Heat Penalty Kill Perfect Despite Tight Loss In Ontario
March 4, 2017 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Stockton Heat News Release
Ontario, Calif. - For the fifth time in their last six games the Stockton Heat did not allow a power-play goal, but the Ontario Reign would prove tough at home as the Heat fall 2-1 Friday night at Citizens Business Bank Arena. Defenseman Kenney Morrison scored Stockton's lone goal on the evening when he unleashed a slap shot that screamed past the goaltender in the second period. Unfortunately, that would be all the offense for the Heat, as the Reign and their two-goal first period held up to earn the win. The Stockton Heat will now look to a quick turnaround and a tilt with the San Jose Barracuda Saturday night back at the friendly confines of Stockton Arena.
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE
SCORING SUMMARY 1st Period Ontario goal: F Alex Lintuniemi (1) rebound kicks off goaltender and is put back on the backdoor past the goaltender (LoVerde, Lowry assists), 2:44 Ontario goal: F Michael Mersch (12) shot from the point is redirected in traffic and goes past the goaltender and into the net (MacDermid, Purcell assists), 7:35 Shots: STK - 8 | ONT - 11
2nd Period HEAT GOAL: D Kenney Morrison (3) slap shot from the top of the far side faceoff circle gets through traffic and beats the goaltender (Mangiapane, Vey assists), 2:45 Shots: STK - 12 | ONT - 8
3rd Period No goals Shots: STK - 9 | ONT - 5
GOALIES W: Jeff Zatkoff (29 shots, 28 saves) L: Jon Gillies (25 shots, 23 saves)
NOTABLE STATISTICS Three Stars: 1 - Michael Mersch (1 goal) 2 - Alex Lintuniemi (1 goal) 3 - Jeff Zatkoff (29 shots, 28 saves) Final Shots: STK - 29 | ONT - 25 Power Plays: STK - 0/3 | ONT - 0/5 Linden Vey (1 assist) is now on a three-game point streak (1 goal, 5 assists) Kenney Morrison (1 goal) matches his goal total from the 2015-16 season (3) in one less game (43) than it took him last year (44) Andrew Mangiapane (1 assist) now has at least one point in back-to-back games (2 assists) The Heat penalty kill goes perfect for the fifth time in their last six games; killed off 28-of-29 during that stretch The Heat have gone winless in their last 13 games away from Stockton Arena (0-11-2-0)
QUOTES "[Linden Vey] got a great win on the draw and [Andrew Mangiapane] made a great play over to me up top. I saw a spot open in front of the net and just tried to put it there." - Kenney Morrison on his goal.
"Any time there are a lot of special teams situations there are guys on either bench that don't get much ice time. It can sometimes be hard to stay in the game for those individuals, but I thought our penalty kill played really well tonight when we took those penalties." - Morrison on any momentum gained or lost on either side from so many penalty kills.
"It starts tonight, getting stretched out and flushing your legs. We need to make sure we get a good night's rest and we'll have no excuses tomorrow." - Morrison on the quick turnaround back to Stockton.
"I thought our guys played hard. We were a little careful I think in the first seven minutes or so, but the rest of the night I was real pleased with our effort and there were a lot of good things on our end." - Head Coach Ryan Huska with his overall thoughts on tonight's game.
"It was a nice play all-around. I thought [Andrew Mangiapane] showed some really good patience in drawing in their checker and finding Kenney [Morrison], who let off a great shot. We just weren't able to find the extra one we needed tonight." - Coach Huska on Morrison's goal in the second.
"I thought they did a really good job of pressuring up the ice and not allowing [Ontario] any space to start with. I also thought we did a nice job of carrying that pressure into our own zone and not allowing them to set anything up in the offensive zone the way they would have liked to." - Coach Huska on the success of Stockton's penalty kill tonight.
"They have to know that they played a good game tonight and we need to carry a lot of what we did tonight into tomorrow. Just get to sleep quick is all." - Coach Huska on the keys for the Heat to perform on a travel and game day Saturday.
NEXT HOME GAME STOCKTON HEAT vs. San Jose Barracuda March 4 @ Stockton Arena Star Wars Night First 1,000 fans 12 years-old and younger receive a black Stockton Heat Replica Jersey presented by BAC Community Bank, Chase Chevrolet and ABC10 Doors @ 6:30 p.m., Puck drop @ 7:30 p.m.
American Hockey League Stories from March 4, 2017
- RECAP | Toronto Tops St. John's 3-1 - St. John's IceCaps
- You CAN Go Home Again McDonald Scores Game-Winner in Hometown - Lehigh Valley Phantoms
- WOLF PACK GAME RECAP - Lehigh Valley Phantoms 3, Hartford Wolf Pack 1 - Hartford Wolf Pack
- Sound Tigers Continue Trek Through North Division - Bridgeport Islanders
- Hogs Host Wild on Autism Awareness Night - Rockford IceHogs
- Syracuse Crunch Sign Forward John Kurtz to PTO - Syracuse Crunch
- Detroit Assigns Howard for Conditioning - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Ontario Reign Game Preview: Reign Collide with Roadrunners Tonight - Ontario Reign
- Moose More Than Hogs Can Muster, Prevail 5-3 - Rockford IceHogs
- Reign Put out the Heat, 2-1 - Ontario Reign
- Heat Penalty Kill Perfect Despite Tight Loss In Ontario - Stockton Heat
- Gulls Continue Torrid Stretch, Defeat Tucson 4-1 - San Diego Gulls
- Griffins Edge Rampage, 4-2 - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Rampage Drop 4-2 Decision to Griffins - San Antonio Rampage
- Manitoba Moose Recap: Manitoba 5 at Rockford 3 - Manitoba Moose
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
