Preview: Aeros and Wolves Set for Morning Game

Published on February 16, 2011 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


THURSDAY, FEB. 17, 2011

HOUSTON AEROS VS. CHICAGO WOLVES

TOYOTA CENTER (11:05 a.m. CST)

OVERVIEW

The Houston Aeros begin their ninth three-in-three weekend of the season with a matinee matchup against the Chicago Wolves. The Aeros had a season-high six-game winning streak snapped in their last outing, a 3-1 loss to Peoria on Sunday at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. Thursday ‚¬â„¢s game is also the start of a three-in-three for the Wolves and the second of three straight away from home; they beat Milwaukee 5-2 on Friday and have been off since. The Aeros/Wolves matchup is the only game on the slate for Feb. 18 in the AHL.

WHERE THEY STAND

Entering this week ‚¬â„¢s action the Aeros led the West Division and Western Conference with 68 points and were tied with San Antonio for most wins. In a tight West Division race, the standings seem to change almost daily. Peoria has a shot at taking over first place on Wednesday night at Rockford; a win by the Rivermen would put them one point ahead of the Aeros in the standings.

NHL AFFILIATES

Houston Aeros (Minnesota Wild) --- The Wild is 30-21-5 with 65 points; the team sits one point out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference and has seven wins it their last 10 games.

Chicago Wolves (Atlanta Thrashers) --- The Thrashers (25-23-10) has 60 points and sits 10th in the Eastern Conference, two points out of a playoff spot. They have two wins in their last 10 games.

AEROS UPCOMING GAMES

Feb. 18 at Milwaukee, 7 p.m.

Feb. 19 at Rockford, 7:05 p.m.

Feb. 22 vs. Milwaukee, 7:05 p.m.

Feb. 25 vs. Texas, 7:35 p.m.

Feb. 26 at OKC, 7:05 p.m.

BROADCAST INFO

Follow the Aeros on News Talk 1070 KNTH and online at AEROS.COM with Joe O ‚¬â„¢Donnell providing the play-by-play call. Watch every game at www.ahllive.com.

AEROS AT A GLANCE

llip;...............1st/West Division

ip;...................32-20-1-3, 68 pts.

ellip;...17-7-1-1

ellip;...17-13-0-2

....LOST 1

AEROS SPECIAL TEAMS

PP: 17.0% ip;.........PK: 83.9% (12TH)

PPG: llip;..SHG: 4

AEROS LEADERS

tore (36)

hellip;.....Earl (16)

lip;...............Noreau/DiSalvatore (25)

llip;...Almond (7)

...Noreau (18)

llip;McMillan (3)

ip;...................................McMillan (4)

llip;Kassian (118)

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

· The Aeros set a season-high with their sixth consecutive win on Friday at Peoria.

· Houston is 8-0-0-1 in its last nine games at Toyota Center. Their home regulation unbeaten streak of nine games dated back to Dec. 26 and was snapped in their 3-1 loss to Peoria at Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota (the neutral site game was recorded as an Aeros home game).

· The Aeros have outscored opponents 8-3 in 5-on-5 play over the last five games.

· The Aeros have won seven of their last eight on the road and four straight.

· All 32 of Houston ‚¬â„¢s wins have come when the team allows three or fewer goals.

· 26 of Houston ‚¬â„¢s wins have come when they score the first goal.

· The Aeros won 10 games in the month of January, one win shy of a team record for victories in one month (10 games played or more).

AEROS GOALIES --- Anton Khudobin is 18-9-1 with a 2.44 GAA and .916 SV%. Khudobin has won seven of his last nine starts and had a six-game winning streak snapped on Feb. 13... Matt Hackett is 12-11-2 with a 2.42 GAA and .915 SV%. He is 4-1-1 in his last six decisions.

SCORING STREAKS ---

2 GAMES --- Cody Almond (1-1-2)... Jon DiSalvatore (0-2-2)... Robbie Earl (0-2-2).

INJURY UPDATE --- Casey Wellman is out with an upper body injury but has been skating with the team... Tyler Cuma is out for the season with a knee injury suffered Feb. 13. 2011 vs. PEO.

AEROS PRONUNCIATION GUIDE

PLAYERS

6 - scan-DELL-uh

14 - deh-SAL-vuh-tohr

20 - ROWH (like now)

23 - KAL-uhs

26 - Max-uhm naw-roh

30 - hoo-DOH-bin

32 - FRED-haym

42 - KAS-ee-uhn

61 - KOO-muh

62 - DAH-ooh

STAFF

Mike Yeo - YOH

Darryl Sydor - suh-DOHR

Doug Tretiak - TREE-tee-ahk

SPECIAL TEAMS

POWER PLAY --- Has a goal in three straight (3/17)... Has multiple PPG in 10 games and is 6-2-0-2 in those games...Was held to one or no PPG in 15 straight games prior to Feb. 4 (2-for-4)...Set a season-high with three PPG on Nov. 19... PPG in back-to-back games for the first time this season Nov. 5-6...Snapped an 0-for-28 skid Oct. 29 at SAN... Went 2-for-7 in the season opener Oct. 8 at OKC.

