Submitted. The Abbotsford Heat lost 4-1 to the Oklahoma City Barons (AHL affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers) on Saturday night at the Cox Convention Center. The Heat remain in first place in the American Hockey League’s (AHL) Western Conference with a 13-5-0-1 record.
Photo by Steven Christy/ Oklahoma City Barons
The Barons were strong defensively all game and got two goals from C.J. Stretch, snapping the Heat winning streak at nine games. Joey MacDonald was strong between the pipes for the Heat, but was charged with his first loss of the season.
The first period was scoreless as the two veteran goaltenders, MacDonald and Ilya Bryzgalov, turned away every shot they faced. The Heat had 12 shots on goal, while the Barons had 13.
The Barons broke the deadlock on a goal from C.J. Stretch at 12:37 of the second period. With 21 seconds left in the period, Stretch scored his second goal to give the Barons a 2-0 lead going into the third period.
Paul Byron scored his third goal of the season at 9:59 of the third, assisted by Chris Breen and Markus Granlund, to cut the Barons lead to 2-1. However, Linus Omark and Ben Eager closed out the scoring to put an end to the Heat winning streak with a 4-1 final.
The Heat were zero for four on the power play and killed off two of three penalties in the game.
Ilya Bryzgalov picked up his first win of the season stopping 25 of 26 shots, while Joey MacDonald was the losing goaltender stopping 31 of 34 shots.
The Heat will continue their seven game road trip with a Tuesday night game against the Milwaukee Admirals (AHL affiliate of the Nashville Predators). Following this seven game road trip, the Heat will return home to play the Utica Comets (AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks) on Friday, November 29th and Saturday, November 30th. Friday, November 29th will feature the third Legends of Hockey night of the season, with Canucks legend Kirk McLean appearing for autographs prior to the game on the AESC concourse at 6:00pm.