Hackett carries Aeros to 2-1 win over Texas

A mere 20 seconds into Tuesday's game, the Aeros were forced to come up with plan B. With three top AHL defensemen already on the shelf with injuries, NHL veteran Paul Mara decided to take the law into his own hands.

The law won.

Instead of getting payback for Mike Hedden's cheap shot from an earlier game, Mara earned a seven-minute power play for the Stars right out of the gate. Hedden did not engage, and Mara got 17 minutes worth a penalties and watched the rest of the game from the stands.

Hackett makes the stop - Texas Stars Photo

At that moment, it was the Stars' game to lose, and they peppered Matt Hackett with 37 shots while the Aeros managed no more than five in any single period. In fact, three Stars players - Jordie Benn, Justin Dowling and Matt Fraser - teamed up to out-shoot the Aeros 19-17 on their own.

But the Aeros got the last laugh, winning 2-1 in a shootout and saved Mara from being an absolute selfish goat. The old-school guy in me wants to shame Hedden for backing away for what he surely knew what was coming. But the Stars, already without many of their best players, took the seven-minute power play and dominated the game from there.

There were questions before the game as to where Matt Hackett's head would be after watching Darcy Kuemper get the emergency recall to Vancouver to make his NHL debut against the Canucks. His playing time already dwindling, Hackett sees the writing on the wall - Kuemper has moved ahead of him on the depth chart.

For now, it's Hackett's net, and he is going to have to keep playing like he did Tuesday to get another shot at the NHL, either with the Wild or another NHL organization down the road.

Carson McMillan tied the game in the second period with a short-handed goal, and the Aeros, after surviving OT, scored three times (goals by Phillips, Larsson and Fontaine) in the tie-breaker to take the extra two points. In the first four games of their eight-game road trip, the Aeros are 3-1; they have won seven of their last 10 games after the six-game winless slide.

Now the Aeros will take their game to upstate New York and Canada. First, they'll play the red-hot Rochester Americans, who seem to score about eight goals per game. Then it's off to Hamilton where they'll get their first look at the Bulldogs, who are the worst team in the West this year. Recently, though, they've won three of four and four of seven.

After that, they'll play a matinee in Toronto on President's Day before returning South for a home and home against the OKC Barons.

It's hard to argue that Matt Hackett was the No. 1 star of the game. And while we don't know how long Kuemper will be with the Wild, it's save to say that every game for Hackett this week will be bigger than the one before.

Let's hope we see more of the Hackett that saved the Aeros Tuesday night in Cedar Park.

Aeros snap six-game skein, win 3-2 over Milwaukee

Milwaukee Admirals photo

It certainly wasn't pretty, but the Aeros fought their way past the Milwaukee Admirals to snap a pair of dubious losing streaks. Gone now are the overall losing streak (6) and the road losing skid (9). The Aeros responded twice quickly when the Admirals seemingly grabbed the momentum during the hockey game and the sparse crowd of witnesses (less than 3K announced, far fewer than than in the seats for Soup Nazi night).

Here is the recap from the Milwaukee-Journal Sentinel, whose game-day coverage of the Admirals is top-notch.

From my point of view, Wednesday's positives include, but are not limited to:

• Zucker buried one of his many scoring chances
• Kampfer did not finish in the negative 
• Brodin and Fontaine returned from injuries
• The penalty kill was perfect
• Kuemper made 12 saves in the third period
• The team scored three goals
• Nick Petersen continues to score for the Aeros
• Jake Dowell sticking up for teammate with a nice fight
• Stephane Veilleux with another point

These all add up to a nice game for the Aeros, who will try to slow down the red hot Grand Rapids Griffins. And due to a TON of injuries to the Red Wings and several suspensions, the Griffins will be a bit shorthanded. The schedule certainly favors the Aeros, so getting anything less than two points in these two games in unacceptable.

Hey Admirals .... 

If you watch the full game highlights below, you'll see just how close this game should not have been. Score could have been 6-1 if the Aeros bury some of their prime chances, and this continues to be a major concern for this young team. But you can't complain when the team gets the "W" on the road for the first time since Dec. 7.

There are reports than Kris Foucault was re-injured ... so we'll try to check on that. Also, Nick Palmieri, who finally decided to accept his demotion from the NHL, was a healthy scratch. Zack Phillips, zero points and minus-four in his last four games, was also benched ... And Brodin, deemed completely healthy after breaking clavicle in November, is on his way up to the Wild. They play tonight against the Red Wings in Detroit.

Aeros win 3-2 at Milwaukee
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Aeros Stretch Winning Streak to ... two!

OK, I will save the sarcasm about the Aeros season-high tying two game winning streak. They have won three of four overall, and are playing much better defensively with players getting healthy and Matt Hackett getting all the playing time in goal.

