AHL Stockton Heat

Grant's Two, Poulin's 21-Save Shutout Power Heat Past San Diego

Published on November 19, 2015 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Stockton Heat News Release


Stockton, Calif. - Two big goals, including the game-winner, from Derek Grant and a 21-save shutout from Kevin Poulin powered the Stockton Heat to a 4-0 victory over the San Diego Gulls Wednesday night at Stockton Arena. Grant's two-goal performance catapulted the newly reassigned from Calgary forward back to the top of the Heat's goal-scorer rankings, as he passed Markus Granlund with his fourth and fifth goals tonight. While Grant supplied the offense, Poulin shut down the San Diego attack, stopping all 21 shots he faced, but the Heat defensive corps played extremely well in front of him and allowed few quality scoring chances. San Diego netminder John Gibson made it difficult on the Heat, stopping 36 of the 39 shots he faced, but eventually Stockton broke through and ended up on the positive side of things. The Stockton Heat will now look ahead to a Saturday night matchup with their Norcal rival from the bay when the San Jose Barracuda, come to town for a 7:30 faceoff on Star Wars night.

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Period

HEAT GOAL: F Derek Grant (4) pass from the nearside half-wall is tipped in traffic at the top of the crease and past the goaltender (Elson assist), 17:58

Shots: STK - 16 | SD - 9

2nd Period

No goals

Shots: STK - 14 | SD - 5

3rd Period

HEAT GOAL: F Freddie Hamilton (4) forced turnover on a breakout at the side of the net and is deflected through the goaltender's five-hole (unassisted), 8:22

HEAT GOAL: F Blair Riley (2) shot from the nearside half-wall goes across the goal line and into the empty net (Wotherspoon, Shore assists), 16:34 (EN)

HEAT GOAL: F Derek Grant (5) shot from the high-slot crosses the goal line just inside of the farside post (Elson, Poirier assists), 19:51

Shots: STK - 10 | SD - 7

GOALIES

W: Kevin Poulin (21 shots, 21 saves)

L: John Gibson (39 shots, 36 saves)

NOTABLE STATISTICS

Three Stars: 1- Kevin Poulin (21-save shutout) 2- Derek Grant (2 goals) 3- John Gibson (39 shots, 36 saves)

Final Shots: STK - 40 | SD - 21

Power Plays: STK - 0/4 | SD - 0/3

Derek Grant scored two goals, including the eventual game-winner, in his first game back from Calgary

Kevin Poulin earns his first shutout of the season, the third for the Heat so far this year

Drew Shore (1 assist) is now on a three-game point streak (1 goal, 3 assists)

Turner Elson (2 assists) now has back-to-back multi-point games (2 goals, 2 assists)

Blair Riley (1 goal) now has at least one goal in back-to-back games

QUOTES

"I felt a little rusty back in my first start, but tonight I felt pretty comfortable. I've been practicing with the team all week and I feel good. The guys played really great in front of me. They cleared the front and blocked a lot of shots. I really don't think [San Diego] had too many chances to score." - Kevin Poulin on his first start in Stockton and his comfort level.

"One-goal games are never comfortable because you're just one chance away from a tie game. That second goal we got was a big relief and the third really sealed the deal for us I thought." - Poulin on going into the third with the 1-0 lead.

"Obviously it's nice to get on the scoresheet, but the whole team played really well. When you throw that many pucks on net, you're going to make the goalie's job hard and I thought we did a good job of that tonight." - Derek Grant on his thoughts on his first game back with the Heat.

"The first goal [Turner] Elson made a great pass and made my job easy. The second one [Turner Elson] made another great dish out there and I just tried to pull it and put it farside. I had a pretty good view of it. I saw it go into the net and go through the net. Obviously that's a tough play for an official, but I think the back official caught it. Luckily for me we have video review." - Grant on both of his goals, the game-winner and the final goal of the night that was reviewed and eventually counted.

"Our defense did a great job pinching and I thought as a team we did a good job of letting [Kevin Poulin] see those shots. From the faceoff out we were all prepared tonight and we really came to work tonight." - Grant on the small details of tonight's game that came together in the winning effort.

"I thought it was a good night for us and we really didn't give them a lot. I felt like for the first ten minutes we were trying to get our feet under us, but I thought we figured it out and played a pretty solid game tonight. It started with our goaltender making saves when he needed to and I thought we did a good job of playing smart in front of him." - Head Coach Ryan Huska on his overall view of tonight's win.

"I've felt like we haven't really been getting rewarded for our work we've had in some games this season. A lot of bounces just weren't going our way, but tonight our second goal was a fortunate bounce that gave us a little breathing room. It's something that we felt like we deserved. Their goalie was playing really well tonight and you kind of had the feeling that one or two would be all you were going to get on him. It was that type of night." - Coach Huska on finally having some bounces go his team's way.

NEXT HOME GAME

STOCKTON HEAT vs. San Jose Barracuda

November 21 @ Stockton Arena

Stars Wars Night - First 500 children ages 12 & under receive a white replica Heat jersey

Doors @ 6:30 p.m., Puck drop @ 7:30 p.m.

Check out the Stockton Heat Statistics

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