By Tim Ubels (Contributor) – Email
Despite outshooting the Checkers 69-38 over their final two games against Charlotte, the Abbotsford Heat were only able to solve Checkers’ net-minder Justin Peters once in the series, losing 5-1 on Friday and getting shutout 1-0 on Saturday. The Heat closed out their 14 game in 24 days by extending their losing streak to seven (0-6-1), the longest of the season.
Scoring chances came in bunches for the Heat, as they were afforded 13 power play opportunities over the two games series, but it was Charlotte who capitalized on their special teams opportunities, going two for seven on the power play and picking up two shorthanded goals as well, solidifying the two wins.
“It really comes down to our power play versus their power play,” said Heat forward Ben Walter after Saturday night’s loss. “They came through and we didn’t.”
Despite the outcome of the two games, the Heat have to be proud of their performance and their response to adversity — they outshot and outplayed the Checkers both nights. Heat head coach Troy G. Ward praised his team’s even strength effort, contending, “We had a really good game five on five, we hardly gave up anything five on five. Special teams were obviously a factor.”
On Friday night, Gregg Nemisz scored his first goal of the season on an odd man rush at 6:06 of the first period, giving the Heat a brief lead. Heat forward Roman Horak waited until the last moment to feed it across to Nemisz, who buried the puck past a sprawling Justin Peters. Checkers’ captain Brett Sutter tied it up on the power play at 12:31 of the first period, tipping the Zac Dalpe shot past Heat goaltender Barry Brust low glove side. Even though there was sustained pressure by both teams for the rest of the game, the Checkers dominated the rest of the game offensively, with Sutter and Dalpe leading the way, picking up four points a piece en route to a 5-1 win Friday night.
Despite the loss, Heat newcomer Blair Jones showed promise in his season debut with the team. He was a solid physical presence that created some solid scoring chances and had a team-high four shots.
In a rematch with the Checkers on Saturday night, the Heat started Leland Irving in net, who had a strong outing but surrendered a late power-play goal to Checkers’ forward Chris Terry at 15:34 of the third period, which stood as the night’s game-winning goal. Terry carried the puck from the blue line and danced around the Heat defense into the slot to beat Irving blocker side to open the scoring. Although Heat forward Ben Street had a last second shot on net to tie the game, Peters stood tall and turned it aside along with an additional 16 shots in the third period to deny the Heat an overtime period.
Veteran defenseman Joe Piskula was positive despite the loss and showed confidence in his team’s effort Saturday night, saying that it was “A fine line between that goal going in and not going in, we were right there.”
The Heat will look to end their losing ways as they return to action on Friday and Saturday evening, opening a two game series against the Houston Aeros at the AESC. Puck drop for both matches is at 7pm in Abbotsford.
