FEB. 4, 2011: AEROS VS TEXAS STARS (7:35 p.m. CST)
OVERVIEW

The Houston Aeros (28-19-1-3) return from the AHL All-Star break to square off against the Texas Stars (26-15-3-3) at Toyota Center. The Aeros have won two-in-a-row and eight of its last 10. Texas has points in four-straight (3-0-0-1) and enters Friday with 58 points. Entering AHL action on Thursday, three West Division teams (Milwaukee, San Antonio and Houston) were tied for the No. 1 spot with 60 points while two teams (Peoria and OKC) were one point behind. Last night, Peoria beat OKC 4-1 to take over the West Division lead by one point. The West Division race is the most tightly contested in the AHL, while the Western Conference overall is up for grabs. Eliminating the bottom three teams in both the West and North Divisions, a total of six points separate the top 12 teams in the Conference.

AEROS UPCOMING GAMES
Feb. 4 vs. Texas, 7:35 p.m. CST
Feb. 8 at Texas, 7:30 p.m. CST
Feb. 9 at Rockford, 6:35 p.m. CST

BROADCAST INFO
Follow the Aeros on News Talk 1070 KNTH and online at AEROS.COM with Joe O’Donnell providing the play-by-play call. Watch every game at www.ahllive.com.

AEROS AT A GLANCE
STANDING………………………….....T1/West Div.
RECORD…………………………..28-19-1-3, 60 pts.
HOME……………………………………….14-6-1-1
ROAD………………………………………14-13-0-2
STREAK……………………………………...WON 2

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
·    The Aeros are going for their third consecutive win tonight.
·    Since Dec. 26, the Aeros are 7-0-0-1 at home. That’s the third-longest home point streak in the AHL this season. Portland had the longest (10 games, Oct. 9-Nov. 20).
·    Aeros Captain Jon DiSalvatore needs one point to reach 400 as a pro.
·    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).
·    J.M. Daoust’s goal on Jan. 28 was his 300th point as a pro.
·    Houston has scored 23 more goals than their opponents in the first period, the best differential in the AHL this season.

AEROS SPECIAL TEAMS
PP: 16.6% (19th)…………………... PK: 84.8% (7th)
PPG: 38………………………………………SHG: 4

NHL AFFILIATES
Houston Aeros……………………….Minnesota Wild
Texas Stars……………………………….Dallas Stars

AEROS LEADERS
Points…………………………………...........Earl (33)
Goals………………………………………...Earl (16)
Assists……………………………………Noreau (23)
PPG…………………………………....Almond/Earl (6)
PP-Pts…………………………………….Noreau (16)
SHG…………………………………….McMillan (2)
SH-Pts……………………………..........McMillan (3)
PIM.....………………………….............Kassian (107)

VS TEXAS STARS
ALL-TIME AEROS RECORD: 10-8-1-0 (6-4-0-0 at home, 4-4-1-0 at Texas)

SEASON RECORD: 6-1-0-0 (4-0-0-0 at home, 2-1-0-0 at Texas)

SERIES NOTES: The Aeros have earned 13 of a possible 14 points vs. the Stars this season... Houston has won two of the last three games in extra time. Cody Almond had the winners in both games; a 4-3 OTW at TEX on Dec. 4 and a 4-3 SOW at home on Dec. 26...The teams play 12 total times this season and meet again on Feb. 8 at TEX... Anton Khudobin is 4-0-0 in five appearances vs. the Stars with a 2.55 GAA and .916 SV%... Jon DiSalvatore has scored five of his 11 goals vs. TEX… Warren Peters has four of his 10 goals vs. the Stars.

PP: 8/21 (25.8%)…………………………………………..PK: 27/33 (81.8%)

ABOUT THE STARS: Texas entered the weekend with the lowest penalty minute average (11.8) in the AHL… Special teams have been a struggle, especially on the road; the Stars’ PK ranked 29th (77.0%) overall and 27th (76.6%) on the road, while the PP was 17th (16.8%) overall but just 28th (11.5%) away from home… TEX is an impressive 13-1-3-3 in one-goal games… Aaron Gagnon has goals (3) in three straight games.

AEROS TIDBITS
·    Houston tied a season-long three-game road winning streak on Jan. 22 at LE; the streak was snapped on Jan. 23 at TOR. They have won four of their last six on the road.
·    Robbie Earl has scored 10 of his 16 goals on the road.
·    Max Noreau leads the Aeros with nine multi-point games.
·    Houston’s 51 games played are second only to Lake Erie and Chicago (52).
·    Houston and Chicago have both played 29 road games; only Toronto has played more (30).
·    On record, the Aeros have never had a game postponed due to weather in Houston. One game, on Jan. 22, 2005, was postponed due to Grand Rapids getting stuck at home due to weather.

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’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 division when recording 10 or more wins in one month
·    Houston’s .808 win % in Jan. 2011 is tied for the 4th highest in franchise history for best winning % in a month (when playing 10 or more games).

HOMEBOYS --- Houston has points in eight consecutive home games dating back to Dec. 26…They have also won 11 of 15 at home dating back to a Nov. 21 victory over Texas. Six of those wins have been decided by one goal; four have been decided by two goals.

STREAKS --- The Aeros have PPG in four of the last five games… Jon DiSalvatore has points in seven of eight games (4-5-9)… Chad Rau has assists (3) in two straight games and had the SO GWG on Jan. 28… Robbie Earl has goals in four of his last six games (5) and points in 13 of his last 16 (8-7-15)… Nate Prosser and notched his first multi-point AHL games with two assists on Jan. 26…Warren Peters has points in three of his last four games (2-1-3).

AEROS GOALIES --- Anton Khudobin is 15-9-1 with a 2.54 GAA and .911 SV%. Khudobin has won four of his last five starts. With the Jan. 28 SO win over ABB, Khudobin is now 5-1 in shootouts. He has won four straight shootout decisions and six-straight extra time decisions. In addition Khudobin is 4-0 at home in the extra-extra and 7-2 overall in extra time games including overtime decisions… Matt Hackett is 11-11-2 with a 2.47 GAA and .913 SV%. He is 3-1-1 in his last five decisions.

TURNSTILE TIDBITS --- Through 22 home games, the Aeros are sixth in the AHL with an average attendance of 6,131… 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 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.
 
LAST GAME QUICK RECAP --- Chad Rau scored the decisive goal in the fifth shootout round to help lead the Houston Aeros to a 4-3 win over the Abbotsford Heat before 5,862 on Friday night at Toyota Center. J.M. Daoust, Carson McMillan and Patrick O’Sullivan also scored for the Aeros, who closed the month of January with a 10-2-0-1 record. Goaltender Anton Khudobin made 21 saves and added four more stops in the shootout.