From: Ryan Stanzel
Director of Communications
Friday, March 18, 2005
713.361.7930 (Direct Line)

Grizzlies 2, Aeros 1 (SO)
Official Box Score


WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah – Jamie Storr finished with 34 saves and Utah scored on all three of its shootout attempts against former Grizzly Mike Smith, as Utah outlasted the Houston Aeros 2-1 at The “E” Center. Jakub Koreis scored his third goal of the season – all against Houston – as Utah won for the second time in three games and avenged a 5-1 loss to the Aeros on Wednesday. Storr also won a 2-1 shootout against Smith last month in West Valley City.



Smith stopped 30 shots, including a second-period penalty shot, for the Aeros, who picked up a point to move to 72 points – one shy of third-place Cincinnati, a 3-2 home loser to Chicago tonight. A victory would have put Houston into a tie with the Ducks. The Aeros increased their cushion over fifth-place Grand Rapids to seven points, as the Griffins lost 2-0 at home to Edmonton tonight.



Marc Cavosie scored for the first time in more than two months for Houston, which embarks early Saturday morning for Winnipeg, where it will take on the Manitoba Moose in game three of a four-game road trip at 7:35 p.m. The trek ends Sunday at 2 p.m. in Manitoba.



The teams renewed their spirited rivalry early on, as former Grizzly John Erskine duked it out with Doug Doull only 18 seconds in.



Koreis scored his third goal, all against Houston, for the first period’s lone score at 8:36. He rebounded the puck off a scramble in front and tucked it inside the far post.



Houston has allowed the first goal in six of its last seven games.



Utah dominated the second period, outshooting Houston 12-7 with the help of two early power plays.



Martin Sonnenberg was hauled down on a breakaway just prior to the midway point of the second period, but Smith turned him away with a stick save. The play came just after a Utah power play had expired.



Four minutes later, Storr slid post to post to rob Ray Giroux with his skate.



Houston’s league-leading third-period defense allowed the team to come back.



Cavosie evened things up only 1:53 into the third, on Houston’s first shot of the period. The New York native ripped a feed from Dan Cavanaugh, and it changed direction in front and went by Storr for his first goal in 20 games dating back to January 11, and his third overall of the season.



For the second straight game but for only the third road game all season, Houston scored a goal in the first two minutes of a period. The Aeros have scored a goal in a period’s first two minutes on nine occasions overall, and they are 6-2-0-1 in those contests.



Doull again picked a fight with an Aero exactly three minutes later, this time fighting Joey Tetarenko in a scrum that also involved Houston’s Jeremy Reich and Utah’s Terry Virtue.



The Grizzlies launched three shots at Smith during a power play midway through the third, but the goalie was perfect.



Smith stoned former teammate Jarrod Skalde just seconds into overtime. Late in the extra session, Cavosie swung and missed at a centering pass from Matt Foy.



Mikko Koivu led off for Houston in the shootout and flipped a backhanded attempt wide. Erik Westrum ripped a shot off the post and into the net for just his second shootout goal on seven attempts. Aeros captain Kirby Law followed with a nasty snapshot over Storr’s blocker, but Skalde also scored.



Cavosie went for the Aeros in round three and hit a shot wide, and Justin Cox scored on his lone shootout attempt of the season. Pierre-Marc Bouchard went for Houston with a chance to keep his team alive, but Storr made the save.



Houston went 0-for-6 on the power play, while Utah was 0-for-5.



Notes:

The Aeros scratched Chris Heid, Erik Reitz, Mark Cullen, Stephane Veilleux, Todd Reirden, Christoph Brandner and Marius Holtet.

Houston is now 5-19-3-3 when trailing after two periods.

The Aeros fell to 5-4 in the shootout, while Utah improved to 8-4.

Smith had allowed only six shootout goals on 22 attempts coming into tonight.

Eleven of Utah’s 13 home wins have come by one goal.

Smith allowed only two goals in 125 minutes in the two-game series, and he’s yielded two total in his last 165 minutes. Tonight he lowered his gaa to 2.38.

With Utah, Storr is 4-4-0 with a 1.90 gaa.