Things got interesting in the second period. An interference call to David McIntyre gave the Barons a power-play opportunity. With a series of missed assignments by the Aeros, combined with a sprawling goaltender, the Barons Mark Arcobello and Phillipe Cornet set up Ryan Keller for the power-play goal, on a pass from behind the net. Matt Hackett appeared to be injured on this play and was replaced by Mike Brodeur. A delay call on this play sent Kris Fredheim to the penalty box for the Aeros.
The Barons third score of the game came at 14:15. Rookie Tyler Pitlick, who scored the game-winner the night before, earned his second post-season score. Defenseman Rodney assisted on the deep angle shot from the low circle, his second assist of the night.
A minute later, tempers flared when Cory Almond boarded the leading scorer of the game: Keller. “We knew they would come back hard after last night,” said Keller. He continued by saying, “Everybody wants this pretty bad, you will see a lot of emotions.”
Barons centerman Anton Lander took exception to Keller being boarded and intervened. A scrum of six players ensued, most given 2-minute minors for roughing, Almond received an additional boarding minor, while Yeo and Nick Palmieri received 10-minute misconducts for their wrestling match. A combined total of 36 penalty minutes was dished out by the officials
This scrum apparently gave motivation to the home team. The Aeros got on the board, with a goal from Almond early in the third period. This was their first score in two post-season games against the Barons. Brett Bulmer assisted on the
With 8:26 minutes remaining in the contest, Rodney was whistled for delay of game, as he shot the puck out of bounds. A few seconds remained on his penalty, when the short-handed goal specialist and rookie Hunter Tremblay went to work. He scored, on a pass from Captain Bryan Helmer to make the score 4 to 1. “Getting the short-handed goal certainly helped ease the pressure off us a bit, late in the third,” said Coach Todd Nelson.
The Aeros pulled their goaltender with 2:22 remaining in the game, yet did not score. In both contests, Matt Hackett began the game, only to be replaced by Matt Brodeur. The Barons depart
“We made it a point of trying to dictate the pace of the game and establishing our game from the very start,” said Keller. The Barons outshot the Aeros 37 to 20 for this game. The combined shots on goal for the two contests are a cumulative 85 to 34. This indicates that the Barons have held the Aeros to less than 40 shots on goal thru 120 minutes of hockey.
“I don’t think tonight’s score is indicative of how the game went, I thought it was closer than that,” said Nelson. He continued by saying, “
“You have to win three games to win the series, and we have not done that yet,” said Nelson. This series now moves to
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