[Dion]

Ortio has won five of his past six starts and now has a 9-8 record this season in Stockton, a surprisingly decent mark when you consider his other stats.

Thanks to a 36-save performance in Wednesday’s 2-1 overtime triumph against the Ontario Reign, he notched his 58th career victory for the Flames’ farm club, tying Dwayne Roloson for seventh in the history of Calgary’s oft-moved affiliate. Leland Irving is the all-time leader, with 93, and Ortio would prefer not to be in the AHL long enough to take a run at that title.

“His numbers aren’t where we’d like them to be, but we’ve made some adjustments in his game here in the last little bit — just some small things to work on — and we’ve seen a big change,” said Heat goaltending coach Scott Gouthro. “For him, it was a lot of, ‘Just stop thinking and just play.’ And then working on the little things like setting his feet before the shot and tracking pucks into his glove. Little details, but good habits that go a long way.”

“Joni is a bit different … He’d played professionally in Europe, but you look at those goalies that have come from the American League and come up to the NHL, there’s a big body of work usually, where they’ve had a year or two or three where they’ve played 50-plus games. He really hadn’t had that. What he did last year was excellent, but again, it’s a small snapshot.

“So today, do we look at him any different? Probably not. You’ve got a bigger body of work to look at. There’s been some inconsistency in his game this year. But again, we weren’t on this massive high and then all of a sudden this year, on a massive low. Like you said, maybe looking from the outside or from the media or from a fan’s perspective, you’re over-the-moon last year and now you’re thinking, ‘Geez, what happened to him?’

“Ours is more of a steady approach, saying, ‘You know what? Yeah, he had a real good stretch last year, but let’s keep it in perspective.’ And it’s the same this year. If he’s gone through some struggles, let’s keep that in perspective, as well.”

http://www.calgarysun.com/2016/01/31...tio-struggling