Gustafson, Aeros pick up OT win: (From the Houston Chronicle) By SCOTT KAISER After failing for over 63 minutes to beat Philadelphia goalie Neil Little with their sticks, the Aeros used a well-placed skate to get back into the win column. With just over a minute left in overtime, Richard Park's slap shot bounced off Little and then clipped off Curtis Murphy's skate and trickled over the goal line to give the Aeros a dramatic 1-0 win Sunday before 4,287 at Compaq Center. The goal was a great reward for Aeros goaltender Derek Gustafson, who turned away 28 shots as he improved to 3-0. "Gus played a great game for us," Murphy said. "Every time we needed him, he was there with big saves. It was nice to get that win for him because a 1-0 shutout looks a lot better than a 0-0 shutout." The win is the Aeros' fifth in six games and 11th point over that span as they moved into a tie for second place in the West Division, six points behind Utah but with three games in hand. "That was a big win for us," Gustafson said. "The other teams in our division are winning, so any time you can get two points, it's a great feeling." The Phantoms nearly won the game 90 seconds into overtime, but Mark Freer's shot clanged off the crossbar and into the stands. Gustafson then kept the game scoreless when he denied Tomas Divisek on a breakaway after an Aeros turnover. "I kind of lost my footing and almost fell on my butt, but I was able to shuffle over and take away that corner of the net," Gustafson said. "Thank God that was his only option because if he went around me, I would have been in trouble." On the game-winner just over 30 seconds later, a wide-open Park teed up a blast from the top of the left circle. The puck hit Little high and bounced to his right, where Murphy was battling for position with Phantoms defenseman Brad Tiley. Murphy had his leg inside Tiley's and the puck bounced off his skate and got over the goal line just before Little could stop it. "It looked like that was going to be the only way I was going to score," Murphy said. "I went in and had that great opportunity before that and put it right into him, so, hey, it's nice to get one like that, but you can't count on those." But Murphy's goal came out of the Hockey 101 handbook as he drove to the net rather than staying parked on the blue line as the play developed. "It was just a matter that I saw Parksy was going to get the puck and with it being 4-on-4 I had a guy right on me, so I thought, `I'll just go to the net and see if something happens,' " Murphy said. "We got lucky and it did." The goal was also a reward for some heavy pressure by the Aeros the last half of the game. After being outshot 7-0 in the first half of the second period, the Aeros posted a 19-9 shot advantage in the final 30 minutes of play. "The thought was going through my head that here we go again because we had a lot of scoring chances the other night (in an overtime loss to the Phantoms) and couldn't put it in," Aeros coach Todd McLellan said. "It was an ugly goal that came off an ugly bounce, but that's rewarding because we're not going to be a tic-tac-toe team." Another unsung hero for the Aeros was defenseman Trent Cull, who took on Phantoms' tough guy Jesse Boulerice for a second time midway through the second period. Whether it was a coincidence, the Aeros took the play to the Phantoms for the remainder of the contest. "Between the second and third period we talked about how we wasted some minutes where we just sat back and watched," McLellan said. "We have to go hard and skate and use our speed, and when we're sitting and watching we're rather ineffective, so we made a goal to come out in the third right off the bat and attack, and I thought from that point on we did a good job. "Was it because of Trent Cull? It could very well have been." From the Star Tribune: Defenseman Lubomir Sekeras missed his third consecutive game because of a sprained knee. He still hasn't been placed on injured reserve, but that could change. If Sekeras does go on IR, don't be surprised to see the Wild call forward Tony Virta from Houston. Back