Aeros defeat Whalers, sain tie for 2nd spot

By THE CANADIAN PRESS

Houston centre Andre Lacroix, the World Hockey Association's all-time leading scorer, believes the Aeros are playing as well as any team in the league.

“Anybody,” said Lacroix, following Houston's 6-4 triumph over the New England Whalers on Thursday night.

The victory moved the Aeros into a second-place tie with the Whalers and extended Houston's undefeated streak to five games.

The Whalers now have lost five games in a row and nine of their last 11.

In other WHA action Thursday night, Bobby Hull again failed to score his 1,000th career goal but had three assists in helping Winnipeg Jets beat Indianapolis Racers 6-5, Birmingham Bulls whipped Quebec Nordiques 9-2 and Cincinnati Stingers defeated Edmonton Oilers 6-5.

Morris Ukowich broke a 2-2 tie with a pair of second-period goals and the Aeros held on to raise their season record against the Whalers to 5-3-1.

FELT FASTER

“I used lighter skates for the first time and I think I felt myself skating a little faster out there” said Lukowich, who scored his 35th goal of the season, tops on the club.

At Birmingham, the Bulls were led by Paul Henderson's two goals and a solid defensive effort helped beat Quebec.

“They've had our number most of the season,” said Bulls coach Glenn Sonmor about the Nordiques. “We did a little, number on them last time they were in here, so that helped our confidence.”

Seventh-place Cincinnati kept alive its hopes for a playoff spot and coach Jacques Demers even hopes to move higher.

“We're talking about catching Birmingham but if you look at the standings, we might be out to catch somebody else too,” said Demers after the win over Edmonton.

Cincinnati now trails Edmonton by seven points and remains a point back of sixth place Birmingham, which holds the final playoff spot in the eight-team league.

Rick Dudley's two goals in the second period sent the Stingers ahead to stay although they had to survive a third-period Edmonton rally.

“Our game plan was to check Ron Chipperfield,” said Demers. “He's one of the best centres in the league. We wanted to control him and we did.”

Chipperfield still managed to get his 28th goal of the season for the Oiler.