Congrats to Aeros goalie Joe Fallon who, today, was named the AHL's Player of the Week for that incredible stretch of games he just played. He went 4-0, stopping 120 of 125 of shots. That included Saturday and Sunday when he played 130 minutes of hockey and went 13 rounds in the shootout over the two games.
Meanwhile, in related news, Fallon may be getting some rest as Matt Hackett has been returned to the Aeros from the Wild.
And Andrew, seeing as how you enjoyed the last Barry Gibb Talk Show clip I included with a Fallon post, here's another. And don't forget, everybody congratulate Joe Fallon for an incredible week of hockey.
If anything, doing the power rankings today made me realize that I probably had the Aeros too low last week. It takes a lot to move up or down six spots in one week, but what Joe Fallon did this week for the Aeros cannot be minimized.
Joe Fallon won all four games for the Aeros last week. He said he lost about 7 pounds per game, too.
He stole probably three points the Aeros did not deserve on Saturday and Sunday, and he was great when the offense was clicking on Tuesday and Friday. A perfect 4-0 week moved the Aeros all the way up to the No. 3 team in the conference and the No. 7 ranked team in the AHL overall. Obviously, because of the playoff rules, the Aeros cannot be seeded 2 or 3 if they finish behind the OKC Barons.
The Aeros magic number is down to 10, and they'd really have to fall off the wagon not to at least snatch one of the top 8 seeds for the postseason tournament.
The Aeros get some much-needed rest this week before starting a tough four-game road trip in Rockford on Friday.
As for the rest of the league, OKC is back on top. Toronto was unimpressive against the Wolves, and they really needed a weekend sweep to stay on Top. Speaking of Chicago, they are bag atop the Midwest and Charlotte has really hit the skids.
San Antonio and Lake Erie fell back, too, after bad weeks, but both of those teams are right in the middle of the playoff chase.
Don't go anywhere, fans - things are getting REAL interesting now.
2011-12 Western
Conference Power Rankings Edition 8,
March 19, 2012
Both the Aeros and the Barons were playing their third game in three nights, and at times, especially in that third period, it looked like it. And of all of the guys who have played in these three games for the Aeros, none has put in the minutes, been under the pressure, as goalie Joe Fallon. And for the third night in a row, Fallon delivered, backstopping the Aeros to their third straight win (the second in two nights to go to the shootout) by the score of 2-1.
Earlier this month, when the Aeros were dying on the road, and Matt Hackett was called up and Darcy Kuemper was too injured to plays, the panic seemed to set in. Especially at the thought that two ECHL goalies were now tending goal for the Aeros. But after this weekend, after this past week, after this six game homestand, is there really any reason to worry?
The Aeros took the early 1-0 lead on Oklahoma City as David McIntyre, fresh off his shoot-out heroics from last night, scored 1:55 into the game on what appeared to be a mistake shot that kind of floated past the Barons' Yann Danis -- I would try to offer up a better description of the goal, but Toyota Center only showed replays of nonsense for the night, when they could be bothered to show replays, but refused to replay any of the goals in the game.
The Barons tied it at the 18:47 mark of the second period when they scored on the power play. That came after the Barons dominated the period, outshooting the Aeros 12-4. John Torchetti attributed that differential to the Aeros being sloppy with the puck.
"Every turnover probably brings you a shot-and-a-half," he said. "So if you
have nine, you’re looking at 13 shots. That’s the difference. We’ve got to make
sure to get better puck control. You kind of get away with a little bit at home
because you’ve got your match-ups, and on the road you don’t. That’s the detail
part of the game."
That was also pretty much the story in the third period, yet both teams appeared to have trouble standing on their skates, so tired did they appear to be. But Joe Fallon stood tall, stopping another 12 Baron shots and sending the game into overtime where he made one of those saves that's just so special you can't find the words to describe it, so spectacular was it -- essentially Fallon went one way, the puck went across him to the other side on a pass, the shot was made and looked to be the game-winning goal, but Fallon was able to reach back and grab the puck in the air and save the game (tip of the hat to Drew Bagnall who was able to tip the shot and slow it down).
"Let’s just hope next time that my feet are working more so I
can get over into position better," was Fallon's basic response to the play.
The game went to the shootout where the Barons made their first two shots. But Fallon shut them down from there while the Aeros came to life. Jon DiSalvatore went top shelf in the third round, Jeff Taffe banged it in the fifth round, and Joel Broda sunk the game winner in round seven.
But exciting as that shootout was, it wouldn't have happened without the excellence of Fallon. And here's the thing, Fallon played all three games this weekend, meaning he played 190 minutes of hockey and went a total of 13 rounds in two shootouts.
"I tell you what, he’s come in and given us a lot of
confidence," Torchetti said. "He’s played with a lot of confidence. It just goes to show you,
that’s what it’s all about, I think. Giving people chances, and he’s taking
advantage of it. He’s got experience. He’s come in and done a fantastic job for
us. He likes a challenge. I’ll tell you what, he’s done a great job."
And nobody should argue with that fantastic job bit, especially after this weekend. As to why Fallon went back out today and didn't get any rest, well, as Fallon assured us after the game, that's the way he wanted it.
"Torch asked me if I wanted to go again, and I said, yeah,
let’s do it, let’s keep the train rolling, and it paid off today," he said.
