Stars Fall Flat Against Aeros, Lose 3-1

After winning their last three in a row, including two on the road, Texas had a bit of a let down tonight against a struggling Aeros team that just kept hanging around in the game.

Houston never trailed in the game and got things off to an early start in the first. A paunchy rebound right up the guts from goaltender Richard Bachman left Marco Scandella all alone at the blue line where he did a nice wind-up and laid one in there for a 1-0 Aeros lead. Texas would then face a 5-on-3 in their advantage for an extended 67 seconds, in which they came out flat and could not generate the proper chances. Overall, Texas was 0 for 6 on the power play tonight officially. "In these kinds of games, you need your power play to go," said Coach Gulutzan. "When you're not at a high energy level, you need your power play to click for you."

Five minutes after the first goal, pugilist and occasional goal-scorer Carson McMillan put one home on a cram play. Texas would get one back in the period just coming off the power play. Fabian Brunnstrom shot low from below the right wing circle and beat Khudobin on a trickler five hole. The only other scoring in the game came in the third period when Nate Prosser bombed one form the point and beat Bachman for the 3-1 lead.

Texas simply lacked energy for much of the game. The Stars are coming to the end of a seven game in ten day schedule that has surely exhausted the team. After tomorrow's game in Houston, the Stars will have a break until Friday at Oklahoma City.

The play of Fabian Brunnstrom is coming along in the AHL. Brunnstrom, who earned the night's third star, had the Stars' only goal and was everywhere in the second half of the third period after being elbowed in the face by Aeros captain, Jon DiSalvatore. The right winger hounded the puck and showed why he was so highly sought after by NHL clubs when coming to North America. The Stars have to hope that he will continue to develop that game as the season progresses.

Tonight's lines:
Wathier-Gagnon-Rallo
Brunnstrom-Morin-Vincour
Sceviour-Roman-Tousignant
Gazdic-King-Backman

Spang-Stephenson
Tr. Ludwig-Fortunus
Lukowich-Larsen

Bachman

Injuries, scratches, and notes:
Benn, Chupp (scratched)
Sawada, McCulloch (undisclosed injury)
Blindenbacher (concussion-like symptoms)

Tonight's attendance was 5,616.

AHL Gamesheet - Texas v. Houston - October 30 2010

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