The Houston Aeros scored the first goal after recovering a rebound from a
shot taken at the point by Gordie Howe. Shortly there after the Aeros scored another goal
after Poul Popiel tucked a shot in at 4:38. Cincinnati finally answered during a power
play after Dennis Sobchuk took a shot from the point which was deflected by his own
teammate Rick Dudley. But Dennis Abgrall who was waiting in front of the net recovered the
puck and nailed it home for the score. Despite each team having other power plays, neither
were able to capitalize on them and the first period ended with a 2-1 score.
The Aeros continued with their heavy
offense and scored two straight goals in the first six minutes of the second period. The
first goal came during a Houston power play from Terry Ruskowski with a deflection of a
shot by his teammate Don Larway. Ruskowski struck again at 6:05 after skating into the
Stingers zone. Ruskowski collided with Stingers Barry Legge, sending both of them to the
ground. But Ruskowski managed to swipe the puck with his stick and sending it into the
Stingers net for the score.
Cincinnati refused to go away despite
being down by three goals. Blaine Stoughton, Richie Leduc and Pierre Guite scored three
straight goals before the second period ended. Stoughtons goal was shot from just inside
the blue line. The Aeros goalie got his glove of the puck but couldn't get control and it
dropped into the net for the score. Richie Leduc scored the second of the period after
taking a pass from Abgrall and Pierre Guite scored in the final minute of the period to
tie the game up.
In the third period Richie Leduc scored
at 11:48 to take the lead in the game. Leduc's goal came once again after a pass from
teammate Blaine Stoughton. Leduc beat Popiel across the blue line into the Aeros zone. He
then tapped the puck past Aeros goalie Grahame. But at 14:26 in the period, Marty Howe
took a nice pass from teammate Ruskowski right in front of the Stingers net and with an
easy wrist shot tied the game up.
Despite a great rally by the Stingers
which sent the game into overtime, the Aeros would skate away victorious. The winning goal
came from Rich Preston, who also scored the first goal of the game. Preston's shot came
when he took a hard slap shot from the right circle just a minute after the overtime
period began.
Terry Slater obviously felt his team
played a good game, but gave up two really bad goals. The fourth Aeros goal scored by
Ruskowski and the final scored in overtime should have been stopped. "LaPointe didn't
play the post well on Ruskowski's goal and Preston's shot went right through his
pads" The loss would be the Stingers fourth in a row.. |
