Aeros Dominate Wolves, Take 5-2 Win

The good guys went out and demolished the Chicago Wolves 5-2 tonight bringing up the following the question: where in the hell have these guys been the past week or so?

It was actually a close game after the first period, with the score tied 1-1. But the Aeros broke it wide open in the second, scoring four goals and chasing Chicago starter Matt Climie midway into the second period after the fourth goal. Two of the four second period goals came from Jason Zucker, including a breakaway at the 19:34 point of the period.

Zucker beats Cannata to close out the 2nd - Morris Molina

The prettiest goal of the game was the one that saw Matt Climie pulled. Dan DaSilva faked out Climie, pulling him out of the net and leaving it wide open. DaSilva then completed probably the slowest wraparound in the recorded history of hockey, but so badly had he faked out Climie that DaSilva was still able to stick the puck in the net before anybody could get to him.

You can watch that goal below ... I chose the angle where you could actually see Climie fall asleep, wake up, say in his mind "I got this," and then allow the goal, only to shrug it off. Beaut.

"We’re battling," head coach John Torchetti said after the game when asked about the difference in the team the past two nights. "We’re getting some big goals. Some of our guys are getting comfortable out there. And our D’s doing a good job getting the puck out and defending."

Not all of the news was good for the Aeros as the Toyota Center goalie curse stuck again as Cody Reichard left midway through the third period with a "lower leg" injury. He was stretching his leg during stoppages throughout most of the third period before coming out of the game, and he's probably day-to-day. New acquisition Jeff Deslauriers came out and stopped the Wolves as they tried to get back into the game, but Torchetti told us after the game that he feared Deslauriers was going to be knocked out when he was nearly hit in the head by an errant shot while on the bench.

As for Zucker, who has stormed back to life the past two games, Torchetti says it's merely the fact that Zucker is once again settling into the team and returning to the work ethic that he'd displayed so early in the season.

"Back to his work effort," Torchetti said. "You saw it last night in that overtime game. He battled for that lose puck, then he battles again."



Zucker's taking his time with the Aeros in good stride, acknowledging that he's still got a lot of learn to about hockey, and he can think of no better place to learn.

"It’s huge," Zucker says of his time in Houston. "I’ve really cherished all of the time I’ve had down here under Coach Torchetti and all of the other guys. Like I said at the beginning of the year, there’s a lot of guys in that room I can learn from. And being down here definitely is not hurting me at all. It’s really helping me out."

PLAYOFF NOTES

The Aeros moved up to fifth place in the Western Conference playoff standings with 80 points. They're three points behind Charlotte for the fourth spot. The Barons and Americans are in sixth and seventh place, both with 78 points, then Chicago, Milwaukee, and Rockford are grouped together with 75 points with Abbotsford and Lake Erie in 11th and 12th with 72 points.

The wins the past two nights have aided the Aeros in their quest for a playoff spot, and with four more games left on this homestand, the Aeros are in a good position to solidify a playoff spot. With the win and a few other scores that went in their favor, the Aeros magic number to clinch a playoff spot is down to 12. It goes down by two every time the Aeros win a game. It goes down by two more each time the 9th place team loses in regulation.

Last night was good, as it went from 16 to 12. The Aeros are idle today, so fans are cheering for both Charlotte and Peoria to win their games against 9th place Milwaukee and Rockford.

UPDATE - In a side note that does not matter, Dave McIntyre's goal got waived off due to being offside. He was BARELY onside, as this picture shows the puck is across the line and the right skate is still on the blueline. Tough for the linesman as I had to watch this 50 times in slow mo to finally see it.