Heat Host San Diego in Midweek Clash at Stockton Arena
November 18, 2015 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Stockton Heat News Release
TONIGHT
The Stockton Heat look to build off their momentum from the two-game Texas road swing, facing a tough San Diego roster that defeated the Heat on back-to-back nights over Halloween weekend. The Heat took three of a possible four points last weekend in San Antonio and Cedar Park, Texas and look to carry the momentum into tonight's game against San Diego.
LAST TIME VS. SAN DIEGO
Sporting a 2-2-0-0 record at the time, the Stockton Heat made the trip to sunny San Diego on Halloween weekend for a back-to-back against the Gulls.
The Heat played San Diego tough and peppered their goaltenders with shot after shot, but ended up falling short in both games by a score of 3-2, once in a shootout and the other in regulation.
San Diego really made the difference in their special teams play, forcing the Heat to go 1-of-13 on their power-play chances, while the Gulls went 3-of-8 on their own power play.
WHO TO WATCH
Well how do we not go with centerman Derek Grant on this night?
The Abbotsford, BC native will suit up for the Heat for the first time since returning from his nine-game stint with the big club in Calgary.
While Grant did not score a point while with the Flames, he was one of their more valuable centerman with his prowess in the faceoff circle and his drive to the tough areas.
His 56.8-faceoff-percentage is the highest for any Calgary player with at least 50 faceoffs taken thus far this year. It is also good enough for 16th in the entire NHL this season amongst players with at least 50 draws taken.
Grant's three goals this season for the Heat prior to getting the call-up to Calgary was the most of any Heat player at the time and he is still just one goal back of current top scorer Markus Granlund.
Maybe his goal-a-game average that he's currently rocking is a bit farfetched as far as a season goal, but Grant's presence in the Heat lineup will certainly be felt, especially tonight against a physical San Diego team that absolutely stonewalled the Heat power play the last time the two teams met.
OFF THE SCHNEID, INDEED
Several players that were struggling to get on the board early in the season got "off the schneid" this past weekend in the Lone Star State in big ways.
First, Drew Shore buried his second goal of the year to open the scoring spree early in the first period against the San Antonio Rampage.
Later in the same game, Garnet Hathaway provided the thrilling finish to regulation when he tied the game at four with a shorthanded marker in the closing minutes of the game.
It was Hathaway's first goal of the season and his second wouldn't take long to get, as he opened the game against Texas the following night with a beautiful one-timer goal just under five minutes into the contest.
Turner Elson and Blair Riley also got on the board for the first time in stylish fashions, Riley scoring the game-winning goal against Texas and Elson netting a pair of shorthanded goals that helped to seal the victory for the Heat.
If the Heat can continue to get these types of team-scoring efforts, they will be a tough team to beat moving forward.
PENALTY KILLING (NEAR) PERFECTION
It doesn't get a lot better as a penalty-killing unit than going 15-for-16 over the course of two games.
Oh wait. What if you add three shorthanded goals for in there?
Yeah, ok that is better.
The penalty kill definitely had a bounce-back type weekend in Texas, especially following their 9-for-9 performance Saturday against the Stars.
While nine shorthanded opportunities is certainly more than what Coach Huska wants to have to deal with on a nightly basis, it looks pretty good on a scoresheet when all nine are successfully killed off.
Add to that the three shorthanded goals over the course of two games and the Heat PK is right back on track from how they started, killing the first 15 opportunities they faced.
San Diego was the team that ended Stockton's perfect PK run last time around, so the Heat will look to have a different result tonight in their barn.
INTERESTING FACT
Due to a stat change for last Saturday's game against the Texas Stars, Drew Shore was awarded the second assist on Turner Elson's shorthanded empty netter that sealed the victory for the Heat.
The added assist gave Shore two on the night, good for his first multi-point game of the season as a member of the Stockton Heat.
His last multi-point game came last season while still a member of the San Antonio Rampage in a game on January 1, 2015 at Utica.
In that game, Shore had a goal and an assist.
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Arena: Stockton Arena
Date: November 18, 2015
Time: 7:00 p.m. PST (Doors at 6:00 p.m.)
Broadcast: AHL Live, Spreaker & iHeartRadio beginning at 6:45 p.m. PST
Leading Scorer: STOCKTON: C Markus Granlund (9GP, 4-4-8)
SAN DIEGO: D Brandon Montour (13GP, 3-12-15)
For the live, in-game tweets, follow @AHLHeatPR. Stay tuned at the end of the game for the Chase Chevrolet Big Moment of the Game with your chance to win an autographed Drew Shore puck.
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