AHL Stockton Heat

Heat Start Back-To-Back in Bakersfield at 7:00 p.m.

Published on January 13, 2017 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Stockton Heat News Release


Arena: Rabobank Arena Date: January 13, 2016 Time: 7:00 p.m. PST Broadcast: AHL Live, Spreaker & iHeartRadio beginning at 6:45 p.m. PST LEADING SCORER: STOCKTON: F Mark Jankowski (29GP, 10-15-25) BAKERSFIELD: F Taylor Beck (21GP, 9-22-31)

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 Matt Bailey puck.

TONIGHT The Heat take on the Bakersfield Condors for just the third time this season with both teams coming getting one win in the season series. The Heat are coming off their first loss to the San Diego Gulls this season on Wednesday and as for the Condors, they have won back-to-back games and three of their last five, including January 7 outdoors over the Ontario Reign.

The teams meet up an additional nine times after tonight including a pair of games at Stockton Arena next weekend, however, before Stockton can focus on those games, they have a quick turnaround to play the San Jose Barracuda tomorrow afternoon at 1:30 at the SAP Center.

LAST TIME VS. BAKERSFIELD Stockton came into Rabobank Arena back on December 10 looking to continue a three-game win streak but got in penalty trouble just seconds into the game and surrendered a power-play goal just 22 seconds in.

The Condors rattled off two more in the first before Stockton broke through on the power play themselves thanks to Brandon Bollig. Linden Vey would also score for Stockton but a pair of Anton Lander goals helped the Condors to the 5-2 win.

WHO TO WATCH Matt Frattin has picked up the majority of his 19 points in bunches, having never gone more than back-to-back games with points this season.

Well Frattin again has points in back-to-back games (2-1-3) and we think this trend comes to an end tonight in Bakersfield. While the experienced forward has played mostly with Linden Vey this season, recently, the coaching staff has shifted him onto a line with Mark Jankowski centering them and Frattin has enjoyed success with him as his pivot.

However, it probably has more to do with the kind of player Frattin is. He can be the most skilled guy on the ice, the toughest guy on the ice to take the puck from, and the most physical guy on the ice chasing down loose pucks. There's not much the winger out of North Dakota University can't do well and tonight Frattin will snap the back-to-back points curse he's been under and help Stockton try and take down the Condors.

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 leads the team in points, 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.

SLAMMING THE DOOR SHUT Saturday was a scheduled start for Jon Gillies, a day after playing very well and getting the OT win over Tucson but he fell ill just before the game.

That thrusted David Rittich into action in what would be another special night in the career of Stockton's Czech netminder. Rittich made all 35 saves he needed to earn his fourth shutout of the season, second most in the AHL. He also broke the tie between he and Gillies for the most shutouts all-time for the Heat.

Against Bakersfield, Rittich has earned a win and even came in for Gillies, playing the vast majority of the last game that resulted in a loss. However, Rittich has allowed just 1 goal to the Condors, posting a 0.57 GAA and 0.978 sv% in 105 minutes played against Bakersfield.

FOURTH OVERALL PICK IN BAKO Just as Oliver Kylington came to play in the AHL last season as a European, so too has 2016 fourth overall pick of the Edmonton Oilers Jesse Puljujarvi, who was recently assigned to the team after playing his first 28 games as a pro in North America with the big club.

While Puljujarvi's success hasn't translated to the NHL game as well as the other high draft picks in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft like Toronto's Austen Matthews, Winnipeg's Patrick Laine and Calgary's Matthew Tkachuk, he still scored a goal in his NHL debut and picked up 7 assists for a total of 8 points.

He made his Condors debut on Tuesday and picked up an assist in his AHL debut and no doubt the Condors and Oilers alike will want to get the young man's confidence back in hopes that he can help the big club to get to the playoffs for the first time since 2005-06.

INTERESTING FACT Once again it was penalty problems that plagued the Heat on Wednesday in San Diego as it was the second time this season the Heat surrendered 9 power-play chances to the Gulls. Stockton is the fifth most penalized team in the AHL averaging 17.13 PIMS per game.

Check out the Stockton Heat Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from January 13, 2017


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