Third period a dent in Aeros’ flight plan

HOUSTON, Texas – Despite a substantial group of returning players, the emerging personality of this year’s Houston Aeros squad couldn’t be more different.
 
One trend coming to light with nearly a third of the season in the bag includes a penchant for giving up third-period leads.
 
“You look at our record last year with the lead going into the third period – I wonder if we lost at all last year when we had the lead going into the third,” Coach Kevin Constantine said. Indeed, the team was 31-1-0-1 when leading after the second period last year.
 
But this year, the team has given up six third period leads in only 24 games. The most notable of these losses was an early December game in which the Manitoba Moose came back from a two-goal deficit to score four times in the third period.
 
“It’s a persistent problem, because the game of hockey is not that hard to manage,” said Constantine after the game. “That’s why teams that have the lead win most of the time, and you can start to count how many times we had a lead in the third and haven’t managed the game to win, and that’s a leadership issue in our locker room.”
 
It’s something they have “coached the heck out of,” according to Constantine. “I think in all my years of coaching, I’ve never been around this much losing with a lead in the third period, so we can’t skip the topic right now. We can’t push it under the rug anymore. It’s got to get exposed and it’s got to get fixed.”
 
And the Manitoba game was just one gut check in an anxious late fall home stand. The Aeros seemed to be on a downward slide in November, losing seven of nine games until they apparently hit bottom against the Hamilton Bulldogs in an 4-0 loss.
 
“I was hoping that our 4-0 loss to Hamilton two weekends ago was the bottom of our downswing we were in,” said Constantine after a come-from-behind win over the Syracuse Crunch on Saturday. “We’ve certainly had our share of games this year where we’ve had leads and gave them up. So, now we’ve had two games where we came from behind.”
 
This highlights another emerging trend that’s leaving fans wondering “who are these guys?” Last year’s Aeros were 5-20-2-0 when trailing after the second. But as this season marches ahead and confidence in the team’s offensive abilities grows, the team is showing an ability to come back from a deficit—a feat last year’s Aeros rarely accomplished.
 
Offensive threats like Corey Locke, Krys Kolanos, and defenseman Maxim Noreau, have changed the outlook of the Aeros when facing a deficit. The prevailing attitude seems to be that if there’s time, there’s a chance to score.
 
One thing that hasn’t changed is the dynamic goaltending from the tandem of Nolan Schaefer and Barry Brust, who have been critical in keeping the team in certain games.
 
Brust has shown some uncharacteristic weakness in breakaway and shootout situations, letting in seven of nine shootout attempts in two games. But he’s exceeding expectations in the rest of his game, stopping 40 of 43 shots against the Crunch, and ranked fifth among active AHL goalies. Schaefer isn’t far behind at number 12.
 
“Fantastic,” Constantine said of Brust’s play. “What we asked our goalies to do is ignore goals against and save percentage, and look at the time of the game that you’re making key saves.”
 
“Great goalies find a way to make key saves at the key moments of the game, and I thought Barry, in both games this weekend, did that,” Constantine went on to say. “He was magnificent.”
 
Another unusual circumstance for this team is a high degree of roster turnover due to NHL call-ups and injuries to key players. The team spent a few games struggling for energy after hard-hitting winger Cal Clutterbuck was called up, and has lost top goal-scorer Kolanos for three separate call-ups.
 
Constantine praised free agent and lower-league recruits Craig Valette, Mike Hamilton, and Jason Deitsch for stepping in to help with the injury bug that’s bitten the Aeros, including veterans Bryan Lundbohm and Ryan Hamilton. And he credited the rest of the team for answering the call when a pivotal offensive player like Kolanos is away from the team.
 
“It’s been a year that’s involved way more turnover in players than last year where the Wild really never had to call on us very much for players and this year’s been the total opposite,” Constantine said. “So other people have had to step up and it’s tough on continuity, but we’ve managed to get the job done.”
 
Other notes:
 
Defenseman Tomas Mojzis, who spent all but four early-season games as a healthy scratch with the Wild, was sent down to Houston in late November. He got his first goal of the season against Syracuse on Sunday.
 
Center Morten Madsen had a productive October, matching his goal total for the entire 2007-2008 season and praised by Constantine for his off-season work ethic. But the Dane disappeared from the score sheet during a 12 game pointless skid in November, only to reappear with two points in three games in December.
 
Noreau, who’s projected by the Wild organization to develop into the type of puck-moving, offensive defenseman in such high demand in the NHL, seems well on his way to meeting that expectation as he sits atop all active AHL defensemen in goal scoring with 7 markers on the season.
 
In a traditionally tight West Division, the Aeros are sixth in the standings but only five points away from the top two teams in the division, the Iowa Chops and Chicago Wolves, both with 30 points.
 
On special teams, the Aeros are 17^th for power play conversion and 11^th on the penalty kill, contrasted with ending the season 28^th on the power play and 2^nd on the penalty kill last season.
 
Contact the author at heather.galindo@prohockeynews.com .