The Abby Heat enter game 5 down 3-1 in the series to the Marlies, but it isn’t without an effort.
They have played solid with stellar by the tenders.The series is a 2-3-2 series with games 6 and 7 in Toronto and it looked as though it might be a “tender’s duel” to the final buzzer.
Abbotsford took a 1-0 series lead with their 3-1 win against Toronto that saw Max Reinhart scored his first Calder Cup playoff goal. The win saw Danny Taylor earned his fourth straight win in the playoffs and was also named the game’s first star.
The Heat dropped Game 2 of the series by a margin of 5-1 and were heading home with the series tied at one. The loss was the first for the Heat in 12 games and also ended Taylor’s personal win streak at nine.
The Heat fell 4-1 to Toronto in Game 3 on Saturday night at the AESC and now trail the best-of-seven series two games to one. Leland Irving started in net for the first time this postseason and made 22 saves on 26 shots.
The Home team has won all four meetings between the two teams in their four game regular season series, while the visitors have taken two of three in this post-season series.
Heat Head Coach Troy Ward was an Assistant with Houston during the 2008-09 season when they fell just short of earning a berth to battle for the Calder Cup, losing in game six to the Moose in the Western Conference finals.
When asked to compare this year to his Calder Cup drive with Houston in 2009, Ward stressed “We take each game one day at a time, what happened yesterday has no bearing on today. As a team our goal is to end each day 1-0.” Game five saw the Heat come out with “jump in the stride” and managed to get the games first goal as well as a second goal putting them up 2-0 by the 13:30 of the first.
Toronto applied pressure and managed to get within one goal a short minute and two seconds later. The first ended 2-1 with Toronto holding an edge in shots 12-10.The only goal in the second was by Toronto at the 18 minute mark off the stick of Frattin which saw him notch his 5th of the 2012 playoffs.
The second ended tied at 2 and entering the third would require both clubs to play cautious, but aggressive.The third saw great action, but no movement in the score, which saw the teams take the tie to the dressing rooms following three well played periods. This is the first time in Heat history they have played the first ever play-off game.
Danny Taylor made 33 saves on 36 shots including a breath-taking stop in overtime that brought the crowd to a roar and kept the game alive. The Heat were outshot 36-31 in the game by the Marlies.
The Heat got their first special teams goal of the series in Game 5, and it came on the penalty kill that finished three for five on the night. The Heat power play threatened but didn’t score on three attempts over the course of the game.
The club will have exit meetings with players over the coming days before turning attention to the off-season and building the 2012-13 team.
Covering the Heat this past season was extremely enjoyable and I wish more would take in the games.
They made several changes last season which all worked out for the better.
The media relations under the guidance of Delany Dunn were great to deal with so from Sportswave they get this season’s 1st Star!!!
On behalf of Laird, Justin and myself –
THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!!!
