By Karen Aney (The Cascade) – Email
After a 4-0 shutout win against the Oklahoma City Barons, the Heat took a Saturday night 2-1 overtime loss to the Oklahoma City Barons.
This match-up, as with Friday night’s game, was skills-based. The Barons have six first-round draft picks on their team, and the Heat have five. Both teams feature a lot of young talent, and it resulted in a pretty even match-up.
The game opened with pressure from the Heat – enough that the Barons had two giveaways by the 30 second mark. Abbotsford was playing physical from the beginning, battling along the boards and trying to dominate overall.
The first shot of note didn’t come until 7:36, with a hard slap shot from the point by Oklahoma’s Tayor Hall that went just wide of the net. This was echoed at the 9:50 mark by Mark Arcobello. The fact that it took the star-studded Barons that long into the period to get two good shots off speaks volumes about the solid play from the Heat’s defense.
The period was brought to a close with Heat d-man Joe Piskula shoving an Oklahoma offender away with just enough time for Taylor to make a save by the edge of his skate’s blade – the first of some three highlight-reel worthy saves from the United Kingdom native.
The second period featured early shots from both sides – Abbotsford’s Baertschi and Oklahoma’s Jordan Eberle. Neither goalie faltered. At 7:40, Abbotsford’s Danny Taylor stopped three shots in a row that came at him through traffic.
The first real fight of the game – one which required on-ice officials to dispel it – didn’t come until the 14:30 mark, when two Baron offenders took exception to Abbotsford winger Adam Estoclet’s manner of battling for position. It did not result in a penalty.
Early in the third period, an Abbotsford checking misread left Nugent-Hopkins open for a shot. He took it, aiming top shelf, but Danny Taylor stopped it with a quick glove save that elicited cheers from the Heat fans loud enough to drown out the groans of the many Oilers franchise fans in the building.
The first penalty of the game came soon after, at 7:06, awarded to the Heat’s Piskula for tripping. For only the second time this season, the Heat’s penalty kill failed them when Taylor Hall chipped in a rebound to end the Barons’ 187-minute scoring draught.
Captain Laing spoke to his team’s play through the periods and the shift in the third. “We missed the net a lot, pucks would rim out … we weren’t creating second chances, so once we started doing that in the third and creating some rebounds … that’s when we started creating our chances.”
The resulting goal – the response to Hall’s – came with just 1:45 left in the period, from Abbotsford’s Dustin Sylvester for his fifth of the season. The goal was scored when Sylvester slotted the rebound of Ben Street’s sniper shot in behind Barons goaltender Yann Danis. Sylvester cited luck for his goal: “I was in the right spot at the right time, and had an open net.”
Capitalizing on the open net brought the team to overtime. Both sides played physically and with intensity, but less than halfway through the overtime period Oklahoma’s Justin Schultz scored the game winner – a wrist shot assisted by a drop pass from Jordan Eberle.
Post-game, the Barons returned to the ice and saluted the Edmonton fans who had led to a sold-out crowd both Friday and Saturday night. Both sides appreciated the full house, with Abbotsford’s Quintin Laing saying it was a driving force behind their three points: “it’s exciting. When we have the crowd behind us like that, it gets us going.”
Abbotsford coach Troy Ward, however, downplayed the attention the match-up received. “A lot of people are making a big deal about this whole Edmonton Calgary, like this – thing, and all their players. It’s just a hockey game. I’m telling ya, It’s just a hockey game at ice level. It makes for good media, but at ice level, the guys playing do not care who they are over there. Sven Baertschi doesn’t need to say that he can play with Hall and Eberle. He’s quite aware of that, and so are they.”
Regardless, it made for some good hockey, and three points for Abbotsford is a nice outcome. They hope to continue their point-gaining momentum on Tuesday versus the Lake Erie Monsters.
