The Cincinnati Enquirer

Ilya Bryzgalov recorded his sixth shutout of the season to lead the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks to a 4-0 AHL victory over the Houston Aeros Friday at Cincinnati Gardens.

Bryzgalov turned away 13 shots in the first period and 30 overall in the win for the Ducks, who snapped a four-game winless (0-1-3-0) and moved into a tie with Houston for fourth place in the West Division.

Mike Mottau, Tony Martensson, Joel Perrault and Alexei Smirnov scored for Cincinnati, which qualified for a postseason berth for the fourth time in franchise history.

Kyle Kettles surrendered all four goals on 21 shots in the loss for the Aeros, who are winless in their last four games (0-2-2-0).

The Ducks will play Houston in a best-of-3 qualifying round series next week. The teams both play their final regular-season games tonight. Should they end up tied for fourth the Ducks would host the series at the Gardens due to having more wins than Houston.

Ducks playoff tickets on sale

Tickets for two potential Cincinnati Mighty Ducks home playoff games will go on sale at noon today at the Cincinnati Gardens Box Office and Ticketmaster outlets; by phone at (513) 562-4949 or 1-800-829-5353; or online (www.ticketmaster.com) .

Up Next

Faceoff: 7:35 p.m. tonight.

Where: Cincinnati Gardens

Radio: WCKY-AM (1360)

Internet: www.1360homer.com

Records: Cincinnati 28-36-13-1; Houston 27-33-14-4

Series: Series tied, 2-2-3-0

Last Game: Tie, 3-3 (April 2 at Toyota Center)

Overview: Ducks and Aeros meet for the eighth and final time this season ... The Ducks trail Houston by two points for the fourth and final postseason berth in the West Division with two games remaining in the regular season ... Cincinnati has lost just two of its last 10 games (3-2-5-0) ... LW Chris Kunitz has a current season-high five-game point streak (2-4-6) ... The Aeros are winless in their last three games (0-1-2-0) ... Minnesota assigned LW Stephane Veilleux, C Richard Wallin and D Zybenk Michalek to Houston on Monday. The trio combined for 88 points with Houston this season and 21 points in the NHL with Minnesota in just over a month's time.