HAMILTON, Ont – Hamilton avoided a sweep by the Houston Aeros with a decisive 8-1 win Wednesday night, putting up 40 shots to Houston’s 15 in front of their home crowd. For the first time in the series, the Bulldogs scored first. After an Aeros turnover in the neutral zone, Ryan Russell scored a foreboding shorthanded goal just 63 seconds into the first period. Casey Wellman answered for Houston at 2:25 while still on the power play with a shot from the high slot through traffic. The tie would hold until 15 minutes into the first when Aaron Palushaj put the Bulldogs up 2-1 on a shot over the glove shoulder of Aeros goalie Matt Hackett. Then, with just :26 left in the first, Gabriel Dumont bought some insurance banging home a pass from Ryan White, who had two assists in the game even after serving 29 minutes of penalties. Infractions included two 10-minute misconduct penalties, a fighting major, and a delay of game minor for covering the puck with his body. The Aeros survived a 5 minute boarding major on Colton Gillies early in the second, but a manageable comeback went unmanageable quickly for the Aeros midway through the second period as Hamilton racked up three goals in less than two minutes. The goals, all even strength, came from J.T. Wyman, Dustin Boyd, and Nigel Dawes. Hackett was pulled after the Boyd goal and replaced by Josh Tordjman, who had seen no action since playing 24 minutes in relief on April 1. Boyd and Dawes both scored again in the third, with Palushaj assisting on both and racking up a three-point night. Dawes’ goal was his 12th of the playoffs. The Aeros are still without Brett Bulmer (knee) and also lost Carson McMillan (upper body) after game two. J.M. Daoust is playing in McMillan’s place. The Aeros get another chance to wrap up the conference title on Friday night as the teams play their third match in 4 days in Hamilton. Contact Heather.Galindo@prohockeynews.com
