DEC. 14, 2010: AEROS AT BULLDOGS
OVERVIEW
The Houston Aeros (15-11-1-2) visit the Hamilton Bulldogs (16-7-1-3) for the first of two meetings this season. This is the second game of a five-game road trip for the Aeros, who fell 5-2 at Lake Erie on Sunday. Robbie Earl extended his scoring streak to six games in the loss. Houston is one point out of fourth place and three points out of third in the West Division. Texas holds the No. 4 spot while Milwaukee and Oklahoma City are knotted with 36 points in third. Hamilton leads the North Division with 36 points and has won two in a row. Their last outing was a 5-1 win over Toronto on Sunday. The four-goal win ended a string of eight consecutive games decided by one goal.

UPCOMING GAMES

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
Dec. 17 at Manitoba	7:30 p.m. CST	News Talk 1070 KNTH/AHLLIVE.COM

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AEROS AT A GLANCE
RECORD: 15-11-1-2, 33 pts., 5th, West Division
HOME: 7-5-1-0
ROAD: 8-6-0-2   
STREAK: LOST 1   

NHL AFFILIATES
Houston Aeros (Minnesota Wild)
Hamilton Bulldogs (Montreal Canadiens)
    
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
GAME NIGHT NUGGETS --- Hamilton’s Max Pacioretty is 2nd in AHL scoring (17-15-32) and leads the league in goals…HAM goalie Curtis Sanford in 4th in save % (.936)…HOU D Maxim Noreau is tied for the AHL lead with 5 PPG…HOU’s penalty kill is ranked 6th in the AHL (86.0%) while HAM’s power play is 6th (20.5%)…HAM is tied for the AHL lead with 18 one-goal decisions (9-5-1-3).

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 (2-1)…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 --- Robbie Earl has points in team season-high six straight games (4-5-9)…Casey Wellman has point in four of five games (4-3-7). He has points in six of nine (5-5-10) since being reassigned on Nov. 23.

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

SCORE FIRST! --- The Aeros scored first for the 19th time in the last 22 games and the 21st time in its 29 games this season on Dec. 12 at Lake Erie. They lead the AHL in first goals (21) and are 15-4-0-2 when scoring first. 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 6-6-1-0 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 reassigned by MIN on Dec. 13…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
Two goals in the opening 2:56 of the first period provided Houston with a spark, but it wasn’t enough as the Lake Erie Monsters scored five unanswered markers to hand the Aeros a 5-2 defeat Sunday at Quicken Loans Arena. The loss snapped Houston’s three-game winning streak.