HAMILTON, Ont – The Houston Aeros hoped to fly home Saturday with a new opponent and the Calder Cup in their sights. Hamilton had other ideas, however, winning game five 4-2 and taking the series to 3-2. They, too, will travel back to Houston for game 6 and another chance to keep the series going. Though the Aeros put more shots on goal in the second period than in all of game four, they turned the puck over just as often. Hamilton capitalized, scoring twice in the first, along with a back-breaking shorthanded goal midway through the third. Paul Zanette put Hamilton on the board at 8:18 in the first, shoveling a rebound into an empty net as goalie Matt Hackett challenged the original shot outside of his crease. Just two minutes later, Aaron Palushaj scored a power play goal to go up 2-0, and the game started to show shades of Wednesday’s 8-1 shellacking. After an anemic first period with shots 5-12 for Hamilton, the Aeros regrouped at intermission and came out firing. J.M. Daoust broke Hamilton’s 9 unanswered goal streak, picking a pocket down low in the Hamilton zone and firing a shot through a small gap over the blocker side shoulder of goalie Drew MacIntyre. Down one and with Hamilton called for a too many men bench minor, the Aeros had a chance to tie it up on the power play. Sloppy puck protection negated those hopes, however, as the Aeros turned the puck over while entering the Hamilton zone. Ryan White picked it off and headed up the left wing boards, drew Aeros defenseman Max Noreau to him, and then passed to Ryan Russell who had Hackett all to himself. Russell scored his 7th goal of the playoffs to put the Bulldogs up by 2. With MacIntyre living up to his sparkling reputation and Hamilton playing with the urgency of a team on the brink, the Aeros were forced into rushing their shots and missing quality scoring chances. Jed Ortemeyer bucked the negative trend, however, when he and Warren Peters crashed the crease and placed a bouncing puck past MacIntyre to bring the Aeros within one midway through the third. Houston looked gassed, forced to dump and chase the puck to attempt to get possession in the Hamilton zone, but often couldn’t chase their own dump-ins down before Hamilton had cleared them. Though narrowly edging Hamilton in third period shots 11-9, Houston could not convert and the Bulldogs rounded out the 4-2 final with an empty net goal from Andrew Conboy. The game is the first back-to-back loss for Houston since mid-March. Hamilton will try to make it three in a row Sunday afternoon when the teams meet for game 6 at Houston’s Toyota Center.
Contact Heather.Galindo@prohockeynews.com
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