Win streak ends but point streak lives

Flying high on a 4 game win streak, the Aeros went into Abbotsford last night and almost kept it alive. If not for a scrambly goal in the final 30 seconds with Heat goalie Leland Irving on the bench for the extra attacker, it would likely have stretched to 5 games.

Or, if the referee hadn't waived off a goal by Jamie Fraser early in the third period, it would likely have stretched to 5 games.

I'm never one to blame the refs. Shit happens to both teams all the time and I figure in the grand scheme of things, it ends up a wash. Every team gets screwed and every team gets lucky, so there's no sense in being a ref hater.

But it does suck when it comes down to a call that, by every account I heard, was incorrect and left the door open for a comeback. Here's how I understood it to happen:

Irving came out almost to the faceoff dot to play the puck up the boards. He shot the puck but it didn't clear the zone. Matt Kassian was coming in to try and intercept Irving's shot, he missed, but then changed direction to get in position by the net when the puck was obviously staying in the zone.

Somehow in the process of Irving heading back to his net and Kass heading for the net, he and Irving, who was still well out of his crease, collided. Meanwhile, Jamie Fraser got the pass off the boards and one-timed it into the empty net.

The refs said it was goalie intereference, waived off the goal, AND threw an angry Kassian in the box for 2 minutes.

Now... I have a soft spot for refs because they carry a lot of power in terms of protecting goalies. But in this case, if the goalie is coming out to play the puck and screws it up... well... too bad.

So, I dunno. I was driving home from my drop-in (which I rocked, TYVM) and only heard Joe's description and then asked about it in the AHL Live chat when I got home. The consensus was definitely that it was a lousy call and incredible luck for Abby.

Maybe it earns the Aeros a make-up call tonight, but it's hard to make up for a goal waived off erroneously.

Anyway, the Heat went on to win it in the shootout. The Aeros didn't put one single shootout shot on the net last night. No joke. Daoust came closest, hitting a post, but he faked Irving out so well that he had half the net open, so that sorta double sucked.

Hackett stopped 2 of 4 in the shootout and played well in regulation, to which the 2-2 game somewhat attests.

BTW, all 4 goals came during a man advantage. Three power play goals and one pulled goalie goal. And DiSalvatore and Scandella had the helpers on both Aeros goals, the first from Almond and the second from Daoust.

And with the loser point, the Aeros moved up another spot in the division to 5th place. Get your "We're Number 5!" chant on...

In other news, Jared Spurgeon was injured in practice yesterday morning when McMillan accidentally got a stick up on him, according to Joe. So he was out of the game last night.

Russo also reported yesterday that Chad Rau is out with a broken jaw and is expected to return in early December. Cuma is out with a stress fracture in his foot. Having suffered through the nightmare of Brusty's foot troubles, I don't feel very good about that, but hopefully he'll be back on the ice sooner than later. 

Also, the Aeros assigned Rylan Kaip back to Bakersfield yesterday.

Shhhh... be vewy vewy quiet... we're hunting wins.... (UPDATED)

The Aeros won their 4th in a row tonight in Oklahoma City with a 4-2 final. I almost don't want to draw anyone's attention to it for fear of scaring the streak off... or at least for fear of scaring off whatever is making it happen.

I didn't get to watch the game and the archive isn't available yet, but clearly Jarod Palmer is settling in nicely now. He got assists on the first two goals and then scored the game winner on the power play, his first goal of the season. An awfully big game for his young pro career. All this after turning Juicy Rynnas inside out in the shootout Friday night.

Also worth noting, Palmer is +5, the best +/- on the team. At the bottom? DiSalvatore and Bagnall both a -6.

Earl got the insurance goal tonight and now he and Palmer lead the team in scoring. Carson McMillan continues to produce as well, scoring the second goal of the night. Noreau continues his 3 game point streak with the assist on Earl's goal.

And congrats to Brock McBride, who got the first goal of the game and is clearly busting his hump trying to stick here. Guy plays hard, so it's good to see him rewarded.

