HOUSTON, Texas – The Houston Aeros went into Game 3 of the West Division finals with home-ice advantage over the Milwaukee Admirals and, if statistical trends are to be heeded, a clear imperative. They would need to score the first goal of the game. They would then need to hold that lead into the second period. Through nine playoff games, the Aeros only lost one game in which they got on the scoresheet first. And they won all three games in which they went into the second period with the lead. Indeed, with an early lead that held well into the second perio d, the statistics were an accurate prediction as the Aeros bested the division-win ning Milwaukee Admirals 3-1 to put Houston up 2-1 in the series. That critical first goal came from Krys Kolanos at 5:41 in the first, as he chipped in a loose puck from the side of the net over Milwaukee goaltender Drew MacIntyre, who was sprawled on the ice and lost sight of the puck. The goal was assisted by defenseman Brandon Rogers and center Tony Hrkac. The Admirals came out aggressively in the second period, putting up 13 shots to only four shots by the Aeros. Both teams stepped up the physical play and finally, the hard work paid off for Milwaukee when they solved Aeros netminder Anton Khudobin late in the period. Former Aero Ryan Jones sc ored his third goal of the series for Milwaukee, rifling a shot past the glove of Khudobin into the20top of the net off feeds from Patric Hornqvist and Andreas Thuresson. But early in the third, the Aeros found themselves in prime position with 1:23 of a two-man advantage, courtesy of an elbowing penalty to Thuresson and a hooking call on Nick Spaling. However, seconds later the Aeros capitalized when Maxim Noreau fired a rocket at the net off a pass from Hrkac. The puck deflected off Matt Beaudoin and through the legs of MacIntyre.
“The puck just went off my pad and right in,” said Beaudoin of his third goal of the playoffs. “Once in a while you take those goals.” Corey Locke got his fifth goal of the playoffs on an odd-man rush with John Lammers where Locke tucked the puck around MacIntyre and into the net. Coach Kevin Constantine said after the game that there was more to like because of the win than not, but the job isn’t close to being finished. “Every game you’re going to dissect a little bit and like parts of it and not like other parts and have to get better at certain things,” Constantine said. “They’re going to counterpunch pretty hard now in Game 4 so we’re going to have to be ready for that.” The series resumes with Game 4 Thursday at the Toyota Center at 7:05 p.m.
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