By Tim Ubels (Contributor) – Email
The Abbotsford Heat saw a familiar foe at the opposite end of the rink this weekend, as former Calgary Flames goaltender Henrik Karlsson suited up for the Rockford IceHogs in both games over the weekend series at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre. Karlsson, who’s only recently joined the IceHogs after spending time backing up for the Chicago Blackhawks, came into the series red-hot. His last three outings dating back to March 9 all resulted in wins for the IceHogs, as the Swedish netminder posted a steady .900 save percentage and a 2.67 goals against average during that span.
Friday night’s game featured the man with the brown pads, Barry Brust, starting the game off for the Heat, but unfortunately for the Heat, he didn’t last. Halfway through the second period, coach Troy Ward decided to pull Brust in favor of Danny Taylor. This came after Brust let in his third goal of the game, as IceHogs defenseman Steve Montador hammered a one-timer on the power play past the struggling Heat netminder.
After IceHogs forward Brad Mills made good on a penalty shot, the Heat started to slowly claw back into the game, as they closed the gap by two goals by the end of the second period. Carter Bancks had two breakaways on the same penalty kill, scoring on his second attempt by beating Karlsson high glove side. Greg Nemisz then tipped a Joe Callaghan shot with only 35.6 seconds left in the period, shifting the momentum fully in the Heat’s favor. However, that’s as close as the Heat would come on Friday night, as the IceHogs added another goal in the final frame to take the first game 5-2.
Bancks, who was named the game’s third star, said after the loss that the Heat had a good push, created a lot of scoring chances, played a good special teams game, and hit some posts, adding that, “It was frustrating.”
Saturday night’s game saw Danny Taylor get the start against the seemingly unbeatable Henrik Karlsson, who stopped 33 of 35 shots the previous night. After a scoreless first period, the Heat’s persistent pressure finally started to pay off. Ben Walter opened the scoring in the second period by cleaning up a rebound shot from Ben Street after Karlsson couldn’t handle the initial shot. Less than two minutes before the second intermission, Tyler Ruegsegger also scored for Abbotsford, doubling the team’s lead heading into the third period.
The game eventually went to overtime, after the IceHogs tied the game up at three goals a piece with only 9.4 seconds left to play in the third period. It was in overtime that Sven Baertschi sent Roman Horak on a clear breakaway. Horak was riding a 24 goal-scoring drought, but all that changed as he bumped his slump by beating Karlsson five-hole, tallying his fifteenth goal of the season.
Heat coach Troy Ward praised Horak’s overtime heroics, “Roman’s a really good player. He’s an NHL player. He can play at that level and ironically he could probably score easier at that level than he does at this level. That’s usually the way it works. He had great legs tonight. Whether he scored the goal in overtime or not I thought he played a good game. He got what he deserved.”
With the win, the Heat momentarily move up to seventh place and into a playoff spot in the airtight Western Conference with only a handful of games remaining in the season. Abbotsford returns to action when they face off against the Bulldogs in Hamilton on Wednesday at 4:30 Pacific Time.
