Round 1, Game 5: Aeros vs. Peoria -- It's Gonna Be A Showdown

Max Noreau stood at his locker, a smile on his face, sweat dripping from his body. He gave credit to Matt Beaudoin for setting up his shot. He said that the team never gave up. That they reminded themselves between periods that they have come back on many teams this season. That they reminded themselves that they had already come back on Peoria two times this season.

So what was just one more comeback?

With five minutes remaining in the third period of Game Five against the Peoria Rivermen, the Houston Aeros looked dead. Sure, there would still be one game left in the playoff series, but would it really matter? There had been a Mitch Love fight in the second period after which the team showed a little life. But really, with the score 2-0 and five minutes left, the game looked to be over.

But as Max Noreau said, this Houston Aeros team had already comeback to defeat Peoria twice this season. So why not make it one more time?

It started, of course, on the power play. With Jonas Junland in the box on a delay of game penalty, Matt Beaudoin was able to find a way to get the puck past Manny Legace and make the score 2-1 at 15:43. And a minute-and-a-half later, Justin Falk fired the puck toward Legace. Legace blocked the shot, but Robbie Earl was in the right spot to get the rebound and slip the puck past Legace to tie the score at two-all.

“It was kind of a scrum puck but we got it to the D,” Earl said. “And it was kind of a blocked shot and it came to me back door and I put it in.”

But the Aeros didn’t make it easy in overtime, spending the first part killing off a five-on-three power play. But in a game filled with penalties, it was pretty obvious that referee Shaun Davis was going to even things up, which he did by giving Peoria a penalty at 10:00 and another at 11:46. And at 12:14, after Peoria had killed off the first penalty, Max Noreau found himself with the puck in great position and fired the slap shot past Legace, giving the Aeros the 3-2 overtime victory.

More importantly, the win gave the Aeros the 3-2 edge in the best of seven series.

The teams are now taking two nights off before they return to ice on Saturday night in Peoria.

MISCELLANEOUS GAME NOTES:

I’ve got to apologize because I had some more problems with my tape recorder tonight. I forgot to start it when I was talking to Max Noreau, so I’ve got no quotes that I can use at the moment. Which is a shame because I got some good stuff from him I think.

But he said that the team’s been watching lots of videotape, and they know how to beat Legace. He repeated what I’ve heard from some of the other guys in that they know Legace likes to go low with the shot, so the key is going high. And Noreau’s shot was high, going over Legace’s shoulder.

*********************
I believe that I said in my Game Five Preview that the team that scored first would probably win the game. But I also said that based on their regular season play, the Aeros were one of those teams that can come back and win the game, more so than Peoria.

So as far as I’m concerned, I nailed the prediction for this game.

And I asked Kevin Constantine to comment on his team’s penalty kill and power play, which have been keys to their play this season, and which helped the team to victory tonight. But he deflected that and went to his key. This team has an ability to come back from a deficit and win a game.

“One other thing that our team’s been good at all year,” he said, “for whatever reason, more than any team I’ve been with it, is the come-from-behind part. The two goals we scored late is something that’s happened all year. So this team has always kind of hung in there.”

Max Noreau’s thoughts were along that same line. This team knows it can come back. And it knows that it can come back against any team and at any time. Especially Peoria. And Robbie Earl concurs: “We know we can do it,” he says. It gives us a confidence that we can get those goals that we need.”

Now I’d just like to say one thing. I love that this team doesn’t give up and that it has confidence that it can score and come back. But I’d be more pleased if this team could actually come out strong, grab the lead, and just destroy the other team.

********************
Andrew and Fred, especially Fred, weren’t too thrilled with Anton Khudobin’s play tonight. And Khudobin didn’t exactly have the best of nights. Yes, he was lucky. Yes he appeared to be out of position at times. But in the end, all that matters is the result, and this team got the win.

I think we’ve been too spoiled by watching Nolan Schaefer these past two seasons. Schaefer’s one of those guys who can shut down any team at any time. It doesn’t matter how bad the defense is, or how bad the offense is, the team can win with Schaefer. But Khudobin’s not at that point. He got the job done. And that’s all I care about.

As long as the team wins.

********************
Now it all comes down to this weekend. The Aeros have two shots at getting this fourth win. So I think the best way to get set for this weekend is with a little ELO. So here's "Showdown."