CALGARY, AB – The Stockton Heat (10-12-1-0) started fast in their return to the ice, the club’s first game in eight days, with first period goals from Zac Leslie and Matthew Phillips but dropped a midweek clash by a 4-2 final to the Belleville Senators (8-12-1-0) at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Leslie’s power play marker was the first of four goals in the opening period, split evenly between the two clubs, as Lassi Thomson’s score on the man-advantage knotted the game at one, then an Egor Sokolov tally gave the visitors a brief lead until Phillips knotted the game less than three minutes later.
Both sides went scoreless in the second period, Garret Sparks stopping all 12 shots that came his way in the second stanza, before Mark Kastelic broke the stalemate 4:21 into the third to give Belleville the edge. The Heat were unable to find the equalizer before Parker Kelly found the empty net for the 4-2 final.
NOTABLE
– Matthew Phillips tallied his team-leading seventh multi-point game of the season with a goal and an assist.
– Zac Leslie’s power play goal to open the scoring was his first special teams marker of the season.
– With an assist on Leslie’s score, Glenn Gawdin notched his first power play point of the campaign.
– Dmitry Zavgorodniy registered an assist for the second consecutive game.
– Stockton and Belleville are now tied two games apiece in the season series.
