From The Heat. The Abbotsford Heat lost to the Toronto Marlies (AHL affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs), 6-4 on Sunday afternoon at Ricoh Coliseum. The Heat remain in second place in the West Division with a 37-25-5-2 record and 81 points.
Photo by: TSGPhoto.com
The story of the game was the Heat and Marlies putting up eight goals in the second period. 21 skaters in the game earned at least one point. For the Heat, Corey Locke led the way with two assists.
The first period went scoreless, with both Joni Ortio and Drew MacIntyre making 11 saves a piece.
In the second period, T.J. Brennan opened the scoring with a power play goal at 3:15. Just under four minutes later, Max Reinhart scored on a two man advantage to even the game, with the assists going to Derek Smith and Corey Locke. Brett Olson gave the Heat their first lead of the game at 8:43 assisted by Corey Locke and Kane Lafranchise. At the 10:17 mark, Ben Street scored an unassisted goal to stretch Abbotsford’s lead to 3-1. However, in a span of 7:03, the Marlies scored three unanswered goals from Jamie Devane, Greg McKegg, and Tyler Biggs to make it a 4-3 Marlies lead. With five seconds left in the period, Shane O’Brien capped off an eight goal period with the assists going to Allan McPherson and Sven Baertschi.
Josh Leivo scored the go ahead goal for the Marlies at 9:51, while Carter Ashton provided the insurance with another goal at 16:19.
The Heat went two for four on the power play and killed off one of two Marlies man advantages.
Joni Ortio was charged the loss stopping 21 of the 27 shots he faced, while Drew MacIntyre earned the win, turning aside 30 of 34 shots.
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.