Josh Harding made a career-high 47 saves and Erik Westrum scored the winning goal with 47 seconds in regulation as Houston posted a 3-1 win in Peoria on Friday night.
Kirby Law also scored for the Aeros, and he and his linemates Westrum and Roman Voloshenko accounted for five points (2g, 3a) on the night. Peter Olvecky added an empty-net goal and rookie Patrick O’Sullivan chipped in an assist in his pro debut.
Colin Hemingway scored a power-play goal and Curtis Sanford finished with 22 saves for Peoria, which had won its first three games of the season.
Westrum and Law each have seven points in three games this year. Harding, a standout rookie for Houston in 2004-05, improved his record to 2-1-0.
Elsewhere on Friday:
Rookie Ryan Shannon tied the game with 1:37 to play and Aaron Gavey got the winner 41 seconds later as Portland rallied past Providence, 4-3… Graham Mink scored twice as Hershey beat Rochester, 5-3… Jiri Hudler scored his fourth and fifth goals of the season to lead Grand Rapids to a 3-1 win in Hamilton… Kris Newbury scored with six minutes left in regulation as Toronto edged visiting Cleveland, 3-2… Brian Eklund made 38 saves and Jim Campbell and Jason Jaspers scored early as Springfield held off Hartford, 2-1… Vitali Kolesnik made 33 saves, Ryan Steeves scored two goals and Lowell killed off a late two-man disadvantage to pull out a 4-2 win over Manchester in the Lock Monsters’ season opener… Wade Flaherty, MVP of Milwaukee’s 2004 Calder Cup Playoffs championship run, made 39 saves for Manitoba in a 1-0 win over the Admirals at the Bradley Center… Ryan Whitney and Daniel Carcillo recorded a goal and an assist each as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton beat Norfolk, 3-2… Steve Gainey‘s third-period goal lifted San Antonio to its second straight win over Chicago, 2-1.
