Heat Host Rival Condors for First Time this Season
January 20, 2017 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Stockton Heat News Release
Arena: Stockton Arena Date: January 20, 2016 Time: 7:30 p.m. PST (6:30 p.m. PST doors) Broadcast: AHL Live, Spreaker & iHeartRadio beginning at 7:15 p.m. PST Giveaway: Brandon Bollig Photo card to the first 500 fans LEADING SCORER: STOCKTON: F Linden Vey/Mark Jankowski (29GP, 8-17-25)/(31GP, 10-15-25) BAKERSFIELD: F Taylor Beck (24GP, 9-26-35)
For the live, in-game tweets, follow @AHLHeat. Stay tuned at the end of the game for the Chase Chevrolet Big Moment of the Game with your chance to win an autographed Hunter Shinkaruk puck.
TONIGHT For the first time this season, the Heat have lost in three straight games but return home for a back-to-back set against the Condors.
Those three losses all came on the road last week after the Heat kicked off 2017 with two wins at Stockton Arena. Stockton has a 11-3-1-1 record on home ice this season. Meanwhile the Condors are currently on a 10-game road winless skid dating back to November 25, the second longest such streak in the AHL this season and the longest active streak.
Fans can also purchase $1 hot dogs at the concession stands tonight but are limited to five per customer while supplies last! Not only that but the team will be wearing their black alternate jerseys for the second time this season!
LAST TIME VS. BAKERSFIELD It was a game last week that saw the Condors edge the Heat, only for the Heat to answer back and tie the game up not once but twice in the contest. However, Bakersfield scored 14 seconds into the third period and tacked on two more, including Anton Lander's hat trick goal to give the Condors the 5-2 win over Stockton.
While the game was much closer than the final score indicated, Lander was yet again the noticeable difference in the game, picking up not only the hat trick against the Heat, but his second four-point night against Stockton. However Lander's 5 goals and 8 points in just two games against Stockton this season seems to be information not relevant to this weekend's matchups as Lander was recalled to the Edmonton Oilers yesterday.
WHO TO WATCH While the Condors have outscored the Heat 10-6 in the first three meetings between the teams this season and the Heat struggling to put the goals on the board last week, we're going to go back to someone who's had a tough stretch of hockey in hopes he can snap out of it.
It's been 13 games since Linden Vey has tallied a goal for the Heat and while he still remains tied with Mark Jankowski for the team lead in points, he's picked up just 7 assists since he's last scored and only 3 assists in his last 10 games.
We think it's only a matter of time before Vey snaps this scoring drought he's been in to help the Heat get back in the win column. Tonight will be that night.
HEY NOW, YOU'RE AN ALL-STAR Mark Jankowski is set to follow in the footsteps that Derek Grant walked last year as the second ever Heat player to be named to the AHL All-Star game.
Jankowski is tied for the team lead in points, tied-sixth among rookie skaters in the AHL. He is one of 13 first-year players to receive the All-Star nod and one of six among the Pacific Division team. Since 1995, 93% of All-Star Game participants have gone on to compete in the NHL, which bodes well for Jankowski as he made his NHL debut with Calgary back on November 28.
A day after being named to the All-Star game, the Heat's star centerman scored the OT game winner just 1:04 into the extra session, his second game winner of the season.
LET'S KICKSTART THIS POWER PLAY: Stockton's power-play has gone 0 for 19 in 2017 and 0 for their last 20 chances dating back to New Year's Eve in Ontario. In total, the Heat power-play unit hasn't scored in 334:27 and are coming off of a game that saw the Barracuda surrender 8 power-play chances, tied for the most in a single game this season.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: The Condors have struggled on the road holding the longest active road winless skids in the AHL which stands at 10 games, which is the second longest this year.. The Condors have gone 0-6-3-1 in their last 10 road games including a loss on Monday to San Jose by a 7-1 score.
Bakersfield has just two road wins on the season with both coming in the month of October to Manitoba and San Jose, with the win vs. the Barracuda coming in a shootout.
INTERESTING FACT Last season the period of strength for the Heat was in the third, outscoring teams by 10 goals in 2015-16. This season, the Heat are minus-9 in third period goals differential and had a tough last week, surrendering 8 goals in three third periods while scoring none.
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