There was lots of bellyaching Friday night about how the Aeros won in spite of themselves. Not sure how tonight's game compared in that regard but reading the OKC paper, it sounds like the Barons weren't thrilled with the way they played. So I dunno if it was a matter of OKC giving it away or the Aeros just being hot right now.

Either way, a dubya's a dubya, the Aeros are out of the division basement (Texas and Rockford are below them now), and away they go to Abby for games Monday and Tuesday night.

BTW, I'm not sure if they're joining the team (dunno why they wouldn't unless there's a passport issue or something), but Cody Almond and Matt Kassian were reassigned to Houston after tonight's Wild game in Columbus. If the guys they're replacing aren't better when they return from a 4 day break, they (or someone) could go back up.

Update:

Watching the archive now. Just figured I'd describe the goals.

HOU1 - Barons turn it over in Houston's end and Palmer's pass up ice catches McBride on a "jailbreak" as Joe called it. Great description. He was just hauling up the ice and went right to the net with two Barons trailing. Beauty.

HOU2 - Palmer rims it around to Kalus as the Aeros enter the offensive zone. Kalus works it down behind the net and makes a quick pass from the edge of the net to McMillan who's just waiting in the weeds and one-times it over Deslauriers, who can't react in time.

OKC1 - Bad camera angle, but sounds like OKC won a face off in the Aeros end and passed up to the point who just ripped it past Khudobin.

HOU3 - :36 into the third period, on a 5 on 4 PP, Daoust skates in on Deslauriers and takes a shot that hits JDD's pad but he can't control the rebound. Palmer gets a stick on it in the scramble and punches it in.

HOU4 - Similar to the Palmer goal, Peters was behind the net and passes it out front where Earl is parked weak side and just slams it home.

OKC2 - And because it was working for Houston, OKC finally got the same kind of goal. One timer into the low slot that just got jammed in past Anton in a scramble.

4th star: Anton Khudobin

Wow. Did the Aeros come through for me and correct my crummy day yesterday or what? Thanks, boys. I'm feeling inspired again. :)

Andrew summed the game up better than I could (as usual) because I really got fixated on Anton Khudobin last night. His performance had all the elements that a goalie junkie like me loves in a game, and I wanted to give him his props here.

Sometimes goals look bad to the untrained eye when really they aren't that bad, but that first goal was bad. He tried to make the save on a high shot by letting the puck hit him while he was standing up, but he didn't quite get ahold of it. It fell to the ice and by the time he found it, he couldn't get down and over before Toronto took a whack at it and put it in the net. Easy goal.

We all knew it was bad and he CLEARLY knew it by the way he reacted afterward. His body language was full of frustration.

I tweeted after that goal that it would be interesting to see how that goal affects the rest of his game. He used to be known as a goalie for whom a bad goal would open the floodgates. But tonight he showed the mental strength he's gained over the last few years as he's matured.

Something seemed a little different about Anton tonight though. Maybe it was that bad goal and he was playing with more determination? I wish I'd interviewed him after the game but I needed time to think about what I saw.

Anyway, he was playing with lots of emotion for whatever reason. The second goal wasn't even his fault. It was a hard shot that hit a shin pad on an Aero in front of him and deflected just a tad bit more than he could adjust for. He almost had it, but it sneaked under his left pad, I believe. And he visibly reacted to that goal, too, though not as strongly.

Then near the end of the game, he went all Hextall-slash on the back of a Toronto player's knees after a stoppage. I guess the guy ran him a little bit, but man, he whacked him hard. Either the officials didn't see it or they were cool with the goalie defending himself.

He faced 13 shots in the third and 7 in OT, both of which seem low to me. But perhaps the quality of the chances was so high, it just seemed like more shots. I'd give anything for clip of two unreal save on Nazem Kadri (who, if you're unfamiliar, was a Maple Leaf's #1 draft pick and has some unbelievably sick hands).

