Heat Report - 18.12.16

The Stockton Heat were red hot last week, rattling off three straight wins and solidifying their spot at the top of the American Hockey League's Pacific Division.
With a 16-6-2 record and a .708 win percentage, they have distanced themselves from the Ontario Reign and the San Jose Barracuda, who sit second and third in the division.
The Heat have one more game before the AHL's Christmas break, making a stop in San Jose on Tuesday afternoon.
"I think this group of guys has a belief that they can win. Everyone believes in each other," head coach Ryan Huska said after Saturday's win in San Diego. "When you have that belief that you can win every night, it doesn't matter where you're playing.
"We have one more big test before our Christmas break, so we'd like to stay engaged for one more game and we should be able to feel good about our play going into the break."

Last Wednesday, goaltender David Rittich held on to quell Ontario Reign's third period surge and Stockton picked up a 5-4 win at Citizens Business Bank Arena.
Mark Jankowski, Morgan Klimchuk, Kenney Morrison, Matt Frattin and Oliver Kylington scored in the opening two periods, giving Stockton a 5-1 lead. The Reign scored three times in the third period but Rittch was able to hold them off from tying the game up, making 10 saves on 13 shots in the final frame.
"We did a lot of good things five-on-five, but we got ourselves into trouble with two offensive zone penalties and some poor clearing attempts on our penalty kill," was Huska's assessment.
"If we don't take those penalties, then I don't think momentum shifts the way it did in the third. But at the end of the day we weathered the storm and that was important for our group."
On Friday, the Heat's offence continued to roll and they collected a 5-3 win over the San Diego Gulls at the Valley View Casino Center.
Jamie Devane, Hunter Shinkaruk, Andrew Mangiapane, and Frattin (2) netted Stockton's goals while netminder Jon Gillies made 44 saves on 47 shots.
"There were spurts in the game that I felt busy, Gillies noted. "[San Diego's] power play moves the puck really well, so even if they're not getting a lot of quality shots they move it around the perimeter really well. That makes you feel like you're exerting a lot of energy, but other than that I thought they had a couple good chances, but we did a good job of keeping them to the outside.
"We played a good, insulated game and I'm happy to come out with the win."

Gillies was back in net on Saturday, posting a career-high 48 saves in the Heat's 3-1 victory over the Gulls. It was the netminder's ninth win this season, which leads all Stockton goalies.
"I thought [Jon Gillies] was excellent," Huska said. "We challenged him on some of the back-to-back nights because his numbers haven't been the greatest and he's a proud guy. He wants to play well every night and when he's still getting his timing and conditioning back on the second night, this was an excellent step for him."
"When you have a guy like [Jon Gillies] behind you, it makes it a lot easier to play, Austin Carroll added. "He's a stellar goaltender and he really helps the team out. I can't say enough about his play."
Gillies' shutout bid was halted with just 20 seconds left in the game when San Diego defenceman Keaton Thompson was able to slip a shot underneath the netminder's pad with a shot from the slot.
"At the end, after seeing 49 shots, you just want to get out of there with the win," Gillies said. "It could have been 3-1, 3-2 - it didn't matter to me. Our guys battled hard all night long and it hurts me when they think they have to apologize to me. They don't need to do that.
"We fought hard and we won as a team. That's all I really care about."
The Heat received goals from Carroll, Klimchuk and Shinkaruk in Saturday's win, which was Stockton's sixth win in seven games against San Diego this season.
"We like to stick to what's in front of us and take it one game at a time. We're playing well right now and we definitely love winning games. Three in a row is good but we need to stay focused to get that last one Tuesday before a little break," Carroll asserted.