DEC. 12, 2010: AEROS AT MONSTERS
OVERVIEW
The Houston Aeros (15-10-1-2) visit the Lake Erie Monsters (12-11-2-4) for the second meeting between the teams this season. Today’s game is the first of five-in-a-row on the road for the Aeros, who are coming off a 5-3 win over San Antonio on Friday at home. The team has won three-in-a-row and can tie a season-high for consecutive wins with a victory tonight. The Aeros sit one point out of fourth place in the West Division behind Texas and Milwaukee and three points behind third place Oklahoma City. Lake Erie, which is winless in four games (0-2-0-2), sits in third place in the North Division. Winners in three of their last 10 games, they nonetheless are just four points out of the Division lead. After today’s game, the Monsters play five of the next six games on the road.

UPCOMING GAMES

Dec. 12 at Lake Erie	2:00 p.m. CST	News Talk 1070 KNTH/AHLLIVE.COM
Dec. 14 at Hamilton	6:00 p.m. CST	News Talk 1070 KNTH/AHLLIVE.COM
Dec. 15 at Grand Rapids	6:00 p.m. CST	News Talk 1070 KNTH/AHLLIVE.COM

 

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
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’s 5-3 win over San Antonio on Dec. 10. Wellman joins Dave Hymovitz (March 24, 200 at KC) and Roman Voloshenko (Oct. 21, 2005 vs. GR) in the select few… Chad Rau, who assisted on all three first period markers, tied a franchise-high watermark with the feat.

HOMELY --- Houston has won seven of nine at home dating back to an Oct. 31 victory over Texas. Four of those wins have been by one goal; a pair has been decided by two goals...Eight of Houston’s 13 home games have been one-goal decisions (4-3-1-0) and three have been decided by two goals (2-)…Except for an 8-2 loss to Peoria and a 5-3 defeat by San Antonio, the Aeros have not allowed more than three goals in a home game…Goals allowed (1 – 2X; 2 – 5X; 3 - 4X; 5 – 1X; 8 – 1X).

KHUDOBIN AT HOME --- Anton Khudobin has won six-straight home starts, posting a 2.08 GAA and .933 save percentage over that span.

WESTWARD --- The Aeros are 13-9-1-0 against the West Division this season. A total of 13 of the team’s last 16 games have been against West rivals; Houston is 8-5-0-0 in those games.

WHEN IT’S CLOSE --- The Aeros are 7-3-1-2 in games decided by one goal.

HEATIN’ UP --- Casey Wellman has points in four straight (4-3-7). He has points in six of eight (5-5-10) since being reassigned on Nov. 23…Robbie Earl has points in five straight (4-4-8).

FOUR-SCORE --- When scoring at least four goals the Aeros are undefeated (10-0-0-0).

SCORE FIRST! --- Houston is 15-3-0-2 when scoring first this season and 0-7-1-0 when allowing the first goal. They lead the AHL with 20 first goals. Two of the first-goal regulation losses have been against the San Antonio Rampage. The other was against Rockford.

FIRST-GOAL STREAK ---The Aeros have scored the first goal in 18 of the last 21 games and are 13-6-0-2 in those games. The Aeros scored the first goal in seven straight games (Oct. 29-Nov. 8) and were 4-1-0-2 in that span.

SHOOTIN' --- The Aeros are 9-4-0-2 when being outshot and 6-5-1-0 when outshooting their opponents. The Nov. 14 win at PEO was the first time this season the Aeros out shot an opponent and won.

SCHEDULE NOTES --- Nine of the final 12 games of 2010 are on the road…A total of 18 of Houston’s final 27 games in the calendar year of 2010 are away from Toyota Center…The team plays five games in seven days from Dec. 12-18.

MOVIN' ON UP --- The Aeros have had 12 call-ups to Minnesota (Gillies, Wellman, Kassian-3x, Almond-2x, Scandella, Earl, Falk, Spurgeon, Peters).

RECENT ROSTER MOVES --- F Warren Peters was recalled by MIN…Jamie Fraser was reassigned to Elmira (ECHL) on Dec. 10…F Joel Broda and F Peter Zingoni were reassigned to Bakersfield (ECHL) on Dec. 9.

LAST GAME QUICK RECAP
Casey Wellman scored four times and Chad Rau registered three assists as the Houston Aeros ended San Antonio’s four-game winning streak in a 5-3 win over the Rampage on Friday night at Toyota Center.