KOLANOS HAT TRICK LIFTS AEROS 6-4 IN FINALE

KOLANOS HAT TRICK LIFTS AEROS  6-4 OVER RAMPAGE IN SEASON FINALE

HOUSTON, Texas – Krys Kolanos gave the Houston Aeros a lead the wouldn’t relinquish with a pair of goals in the second period as the team defeated the San Antonio Rampage 6-4 to finish the regular season. The Aeros, in front of 7,663 fans at Toyota Center, locked down the No. 3 seed in the West Division. Houston will prepare to head to Peoria to take on the No. 3 seeded Rivermen in the division semifinals this coming week. Dates and times will be posted on AEROS.com as details become available. Playoff tickets are on sale now through the Aeros front office by calling (714) 974-PUCK.

Jesse Schultz (1 goal, 2 assists) and Brandon Rogers (3 assists) joined Kolanos with three points apiece and Anton Khudobin stopped 28 of 32 shots faced for his third win of the season. Brett MacLean of the Rampage also posted three points (2 goals, 1 assist) and Josh Tordjman knocked aside 15 of 20 shots in the contest. Each team finished with two power-play goals with the Aeros having six chances to San Antonio’s five.

GAME SHEET

The first period was held scoreless with San Antonio outshooting the Aeros 10-8. Houston killed off their only short-handed situation of the frame as the Rampage killed all three chances against.

Houston had 13 seconds of a power play carry over from the first period but the club needed 14 seconds to get on the board. After San Antonio won the faceoff and cleared the puck Clayton Stoner skated the puck across center ice and flipped it on net to Tordjman. The puck bounced a couple feet in front of the Rampage netminder where Bryan Lundbohm picked it up, made a move around him and flipped the puck top shelf.

San Antonio quickly tied the game when Brett MacLean took a pass directly in front of the crease, spun and slipped the disc between Khudobin’s pads. Sean Sullivan and Kevin Porter helped set up the power-play goal to tie the game at one apiece.

Kolanos took the lead back for the Aeros just eight seconds after the team went on a power play. Corey Locke won the faceoff and Tomas Mojzis picked up the puck and passed it to the left win where Kolanos quickly snapped it on net past Tordjman at 7:49 in the second period. Kolanos made it a 3-1 game when he buried his second goal of the game at the 15:11 mark of the second period. Schultz came into the offensive zone, danced around a defender, and shoveled the puck to Kolanos who one-timed it past Tordjman.

San Antonio quickly responded after Kolanos’ pair of goals and scored just 11 seconds after the Aeros took the 3-1 lead. Wyatt Smith scored his second goal in as many games against the Aeros on assists from Dylan Reese and MacLean.

Finally, at the 18:34 mark of the second period, Matt Beaudoin scored his 11th goal of the season when he took a feed from Brandon Rogers across the crease and put the puck into the open net. The four-goal period for Houston marked the fourth time this season the Aeros have scored four or more in a period. The total of six goals in the period also tied for the most combined in a period this season.

The Aeros added to their lead when Clayton Stoner sent the puck from the defensive zone to Schultz. After carrying the puck past the blue line, Schultz wristed the puck past the Rampage netminder for a 5-2 lead at 9:22 into the period. MacLean brought the San Antonio deficit back to two goals just three minutes later and the club within one with 5:01 left to play. Porter brought the Rampage within reach when he stole the puck near center ice without a defenseman to challenge him and flipped it past Khudobin for a 5-4 contest.

San Antonio pulled netminder Tordjman late in an attempt to tie the contest but Houston took control of the puck. Benoit Pouliot brought the disc deep into the offensive zone getting past the Rampage defensemen and passed it cross-ice to Kolanos who netted the puck to complete his hat trick with 15 seconds on the clock.

Notes:
- Krys Kolanos tallied a hat trick for Houston marking his 29th, 30th and 31st goals of the season. The goals also upped his total for Hockey Heal’s for Bo’s Place to $11,300. This is Kolanos second straight season in which the right wing has scored 30 goals and set a personal best with the 31 goals, a team high on the season.
- Kolanos extended his point streak to six games with six goals and three assists in that span. Corey Locke, Houston’s point leader, finished the season on a three game assist streak, tallying two tonight for a total of four.
- Locke finished the regular season with a total of 79 points on 25 goals and 54 assists in 77 games. His assists also led the Aeros.
- Nolan Schaefer finished the regular season with 26 wins to lead the club and his 2.52 goals against average tied the team lead with Barry Brust, both of whom were scratches for the season finale. Brust led the club with a .912 save percentage.

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