Gameday Preview: Stars at Houston Aeros

Texas Stars 26-15-3-3, 58 pts #6 West Division

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Houston Aeros 28-19-1-3, 60 pts #4 West Division

February 4th at 7:35 PM

Toyota Center, Houston, TX

The Texas Stars made an early get away to Houston last night to beat the snow that came in today. The Stars bus was probably looking a little thin as they made the trip down I-10. With 3 players called up to Dallas and two more on the injury list, Texas needed to sign a PTO player just to make it to twelve for tonight's game against the Aeros.

Speaking of injuries, this weekend marks the first time that Brent Krahn will dress for a game since mid-November. The goaltender will be unlikely to play this weekend, in my estimation, but will be on the bench in case of injury to Bachman. Bachman has been an iron man for Texas, starting 18 of the last 20 games. Krahn's return is certainly welcome for the rookie.

The Aeros come out of the All-Star break on quite a hot streak. Houston has earned points in nine of their last ten contests, including a 3-1 win over Texas on the January 21st. Overall this season, Texas is struggling mightily against the Aeros. With a 6-1-0-0 record, Houston has had the upper hand by far in the season series. Despite that, Texas could pull even with the Aeros in the standings with a win tonight. The Stars also have a much better points percentage than the Aeros, .617 to .588. Both are playoff caliber teams, but Texas has to hope that they don't pull the Aeros come playoff time.

The captain, Jon DiSalvatore, leads all skaters in points against the Stars this season with 5 goals and 3 assists. Former Star Warren Peters is next with 4 goals and 2 assists. Several players round out the top five at 6 total points.

Anton Khudobin has yet to fall to Texas this year in 4 games of work. Matt Hackett is 2-1-0-0, suffering the Aeros only loss against Texas, a 5-3 loss just before Thanksgiving in Cedar Park.

Stars injury/call up report:
Fortunus, McCulloch (lower body)
Gagnon, Morin, Sawada (call up)

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