Milwaukee, Wis. – David Rittich stands tough between the pipes, stopping 29 of the 32 shots he faced, but the Heat fall to the Milwaukee Admirals 3-0 Friday night. The Heat were able to stay out of the box, going shorthanded just once, and received a solid effort from Rittich in net. Unfortunately, the power play could not solve the Milwaukee penalty kill and the Heat were blanked on the scoreboard. Next up is a quick turnaround and a tough matchup, as the Heat face the Western Conference-leading Grand Rapids Griffins Saturday night in Michigan.

OFFICIAL BOX SCORE

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Period

No goals

Shots: STK – 9 | MIL – 12

2nd Period

Milwaukee goal: F Trevor Smith (12) catch-and-shoot opportunity from the far side faceoff dot beats the goaltender low (Murphy, Fiala assists), 14:15 (PP)

Shots: STK – 4 | MIL – 11

3rd Period

Milwaukee goal: F Andrew O’Brien (1) shot from the far side point gets through traffic in front and beats the screened goaltender high glove side (Kirkland, Fiala assists), 1:37

Milwaukee goal: F Adam Payerl (7) shot off the rush rebounds off a defender and deflects past the goaltender and into the net (O’Brien assist), 18:00

Shots: STK – 9 | MIL – 9

GOALIES

W: Marek Mazanec (22 shots, 22 saves)

L: David Rittich (32 shots, 29 saves)

NOTABLE STATISTICS

Three Stars: 1 – Marek Mazanec (22-save shutout) 2 – Andrew O’Brien (1 goal, 1 assist) 3 – Kevin Fiala (2 assists)

Final Shots: STK – 22 | MIL – 32

Power Plays: STK – 0/4 | MIL – 1/1

The Heat have now gone 160:37 without scoring a goal

Stockton is now 8-4-0-0 all-time against Central Division teams with all four losses coming in road contests

The Heat have now been outshot in 10-straight road games

QUOTES

“We need to start simplifying our game and laying everything on the line. We need to start playing desperate because we haven’t won and we need these points. Every single guy in that room, including myself, needs to step up our game and find a way to win.” – Mike Angelidis with his thoughts on how to break out of this recent slump.

“We have to go out and find a way to get an ugly goal early on. We get that and we’ll go from there.” – Angelidis on the key to Saturday’s game against Grand Rapids.

“We didn’t generate the chances we needed to on that 5-on-3 power play. Simple as that. We’re going to have to find different people to try to step up on the power play. That’s what it’s going to come down to because right now it’s just not getting the job done.” – Head Coach Ryan Huska with his thoughts on the turning point of tonight’s game.

“We have to find a way. Our skilled guys have to be prepared to play uglier and our working players need to make sure they’re putting everything they can to the net. We know [Grand Rapids] is a very good team. They have a lot of different weapons on their side. We’re going to have to check and play a really good road game tomorrow.” – Coach Huska on the focus moving into tomorrow’s game in Grand Rapids.

NEXT HOME GAME

STOCKTON HEAT vs. Bakersfield Condors

February 4 @ Stockton Arena

Safety Night

Doors @ 6:30 p.m., Puck drop @ 7:30 p.m.