Sat., March 24, 2012

The Houston Aeros (32-21-3-9, 76 pts.) continue a four-game road trip on Saturday (7:05 p.m. CST) at Rockford against the IceHogs (30-29-2-5, 67 pts.) at the BMO Harris Bank Center.

AEROS BROADCASTS
Radio: 1070 KNTH-AM
Listen online: www.aeros.com
Watch online: www.ahllive.com
Listen via Smartphone: Download the TuneIn Radio app; search Houston, then KNTH.

LIVE SCORING AND STATS
The AHL provides live scoring and stats via the GameCenter tab at www.theahl.com.

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OVERVIEW
The Houston Aeros (32-21-3-9, 76 pts.) continue a four-game road trip on Saturday (7:05 p.m. CST) at Rockford against the IceHogs (30-29-2-5, 67 pts.) at the BMO Harris Bank Center.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
---The Aeros hold the No. 4 spot in the eight-team Western Conference playoff race.
---The Aeros have won four of five games straight and five of the last seven.
---The recent four-game winning streak is the longest for Houston since winning four in a row from March 13-20, 2011, and the first four-game home winning streak since winning six-in-a-row at home from March 13-27, 2011.
 ---Eight teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs: the three division winners will be seeded first through third in order of points, and the next five teams in order of points will be seeded fourth through eighth.

THIS WEEK’S GAMES
Friday (March 23) --- at RFD (2-1 L)
Saturday (March 24) --- at RFD (7:05 p.m. CST)
Sunday (March 25) --- at CHI (3 p.m. CST)

LAST GAME
Chad Rau scored for Houston but the Aeros dropped a 2-1 decision to the Rockford IceHogs on the road on Friday at the BMO Bank Harris Center.

AEROS BROADCASTS
Radio: 1070 KNTH-AM
Listen online: www.aeros.com
Watch online: www.ahllive.com
Listen on Smartphone including BlackBerry: Download the TuneIn Radio App; search Houston, then KNTH.

LIVE SCORING AND STATS
The AHL provides live scoring and stats via the GameCenter tab at www.theahl.com.

AEROS/HOGS HEAD-TO-HEAD
This is the fourth of four meetings this season…  HOU is 1-2-0-0 against the Hogs this season (1-1-0-0 at home, 0-1-0-0 on the road) … HOU PP is 1/11… RFD PP is 1/8… All-time HOU is 14-13-3-1 (7-6-2-1 home, 7-6-2-0 road).

RECENT AEROS TRANSACTIONS
---March 23: D Sean Lorenz signed ATO
---March 19: G Matt Hackett reassigned by MIN
---March 19: G Matt Keetley released from PTO

AEROS INJURIES
Jeff Penner has missed the last 26 games… Mike McKenzie has missed the last 23 games… Darcy Kuemper has missed the last nine games.

AEROS MILESTONES
---Jon DiSalvatore’s 20th goal (on March 3 at SA) was his 69th as an Aero, placing him first in franchise history (AHL only, 4th AHL/IHL). His 41st game on Jan. 21 at TEX was his 200th as an Aero, placing him 10th all-time in Aeros (AHL) history.
---Jeff Taffe notched his 400th AHL point with an assist on Jon DiSalvatore's goal on Jan. 8 at SA. Taffe had two assists while skating in his 500th AHL game on Jan. 21 at TEX.
---Drew Bagnall played in his 300th AHL game at TEX on Jan. 21.

AEROS PLAYER NOTES
--- Justin Fontaine has points in seven of the last nine games (4-6=10) and 12 of the last 15 games (5-13=18).
---Joel Broda has assists in two of the last four games.
---David McIntyre has points in two of the last four games (1-2=3).
---Jeff Taffe leads the Aeros with 13 multi-point games, including a pair of four-point outings.
---A total of 49 different players have seen game action for Houston this season. That’s a new team record, eclipsing the previous record of 43 (set last season).
---Roster players by season (01-02/36, 02-03/35, 03-04/41, 04-05/31, 05-06/35, 06-07/26, 07-08/32, 08-09/42, 09-10/38, 10-11/43).

