Aeros win 3-2 in OT

HOUSTON, Texas – Carson McMillan netted his second game winning goal of the playoffs Thursday night to get a 3-2 overtime win for the Houston Aeros. The win ties the series with Milwaukee at 2 games each. The goal ended a game that was much closer than the 33-13 shot count would appear. Admirals net minder, Jeremy Smith, was electric, and despite putting the puck on net every which way, the Aeros couldn’t pull away from the tie until McMillan’s goal at 3:35 in extra minutes. “(Smith) was very good. He was very good tonight, and I give him a lot of credit for that,” said Aeros coach Mike Yeo. “I loved how many times we gave him opportunities to be good. The way we were taking pucks to the net, the way we were shooting and attacking the net… I think that we made it a much more difficult game for him.” After an uncharacteristically sloppy loss on Tuesday, Yeo was just happy to see the Aeros playing like themselves again. “The way we were playing tonight was much more indicative of who we are and what our game is,” said coach Mike Yeo after the game. “I felt like even though it was 2-2, we felt very confident that if we kept going the right thing would happen.” Colton Gillies notched his fifth goal of the playoffs to open the scoring, banging home a rebound as Jed Ortmeyer and Warren Peters worked the puck down low to get goalie Jeremy Smith out of position. Midway through the first, Patrick O’Sullivan put the Aeros up by 2 on a power play. Smith was scrambling and down in his crease when O’Sullivan gathered the puck in the slot and roofed it for his third goal of the post-season. But much like in game three, the first goal by Milwaukee, with just 5 minutes left in the first period, took the Aeros off their game. Andreas Thuresson picked up a bouncing puck in the low slot and caught goalie Matt Hackett stuck to his post, unable to get over for the shot. The shot count of 25-9 for Houston at the end of the second period did not belie the complexion of a period in which the Aeros appeared rattled from start to finish. All it took was a Milwaukee power play midway through the second and Aaron Johnson‘s shot from the top of the circles deflected off an Aeros defenseman and into the net. The goal knotted the game at 2, where it stayed into overtime, in spite of the Aeros controlling play and finally starting to get quality chances on Smith throughout the third period. “Sometimes that’s the way it goes and we weren’t getting too frustrated,” said McMillan. “We have the ability to score goals and sometimes it doesn’t happen and we just stuck to our game.” The series wraps up the Houston home stand Friday night, and then returns to Milwaukee on Sunday afternoon. Contact Heather.Galindo@prohockeynews.com