In this past week, the Aeros have gone from sitting in 10th place to sitting in fourth place with a record of 32-20-3-9 (76 points) with 12 games to play. The Rivermen sit in fifth with 73 points, percentage points ahead of the Heat who also have 73 points, but fewer wins. The Checkers have dropped down to sixth place with 72 points, while the Americans and Monster are battling it out for eighth with both have 71 points, but Rochester having the better winning percentage. The Rampage are now the tenth place, and they have 70 points.
So while the Aeros were able to make up ground and get some slight spacing on the teams behind them, this season's not over by a longshot. They've got the week off from games (but not off from practicing) before a three-in-three this weekend with two games in Rockford and a Sunday game in Chicago -- hopefully our Midwest Bureau Chief, Chris Jerina, will be able to get some photos and make a report for us from there.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:
Tyler Cuma was a late scratch from the game. He skated pregame, but had a slight lower body injury. While he could've played, Torchetti said they decided that it was better that he sit out and get the extra rest time....Kris Foucault was a healthy scratch, allowing Nick Palmieri, freshly arrived from the Wild, to play....Also, it is expected that, sometime soon, Matt Hackett will be returning to the team as it's appearing that both Wild goalies will actually be healthy.
Also, I apologize for taking so long to get this posted, but I wanted to post a video honoring Joe Fallon, who had me thinking of Jimmy Fallon, so I went into Hulu watching old Jimmy Fallon skits from Saturday Night Live. And that led me from one video to another to another, and so on, and so on, and so on. Anyway, for your enjoyment, here's one of my favorites, The Barry Gibb Talk Show.
How about that? In the space of a two-and-a-half hours the Aeros went from 10th place in the Western Conference playoff standings to sixth place. And they did so in rather impressive fashion, dominating the Abbotsford Heat and getting the 4-1 win in a game that wasn't near as close as that final score indicates.
The damage came, again, from the Aeros power play unit as the team's first two goals came off the power play. Justin Fontaine netted both of the power play goals with Jeff Taffe getting an assist on each and Kris Fredheim and Chay Genoway getting the other assists.
Jeff Taffe struck for his third point of the game early in the second when he took the pass from Genoway and stuck it past Heat goalie Leland Irving. And the Aeros final goal came off of the stick of Jon DiSalvatore who blasted a slap shot from way up above the left circle past Irving -- the assist going to, you guessed it, Taffe.
The game was marred by multiple fights -- Almond was hit with two fighting majors -- and it got really, really ugly at the start of the third period when Abbotsford's Akim Aliu went after Almond just seconds into the period. A semi-brawl ensued, and by the time the bodies were separated and the penalties were handed out, it was clear the Heat were beaten -- Aliu got 2:00 for instigating, 5:00 for fighting, and a 10:00 game misconduct, Hugh Jessiman got 2:00 for roughing and a 10:00 game misconduct while Almond got five for fighting and Carson McMillan got 2:00 for roughing (how Drew Bagnall escaped without a penalty is still surprising).
The Heat scored seconds later, but it was clear that it was way too little, too late, and that the Aeros were going to pull out this game.
Justin Fontaine looked really good for the Aeros, but the true star of the game was Taffe and the power play.
"A good power play, you have to stay with it," head coach John Torchetti said. "As long as your power play doesn't take momentum away, you've got to stay with it. And if they just stick with what we keep teaching them -- and they're doing a great job of that -- and just take what's given to you -- once you learn to just take what's given to you -- and you're going to shoot, you have to be shooting first...it starts with the shot."
Torchetti spoke glowingly about the play of Genoway, calling him a big plus who's really smart and who will be really dangerous once he learns to shoot the puck.
And speaking of dangerous, Taffe had his second four point night in his last three games, once again getting a goal and three assists. Torchetti credits this with Taffe getting more aggressive and competing for more pucks. He's challenged the vets to do more on the ice, and he says that, at times, challenging the vets and drawing more out of them on the ice hasn't been pretty because he can't always be nice, but that they have responded.
"I have a rapport with my veterans, and I trust them," Torchetti said. "We had a talk at Christmas -- now that we're down to three [veterans]...I'm going to be harder on you because I expect you to play at a level. I expect our team to still win....You're going to be pressured."
And in goal again tonight was Joe Fallon who stopped 26 of the Heat's 27 shots, including making several tough stops early in the game when the Heat seemed to be controlling the action.
"He played big," Torchetti said of Fallon. "He's getting comfortable, he's being confident. He's challenging. He's doing a good job for us."
The Aeros are now 29-20-3-9 on the season with 15 games to play. They're tied, pointswise, with four other teams who all have 70 points, but the Aeros winning percentage has them in a tie for sixth place with San Antonio, and they're only a point behind Chicago and Peoria, who both have 71 points.
If the Aeros keep playing hockey like they did tonight, aggressive, attacking the net, shooting the puck, they could still be dangerous. But this weekend could be the key as they take on a rapidly improving Rockford club on Friday, face Abbotsford again on Saturday, and Oklahoma City on Sunday.
Jon DiSalvatore said on Sunday that this is all in their control. And it is. They just have to keep winning and getting points. If the bleeding can stop in Minnesota and the guys here can actually stay here and stay healthy, then the Aeros might still be able to pull this out.
As for tonight, it was sure was a fun game to watch.
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