MORNING SKATE: HEAT CLOSE SEASON SERIES WITH SAN JOSE SUNDAY
The Heat are 8-1-0-0 on the year against the Barracuda heading into the season finale.
TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: Stockton Heat (40-12-4-1; 1st Pacific) vs. San Jose Barracuda (20-35-2-2; 9th Pacific)
LOCATION: SAP Center | San Jose, California
TIME: 3:00 p.m. PDT
TUNE IN: Today’s game can be streamed on AHLTV, and the radio call is available on Fox Sports Radio 1280 or online via Spreaker.
HEAT INDEX
The Stockton Heat close out their season series with the San Jose Barracuda on Sunday, the 10th meeting between the Pacific Division foes. The Heat are 9-1-0-0 on the season against San Jose following Saturday’s emphatic 7-1 win, the fourth consecutive matchup between the clubs in which the Barracuda have scored first, with Stockton winning all four.
MATTY ICE
Matthew Phillips attached his name to yet another Heat team record, scoring his 26th and 27th goals of the season in Saturday’s game. The 27th score pulled him to a tie with Mark Jankowski (2016-17), Hunter Shinkaruk (2015-16) and Kenny Agostino (2015-16) for most goals in a season in Heat history. He also became the first member of a Flames AHL affiliate since 2013-14 to hit the 60-point mark, last done by the Abbotsford Heat’s Max Reinhart (63 points) and Ben Street (60 points).
ROOKIE RECORD
Jakob Pelletier has matched Mark Jankowski’s 2016-17 scoring output, 56 points marking a Heat rookie record for points in a debut campaign. Jankowski hit the mark with 27 goals and 29 assists while Pelletier has 26 goals to go with 30 assists, the first Heat rookie to reach 30 helpers in a campaign. He’s the first rookie of a Flames affiliate to have 30 assists in a season since Dustin Boyd of the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights in 2006-07.
WOLF REACHES 30
Dustin Wolf became the fifth AHL rookie since 2000-01 to hit the 30-win mark with Stockton’s Saturday victory. Wolf joins a small group of Dennis Svedberg, Alex Stalock, Ondrej Pavelec and Pekka Rinne as the five-man pack to reach 30 in a debut AHL season.
EETU TWO-GOAL-LA
Eetu Tuulola’s effort Saturday was his first-career multi-goal game, including a shorthanded marker and an even strength score. Tuulola’s SHG was his second of the season, tying him for the team lead, and he has tied his career high for points in a season with 23, matching his rookie season total in the same amount of games with 50 each season.
CATCH AND RELEASE
Stockton looks for its 10th consecutive win at the SAP Center as the Heat close out the season set against San Jose. The road win streak dates back to the start of the start of the 2019-20 season. Stockton has amassed 17 goals in four games in San Jose this season and have outscored the Barracuda 36-15 during the nine-game win streak. The Barracuda have earned only two of a possible 18 points against Stockton in that time.