By Karen Aney (The Cascade) – Email
The Abbotsford Heat defeated the Toronto Marlies on Thursday night with a shutout from Barry Brust, the team’s first of the season.
The highlight of the game came four minutes into the third period. At the 4:28 mark, defenceman Steve McCarthy provided the finish that had eluded the Heat until that point. Receiving an impeccably timed pass from centre Carter Bancks, he netted the puck to make the score 1-0.
That goal, however, was overshadowed by the next one which came in at the 4:31 mark. Yes, just three seconds later centre Ben Street scored a second goal. This is a professional hockey record: the NHL’s current record is three seconds as well, but the second goal was scored on an empty net (by Richard Park for the Minnesota Wild versus the Chicago Blackhawks). The previous AHL record for time between goals was 5 seconds, most recently achieved in 2003 between the Manchester Monarchs and Worcester IceCats.
Brust expressed empathy for Marlies goalie Ben Scrivens. “Who’s ever seen that before? … I can definitely sympathize with him. I’m just glad it wasn’t me.”
Street explained that the goal was a product of coaching from Assistant Coach Cail MacLean. “[He] told me that they’d probably try and go forward off of that draw, so I figured there was no use trying to win it back. I tried to go forward myself, and got pretty good wood on it and got it high enough so that [Scrivens] didn’t pick up on it … and in it went.” He attempted the same feat during the post-goal faceoff in the neutral zone, but Scrivens was able to block his second attempt.
A further point of interest is that both goals were scored during the penalty kill. That being said, the Heat were no strangers to penalty killing during this game: they had ten penalties called on them to the Marlies’ four. The game was physical overall, from chippiness to physicality to full-on fighting. The first of these fights came at the 2:35 mark of the first period, between the Heat’s Bancks and McCarthy and the Marlies’ right winger Kenny Ryan. This came after some knee on knee contact along the boards between Bancks and Ryan, and shifted into a tangle up with every man on the ice.
Some penalties were frustratingly avoidable. Heat Head Coach Troy Ward categorized them as cerebral. “… hockey sense. It’s a brain function … closing your hand on the puck, those are penalties you should never take.” However, the Heat did take that penalty – twice. “We’re skating by right now, because our penalty kill has been so good, but it’s just not a recipe for long-term success.”
The Marlies were not lacking the physicality of the Heat, but the discrepancy in penalties was apparent. Some calls – in particular, the high stick by left winger Krys Kolanos at 12:54 of the first period – evoked very noticeable reactions from the Marlies, in this case coming in the form of a hop and mid-air twist from Marlies left winger Jerry D’Amigo.
Kolanos had a disappointing game even aside from that penalty: though he spent a great deal of on-ice time attempting to derail the Marlies’ efforts, he met with little success. This was most evident in the second period, first when his attempts at gaining position around an opponent against the boards resulted in him losing his stick. Then, at the 16:00 minute mark, he had two fantastic pseudo-breakaway opportunities in a row, and failed to net either one. It’s a lack of finish that has been symptomatic of his last few games, much to the frustration of the Heat fans in attendance.
The Heat will seek a further two points from the Marlies on Friday, November 2nd at 7:00.
