Houston Hotdish: What goes up...

You know how when a team is surprisingly good, or at least surprisingly successful, and then they start to believe wins will just come to them, so they let up?

Yeah, the Aeros ran headlong into that one Sunday, getting lit up 6-2 just two days after playing, according to coach John Torchetti, their best game of the season in Hamilton.

I 100% chalk it up to a good team having a lousy night. Even surprise rockstar goal scorer David McIntyre tweeted after the game, "Gross game in Houston tonight. No worries, we'll bounce back."

Yeah, we know. Not worried. I do feel badly for goalie Dennis Endras though. Sucks being the back-up tendy sometimes, getting the last game of the weekend when the team is tired. But the loss certainly wasn't on him. The team was just brutal in front of him.

It's too early in the season to get too riled up about standings, but that one loss did result in Oklahoma City taking the division and conference lead away. They are tied for points but OKC has more wins. Much like the Wild's beloved Northwest Division, the Aeros division always comes down to the wire, so a lead right now doesn't mean an awful lot in the long run.

Anyway, the last bit of bad news is that you guys took Warren Peters from us, and he's on a 3-game goal streak. If you aren't familiar with Peters' game, while he does have some offensive touch, scoring streaks aren't really his deal usually. So, please send him back just like you found him. 

The good news is that the Aeros found The Stuff when they needed it in Hamilton on Friday. A tough team and a tough place to play, they held the Bulldogs to two power play goals and won 4-2.

They beat the Lake Erie Monsters the day before, and I got to see that in person, but honestly, Lake Erie is so abysmal this season, the fact that they got 3 goals past Houston annoyed me. It was an up and down game, but the Aeros were good at the times they needed to be.

Speaking of streaks, Jon DiSalvatore has racked up 13 points and has at least 1 point in the last 9 games. He currently sits at 11th in the league in scoring, and Jeff Taffe, who has 9 points in the last 6 games, is 20th.

And looking at a few more stats: The Aeros have the 9th best power play in the league, but a middling penalty kill that sits at 16th in the league.

The boys in the bombers hit the ice again on Thursday against a good Abbotsford Heat team who are chasing them in the standings. Then they face Charlotte on Sunday.

But with both games in Houston and no days lost to travel, they should get some quality practice AND rest this week.