Houston Aeros Six Game Winning Streak Snapped With 3-2 Loss to Peoria

The Houston Aeros had their impressive six-game winning streak snapped Sunday night at home when they were defeated 3-2 by the Peoria Rivermen.  The loss was a difficult one to take given the Aeros out shot the Rivermen by a 34-23 margin and it was a painful reminder of how the hockey god’s sometime work.

Friday night when the Aeros won their sixth straight when they beat the Texas Stars 2-1 despite being badly outshot in the contest.  Tonight it was the Aeros’ turn to know what it feels like to pepper the opposing netminder, only to come up on the losing end of a trying battle.

Houston opened the scoring thanks to a Chay Genoway goal, his third of the season from Kris Foucault and Johan Larsson.

Peoria would tie it up midway through the opening frame when Phil McRae got his fifth on the year on the powerplay.  The Rivermen would take the lead just over two minutes later thanks to a Jaden Schwartz tally that would send the clubs to the dressing room’s at the 2-1 Rivermen score.

The second period was a bit of a snooze fest in this one at least from an offensive standpoint.  Both clubs failed to generate many shots on net (six apiece), let alone scoring chances so it was no surprise that the middle frame was a scoreless one.

The period did feature some raw emotion as both clubs got a little heated with one another with multiple roughing calls and a fight between Marco Scandella of the Aeros and Chris Bruton of the Rivermen.

But the tempers would settle down come the third period and rightfully so with a big two points on the line in the contest.  Andrew Murray would give Peoria a two-goal cushion just 43 seconds into the third period before Charlie Coyle cut the lead in half with just over ten minutes remaining.  Jason Zucker assisted on Coyle’s eighth of the year.

That would be as close as the Aeros would come on this night as Mike McKenna would shut the door the rest of the way, turning away 12 of the 13 third period shots he faced to secure the win for the Rivermen.

The loss gives the Aeros a record of 12-7-1-2 and still sit in fourth place in the Western Conference, just one point behind the Charlotte Checkers for first in the division.  The Aeros do have two games in hand on the Checkers.

Next action for Houston is this Tuesday, December 11 when they play host to the San Antonio Rampage.  Game time is set for 11:05am CST.

For all the latest news and analysis on the Minnesota Wild, follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

A.