The Abbotsford Heat beat the Milwaukee Admirals (AHL affiliate of the Nashville Predators) 4-2 on Friday night at BMO Harris Bradley Center. The Heat remain in first place in the Western Conference with a 33-15-4-1 record and 71 points.
Jeff Hanisch/Milwaukee Admirals
Olivier Roy was spectacular in goal for the Heat earning first star honours, in what is his fourth win in a Heat uniform. Forwards Ben Street and Brett Olson both led the way offensively with two points each on the evening.
The Heat opened the scoring one minute into the game on Sven Baertschi’s fifth goal of the season assisted by Ben Street and Josh Jooris. The Heat’s early lead did not last long, as the Admirals tied the game at the 3:40 mark on a goal from Vinny Saponari. The Admirals led the shot count 20-8 after 20 minutes.
At 3:26 of the second period, Taylor Beck gave the Admirals their first lead of the game scoring his 12th goal of the season. Ben Street replied for the Heat at the 12 minute mark on the power play, putting away his 21st goal of the season assisted by Brett Olson.
In the third period, Max Reinhart scored the go ahead goal at 12:03 assisted by Markus Granlund and Blair Jones. Brett Olson put the game away in the Heat’s favour, scoring an empty net goal at 19:59 unassisted.
Abbotsford went one of four on the power play and killed off all five Milwaukee man advantages.
Olivier Roy picked up the win in goal for the Heat stopping 34 of 36 shots, while Scott Darling was charged the loss turning away 26 of 29 shots.