Heat Kick off Busy Month of March with Three-Game Road Trip Starting in San Jose
March 1, 2016 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Stockton Heat News Release
TONIGHT
The Stockton Heat look to take their home success on the road with them to the Bay Area, as they look for their first win of the season at SAP Center against the San Jose Barracuda.
Stockton enters tonight's game off the heels of back-to-back wins at home over San Diego and San Antonio respectively; however, the Heat have lost their last four away from Stockton Arena and will look to reverse that trend tonight.
San Jose comes into tonight's game after a 5-2 loss to San Diego on Saturday. They have gone 5-4-1-0 in their last 10 and sit in fourth place in the Pacific Division.
LAST TIME VS. SAN JOSE
Just 10 days ago, Stockton and San Jose finished a two-game series at Stockton Arena on back-to-back nights, in which Stockton won the first 6-5 in overtime and lost the second 4-1.
The win was the Heat's second over the Barracuda this season - neither coming in regulation though.
If the Heat hope to make up ground, they must get two points in regulation, especially tonight in a building in which they have yet to win.
WHO TO WATCH
It's hard to believe, but we've only featured our leading scorer Kenny Agostino twice in this section this season. And seeing as he's the team's leading scorer against the Barracuda, we had to give him his due and feature Agostino as tonight's who to watch in San Jose.
Not only does Agostino's 41 points lead the Heat this season, but his six goals and nine points in seven games against San Jose leads all Heat players versus a team that Stockton has struggled against.
Agostino has made a habit of putting together multi-point games and collecting them in bunches, as evidenced by his team-leading 14 multi-point games, including three in his last four games.
Watch out for the Italian Stallion tonight in San Jose as he looks to continue his success against the orange and teal.
#POULINWALL
Kevin Poulin has been flat out spectacular during this last stretch of games.
He stopped 83 of the 88 shots he faced this past week, earning a pair of wins, and has a 4-2-0-0 record with a shutout in his last six appearances.
While he has allowed 14 goals over those six games, maybe three or four can actually be pegged on him rather than a mistake made in front of him. Simply put, Poulin has been amazing.
Wednesday, Coach Huska put the win almost solely on Poulin's shoulders and Sunday was more of the same, as Poulin made at least five saves that were Sportscenter-worthy.
On a team that is going through so much turmoil on the backend between injuries and call-ups, Poulin has stepped up as the most valuable player on the team and is certainly making the most of his extended playing time since Joni Ortio's call-up.
BUSY MARCH CRITICAL FOR PLAYOFF PUSH
The Stockton Heat have a busy end to the season with 13 games in the month of March including eight away from home as Stockton starts the month with a three-game road trip before returning home for four-straight (tied season long) and then head out on the longest trip of the season of five games before returning home to finish the month.
Stockton kicks off their play on the road in San Jose tonight and then San Diego this weekend where Stockton has yet to win on the road this season.
The long road trip, which begins on March 19, sees the Heat start in Bakersfield and then take to the MTS Center in Manitoba, Canada for a pair before flying directly to Southern California to play the team's final games at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario.
As far as the games at home, Stockton sees just two California teams come to Stockton Arena with meetings with San Jose and San Diego while the team completes the season series with Texas with a pair of games on March 11 and 12. The team also hosts Iowa for the first and final time this season.
Tonight's tilt against San Jose is key for the Heat to get this month off to a good start with a win in a building they have a 0-3-1-0 record in this season.
PLAYOFF PRIMER
With the Heat in the thick of the playoff chase, we take a look at what tonight's game against the San Jose Barracuda can do for both teams.
Starting the day the Heat are sixth in the Pacific with a .521 win-percentage while San Jose enters Tuesday in fourth in the Pacific at .550.
Starting with Stockton, if the Heat can pull the victory in regulation the team would move them ahead of the Condors in fifth (.530) as the Heat can get to .531 with the two-points tonight. In the event the Heat pick up just one point the team will fall to .520 while a regulation loss would send the team back to .510.
As for San Jose, a win would get them to .551 while an extra-time loss would drop the team at .549. A loss would put the Barracuda at .539, but they would not fall from fourth in the Pacific.
There are no other teams in the Pacific Division in action tonight.
Keep an eye on the AHL's Playoff Primer updated every morning with the latest standings and magic numbers.
INTERESTING FACT
Stockton's eight power-play chances Sunday night against San Antonio were the most the Heat have had in a single game this season.
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Arena: SAP Center
Date: March 1, 2016
Time: 7:30 p.m. PST
Broadcast: AHL Live, Spreaker & iHeartRadio beginning at 7:15 p.m. PST
Leading Scorer: STOCKTON: F Kenny Agostino (46GP, 17-24-41)
SAN JOSE: F Ryan Carpenter (48GP, 12-29-41)
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 Garnet Hathaway puck.
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