Anton's strength and flexibility just shone on the first save during OT as he stayed with Kadri all the way across the goal mouth, pretty much in the splits. I'm not sure how he got across, actually, unless his initial push had enough momentum to carry him in the full splits all the way beyond the other post. Kadri tried to lift the puck over Anton's outstretched leg pad, but Anton batted it down with his glove and covered it up as he was sliding across.

The other fantastic save, again on Kadri, who was first up in the shootout, was a similar move, but Anton caught the puck this time and somehow ended up going from full splits to being up on his skates. Like, physically, I can't fathom how he did that.

The guy is just spring-loaded. I've never seen anything like it. Not only was the strength and flexibility there, but reading the play, knowing exactly what Kadri wanted to do, pushing hard enough across to stay with him while tracking that puck into his glove, and then popping up to his skates from a full split? What the....

The more I think about it... I'm fanning myself and blushing again. Needless to say, it made up for that lousy first goal, no question.


Just a huge amount of compete from him last night. A big-hearted victory that he can be very proud of in spite of the stinker. Throw that out. The real test of a goaltender's mettle isn't whether he never lets in the odd bad goal. It's how he bounces back from a bad goal, a bad game, frustration.

And I'd say from last night's performance, he proved his mettle. Clutch Anton is back and the Aeros are lucky for that.

P.S. Just to turn this around a little bit, how good were the Aeros shooters last night, too? Shootouts happen at both ends, and I can't recall seeing a more successful shootout from an Aeros team in a long time. That had to give Anton a lot of confidence as well, to see that his back wasn't up against the wall. Good on Palmer, Sal, and Gillies for making Juicy Rynnas look silly.

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BTW, here's a couple of articles on Cody Almond, who made his season debut in a win for the Wild last night. One from the Calgary Sun and the Calgary Herald.

Aeros 3, Toronto 2 (SO) - View from the Press Box

These Aeros sure do know how to entertain, eh?

The first period was their best first period (at home) of the season and I thought it was going to be a 5-1 win going away. Not so fast.

The second period was even, but that is when you started to see that Toronto was clawing its way back in the game. Instead of the Aeros going for the kill, the Marlies took it up a notch and the Aeros were unable to match.

The third period was a wreck, just as third periods have been a wreck at home for the first part of the season.
The tying goal was a fluke, but Anton was the only reason the Marlies did not pick up two points in regulation.

I don't think I am the only one that has figured out the team just does not have a whole lot of team speed. But I was concerned that conditioning may have been a factor, so I asked Mike Yeo about that right after the game.

“This is not a conditioning thing. If there was a team that should have been tired coming into the third period, it was them. I know the conditioning with our guys is not an issue. It’s a mental thing. You can’t get comfortable. It’s not an easy thing to build. It takes time, and that is what winners do.


When you get up by two goals, you have to come with more urgency and you have to expect the other team is going to make a push. You have to be ready to be ready to match that desperation and you have to be committed to playing the same way."


To me, that was the key. When Toronto made its move, the Aeros didn't match and it cost them down the stretch.


Now what I do know is Mark Lemelin did not have a good night ... game got out of hand and Anton saved the day. He is the only reason the team went home happy Friday night.


I asked Yeo if Anton was the difference.


"Clearly he was the difference. Especially on some of those late penalty kills. He was huge for us. He really shut the door for us and his play in the shootout was awfully big"


Enough said.

Week Four Musings

Tonight, the Aeros will open their fourth week of the 2010-11 season, and to no ones surprise they are having a little trouble putting the puck in the net.

Based on the hard schedule they were "blessed" with out of the gate, I had them with one more win than they do now, so I don't think this team has over or underachieved by any stretch.

At 4-5-1-0, they are still very much in the division race and just about every one of their games came against the top talented teams in the Western Conference (San Antonio, Peoria and Oklahoma City).

