HOUSTON, Texas – If you could sum up the Houston Aeros entire season in a single game, Friday night’s 4-3 victory in double overtime would be the game to do it.
Infamous all season for coughing up leads late, but also for persevering through adversity, the Aeros got up by three goals early, handed the game back to Manitoba in the final seconds of the third, but regrouped in the extra frames to get the game winner.
“I started the playoffs at 50; I’m 73 years old already,” Aeros coach Kevin Constantine said, laughing. “I was really worried with the way we gave up the lead. I didn’t know what it would do to our guys’ heads.”
But the Aeros, who appear to be getting stronger game-by-game in the series, have used a season full of battles with adversity to stave off the advancement of a Manitoba Moose team that looked to be nearly unstoppable in the first two games of the series.
“It’s a team that’s kind of persevered, hung in there, hung around, played some of its best when the chips were down. So it’s symbolic of the team. They just keep going,” said Constantine.
And go they did, right from the start, when Manitoba received a “too many men” penalty less than 1:30 into the first period, and defenseman Maxim Noreau sent a fluttering shot through the wickets of Cory Schneider from the high slot. Noreau leads the league in defenseman scoring with 11 points in the playoffs.
Then less than two minutes later, Tony Hrkac earned his first of two goals on the night when he picked up a deflection from a Robbie Earl shot. Hrkac’s shot rolled over Schneider’s arm and then into the net as he spun in his crease trying to grab it.
The second period featured a stretch more than 14 minutes long with no stoppages and plenty of inspired hockey at both ends of the rink, during which time, the Aeros put themselves up 3-0 when Matt Beaudoin capitalized on a feed from Corey Locke to Schneider’s back door.
Even though they chased Schneider from his net in favor of Curtis Sanford to start the third, the Aeros failed to score again in regulation and could not hold the lead.
“We were back on our heels most of the [third] period,” said Hrkac. “You really can’t play a game like that, especially against a team like this that can score goals. We were probably in defensive mode where we probably should have just kept up what we were doing in the first two periods.”
Also, though they only received two penalties in the whole game, both were in the third and both resulted in goals against.
Clayton Stoner was given two minutes for roughing just 30 seconds into the period, and Manitoba’s Michael Grabner exploited the man advantage, launching a shot from the circle past Aeros goalie Matt Climie to make the game 3-1.
Then with less than two minutes in the game and Sanford pulled for the extra attacker, Krys Kolanos receive a hooking call that gave the Moose a two-man advantage for a full minute, until Jason Krog batted a puck past Climie in a goal-mouth scramble.
The Moose went to the extra attacker again after the face-off, and with two seconds left in the game, Mark Cullen found the back of the net in another scramble in front of Climie to tie the game up.
“You can’t imagine how low or disappointed a person is when that happens,” said Constantine of the quick two goals that tied it up. “It’s just tough to regroup from that.”
Climie was a surprise to start in goal for the Aeros as he is essentially the fourth string goalie for the team, but was showing less rust that the only other healthy goalie, Nolan Schaefer. Climie was solid all night, stopping 45 shots, including 17 in the first overtime period, and said that while he would like to take back the third goal, it was a matter of refocusing in the locker room before the first of the extra frames, despite some cramping from dehydration.
In the end, it was 42-year-old Hrkac who was the hero for the home team, as he found some open space in front of Sanford to punch in a pass from behind the goal. His linemates, Earl and Benoit Pouliot got the assists on both Hrkac goals giving all three two-point nights. Locke also had two points in the outing. For Manitoba, both Krog and Grabner each had a goal and an assist.
The teams fly back to Winnipeg tomorrow and resume the series with Game 6 on Monday night.
Contact heather.galindo@prohockeynews.com
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