PENALTY KILL --- Has allowed a goal in three straight (4/14)...Held opponents to one or no PPG in 15 straight games until TOR went 2-for-5 on Jan. 23...Has allowed multiple PPG in nine games and is 2-7-0-0 in those contests...Opponents went 5-for-19 over a four-game losing skid Dec. 15-21...Stopped 18 in a row over five games (Nov. 9-19)...Stopped 23 in a row over four games (Oct. 30 - Nov. 6)...Turned away 10 of 10 in two games Oct. 30-31... OKC went 4-for-8 on PP Oct. 17...Was perfect on 16 kills through first three games this season.

UPCOMING OPPONENTS

CHICAGO WOLVES

ALL-TIME AEROS RECORD: 50-41-14-5 (30-15-8-2 at home, 20-23-6-3 on the road)

SEASON RECORD: 2-1-0-0 (0-1-0-0 at home, 1-1-0-0 on the road)

NOTES: This is the second time Chicago has visited Houston this season and first time since November... Houston edged the Wolves 4-3 in the shootout in their last meeting (Jan. 14 at CHI)... Four different goalies have seen time in goal for the Aeros vs. CHI this season... CHI was eight points out of first place entering the week.

MILWAUKEE ADMIRALS

ALL-TIME AEROS RECORD: 44-49-12-5 (26-19-8-3 at home, 18-30-4-2 on the road)

SEASON RECORD: 1-1-0-0 (0-0-0-0 at home, 1-1-0-0 on the road)

NOTES: This is Milwaukee ‚¬â„¢s first visit to Toyota Center this season...Goalies Anton Khudobin and MIL ‚¬â„¢s Karl Dekanich have played in both games... Both contests have been decided by one goal... MIL entered the week one point behind the Aeros in the West Division.

ROCKFORD ICEHOGS

ALL-TIME AEROS RECORD: 11-10-2-2 (7-5-5-1-1 at home, 6-5-2-0 on the road)

SEASON RECORD: 3-2-0-0 (1-1-0-0 at home, 2-1-0-0 on the road)

NOTES: The Aeros have won two straight vs. the Hogs... Matt Hackett has played in four-straight vs. RFD and is 2-2-0... The Hogs had won just once in the last 10 games entering the week.

AEROS NOTABLES

· The Aeros won their 30th game of the 2010-11 season on Feb. 8 at TEX in their 53rd game. Last season, it took the club 71 games to win 30 overall (March 26).

· The Aeros have hosted a game at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul three times including the 3-1 loss on Feb. 13, 2011. The club has split their previous two decisions in St. Paul, posting a 3-1 victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins on Mar. 7, 2005 and dropping a 2-1 decision to the Milwaukee Admirals on Dec. 8, 2002.

HOMEBOYS --- Houston has points in nine consecutive games at Toyota Center (8-0-0-1) dating back to Dec. 26... The nine-game points streak at home ended on Feb. 13 at Xcel Energy Center... They have also won 12 of 17 at home dating back to a Nov. 21 victory over Texas.

TURNSTILE TIDBITS --- Through 24 home games, the Aeros are sixth in the AHL with an average attendance of 6,261...The average includes on game at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul... The 10,552 on hand for the Jan. 1 game was the largest crowd for an Aeros contest since Dec. 3, 2009, when 11,291 watched the Aeros and Rampage at Toyota Center.

RECENT ROSTER MOVES --- F Cody Almond and D Justin Falk were reassigned by MIN on Feb. 6......F Cody Almond and D Justin Falk were recalled by MIN on Feb. 5...F Cody Almond was reassigned by MIN on Jan. 26... G Josh Tordjman was loaned to BAK on Jan. 20... G Anton Khudobin was reassigned by MIN on Jan. 20.

JANUARY JUGGERNAUT --- The Aeros had an impressive month of January by recording a 10-2-0-1 record and moving into position to challenge for the top spot in the Western Conference. Here ‚¬â„¢s a rundown of nuggets from January...

· Jan. 2011 was the sixth time in franchise history the team has recorded 10 or more wins in a month.

· The last time was Jan. 2003 (11-2-3-0).

