Stockton Heat/AHL
The Pacific Division has zero teams under a .500 winning percentage so every single game matters at this point of the season. After a disappointing loss on Wednesday, the San Antonio Rampage bounced back, defeating a good Stockton team, on the road, 2-1 in a shootout Friday night.
The Rampage opened the scoring in the first period on a fantastic individual effort, something we’ve seen from a couple of players over the past few weeks. Alex Belzile took a stretch pass from defenseman Jesse Graham, split the Heat defense at the blue line with a nifty move, and beat Jon Gillies to give the Rampage a 1-0 lead.
The Heat even things up in the final minute of the second period as Darren Nowick slipped past Alex Belzile and fed a rushing Hunter Shinkaruk who powered a shot through Spencer Martin.
After a scoreless third period and Overtime, which finished with the Rampage on an unsuccessful 4 on 3 power play, the game would be decided in a shootout, the third of the season for San Antonio. Goals from Rocco Grimaldi and David Warsofsky combined with two saves from Martin ended the game with the Rampage gaining the extra point.
The win moved the Rampage back ahead of the Heat and into second place in the division. The two teams meet again tonight for a rematch in Stockton.
Streamables – (Courtesy of Nathan Rudolph @AvalancheReview)
Rampage 1 – Heat 0
1st period (7:05) – SA Alex Belzile (5) ASST: Jesse Graham (7)
Rampage 1 – Heat 1
2nd period (19:21) – STK Hunter Shinkaruk (11) ASST: Darren Nowick (1), Morgan Klimchuk (12)
Rampage 2 – Heat 1
Shootout:
Ranford (SA) – No Goal
Foo (STK)- No Goal
Grimaldi (SA) – Goal
Andersson (STK) – No Goal
Warsofsky (SA) – Goal
The Good
- The high quality play of Rampage goalies continued as Spencer Martin was very good all game, including a perfect 2 for 2 in the shootout.
- The Rampage limited the Heat’s high danger scoring chances all night and were a perfect 4/4 on the penalty kill.
The Bad
- For the seventh time in ten games, the offense failed to score 3 goals.
- The power play continues to drop in the rankings, failing to score, yet again, in any of their three chances.
The Ugly
- Can someone please let the Heat play-by-play announcer know that he is mic’d up and doesn’t need to scream at his listeners. Especially on a goal scored in the second period. Thank goodness for Dan Weiss.
Lines 1/5/18:
What’s Next:
Sat, Jan 6th (8:00pm) – @ Stockton
Tue, Jan 9th (9:00pm) – @ San Jose
Fri, Jan 12th (7:30pm) – vs. Milwaukee
Sun, Jan 14th (3:00pm) – vs. Milwaukee
All times local.
All games can be heard on Ticket760 or streamed on AHL Live.