DEC. 2, 2010: AEROS VS. ROCKFORD

OVERVIEW

The Houston Aeros (11-9-1-2) play host to the Rockford IceHogs (8-11-0-2) for the first of back-to-back games in an 11:05 a.m. Kid’s Day matchup. The Aeros are coming off a 2-1 shootout win over Milwaukee at home on Saturday and have won five of their last 10 outings. Rockford last played on Saturday and was shut out 5-0 by Peoria at home. This is the first of eight meetings between the West Division rivals.

FULL GAME NOTES
AHL STATS
GAMEDAY AUDIO CLIPS

UPCOMING GAMES

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

WESTWARD --- The Aeros are 9-8-1-0 against the West Division this season. Eight of the team’s last 11 games have been against West rivals; Houston is 4-4-0-0 in those games.

PENALTY KILL UP, DOWN --- Houston's penalty kill finished the second 10-game segment of the season 41-for-45 (91.1%) after going 47-for-54 (87.04%) in the first 10. In the last five games opponents are 7-for-22 on the power play and have at least one PPG in four of the last five. Prior to Nov. 20-21, opponents had not scored PPG in back-to-back games.

HEATIN’ UP --- Casey Wellman has a goal and two assists  in three games since returning from Minnesota…Maxim Noreau has four points (2-2-4) in his last three games.

FOUR-SCORE --- When scoring at least four goals the Aeros are undefeated (6-0-0-0).

POWER-FULL --- The Houston power play, which was just 3-for-51(5.88%) in the first 10-game segment of the season, finished the second 10-game stretch 13-for-56 (22.2). The team has scored on the power play in five of six games (9-for-35, 25.7%). Houston’s two-goal power play effort on Nov. 26 ran their streak to five games with a power play marker, eclipsing the previous streak of the season (Nov. 5-9).

MULTI-POINT LEADERS --- Jon DiSalvatore and Max Noreau lead the Aeros with multiple points in four games each.

SCORE FIRST! --- Houston is 11-2-0-2 when scoring first this season and 0-7-1-0 when allowing the first goal. Both first-goal regulation losses have been against the San Antonio Rampage.

FIRST-GOAL STREAK ---The Aeros have scored the first goal in 13 of the last 16 games and are 9-5-0-2 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 2-4-1-0 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 --- The Aeros closed a 7-in-11 stretch last Saturday that dated back to Nov.17 (4-3-0-0)…A total of 18 of Houston’s final 27 games in the calendar year of 2010 are away from Toyota Center; The longest home-stand remaining in 2010 is four games from Nov. 26-Dec. 3.

MOVIN' ON UP --- The Aeros have already had 11 callups up to Minnesota (Gillies, Wellman, Kassian-3x, Almond-2x, Scandella, Earl, Falk, Spurgeon).

RECENT ROSTER MOVES --- F Brock McBride was signed to a PTO on Dec. 1…F Matt Kassian was reassigned by Minnesota on Nov. 30…F Matt Kassian was recalled by Minnesota on Nov. 29…F Robbie Earl was reassigned by Minnesota on Nov. 29…D Jared Spurgeon was recalled by Minnesota on Nov. 28…F Brock McBride was released from his PTO on Nov. 28…F Matt Kassian was reassigned by Minnesota on Nov. 28…F Matt Kassian was reassigned by Minnesota on Nov. 26.

LAST GAME QUICK RECAP

Jared Spurgeon scored Houston’s lone regulation goal and then bagged the deciding tally in the sixth round of the shootout to lead the Houston Aeros to a 2-1 shootout victory over the Milwaukee Admirals in front of 5,168 fans Saturday night at Toyota Center. Spurgeon broke a scoreless tie at the 5:12 mark of the third period for his second goal of the season. Casey Wellman, who now has points in two of three games since returning from recall to Minnesota, earned an assist along with Brandon Buck to help give the Aeros a 1-0 lead for the 13th time in the last 16 games.