· The franchise has recorded 10 wins or more in a month in four other seasons (1997-98, 1998-99, 2000-01, 2002-03).

· In the 1997-98 and 00-01 seasons the team lost in the 1st round of playoffs.

· In the 1998-99 and 2002-03 seasons the team went on to win championships.

· The Aeros have never finished season lower than 2nd in their division when recording 10 or more wins in one month.

SCORE FIRST! --- Houston leads the AHL in first goals (36) and is 26-7-0-3 when scoring first. Cody Almond leads the club with three first-goals. Five other players have two game-opening tallies.

WHEN IT ‚¬â„¢S CLOSE --- The Aeros are 16-5-1-3 in games decided by one goal.

MOVIN' ON UP --- The Aeros have had 20 call-ups to Minnesota (Khudobin, Hackett, Gillies, Wellman, Kassian-3X, Almond-4X, Scandella-2X, Earl, Falk-2X, Spurgeon-3X, Peters).

HOLD EM ‚¬â„¢ TO ONE --- Houston is 15-1-1-0 when holding opponents to one or no goals.

FOUR-SCORE --- When scoring at least four goals the Aeros are undefeated (20-0-0-0). Houston has yet to win a game when allowing four or more goals (0-11-0-0) and is 0-8-0-0 on the road when doing so.

WESTWARD --- The Aeros are 24-13-1-0 vs. West Division teams this season including an 11-5-1-0 mark at home.

NORTHBOUND --- The Aeros are 7-7-0-3 vs. the North this season. They played six in a row vs. the North from Dec. 12-21 and went 1-5-0-0 in that span. That ‚¬â„¢s the longest stretch the team played non-West Division rivals this season.

PENALTY SHOTS --- J.M. Daoust ‚¬â„¢s penalty shot goal on Jan. 7 at home vs. LE was his first tally since Dec. 2 and the team ‚¬â„¢s first penalty shot since Feb. 21, 2010... Colton Gillies scored at PEO on Feb. 11... Houston is 3-for-12 on penalty shots since 2005-06. The Aeros were 1-for-1 last season (Chad Rau, Feb. 21, 2010) and 0-for-3 in the preceding two seasons.

TAKE A BREATHER --- The Aeros had five full days in between the Jan. 1-Jan. 7 games. It ‚¬â„¢s one of the longest stretches between games this season. The team also had five days off between the season opener and its next game (Oct. 9-15). The longest the team has between games this season is six days (Jan. 29-Feb. 3) and a full week (Apr. 3-10).

QUICKLY --- The goals 20 seconds apart by Chad Rau and Warren Peters in the third period of the Jan. 1 comeback win over San Antonio were the fastest the Aeros have combined for goals this season.

UPDATE THE RECORD BOOK --- Casey Wellman became just the third player in Aeros history to record four goals in a game and the first to bag a natural hat trick in the opening 20 minutes in Houston ‚¬â„¢s 5-3 win over San Antonio on Dec. 10. Wellman joins Dave Hymovitz (March 24, 2000 at KC) and Roman Voloshenko (Oct. 21, 2005 vs. GR) in the select group...Chad Rau, who assisted on all three first period markers, tied a franchise-high watermark with the feat.

COME BACK NOW --- The Dec. 7 win at OKC marked the second time in four games the Aeros came from behind to win after trailing entering the third period. The Aeros earned their first win of the season when trailing after two periods on Dec. 2; they were 0-9-0-0 until that point.

CUMA MAKES DEBUT --- Tyler Cuma made his pro debut on Dec. 2. The Wild's first round pick (23rd overall) in 2008 missed the first 23 games of the season on the injured reserve

KASSIAN, FALK BREAK GOAL DROUGHTS--- Matt Kassian ‚¬â„¢s goal on Nov. 21 vs. TEX was his first since Jan. 16, 2010, vs. Toronto, a span of 41 AHL games. Justin Falk ‚¬â„¢s goal on Jan. 12 at RFD was his first tally since March 14, 2010, at RFD, a run of 25 AHL games.

PPG PLATEAU --- The Aeros scored three PPG on Nov. 19 at GR, marking the first time this season the team eclipsed the two PPG plateau.

FIRST SHUTOUT --- Houston ‚¬â„¢s 5-0 shutout on Nov. 19 at GR was their first since a Feb. 13, 2010, 1-0 overtime win at home against the Griffins, a run that spanned 42 games. Anton Khudobin made 28 saves for his sixth career shutout with the most recent win.

2010-11 AEROS PLAYER NOTES

4 - JAMIE FRASER

2010-11: Recalled from Elmira (ECHL) on Jan. 8...Appeared in eight games for Elmira (ECHL) and regis

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