Mike Yeo (pictured left in 1995) I think is doing an admirable job so far at the helm of team that does not have any sure-fire AHL superstars at his disposal. The players listen to him, they respect what he brings to the game, and they are fighting for every point. They've only had one truly pathetic game, and that was the 8-2 drubbing against OKC. They just gave up after make it 3-2 at one point.

Carson McMillan, Cody Almond, Marco Scandella and even Joel Broda have been fun to watch. Anton Khudobin, I think, has been solid even in defeat. Hackett, I'm afraid, needs a dose of steady playing time in the ECHL before we see him to return to his week 1 and 2 form. He literally stole win No. 2 for the Aeros, and has been merely pedestrian since then.

If he plays poorly on this trip to OKC, ABB and PEO, look for the Wild/Aeros to make a move. Josh Tordjman has been great in the ECHL and would provide a nice backup for Anton, who quite frankly needs to be playing four out of every five games. That way, he will be sharp *when* Backstrom gets hurt in MSP.

And yes, there have been tremendous disappointments so far. Max Noreau is not Max Noreau, Jon DiSalvatore can't seem to find the right chemistry with his linemates and has been held to just two or three points. And until Warren Peters kind of broke out last Sunday against Texas, he was the biggest disappointment of all.

We talked to him after they lost to Lake Erie, and he IS putting in the effort. He said he and his 'mates have just struggled putting it all together (with it being the chemistry and systems that have to work together for a team to be successful).

If the Aeros can get Noreau, Sal and Peters going, this team could be fun to watch. With the exception of that Lake Erie game, they have played very, very well with the lead and when scoring first. Problem is, they have to GET the lead to hold on to one. Noreau, Sal and Peters can make that happen ... and I think they will.

Peoria, I think, is still the best team in the division, with San Antonio a very close second. (I wonder if Jim Mill wishes he had been able to sign Beaudoin before Matt signed that one-year deal with Dallas.)

Oklahoma City is very talented, too, but the rest of the division will be a dog fight, and I truly believe the West will send five teams to the post season.

The odds-makers in Europe have Toronto as slight favorites tonight. I like Anton tonight, though, and I think he gives Mike Yeo a tough decision going into that game against Oklahoma City. I don't know what Coach is thinking, but Matt has played VERY well in OKC so far. We shall see, eh?

Setting the stage: Marlies, Call-ups, More Reading

I was startled awake at 5 o'clock this morning from a dream that a black widow spider was jumping at me. And in the hour and a half I've been awake, my day has only gotten peachier.

So, here's hoping a depleted Aeros team can rescue the bad start to my day with a win over the Toronto Marlies tonight. That would be nice.

Just some updates to set the stage for tonight's international showdown:

Lots of injuries in Minnesota mean Wellman is still up. They sent Gillies back to Houston, but called up Matt Kassian in his place. And Cody Almond was the latest sacrifice to the NHL gods with a call-up yesterday.

This all kinda sucks for the Aeros. The Marlies are coming off a huge 6-1 win over San Antonio two nights ago. I was going to say they've been enjoying warm Texas weather for a few days, but really, it's been pretty cold since they got here, so.... neener.

That said, the Marlies are 3-6-0 at the bottom of the North division just like the Aeros are at the bottom of the West division, so it might actually end up being a really good match-up. Basement cat vs. Basement cat.

That said, I can't say when I've been happier about a guy making his NHL debut as Kassian will be doing tonight against Calgary. He just seems like one of the good guys to me. And he's been a good soldier for a lot of years in this organization. He's worked his way up the system, made improvements where he needed to in order to become a consistent contributor and not just a 3-minute-a-game enforcer.

I'm sure he sees the bold writing on the wall: That breed of hockey player is dying. You have to be able to play regular shifts now and contribute to the overall game.

And this call up is a nod to the effort he's put into rounding out his game. Here's an article from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune with some good quotes from him.

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Meanwhile, back at the ranch, a couple of links from me to you. First is a little bit on Carson McMillan who already has 5 points in 10 games after having only 8 points in 56 games last year. It would certainly provide some unexpected offense if he were to keep up that pace.

