By Mike Cadarette (Contributor) – Email
The young stars of the Edmonton Oilers were in Abbotsford on Friday night, but they weren’t shining in front of a sold out AESC. The Heat were able to pull off a 4-0 shutout win against the Oklahoma City Barons – a team that boasts the likes of Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Justin Schultz.
However, the Heat didn’t prepare any differently for the Barons who are arguably the most star-studded team in the AHL.
“It’s one of seventy-six [games],” said head coach Troy Ward. “It doesn’t matter who we play. We have to play a certain style and if we play to the way we want, that’s most important.
After a rather tight-checking first period, Dustin Sylvester would open the scoring with only a minute left in the period getting his fourth goal of the season on a tip-in pass from Ben Street.
Halfway through the second period Ben Street would pick up his second point of the night on the powerplay from a quick snipe shot beating Yann Danis high blocker side. Ben Street has been a bit of unsung hero for the Heat as of late getting eight points in his last 10 games.
With three minutes left in the second period, Barons’ defenseman Colten Teubert set up behind his net readying for a breakout pass, but misread the play and passed it off of his own teammate’s leg that deflected into his own net. The bizarre 1986 Steve Smith-esque play would result in a Ben Walter goal, as he was the last Heat player to touch the puck.
Teubert’s ‘own goal’ would prove deflating for the Barons who finished the second period down 2-0 and were unable to show any signs of life in the third. To make matters worse for the Barons, the Heat continued their stingy penalty killing ways thwarting all five of Oklahoma City’s powerplays.
The Heat would cap off the night with their third powerplay goal of the contest on a patient play from Krys Kolanos waiting for the goalie to make his move first and snapping it high. With that goal, Kolanos has tied Cam Cunning for the Heat franchise record in all-time goals.
“Tonight was a good indication of the growth that we’re having,” said Ben Street of his team’s powerplay, which sits second in the AHL. “When we got in the zone and got some chances we made the most of them.”
Paul Byron made his season debut for the Heat on Friday night after struggling with a nagging injury from offseason training. He was a welcome addition to the Heat as he not only brings speed and offense, but tenacity and an unending work ethic as well.
“The one thing about Paul is he competes really hard,” explained Ward. “He doesn’t long shift you, he doesn’t play winded. He’s a smaller guy that plays with everything he’s got. He was a nice addition to our team.”
The Abbotsford Heat are flaunting some very remarkable numbers sitting in the upper echelon of most statistical team and player categories. Namely, the Heat are in a three-way tie for the best winning percentage in the AHL winning 80 percent of their games.
They hope to continue their dominating ways in front of another sold out capacity crowd tomorrow night in a rematch against the Barons.
