HOUSTON, Texas – The common thread all season for the Houston Aeros, as they’ve experienced the usual ups and downs of a long season, is that they never fail to keep it interesting. And indeed, their 3-2 win over Hamilton to take a 2-0 series lead in the Western Conference Finals was a nail biter as the Bulldogs pushed to score the tying goal in the waning minutes of regulation. “We want to keep people coming back and give you guys stuff to talk about,” joked Aeros’ captain Jon DiSalvatore about the team’s flair for the dramatic. “We don’t want to just blow teams out. We want to make sure they’re still in it and it’s exciting.” Indeed there was no lack of excitement. After a scoreless and defensively tight first period, Robbie Earl got the Aeros on the board with a power play goal early in the second, taking advantage of a screen by Warren Peters to put the puck between the wickets of Hamilton goalie Drew MacIntyre. Eleven minutes later, Hamilton’s Gabriel Dumont evened things up on a shot that deflected and slid through Aeros goalie Matt Hackett’s pads. But the Aeros went into the second intermission with the lead as Marco Scandella’s power play shot from the point dinged in the net off the iron with just 10 seconds left in the period. Jared Spurgeon had the first assist on both Aeros power play goals. Colton Gillies scored the eventual game winner in dramatic fashion just five minutes into the third, gathering a loose puck off a rebound set up by Jed Ortemeyer and shooting it into the net while diving across the crease. He was quick to put the credit on his linemate when it was suggested the goal was reminiscent of Bobby Orr’s famous diving goal. “Bobby Orr, I don’t know about that,” Gillies laughed. “It was just a really good play by my linemate, Ortmeyer. Had the hit in the neutral zone, went hard around the defenseman, put it in a good spot for a rebound, and I just went hard to the net.” Gillies, who had just 11 goals in 64 regular season games, now has 7 goals in 13 playoff games. “For me, with playoffs, I’ve been going to the net a lot harder. I’ve been trying to make sure my presence around the net is felt,” Gillies said. “But you can ask any one of the players in the dressing room including myself, it’s not about the goals, it’s if we win the game… There’s a lot of guys in that room that do a lot of little things that don’t get noticed that deserve to wear the cape.” To keep it interesting all the way to the final buzzer, Ryan Russell took Hamilton to within one at 12:06 in the third and the race was on to score the tying goal. Despite a pulled-goalie man advantage the final 1:15 of the game, the Aeros skated away with the win. The Aeros, who started the playoffs healthy, are now facing a couple of challenges, with Brett Bulmer out and on crutches after a lower body injury in game one. Then Carson McMillan left the game in the second period with an upper body injury tonight and did not return. The severity of the injury is unknown. The teams head to Hamilton Monday where they will meet for game three Tuesday night.
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