Two of the wins are against the Rampage, the AHL's worst teams by points, including Friday's 2-1 win. Justin Fontaine scored the game winner on the power play late in the third period to get the two points. Fontaine is the team's player of the month so far with 12 points.

Since that 7-5 win on kids day in the Alamo City, the Aeros have not allowed more than two goals in the three games. Their scoring is down, too, and goals are going to be even harder to come by on Sunday when the Heat come to town with the league's best defense.

Like Heather reported yesterday, Kuemper will be back as the back-up Sunday, but it's Hack's net for the short term with no three games in three nights for a couple of weeks.

Photo by Darren Abate/pressphotointl.com

The Heat are the first of three great teams the Aeros will host on the homestand, as Oklahoma City comes to town next week for a pair of games at Toyota Center. The NHL lockout has afforded us to see a lot of decent talent so far this year, and OKC is loaded with NHL players. The Aeros are 2-1 against OKC this year, and you'd have to think we'll see more high scoring games next weekend.

The other bit of drama this weekend is former Aeros goalie Barry Brust COULD get the start with an AHL record on the line. He's about a period away from recording the league's longest shutout streak. Personally, I think the Heat will start him tonight against San Antonio, but maybe not. The Heat got a shutout Friday night at Texas, and they may ride the hot hand saving Brust for Sunday against the Aeros.

I think most of us are kind of hoping for the latter. And if you're the Aeros, I think you want a crack at trying to break up that streak. Either way, be sure to check the box scores tonight to see if Brust gets the call in San Antonio.

Aeros Split the Weekend vs. Rockford

True to their mediocre form, the Aeros split their two games this weekend, losing at Rockford Friday and then winning the "home" game at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Basically the story of the weekend was this:

Fontaine celebrates his goal on Sunday (Bruce Kluckholm)

Power play went 1-for-9 Friday, and the team whiffed on two 5-on-3s in a 2-1 loss. Then on Sunday, Matt Hackett essentially saved their bacon in an ugly win in front of more than 11,000 fans. The game Sunday wrapped up a stretch of nine games in the first 17 days of the month, and now the team will be off until Friday when they visit San Antonio.

After a fourth straight road game, the Aeros will kick of a stretch of three straight home games and five of six overall at Toyota Center.

Johan Larsson scored twice Sunday, and Justin Fontaine scored the other goal to secure a win.

Defensively, Hackett and the Aeros allowed fewer goals in the two games than they did in the 7-5 win over the Rampage last week. The Aeros improved to 3-4-0-2 in November. Not TOO bad, but they have fallen back in the pack in the Western Conference.

Hackett has started the last three games and seven of the last eight overall. He has all three wins, and Kuemper is 0-2 and has given up eight goals this month after a nice October.

Even though the power play failed them Friday, that unit has scored goals in four straight games (6x28) and has come through at least once in six of the nine games this month. And until yesterday, the PK unit has been mostly OK. Sunday marked the first time all the month they allowed more than one power play goal in the game.

Here are the highlights from the win on Sunday at the X.

Aeros sweep Texas, host Milwaukee tonight

The Aeros erased their 0-2 start with two fairly dominating wins over the Texas Stars. The power play was pretty good, rebounding nicely from the opening weekend. Coyle was the hero Friday, and Palmieri and Granlund lit the lamp twice each in Saturday's road game.

The Aeros celebrate one of their early goals against Texas Saturday night

Both goalies each got a win, and the struggling Milwaukee Admirals will come to Toyota Center today. The Aeros win, and they'll sweep a three in three for the first time in a long time. Lose, and it's back to being the same old Milwaukee Admirals slump-busters. Last year, the Aeros were probably the better team, but every time the slumping Milwaukee Admirals played the Aeros, the slumping team got a win. 

Last year is last year, but my point this time is to call attention to one thing the squad from a year ago lacked. The killer instinct. Yeah, it's cliche, but when a team can get a third and fourth goal after taking a 2-1 lead, that can go a long way down the stretch (Hey another cliche!)

So far the Aeros have had a very nice weekend, so win or lose things are going in the right direction after just not being able to score very much opening weekend. The 5-3 scores are more of what I think you can expect from this team for the most part. Good offensive numbers, young defense and goalies who will give you a chance to win every night.

In closing, here are a few lines about today's opponent, the Milwaukee Admirals.

They are 1-2 on the year, losing two straight this weekend after winning their season opener. Last night they were blanked in San Antonio, 1-0. Jeremy Smith has played every game so far, so I'd have to think their backup will get the call today. Another great thing about the Admirals, is they have three players with the last names "Bang" and "Moore" and "Valentine."... You gotta think some radio guys will have some fun with that. (Not to mention some sophomoric bloggers)