Simpson Saves the Day in Heat Shootout Victory over San Jose
November 22, 2015 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Stockton Heat News Release
Stockton, Calif. - The Stockton Heat defeated the San Jose Barracuda by a score of 4-3 Saturday night at Stockton Arena in a shootout. The Heat were led by the line of Markus Granlund, Kenny Agostino and Garnet Hathaway, who combined for four points and 17 shots on net. Kevin Poulin had a solid night in net for the Heat, stopping 30 of the 33 shots he faced, but was forced out of the game due to injury after the second shooter for San Jose. Backup Kent Simpson stepped in and earned the win for the Heat stopping Barclay Woodrow in the fifth round of the shootout. On the other side, Troy Grosenick stopped 49 of the 52 shots he faced, pacing the Barracuda, along with defenseman and former Adirondack Flame standout Mark Cundari, who finished with a pair of assists. The Stockton Heat will now look forward to a pre-Thanksgiving Day rematch on the road with the Ontario Reign, a team that the Heat will look for revenge against following being shutout 4-0 at home in their last meeting.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st Period
HEAT GOAL: F Kenny Agostino (1) shot is chipped past the goaltender's blocker off a deflection on the broken play in the slot (Hathaway assist), 5:16
HEAT GOAL: F Markus Granlund (5) shot from the slot goes high blocker past the goaltender and just under the crossbar (Agostino, Poirier assists), 8:13
Shots: STK - 12 | SJ - 14
2nd Period
San Jose goal: F Barclay Goodrow (3) shot from the point is tipped down in traffic and goes past the goaltender (Cundari, Ryan assists), 3:14 (PP)
Shots: STK - 19 | SJ - 12
3rd Period
San Jose goal: F Scott Timmins (4) catch-and-shoot opportunity from the nearside faceoff circle is put high over the goaltender's glove (Jevpalovs, Hanson assists), 2:49
San Jose goal: F John McCarthy (2) shot from the slot off an odd-man rush goes low past the goaltender (Cundari assist), 5:25
HEAT GOAL: F Emile Poirier (1) one-timer from the slot is put past the goaltender's glove off a pass from below the goal line (Grant, Nakladal assists), 12:05
Shots: STK - 17 | SJ - 4
Overtime
No goals
Shots: STK - 4 | SJ - 3
Shootout
Kenny Agostino - scores
John McCarthy - scores
Derek Grant - misses
Bryan Lerg - misses
Markus Granlund - scores
Jeremy Langlois - scores
Drew Shore - scores
Nikita Jevpalovs - scores
Freddie Hamilton - scores
Barclay Goodrow - misses
GOALIES
W: Kent Simpson (replaced Poulin in shootout)
Kevin Poulin (33 shots, 30 saves)
L: Troy Grosenick (52 shots, 49 saves)
NOTABLE STATISTICS
Three Stars: 1- Freddie Hamilton (Shootout game-winner) 2- Mark Cundari (2 assists) 3- Kenny Agostino (1 goal, 1 assist)
Final Shots: STK - 53 | SJ - 33
Power Plays: STK - 0/5 | SJ - 1/1
Kenny Agostino (1 goal, 1 assist) scores his first goal of the season
Emile Poirier (1 goal, 1 assist) scores his first goal of the season and now has at least one point in back-to-back games
Markus Granlund (1 goal) ties Derek Grant for team-lead in goals this season with five
Derek Grant now has at least one point in back-to-back games
Kent Simpson earns his first AHL win of the season after replacing Kevin Poulin in the shootout
Drew Shore's three-game point streak is snapped
Aaron Johnson suited up in his 700th combined NHL and AHL game
Kevin Poulin was being evaluating following the game. No official word on the nature of his injury
QUOTES
"[Derek Grant] made a really good pass to me and I was all alone in front. I just wanted to let it go and fortunately for me it went in to tie it up." Emile Poirier on his first goal of the season that tied the game up in the third.
"3-on-3 is exciting - it's fun. There is a lot of offense that can be generated and I think we did a good job in the shootout to get the win. We never stopped working." - Poirier on the overtime and shootout that led to the Heat victory.
"It felt good to get that first one out of the way. Obviously it took a little longer than I would have liked to get it, but you get one and then they all start to fall. Hopefully we can keep it going." - Kenny Agostino on his first goal of the season that opened the scoring tonight.
"I felt good tonight. I've had good chances over the course of 11 games here this year, but sometimes you're a little snake bitten. I was able to produce a little bit tonight and that was nice." - Agostino on his own play in a game he hopes is just a start of a good run.
"We [Garnet Hathaway, Markus Granlund and Agostino] were buzzing all night and really have been for a bit here. Sometimes you don't produce, but tonight we were able to get a couple for our team." - Agostino on he and his linemates moving the puck well and producing points.
"It was my first time coming in to that kind of a situation. I was happy the guys scored a lot of goals for me and gave me a little cushion. The good thing is that you don't really have time to think about it, so you just jump in. The guys were scoring goals and I knew it was just a matter of time until I made a save, but I just tried to keep my emotions in check and get a win for the guys." - Kent Simpson on coming in cold during the shootout and getting the win with the final save.
"To be honest I didn't know I was nearing that number coming into the season. Coach [Huska] let me know this morning and reminded everybody, so it was pretty exciting. 700 is a lot of games, but I was looking at [Assistant Coach Todd Gill] who has played over 1,000 and [Assistant Coach Dominic Pittis] who played until he was 39-years-old, so I think I have some goals that I want to accomplish. But it was definitely fun tonight." - Aaron Johnson on playing in his 700th combined AHL and/or NHL game tonight.
"There were stretches tonight where I thought we played well and there were some stretches where I thought they [San Jose] was the better team. Down the stretch in the first period I thought they were better than us, but I thought as the game went on we got stronger. We started to play the right way again and that gave us some chances." - Head Coach Ryan Huska on his view of the overall performance from his team tonight.
"We made some individual mistakes on some of their goals and they capitalized. The nice part about tonight is that we didn't cave. We were down 3-2 after giving up that two-goal lead and we fought back and found a way to tie it." - Coach Huska on the Heat showing grit and storming back for the victory.
NEXT HOME GAME
STOCKTON HEAT vs. Bakersfield Condors
November 27 @ Stockton Arena
First 1,000 fans receive a Pat Sieloff oversized trading card
Doors @ 6:30 p.m., Puck drop @ 7:30 p.m.
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