Second, my Pro Hockey News piece came out this week giving a wrap-up of the last (or should I say first) 10 games. You guys already know all that stuff because you read T3I (and thank you for that) but just in case you can't get enough about the Aeros, give 'er a look.

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See you guys tonight.

10/31/10 -- Aeros v. Stars -- The Monster Mash Edition

The Aeros got the 4-2 win over the Texas Stars tonight, improving their record to 4-5-1-0 in the process. There was some good defensive play. Anton Khudobin gave up two goals, but seeing as how he faced nearly 40 shots, that's a pretty good average. So on with the hail of bullets.

1. Did someone at Toyota Center forget to pay the A/C bill? It was ridiculous how hot the arena was. It was uncomfortable in the stands, so I would hate to think of how miserable it was for the players.

2. Was that a nice pass by Warren Peters to Carson McMillan for that third goal, or what? McMillan gave all of the credit for the goal to Peters. But think about it, how many times have we seen an Aero whiff on a supposedly easy, can't miss shot like that? But McMillan buried the shot, so he deserves some credit as well.

3. Andrew called the Nate Prosser goal in the third period, the one that made it 4-2. He made a comment about Matt "Gretzky" Kassian with the assist before Prosser even had the puck off of the pass. I just wish he would give me the damn lottery numbers.

4. Kris Fredheim's goal in the first period was a rocket of a shot -- one of those Max Noreau-type things. It was also Fredheim's first professional goal.

5. Marco Scandella -- I don't really know what all to say. He made numerous good plays on the defensive end, and he even got an assist. I don't remember who we gave the stars to -- but I argued that Scandella deserved one for his defensive play.

6. Guess what, the Aeros are on a winning streak. Sure, it's only a two-game streak, but a streak has to start somewhere, right?

7. Mike Yeo said the team had a good weekend -- there will be quotes in the mothership tomorrow. The team might have lost to San Antonio on Friday night, but he liked the team's play in the first period that night, and he was encouraged by how the team worked through the heat, the third game in three days, and letting Texas tie the score to come on strong and win the game.

8. He was happy to get the home win, especially because he thought you, the fans, deserved the win for sticking with the team.

9. The team's not out of the woods. He's going to spend this week working on focus while continuing to work on their understanding of the offense.

10. I don't know about you, but maybe the Aeros should just start declining power play chances. I don't even think the Aeros were this bad on the power play last season, and they were bad last season. My solution is to just stick four guys down by the net and let Noreau fire away from the blue line. But that's probably why I'm not a coach.

11. Here's a stat that won't surprise you. The Aeros are 4-1-0-0 when they score the first goal. Of course, their primary problem this season has been just scoring a goal at any point.

12. The Dynamics "Where's Waldo" Halloween costumes just didn't work for me, though I kind of liked the glasses thing.

13. I want to apologize for the delay in getting this posted -- I'm working a temp job at the moment (hoping that it goes permanent) and I had to do some work for it when I got home, along with writing a story for the mothership.

14. That said, I won't be around for Friday's game with Toronto. I'll be covering the Houston Cougars/UCF Knights game at Roberstson Stadium for the mothership -- college football gets bigger readership numbers.

15. Things go better with a win, don't they?

16. Do something about the air conditioning. Please.

17. In honor of Halloween, here's a Craig Ferguson clip from Friday night -- I think he's one of the funniest guys on television.

10/29/10: Rampage 5, Aeros 2

Sometimes when I can't process the horrors around me, like when I visit my in-laws, I imagine I'm leaving my body and observing the scene from outside myself. Detached, unemotional, unaffected.

I figure this coping mechanism is cheaper than therapy, and I mention this because, until the Aeros find some way to start winning games, you (and I) may find this useful.

The 5-2 loss to San Antonio started with so much promise. Just seconds into the game, Cody Almond got his first goal of the season, beautifully set up by Jon DiSalvatore as though the hockey gods had chiseled the skate marks into the ice themselves.

