able to recover so it was kind of like a wide backhand wraparound. But it all started with a good forecheck, and turning the puck over and applying pressure.”

Fifty-one seconds later, the game was headed to overtime, and just like that, the Aeros were finally in the playoffs. Sure, they lost the game 3-2 in overtime, but the Aeros made it to the postseason, and ultimately, that’s the important thing.

“We’ve got high expectations,” Kolanos said. “We wanted to win that game. It’s a big rivalry for us. But nonetheless, we did get a key point, and we accomplished what we set out to do.”

The Aeros, as has been their wont lately, struggled early in the game, but got to the end of the first period with the score tied at zero. The Aeros pressed the issue much of the first period, but at times they seemed to be more concerned with pressing the puck, and less concerned with getting good shots. San Antonio came out and scored at 2:43 of the second, and that’s where it stood until the third period.

At 1:02 of the third, Benoit Pouliot got the puck and started streaking toward the San Antonio goal. Skating in stride with him was Krys Kolanos, and as the two reached the net, Pouliot tipped the puck to Kolanos who snuck the puck into the net past Goehring to tie the score.

Benoit Pouliot “made a very nice move to the outside and just drove the net and took it to the net hard,” Kolanos said. “I just knew I had to get that far post, and I was able to find the puck.”

San Antonio went up 2-1 at 17:04 when they got the puck past Antonin Khudobin, who had been in the game for about three minutes after coming in to replace an injured Barry Brust. Then Kolanos sent the game to OT where the Aeros eventually lost. But in the end, the loss didn’t matter because the team had that one point for which they’ve been searching.

“It was really, really good to get the point,” Kevin Constantine said. And get that point they did.

MISCELLANEOUS GAME NOTES:

“It’s bizarre, bizarre,” Kevin Constantine said about his goalie situation. A situation that has the Aeros heading to the playoffs with just one purely healthy goalie.

Barry Brust was injured back in February, and Nolan Schaefer took over a lot of that slack with Anton Khudobin backing him up. Then Schaefer got hurt, and Khudobin was playing. But then Khudobin was called up to Minnesota and Schaefer attempted to play while injured, and just made himself worse. Khudobin has been up to Minnesota and back down. The Aeros have signed college kids and ECHL guys to play goal. But finally, it looked as if the team was about ready for the playoffs. Brust was healthy and returning to action and Schaefer was aiming for a return in time for the playoffs.

Then came a San Antonio power play in the third at 11:49. Sometime in the next two minutes, Brust went in to the splits to make a save, then rising up slowly and painfully from the ice. Play came to a halt at 13:50 when Brandon Rogers was whistled for a penalty, and Brust skated over to the bench and Khudobin skated out to the net.

“Barry, we played him last week, and he was declared healthy. And then we could have played him two more games, important games last week, and we’re like no let’s just give him some practice, and let him get back normal,” Constantine said. “I don’t even know the nature of his injury.”

The current goaltending situation for the Aeros is up in the air, and Constantine’s not quite sure what will happen come the start of the playoffs next week. Khudobin will definitely get the start in San Antonio on Saturday. And Schaefer definitely will not play on Saturday. Constantine said the team will call a goalie up from somewhere to back up Khudobin in San Antonio. Schaefer is close to returning, but they’re still not sure on whether he will play on Sunday.

“He’s been rehabbing aggressively,” Constantine said about Schaefer. “There’s progress. I’d say it’s impossible to know for sure. I think there’s a lot of hope on his part, and the trainer and the medical staff, that he can play. The real temptation will be do we just give him the extra rest or do we try to play him [Sunday] to get that rhythm back.”

Assistant coach Luke Strand, who’s in charge of the goalies was in the room with us while we talked to Constantine. And Constantine joked that he might have Strand get his pads and have him suit up if need be.

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Tonight’s game marked two milestones for coach Kevin Constantine. It was 700th professional game as a head coach. And it kept alive his streak of never missing the playoffs in a year in which he’s completed the season as a head coach.

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Krys Kolanos scored two more goals tonight, giving him a team leading 28 goals in just 44 games. Kolanos is also third on the team in scoring with 48 points (28-20=48).

The team’s leading scorer is Corey Locke. Locke, who assisted on Kolanos’ second goal, now has 76 points (25-51=76) in 75 games. So he’s averaging a little more than a point a game.

But while I’m on numbers and stats, here are some bad ones: the Aeros are now 7-20-1-5 when trailing after two periods. And they are 9-14-2-0 when tied after the first period.

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The AHL West Division playoff teams are now set. Milwaukee gets the number one seed with a record of 49-22-3-6 (107 points). The Admirals now have until Thursday to rest up, which is when they will open the playoffs against either Houston or Rockford.

The second seed is Peoria, who gets the seed despite losing in the shootout to Rockford tonight. Peoria is currently 42-31-2-4 (90 points) with one game to play, and there is no way that Rockford and Houston can catch the Rivermen. Peoria will start the playoffs in Peoria on Wednesday.

Rockford is currently the third seed with a record of 40-33-0-6 (86 points), and Houston is the fourth seed with 37-30-2-9 (85 points).

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There was only one fight tonight. And Matt Kassian easily took out San Antonio’s Chris Frank in the first period. But if anybody’s worried about some of the Aeros key players being injured in the remaining games, you might not have to worry. Constantine said after the game that many of the guys who played tonight will not play over the rest of the weekend so that they can rest up for the first round of the playoffs.

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Because of all of the goalie injury issues facing the Aeros, I thought it only appropriate tonight to play us out with the theme music to M.A.S.H.