Enter the Bakersfield Condors, a club that had dropped nine in a row and had not experienced a win in more than a calendar month coming into Friday's tilt at Stockton Arena, and the stage seemed set for a bounce-back as we've seen so many times this year from the Heat.
Don't let one loss become two. Don't let two become three. They have yet to let three become four.
Prior to puck drop, team captain Byron Froese declared the team was approaching the Battle of Highway 99 showdown like a playoff game.
Forty-two seconds in, the Heat were down a goal. Less than eight minutes in, they were down two. When the dust settled on the opening frame, the Condors had a multi-goal edge and had the Heat on their back foot.
But as we've seen time and time again this season, when the Heat hit rough waters they just keep rowing.
Austin Czarnik put the home team on the board just 71 ticks into the second period, cutting the deficit in half. Luke Philp potted his team-leading 19th goal of the campaign 4:14 later, pulling the Heat back to even footing. Riding the momentum, Stockton kept pushing until a 5-on-3 powerplay midway through the third, when Matthew Phillips didn't get quite enough on a loose puck in the blue paint, sending the rubber across the goal mouth to Eetu Tuulola, who put it home for the decisive 3-2 lead that stood to the final horn.
"We weren't happy with the first (period)," said Czarnik, who lit the lamp to start the comeback push. "We knew we had better. Everyone knew we could play better, each individual. To come out right away and get that first one, then right after again on the power play, to be able to get (Luke Philp's) goal, that was huge for us. It helped us take momentum and carry it over to the rest of the game."
A big two points, and a big weekend for Stockton as the Heat came back the next night and earned a point in a shootout in front of a crowd of 7,642 at Bakersfield's Mechanics Bank Arena.
Three of a possible four points, both games involving the Heat erasing deficits en route to adding to the always-important point total.
When it comes to March, the results require broader context beyond the wins and losses. In the tight Pacific Division race, the Heat maintained their two-point edge for third over the San Diego Gulls. They're up four points on fifth-place Ontario. Ahead of the Heat are the Tucson Roadrunners in first with 73 points, five better than Stockton's total of 68, followed by the Colorado Eagles with 70.
Only a Tuesday tussle with the San Jose Barracuda, in seventh but riding a five-game point streak, separates Stockton from a huge weekend set against the Eagles Saturday and Sunday at Stockton Arena.