San Antonio tied it up halfway through the period on the power play, but hey, NBD. The Aeros were sticking it to the Rampage to the tune of double the shots on goal (18-9 in the first!)

And that feeling was so right, as the Aeros pulled ahead less than 2 minutes later on a PP goal by Max Noreau (phew! finally!).

But alas, SA ties it up with another power play goal just before the end of the period.

Despite the shot count looking very uneven, the Aeros mostly only dominated the first half of the period, and  only because San Antonio was turning the puck over left and right. The Aeros' 18 shots were more a testament to their ability to capitalize on the other team's failure, which is a useful habit to have... until the other team wakes up and quits failing.

Seven minutes into the second, Tikhonov set the Aeros on their heels for good with a short-handed, unassisted breakaway and as Joe said, that was the back breaker. And from there, San Antonio racked up a couple more goals just to put 'er away, though shots were even at 15 and 10 apiece in the final two frames.

One of the goals was squarely on Hackett, who mishandled the puck and basically put it on the stick of the Rampage while playing it behind the net. Rookie mistake and that one would keep me awake tonight if I were him, but hopefully he sees it as an opportunity to learn.

I was a little surprised Yeo didn't give the kid a break and sit him for the third period, but I guess he wanted him to battle through it. And maybe I'm still conditioned to Constantine's super quick hook. Coaches have their own philosophies on such things.

There was a fight of some sort near the end with a whopping 42 minutes of PIM handed out between the teams, Almond collecting 17 of those. I missed it since I cleverly "forgot" to watch the third period, and the archive isn't up yet. From the score sheet, it looks like it started with Almond slashing someone, and he and Bagnall paired off with May and (Captain) Picard.

I have my own hockey tomorrow night so I'll just pre-write the post-gamer.

Aeros lose 3-1, Krahn is fantastic, Khudobin is good but with no goal support, might as well sit on top of the net all night. They start slow but have a good second period, and just get bested in the third. Kassian almost scores (he had a breakaway tonight... no joke!) again. Bagnall punches someone. Robbie Earl with the goal. Drive home safely. See you Sunday.

BONUS
Did you know: The Aeros lead the league in average penalty minutes per game? I wonder how much of that is "toughness" PIM and how much is "I'm slow so I'm gonna hook/hold that guy" PIM. Maybe I'll sort through the numbers tomorrow and figure that out.

Aeros call up Brock McBride

With Wellman and Gillies now on recall to Minnesota, the Aeros went fishing in the ECHL and found talented forward Brock McBride.

He has 22 AHL games under his belt, but he had a decent year with Alaska last season. Here is the link to his career stats.

And here is the ECHL Release for your reading pleasure:

The Elmira Jackals announced Thursday that they have loaned center Brock McBride to the AHL's Houston Aeros. McBride is tied for the ECHL lead with a five-game scoring streak to start the 2010-2011 season. The Cornwall, Ontario native has posted a goal and seven assists for eight points to tie for both the team lead and the fifth spot in the ECHL in scoring. McBride's assists total puts him into a dead heat for the league lead in that category.

Casey Wellman recalled to Wild

Forward Casey Wellman was recalled to the Wild today.

Walking hospital Chuck Kobasew is questionable for tonght's game vs. Washington.

Here is the release from the Wild:

MINNESOTA WILD RECALLS WELLMAN FROM HOUSTON AEROS

Minnesota Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher today announced the National Hockey League (NHL) club has recalled forward Casey Wellman from the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League (AHL).

Wellman, 23 (10/18/87), has posted three points (2-1=3) in six games for Houston this season. The 6-foot, 186-pound native of Brentwood, Calif., began the season with Minnesota, playing in one game, Oct. 8 against Carolina. Last season, Wellman signed as a free agent with the Wild on March 16, and totaled four points (1-3=4) in 12 games with Minnesota. Wellman, an undrafted free agent out of the University of Massachusetts, wears No. 17 with the Wild.