PEORIA, Ill – The slumping Houston Aeros found their form too late in the game Wednesday night in Peoria against a surging Rivermen team and lost Game 1 of the AHL West Division semi-finals 6-4.
The Rivermen got up on the Aeros early with a goal from Yan Stastny and a power play marker from Steve Regier, both inside the 10 minute mark of the game. In both cases, the Rivermen were able to keep their sticks active, the puck bouncing around the goal mouth, and Aeros goalie Anton Khudobin was unable to bring the puck in to safety.
Defenseman Maxim Noreau got the Aeros on the board at the 14:03 mark and brought the score within one during a power play opportunity, beating Peoria goalie Manny Legace with a rocket from the point.
Shots were lopsided most of the first period, totaling 14-1 in favor of the Rivermen at one point, but ending up 17-6 by the end of the first.
The hole got even deeper for the Aeros in the second as Cam Paddock and Stastny each beat Khudobin at 9:05 and again at 9:37 of the second putting the score 4-1. Though the shot count was even at 7 for the period, the Aeros struggled to maintain puck possession and spent several minutes killing off penalties, including a 3-on-5.
It looked like the Aeros might have found some magic in the second intermission as they came out and pelted Legace from the start of the period, bringing the game within one goal a little over a minute into the third.
Corey Locke scored at the 25 second mark on a power play leftover from the end of the second period. The puck came from Krys Kolanos in the high slot, to Matt Beaudoin, who was waiting to the right of Legace. Legace committed to a Beaudoin’s shot and couldn’t get to the other post where Locke received a pass from Beaudoin and roofed it over the sliding goalie.
Then less than a minute later, Kolanos scored unassisted, streaking down the wing past a stunned Rivermen defense to bury one over Legace’s shoulder.
But the magic fizzled as the Rivermen quickly came back to put the Aeros at a 2 goal deficit again.
Jori Lehtera tipped a shot past Khudobin for his first professional goal. And Carl Corazzini put the nail in the coffin just over 7 minutes into the third with a power play goal, which also earned Alex Pietrangelo, the St. Louis Blues fourth overall NHL draft pick in 2008, his first professional point in his first game out of juniors.
Though the Aeros put 20 shots on Legace in the third, compared to just 7 by Peoria, the score was 6-3 with 1 minute left in the game. Robbie Earl scored the fourth goal for Houston at 19:16 but the third period resurrection was too late to save Game 1 for the visitors.
The teams meet again in Peoria on Friday for Game 2 of the West Division semi-finals.
Contact heather.galindo@prohockeynews.com
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