From the Heat..The Abbotsford Heat beat the Utica Comets (AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks), 7-2 on Saturday night at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. The Heat remain in second place in the West Division with a 37-24-5-2 record and 81 points.
Photo by: Lindsay A. Mogle/Utica Comets
A second period five goal outburst in a span of 8:56 from the Heat was the difference maker in the game. 12 players in the line-up registered at least one point, while five skaters had a multi-point game. Ben Street was named the first star recording three points (1-2-3).
The Heat opened the scoring at the 14:38 mark, with Jordan Kremyr’s first career AHL goal, assisted by Tim Miller and Kane Lafranchise. The Heat outshot the Comets 14-11 after 20 minutes.
Utica evened up the score 30 seconds into the second period, with a goal from Jeremy Welsh. At 3:40, the Heat got their lead back on Zach Davies second goal of the season, assisted by Max Reinhart and Ben Street. Just over a minute later, Brett Olson tipped in a power play goal to make it 3-1, with the assists going to Corey Locke and Derek Smith. Olson scored his second goal of the period, which came shorthanded at the 8:07 mark, assisted by Ben Street. Street made it a four goal lead with his team leading 26th of the season at 11:23, assisted by Josh Jooris and Max Reinhart. At 12:36, Jooris was awarded a penalty shot, and he made no mistake scoring his 11th goal of the season, which gave the Heat a 6-1 lead after 40 minutes.
Shane O’Brien made it a 7-1 score at the 12:54 mark of the third period, with the assists going to Sven Baertschi and Kane Lafranchise. The Comets scored the last goal in the game at 15:37, courtesy of Alex Biega shorthanded.
The Heat went one out of four on the power play and killed off both Comets man advantages.
Joni Ortio was named the second star in the game stopping 32 of the 34 shots he faced, and picked up the win, while Joacim Eriksson was charged the loss turning aside 19 of 24 shots and was pulled from the game at the 31:15 mark.
The Heat finishes their current six-game road trip on Sunday, March 30th against the Toronto Marlies at 1:00 PM PST. The Heat’s next home game is on Friday, April 4th against the Rockford IceHogs (AHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks). NHL Veteran Brendan Morrison will be making an appearance as part of the Heat’s ‘Legends of Hockey series’. Morrison will be available for autographs on the concourse of the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre (AESC) on a first come, first served basis. For fans who lead a group sale of 10 or more tickets for this game, they and a guest will have the opportunity to participate in an exclusive meet and greet with Morrison. For tickets, please call 1-877-452-HEAT (4328) or visit us online at www.abbotsfordheat.com.