HOUSTON - Former President George H.W. Bush was on hand Saturday where the Houston Aeros (8-7-0-0) defeated the San Antonio Rampage (6-6-2-1) 5-2 in front of 8,433 on Military Appreciation Night at Toyota Center. Forwards Peter Zingoni, Chad Rau, Robbie Earl, Jon DiSalvatore and Petr Kalus each scored for the Aeros and G Anton Khudobin saved 24 of 26 to record his third straight victory and sixth on the season. The Rampage netted two second period goals off the sticks of D Jeff May and LW Brett MacLean while G Josh Tordjman tallid 23 saves to get saddled with the loss. The Aeros entered the game 0-for their last-45 power play opportunities. The streak would run to 46 before Zingoni found the net on the man advantage at 11:31 in the first period; D Maxim Noreau and DiSalvatore were credited with the assists.
Houston would waste no time lighting the lamp in the second period. After killing the first penalty of a 5-on-3 Aeros RW Danny Irmen forced a turnover at center ice than resulted in a two-on-one break with Rau. Irmen would deke Tordjman stick-side and send a pass across the crease where Rau found the open net for Houston's first short-handed goal of the year. The Aeros would find the twine once more in the period when D Clayton Stoner found Earl in the slot for a one-timer; D Jaime Sifers was credited with the second helper. The Rampage would answer late in the period off goals from May and MacLean to cut the Houston lead to 3-2.
The Rampage came out firing in the third period out-shooting the Aeros 8-1 in the first seven minutes. DiSalvatore would quite the attack, however, when he sent a wrister top shelf from the right circle to put the Aeros up 4-2. Less than two minutes later Kalus would seal the game for Houston off a wrap-around bid found the net at 14:45.
The two clubs played a physical 60 minutes of hockey racking up 74 PIM off 22 penalties, including 10 fighting majors. The Aeros out-shot San Antonio 28-26 on the night and killed all three Rampage power plays. Houston went 1-for-5 on the man advantage and scored their first short-handed goal of the season.
The win brings Houston to within a point of Texas in the Lone Star Faceoff standings and pushes their win streak to four games against San Antonio this season. The Aeros head to Cleveland, OH for a back-to-back with the Lake Erie Monsters starting Friday 6:30 p.m. CST. Listen to the game on 1070 AM KNTH and ahllive.com. Follow the in-game blog on zamchron.com.
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