Lomberg’s Timely Effort Gives Heat Opening Night Win
Stockton, Calif. – In front of a boisterous crowd for the home opener at Stockton Arena, the Stockton Heat defeated their Nor-Cal rivals, the San Jose Barracuda by a final score of 3-2. It would be Ryan Lomberg’s successful footrace to the puck deep into the third period that would turn out to be the game winner for Stockton as the tenacious forward scored his first AHL goal which stood as the game winner. In net, Heat goaltender Jon Gillies put together a solid performance in net making 28 saves and not allowing San Jose to score on any of their two power plays. Rounding out the scoring, Matt Frattin and Hunter Shinkaruk added their first goals of the season. The Heat continue their three game homestand on Wednesday as they host the Texas Stars at 7 pm.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st Period
San Jose goal: F Daniel O’Regan (1) blocked shot creates a breakaway that splits the defensemen and the shot beats the goaltender through the five-hole (unassisted), 10:17
Shots: STK — 11 | SJ — 11
2nd Period
HEAT GOAL: F Matt Frattin (1) battle in the right corner creates a pass into the high slot and the shot beats the goaltender on the glove side (Mangiapane assist), 9:45
HEAT GOAL: F Hunter Shinkaruk (1) turnover on the forecheck creates a one-on-one with the goaltender and the shot from outside the crease beats the goaltender in the corner on the glove side (Jankowski, Hathaway assists), 13:00
Shots: STK — 8 | SJ — 9
3rd Period
San Jose goal: F Barclay Goodrow (1) faceoff from an icing found its way for a one-timer that beat the goaltender glove side with traffic (Blackwell, Ryan assists), 10:55
HEAT GOAL: F Ryan Lomberg (1) long clearance off the side boards, footrace to the puck, beats the defenseman and chips the puck past the goaltender on the glove side (Kylington, Robak assists), 15:25
Shots: STK — 14 | SJ —10
GOALIES
W: Jon Gillies (30 shots, 28 saves)
L: Troy Grosenick (30 shots, 27 saves)
NOTABLE STATISTICS
Three Stars: 1- Ryan Lomberg (1 goal), 2- Brandon Bollig (2 shots), 3- Daniel O’Regan (1 goal)
Final Shots: STK — 33 | SJ — 30
Power Plays: STK — 0/2 | SJ — 0/3
Thanks to Matt Frattin second period goal, the new Heat goal song was revealed to Stockton fans as “Shot Through The Flames,” by AC/DC.
Oliver Kylington led all Stockton skaters with a +2 in the plus/minus category in tonight’s victory.
With Stockton’s 7-0 win in their home opener last season, the Heat have now won both their home openers in their team history.
Ryan Lomberg scored his first AHL goal and first AHL game winning goal
Andrew Mangiapane picked up his first pro point (an assist) in his pro debut
QUOTES
“It felt good. Some stuff to work on, just little things, but overall anytime we win as a team, that’s all I care about and that kind of masks some of the mistakes I made a little bit, so I’m thankful for that and we’ll attack them some time soon and just trying to get better”. – Jon Gillies on returning to game action after a long rehab
“After the first period, our execution was a little bit better and we really limited their chances, so it was a nice night.” – Jon Gillies on the Heat getting better as the game wore on
“I think it was [Kylington] that tried to hit me on the far side and I just missed it by an inch and after that I just tried getting on the forecheck and figured I was kept getting closer and close to the guy and at the last second I lifted his stick and chipped it in there.” – Ryan Lomberg on how he scored his first AHL goal
“It was a good team game and we’re already really happy to get the two points here.” – Ryan Lomberg on his excitement to get an opening night win
“I think at the beginning, maybe a little bit of nerves, it was a good crowd out there tonight, so everyone just tried to get their legs under them for the first bit there. You know, the season opener, home opener is a big deal for us, but we settled down and stuck to our game plan.” – Ryan Lomberg on the team settling down and playing better later in the game
“It was a game where I thought we were on our heels a little bit early on in the first period, they have some good speed on their side and I thought we had a hard time with it. But I thought as the game went on, we got a little bit better with our game. [We were] scrambling at times and there’s a lot for us to work on, but the end result was a good one for us tonight.” – Coach Huska on his impression of his team after the opening night win
“You want to win your first game, no matter who you’re playing against, so i think at times it takes a little bit of pressure off of your group. We’ll be able to show them some of the things they did well, we’ll be able to show them some of the things they have to work on. Whenever you’re winning, whether it’s the first game of the year, the 50th game of the year, your group feels better about itself, so it’s nice for us to be able to go into a couple of days of practice on Monday and Tuesday and get ourselves ready for Texas that way.” – Coach Huska on the win and preparing for Wednesday’s game
NEXT HOME GAME
STOCKTON HEAT vs. Texas Stars
October 19 @ Stockton Arena
First 500 fans receive a photo card
Doors @ 6:00 p.m., Puck drop @ 7:00 p.m.
