By Mike Cadarette (Contributor) – Email
On the opening day of the NHL season the Abbotsford Heat showed 4267 onlookers NHL-calibre talent in a 2-1 victory over the Milwaukee Admirals. Saturday night marked the first time since April 25 the Heat have faced the Admirals when they swept Milwaukee in the first round of the playoffs. No doubt about it, the tempo and speed of the game was evidence that the Admirals wanted revenge for their playoff elimination.
After a slow start where the Heat appeared to be helpless in their own zone, they began to rebound midway through the first period. Max Reinhart found an open puck at centre ice and used his speed to create a two-on-one along with Krys Kolanos. Reinhart made a crisp tape-to-tape pass over to Kolanos who finished the job on a Datsyukian-like deke, beating Jeremy Smith five-hole.
Former Heat blueliner Brett Carson made his season debut after being sent down from Calgary after the training camp and he made an immediate impact. After rookie Admirals defenseman Joonas Jarvinen took a hooking penalty, the Heat went to the power play. With Quintin Laing screening the goalie along with several Milwaukee players, all Brett Carson had to do was fire from the point. Carson blasted the puck on a shot that must have broke the 100 mph mark, which beat the Admirals netminder cleanly.
“Obviously we’re glad for the goal. That’s just frosting on the cake, so to speak,” said Troy Ward after the game. “We wanted to get him in there, but I think he handled himself well and obviously it’s nice to see him get a goal.”
With Abbotsford applying enormous amounts of pressure in the offensive zone, the spectacle was nothing short of a shooting gallery for the Heat.
However, it was the Admirals who would strike next when Kevin Henderson scored his tenth goal of the season on Danny Taylor to cut into the Heat lead 2-1.
In the third period, the chances came fast and furious for both teams, but Danny Taylor in particular stood tall for his team making a flurry of saves in desperate fashion to hold on to his team’s lead and secure the win.
On Sunday afternoon the Heat took on the Admirals in a rematch. The game started where it left the previous night with crisp passing, a fast pace and numerous scoring chances.
Once again, the Heat were able to strike first and once again Krys Kolanos was the trigger man to give his team the early 1-0 lead. Using his strength to fend off an Admirals defender, Kolanos cut to the inside and pushed the puck on net. It found its way under Magnus Hellberg and into the net.
Late in the first period, Barry Brust pulled off a miraculous right pad save on Milwaukee’s leading goal scorer Austin Watson to keep his team’s lead intact.
In the second period, the fans in attendance at the AESC must have felt a déjà vu. Brett Carson got his second goal in as many games as he blasted another shot from the point and beat the Admirals netminder in almost the exact same spot. Mike Matczak assisted on both of Carson’s goals giving him a nice little two game point streak as well as having collected four points in his last four games.
The third period was largely dominated by the Admirals in terms of chances, but Brust imitated what Taylor did the previous night by shutting the door in a series of great saves. In the second half of the third period, doing his best Sugar Ray Leonard impression, Brust delivered a quick jab to the chin of Milwaukee captain Mike Moore after he crashed the crease.
On the next play, an Admirals defender fired a shot from the point beating the numerous bodies in front of the net screening the goalie, but couldn’t beat Brust as he flashed the mitt to preserve the 2-0 victory.
“I thought tonight, in typical Barry fashion, he found a way to assert himself into the game physically,” chuckled Ward, “and he seems to find a way to punch a puck by a couple of players so we can get those pucks out and he finds a way to make some big saves.”
The Heat, for the first time this season, have strung together four straight wins and have come out on top in five of the last seven games. The Heat will look to continue this good fortune on the road as they take a trip to North Carolina to face the AHL’s top team – the Charlotte Checkers – on Friday and Saturday.
