5 THINGS: HEAT at HSK, 1.12.22
STOCKTON HEAT (21-5-2-1) at HENDERSON SILVER KNIGHTS (15-8-2-1)
7:00 p.m. PST | Broadcast: AHLTV, Fox Sports 1280, Spreaker
Leading Scorers
Heat:
Goals – Jakob Pelletier/Matthew Phillips (11)
Points – Jakob Pelletier (31)
Silver Knights:
Goals – Pavel Dorofeyev/Ben Jones (11)
Points – Pavel Dorofeyev (22)
Special Teams
Heat:
PP – 23-for-118, 19.5% (12th)/PK – 107-for-119, 89.9% (1st)
Silver Knights:
PP – 24-for-114, 21.1% (9th)/PK – 106-for-126, 84.1% (8th)
1. HEAT INDEX
Back at it and into the home stretch of the season-long road trip, the Stockton Heat head to Henderson for the first-ever meeting against the Silver Knights away from Stockton Arena. The new divisional foes split a pair of games at Stockton Arena, with each team getting three of a possible four points over the second weekend of November. Stockton enters tonight’s game with a 3-2-0-0 mark for the seven-game road trip, with tonight and Friday at Bakersfield left to be played.
2. THIS, THAT, THE OTHER
THIS… Four times the Heat have won a game in overtime, four times Jakob Pelletier has factored into the winner. Most recently on Sunday with a secondary assist on Connor Mackey’s first-career GWG, Pelletier now has a pair of OT scores to go with two secondary helpers. He leads the team with nine points on game-winning goals this season, five goals land four assists, closely followed by Matthew Phillips’ seven points (2g, 5a) on game-clinching scores. THAT… When the game hinges on a play here, or a play there, that’s typically good news for the Stockton Heat, who enter tonight’s game with an AHL-best 10 wins in one-score games, a record of 10-1-2-1. The Heat and Silver Knights split the earlier two-game set with a pair of games that had to go beyond regulation, the Heat winning in a shootout and Henderson in overtime. THE OTHER… Stockton is one of only two AHL teams to have turned every first goal into at least a point in the standings, the Heat entering tonight’s game at a blistering .971 point percentage (16-0-1-0) when breaking the ice. The only loss on the year was the overtime setback against the Silver Knights, when Luke Philp lit the lamp first but Ben Jones potted the game-winner in overtime for Henderson.
3. PLAYERS TO WATCH
Heat – Eetu Tuulola
The Big Finn is on a tear, having goals in three straight games and five scores in Stockton’s last eight. Stockton is 7-1-0-0 on the year when Tuulola lights the lamp, and he’ll look to get on the board against Henderson in his third outing versus the Silver Knights.
Silver Knights – Ben Jones
The game-winning goal scorer against Stockton from earlier this season enters on a hot streak, with four goals and two assists in Henderson’s last five games. Jones is tied for the Silver Knights’ team lead with 11 goals on the year.
4. MILESTONES WITHIN REACH
- Kevin Gravel is one goal shy of 20 in his AHL career.
- Justin Kirkland is one goal shy of 40 in his AHL career.
- Matthew Phillips is three goals shy of 50 in his AHL career.
5. QUOTABLE
“We’re responding well. We know it’s not going to go our way every night, but I think we’ve competed hard and we’re doing a lot of the right things. Even if we’re down in the game, I feel like we haven’t had many games where it’s because of a lack of work ethic. We stick to our system, do a lot of the right things. Sometimes you won’t get the bounces, but just sticking with the process. (Sunday) we stuck with it, believed in ourselves and found a way to get the win.” – Connor Mackey on Stockton’s resilience