TEAM NOTABLES
---Houston has earned at least a point in 20 of the 37 games (11-17-3-6) in which they have allowed the first goal. They are 20-4-0-3 when scoring first.
---The Aeros netted two power play goals in the same period for the first time since scoring twice in the middle period against San Antonio on Jan. 8
---Out of 32 wins this season, 29 have come when the Aeros allow three or fewer goals and 22 have come when scoring four or more.
---Houston has played 34 games that have been decided by one goal (14-8-3-9).
---The Aeros have won four straight shootouts after losing nine of the first 10 this season. The Aeros edged Grand Rapids 3-2 on Jan. 11 for their first shootout victory of the season.
--- The attendance of 13,390 on Feb. 5 was the largest crowd for the Aeros since moving to Toyota Center in the 2002-03 season. It was the largest Aeros crowd since 13,342 on Jan. 16, 2004.  The crowd of 11,373 was the second largest crowd for the Aeros this season.

AEROS GOALIES
FALLON --- Signed PTO on March 3… Appeared in 47 games with Las Vegas of the ECHL this season, posting a 30-10-1-3 record along with a 2.39 GAA and .912 SV%...  Led the ECHL in wins (26) and minutes played (2739) and was tied for second in shutouts (3) when signed by HOU… Stopped 29/30 in 5-1 W over GR on March 10 for his first Aeros win… Was selected as the Reebok/AHL Player of the Week for the period ending Mar. 18, 2012. Won all four starts, allowing just five goals on 125 shots (4-0-0, 1.20, .960) and stopping 11/13 in two shootouts.

HACKETT – Is 6-8-3 (2.58 GAA/.904 SV%) at home and 11-5-1 (2.28, .927) GAA/.933 SV%) on the road… Won six-straight road starts from Oct. 28-Dec. 30… Made his NHL debut on Dec. 6 and made 34 saves in a 2-1 win at SJ after entering the game early in the first period to relieve an injured Josh Harding… Last Game: Stopped 21/23 in 5-2W at TEX on Feb. 25.

KUEMPER --- Is 1-1-2 at home (2.47 GAA/.920 SV%) and 5-4-2 on the road (2.51 GAA/ .919 SV%)… Led the ECHL in both GAA (1.74) and save percentage (.941) at the time of his recall on Nov. 29 and posted a 7-1-0 record with the Ontario Reign… Recorded his first pro shutout with 1-0 win on Dec. 9 vs. SAN (33 saves)… Last Game: Stopped 30/33 in 3-2L at TEX on Feb. 24… Currently out with an injury with no timetable to return.

POWER PLAY
Is 0/14 in the last three games… Went 8/38 in games 51-60 (21.1 %)… Went 8/43 in games 41-50 (18.6%)… Went 7/38 (18.4%) in games 31-40…  Went 5/37 (13.5%) in games 21-30… Went 20/106 (18/9%) in games 1-20… Set a season-high going 3/5 in a 4-2 win at SAN on Oct. 28… Tied the 3/5 mark on March 10 vs. GR.

PENALTY KILL
Opponents are 2/10 on the PP in the last three games… Stopped 6/34 in games 51-60 (82.4%)… Stopped 30/39 (76.9 %) in games 41-50… Stopped 28/36 (77.7%) in games 31-40… Stopped 20/27 (74.0%) in games 21-30… Stopped 80/97 (82.4%) in games 1-20.

AEROS PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
4 – BAGH-nawl
7 – FRED-haym
8 – MED-vekh
13 – FOO-koh
14 – deh-SAL-vuh-tohr
20 – ROWH (like now)
22 – TAYF
26 – MACK-in-tyre
27 – mick-MILL-uhn
34 – KEET-lee
35 – KEHM-puhr
39 – GEHN-oh-way
44 – pawl-MAIR-ee
61 – KOO-muh
Torchetti --- TOHR-cheh-TEE
Van Ryn --- VAN-RIGHN
LaPlante --- luh-PLAHNT