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AHL Stockton Heat

Stockton Looks for Weekend Split with Iowa

December 22, 2018 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Stockton Heat News Release


Saturday, December 22, 2018

Arena: Wells Fargo Arena

Date: Saturday, Dec. 22, 2018

Time: 5:00 p.m.

Broadcast: Spreaker, iHeartRadio & AHLTV at 4:45 p.m.

For live, in-game tweets, follow @AHLHeat. Stay tuned at the end of the game for the Chase Chevrolet Big Moment of the game for your chance to win an autographed puck from Mike McMurtry.

TONIGHT

Stockton and Iowa meet for the second-straight night in Des Moines following a barn-burner on Friday, an 8-7 win for the home team in overtime. The back-and-forth battle finished all three periods of regulation tied, the deciding score coming off the stick of Louis Belpedio on the power play 3:18 into overtime.

The Heat look to return to the win column tonight after back-to-back overtime losses and will look to limit extra-man opportunities for Iowa, which benefitted from 10 power plays Friday night, cashing in on four of those chances. The game will wrap up a weekend set between Stockton and Iowa before the Heat head to Tucson next weekend for a pair of games against the Roadrunners.

LAZAR LIGHTS THE LAMP

Stockton fell behind 2-0 early on Friday until Curtis Lazar spearheaded a first period comeback effort to draw even at two goals apiece before the first intermission. Each of his goals came off of faceoff plays, the first by corralling a loose puck and firing it into a wide-open cage to trim the Wild lead in half, the second coming off a wicked wrister from the faceoff circle to tie the game at two. He later added an assist on Kerby Rychel's game-tying goal in the third period.

A MEMORABLE HOMECOMING

Tyler Graovac played his first four professional seasons with the Iowa Wild, and Friday's games represented his first trip back to Des Moines since lacing up for Minnesota's AHL affiliate. He was strong in the overtime contest, posting one goal and one assist in addition six shots and a plus-one rating on the night.

IMMEDIATE IMPACTS

Stockton received a pair of players from Calgary throughout the week, each of them scoring on Friday. Both Buddy Robinson and Kerby Rychel tallied two points on a goal and an assist, with Robinson finishing the game a plus-2. Rychel returned to the Heat as Stockton's leading scorer for the season, and he maintained his position as the team's leader as he finished the game with a one-point edge on Lazar for the season, 23 points to 22.

FILLING THE NET

Stockton and Iowa combined for 15 goals on Friday, the highest-scoring game of the season for the Heat. Five different Stockton skaters registered multi-point efforts while 13 of 18 recorded at least one point in the game for the visiting team. The offense was clicking throughout the game while also flexing quick-scoring ability, the club's final three goals of the game coming in a span of just 1:41 to turn a 6-4 deficit into a 7-6 lead in seemingly the blink of an eye.

CLOSE CALLS CONTINUE

Last night's game was the fifth-straight one-goal game for the Heat, third in the last four that required extra time. While the games have been close, the results have not gone Stockton's way as the Heat are 1-2-2-0 in their last five.

For all the latest on the Heat, follow the team on Twitter (@AHLHeat), Instagram (ahlheat) and Facebook (Stockton Heat), download the team's free mobile app (Stockton Heat) and keep checking in to stocktonheat.com.

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American Hockey League Stories from December 22, 2018


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.

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