Houston Aeros Defeat Manitoba Moose 4-1 - AHL

HOUSTON – The Houston Aeros (7-7-0-0) got two goals from RW Danny Irmen and D Maxim Noreau added two goals and an assist en route to a 4-1 win over the Manitoba Moose (8-7-2-0) Thursday in front of 3,163 at Toyota Center. G Anton Khudobin (5-2-0) made his return to Houston after being re-assigned by the Minnesota Wild earlier this week and tallied 14 saves for his fifth win of the season. Former Aero C Marco Rosa netted the only goal for Manitoba while G Daren Machesney (2-6-0) saved 31 of 34 in the loss.

“It was a good game for us,” said Head Coach Kevin Constantine. “We’ve been playing good, we just haven’t gotten any goals for the amount of chances we’ve had so it was nice to see Danny and Max be able to score a couple of goals tonight.”

The two clubs played to a physical first period that saw 10 penalties for 38 PIM including three fighting majors per team. Each team also lit the lamp in the opening frame with Houston scoring the first goal off the stick of Irmen at 13:43; D Clayton Stoner and Noreau were credited with the assists. Rosa tied the game with 1:33 left in the period off a helper from RW Mike Keane.

The second period has been the Aeros weakest scoring period this season, but tonight proved to be different. Irmen netted his second goal of the game 1:51 into the session; RW Jon DiSalvatore got the lone assist on the goal. The score remained 2-1 in favor of Houston for the majority of the second until Noreau sent a shot on net from the right point that deflected off a Manitoba defender and past Machesney for his first goal of the year.

The Aeros would score once more in the final period as Noreau registered his second goal and third point on the night at 4:52. The Aeros held the advantage in shots on goal 34-15. Neither team would score on the power play as the Aeros went 0-for-5 and the Moose 0-for-4 in a game that featured 21 penalties and 60 PIM.

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