AHL Stockton Heat

5 Things: Heat at Bakersfield

April 30, 2022 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Stockton Heat News Release


STOCKTON HEAT (45-15-5-2) at BAKERSFIELD CONDORS (36-21-5-5)

6:00 p.m. PDT | Broadcast: AHLTV, Fox Sports 1280, Spreaker

Leading Scorers

Heat:

Goals - Matthew Phillips (30)

Points - Matthew Phillips (67)

Condors:

Goals - Seth Griffith (29)

Points - Seth Griffith (50)

Special Teams

Heat:

PP - 55-for-275, 20.0% (11th)/PK - 248-for-286, 86.7% (1st)

Condors:

PP - 46-for-246, 18.7% (21st)/PK - 236-for-290, 81.4% (13th)

1. HEAT INDEX

No help needed, the Stockton Heat can finish the job themselves. After a win on Tuesday lowered the regular season championship-clinching Magic Number to just two points, Stockton will look to seal the deal on rival ice Saturday in the regular season finale against the Bakersfield Condors. The Heat come into the tilt with a record of 3-1-0-0 on the year at Mechanics Bank Arena and look to bounce back from a 4-0 setback a week ago today on this same sheet of ice.

2. THIS, THAT, THE OTHER

THIS... It's been a tale of two halves for the Heat and Condors in the season set. Stockton, which won the first six matchups in the 10-game series, has found itself on the short end of the stick in three of the last four. Most recently, the Heat have fallen by a combined 9-1 in the previous two meetings, a trend they'll look to shake on Saturday. THAT... Though he hasn't occupied the blue paint for Stockton since posting a season-best 42 saves against Tuesday 10 days ago, Dustin Wolf has been cleaning up through AHL awards season. The netminder has been named to the AHL All-Rookie Team and has achieved AHL First-Team All-Star status. The AHL's Rookie of the Year nod went to Rochester's Jack Quinn, but Wolf figures to have a strong case still for the yet-to-be-announced 'Baz' Bastien Memorial Award, given annually to the league's most outstanding goalie. THE OTHER... Stockton has ridden strong defensive play all year to the top of the league standings, coming into the finale with the third-stingiest goals-against mark at 2.72 goals against per game. A big contributor to this success has come on the PK, tops in the AHL at 86.7-percent. Should the Heat retain that top spot, it would be the second time in three years that assistant coach Joe Cirella's penalty kill has finished best in the league.

3. PLAYERS TO WATCH

Heat - Matthew Phillips

Phillips has nine points in nine games against the Condors this season, and after apparently narrowly missing out on AHL All-Star status, the winger will look to make some noise in the regular season finale.

Condors - Whoever's in net

Bakersfield against Stockton when Stuart Skinner is playing: 3-1-1. Bakersfield against Stockton with anyone else: 0-2-2. It'll be interesting to see which way the Condors go between the pipes with a best-of-three first round rapidly approaching.

4. MILESTONES WITHIN REACH

Luke Philp is two goals shy of 50 in his AHL career.

Phillips is three assists shy of Stockton's single-season assist record of 40, held by Linden Vey.

Byron Froese could play in his 400th AHL game and is three points shy of 250 in his AHL career.

5. QUOTABLE

"It's hard to win. It's hard to make the playoffs. It's hard to keep teams off your back all year long, like we have with Ontario, Colorado, Abbotsford, Bakersfield. Our division, we consider, is one of the toughest in the AHL. You have to give credit where it's due, and that's to the players and the work that they put in and the staff, the hours of work they put in in a long hockey season to make sure the players are prepared to perform at their top level... We have to really dig in and make sure we'll be ready to go for game one of our first playoff series." - Mitch Love on Stockton's division championship and regular season finale

Check out the Stockton Heat Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from April 30, 2022


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