Gameday Preview: Stars at Houston Aeros

Texas Stars 15-9-2-2, 34 pts #5 Western Conference

at

Houston Aeros 14-10-1-3, 32 pts #7 Western Conference

December 26th at 7:05 PM

Toyota Center, Houston, TX

Texas laid an egg in their last outing before Christmas and is hoping that the Aeros are still a little heavy on the eggnog as they go to visit Houston tonight. For the first time this season, the Stars will face the Aeros ahead of them in the standings

The Stars would really like to forget their last outing. Texas did not play their game and lost 6-2 after a four-goal Barons first period. The loss broke up an eight game point streak for Texas. The Stars changed goaltenders for the first time since Nilstorp's food poisoning incident on November 25th. With three games in four nights, Texas is likely to use both Campbell and Nilstorp over the next few days.

After winning six straight, including the sixth against the Stars at home in overtime, the Aeros have lost five of seven. That includes a shutout loss at Charlotte and two at Lake Erie to finish off just before the break.

Matt Hackett has taken the lionshare of the starts for the Aeros with 23 games played. He's getting a lot of help from the offense, as his GAA is 2.64 this season but he still has an 11-8-3 record. Hackett, who led the Aeros to the Calder Cup Finals in his rookie season, had a 2.37 and 2.38 GAA in his first two seasons.

Rookie Jason Zucker continues to lead the Aeros on offense with 13-10-23. He is the same Zucker that got behind the Stars defense in the last game that they played and won the game for Houston in overtime.

Stars injury/call up report:
Glennie (hand)
Sloan (injury)

Website: aeros.com
Blog (official): Pilot to Gunner
Blog (unofficial): The Third Intermission
Twitter: @Houston_Aeros
Twitter: @aero_joe (play-by-play)
Twitter: @TheJoshFisher (PR)