They allowed 14 shots the first two periods, and were pretty tight. Then, they were outshot 14-5 in the third period and gave up the game-winning goal on a weird rebound.
Two guys were in front of Anton, and he never saw the rebound. Game over.
John, I am sure, will expand on more of this later ... and if he doesn't, I will.
But after the game, I basically asked Anton if he was getting tired of needed to be perfect every night just to give the team a chance to win.
He agreed in the affirmative, and even pointed out things the offense could do better and a few other things they aren't doing even though they have been discussed by the coaching staff.
Now, I am not usually one that agrees with goalies calling out the offense, but in this case ... he is absolutely right. His pointers?
Shoot more, and put more bodies in front of the net.
Sounds like a plan, but right now it's a plan that the team is not able to execute. And now, the Aeros are back to .500, they are slipping further and further away from first place and they are BELOW .500 at home (6-7-1-0).
By New Years the team will have played more than half its home games. And that might be a good thing for the Aeros, who play smarter, simpler and more disciplined on the road.
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As a STH - one of the people who pays good money to see this stuff - I am getting a little peeved at the mounting home losses. The Aeros must have one of the owrst home records in the league.
I did see some hard work from the Aeros tonight, but I mostly saw futility, even when they were working hard. I also saw some stupidity, like Stoner's silly retaliation penalty in the third (perhaps that's why he seems to have "CML" stamped on his forehead).
There's an important equation here :
Hard work + futility = frustration
The better team won tonight. Peoria was bigger, more physical, a bit faster, and the biggest difference perhaps - they could PASS THE #%$#@& PUCK! It's just so wonderful to pay good money to see your team spend half its power play time skating back behind their own net to pick up the puck...
Jim Mill and staff need to get their behinds on some airplanes to scout out some ECHL talent and soon.
An appropriate headline for this game might be: "Peoria uses its head to win game" (re: Strachan's head-potted, soccer-style goal in the final period).
As you suggest, however, accountability must be shared by virtually every Aero who skated, in particular, Lannon (lst goal and almost a 3rd, after skating into Khudobin), Stoner (who thought a retribution-cross check in the final 3 minutes was more important than a chance to win), Milroy (totally lost on every shift), Testwuide (unable to pass to a teammate or even handle a pass in his own zone), and the rest of the team (poor passing and PP execution-except for Hilbert's "dribbler" on the 5-on-3 opportunity in period 2).
Collectively, in a broader sense, if one looks at pre-game point totals from Zingoni (7), Gilles (7), Milroy (7), and Hilbert (7), it is not difficult to understand why the Aeros find themselves sinking toward the bottom of the West division. As many have said before, it is a bitter pill to admit that this is the "offense" which, essentially, "replaced" C.Locke (AHL scoring leader), K.Kolanos, M.Beaudoin (AHL player of last week), and M.Rosa. A strong case can even be made that Chicago and San Antonio are now better teams and may eventually pass the Aeros during the middle of the season.
The chickens have come home to roost!
Well, Aeros are looking to equal wallflowers--left sitting at the ball, when all others are dancing away with the ...puck!
And where in the world were the team mates, when The Scrapper Daoust rushed with the puck almost to the Bishop ;-)? Standing looking for Manna from heaven. Perhaps?
Yes, Almond was back, good, but a bit rusty. And Testwuide was back, alas! Re silly penalties..so Stoner got caught, while the Riverman who 'pressured' some Aeros before that, didn't.
And how to describe Lannon being pushed into Anton and the net..had he been a puck, The Rivermen woulda had a 3 goal!! LOL
Lesson from the Rivermen: control your puck by belly, bottom of thighs, no stick necessary...
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