Gameday Preview: Stars v. Houston Aeros

Texas Stars 13-8-0-1, 27 pts #5 West Division

v.

Houston Aeros 12-10-1-2, 27 pts #6 West Division

December 4th at 7:00 PM

Cedar Park Center, Cedar Park, TX

Despite being tied in the standings in terms of points, Texas ranks above Houston for today based on games played with Texas at 22 and Houston at 25. Four of those matchups for Texas have been against the Aeros and they have not gone at all as well this year as they did last year. After winning eight of twelve against the Aeros last year, Texas has only emerged victorious in one of their four games against Houston. Their singular win was last week's pre-Thanksgiving contest.

From our friends at The 3rd Intermission:

I don't think the game in Cedar Park is going to go very well. Aeros on the road, playing a three in three with Texas well rested and only playing its second straight game. They lost to San Antonio at home in a shootout, so they will be nice and pissed off.

Indeed, in one of the many scheduling oddities of the AHL, the Aeros are playing a three-in-three from Thursday to Saturday. The Aeros split the first two games against the worst team in the conference, the Rockford IceHogs. T3I points out that the Aeros dropped "off a cliff" in terms of effort after the first 10 minutes. How is that going to work out in the third game in three nights?

Reportedly, the Aeros #1 points-per-game player (0.69) Robbie Earl will not be in the lineup. He is out with an upper body injury suffered in Friday's game.

As for Texas, Bachman did not know last night if he was getting the start tonight. He feels ready, energy-wise, to compete again this evening though.

Stars injury/call up report:
Krahn (day-to-day lower body)
McCulloch (unspecified)
Gagnon, Larsen (call up)

Website: aeros.com
Blog (unofficial): The Third Intermission
Twitter: @Houston_Aeros