AEROS POSTGAME REPORT
EARL SCORES TWICE AS AEROS BEAT CRUNCH 4-3 IN OT

SYRACUSE --- Robbie Earl scored a pair of goals including the game-winner in overtime as the Houston Aeros edged the Syracuse Crunch 4-3 on Wednesday night before 4,005 at the War Memorial at Oncenter.

Earl’s team-leading 16th goal of the seasons came via the power play with 1:43 gone by in extra time. Nate Prosser and Chad Rau notched the assists as the Aeros won for the seventh time in their last nine games and climbed to within one point of first place in the West Division.

Both Prosser and Rau collected a pair of assists in the game while goaltender Anton Khudobin stopped 20 shots for the victory.

Houston took a 2-0 lead out of the first period on goals by Colton Gillies and Earl. Gillies connected 26 seconds into the contest for Houston’s quickest goal from the start of a game this season. Earl followed up at 17:35

The Crunch rattled off three-straight goals in the middle stanza. Nate Guenin scored his first goal of the season, a short-handed tally, to cut the lead in half at 3:30. Kyle Palmieri’s 11th goal knotted it at 2-2 at the 13:32 mark and then Patrick Maroon bagged his 11th, on the power play, at 14:52 to give the Crunch the lead.

Aeros captain Jon DiSalvatore continued his fiery pace by scoring the equalizer, unassisted, at the 3:45 mark of the third period. DiSalvatore has eight points (4-4-8) in six of his last seven games.

J.P. Levasseur made 37 saves but suffered the loss for the Crunch.
 
The Aeros return home to face the Abbotsford Heat this Friday at 7:35 p.m. Call 713-974-7825 (PUCK) for more information on Aeros tickets and other promotions.

DECIDING GOAL
Earl (1:43, OT)

POWER PLAYS
HOU: 1/6
SYR: 1/3

GOALIES
HOU: Khudobin (20/23, W)
SYR: Levasseur (37/41, L)

TEAM RECORDS
HOU: 27-19-1-3
SYR: 16-24-2-4

AEROS STARTERS
F: Almond, DiSalvatore, O’Sullivan
D: Prosser, Falk
G: Khudobin

AEROS SCRATCHES
Fraser, Palmer, Kalus, Buck

NEXT GAME
Jan. 28 vs. Abbotsford, 7:35 p.m. CST

BOMB DROPPINGS
F Cody Almond was reassigned to Houston by the Minnesota Wild after last night's 4-2 Wild win at Chicago...The Aeros scored the first goal for the AHL-leading 32nd time; they are 22-7-0-3 when doing so…The win was Houston’s third in four overtime games this season…The last time the Aeros had a game decided in overtime was Dec. 3 at Texas, a 4-3 win…Tonight was the 13th time the Aeros played to extra time; they are 6-3 when going to the shootout…Earl has scored 10 of his 16 goals on the road…The win improved the Aeros to 14-5-1-3 in one-goal games…The Aeros are 15-0-0-0 when scoring four goals in a game.