O/T Win For Heat

The Abbotsford Heat won 4-3 in overtime against the Milwaukee Admirals (AHL affiliate of the Nashville Predators) on Tuesday night at the BMOHarrisBradleyCenter.

The Heat remain in first place in the American Hockey League (AHL) with a 14-5-0-1 record and 29 points.

The Heat erased two goal deficits twice in the game and got strong goaltending from Joni Ortio in the victory. Chad Billins and Blair Jones combined for five points on the evening.

The Admirals opened the scoring at 10:30 on a goal by Austin Watson. Simon Moser then scored late in the period at 18:55 on the power play to make it 2-0 Admirals after one period.

Blair Jones got the Heat on the board on the power play at 2:24 of the second period, assisted by Billins and Max Reinhart. At 6:41, the Admirals restored their two goal lead on a goal from Miika Salomaki and led 3-1 after forty minutes.

In the third period, Markus Granlund closed the deficit to 3-2 as he scored his seventh of the season at 4:37, assisted by Michael Ferland and Billins.

The Heat then tied the game at 10:13 on a goal from Greg Nemisz, assisted by Corban Knight and Ben Hanowski. The game was tied 3-3 after regulation, and overtime was needed for a third straight game between the two teams.

In the overtime session, the Heat were awarded a power play and Ben Street was the hero, scoring the game winning goal at 3:23 from Billins and Jones.

The Heat were two out of six on the power play and killed off four of five penalties in the game.

Joni Ortio picked up his eighth straight win, stopping 37 of 40 shots and was named the first star of the game.

The Heat will continue their seven game road trip with a Wednesday night game against the Rockford IceHogs (AHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks).

Following this seven game road trip, the Heat will return home to play the Utica Comets (AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks) on Friday, November 29^th and Saturday, November 30^th.

Thanks to the Heat for the info and the photo.