The Abbotsford Heat aimed for their fourth straight win as they hosted the Texas Stars, farm club to the Dallas Stars in an afternoon game at the ASEC. This meeting is the seventh of the season between the clubs in which the Heat pulled out a 2-1
Friday following the return of Krys Kolanos who spent three and a half weeks with the Flames.
Heat “tender” Danny Taylor (28) is coming off back-to-back wins and three-star selections allowing just three goals on 56 shots in the two victories.
He leads the Heat to 11 of the 31 wins to date splitting the duties with Leland Irving who was re-assigned to the Heat from the Flames. Irving playing for the Flames stopped 35 of 38 shots in the Flames 3-2 loss against Anaheim on Friday.
The tight Western Conference sees the Heat, Chicago Wolves (Vancouver Canucks), San Antonio Rampage (Florida Panthers), Houston Aeros (Minnesota Wild), and Peoria Rivermen (St. Louis Blues) fighting for playoff positions four through eight.
While a trio of other teams are within three points of the final playoff spot.
The Heat enter the game in 4th, tied with San Antonio with 67 points and two points up on Chicago while holding a single game in hand on the Rampage.
While the first period was fast the Stars outshot the Heat 9-6 through 20 minutes of play and this trend continued through the second. The game continued to be scoreless through the mid-part of the second only to see Irving beat on a shot by Wathier at 12:47 giving the Stars the lead.
This lead would continue and see it taken to the dressing room finishing off period two. Shots following two periods had the Stars up 21-19 over the Heat.
No doubt Heat Head Coach had some words to settle the guy’s down between periods as they came out flying, testing Beskorowany on several close-in shots.
Regardless of what was said, the Heat’s Clay Wilson got his 12th of the season a short 34 seconds in to what looked like an overconfident Stars team.
Not to be outdone, the Stars rebounded on a PP goal by Colton Sceviour at 5:57 putting them back in front. Both of the goals by the stars were scored on the PP, which is a reverse from the game played Friday.
The Stars continue to pound the Heat as Esposito’s shot gave a huge rebound out front to Gazdic who made on mistake putting it past a sprawling Irving, who had no chance on the rebound.
The Heat found themselves in penalty trouble, following a run-in with the Stars “tender”, and then the game got testy, which saw the Heat take a minor for Goaltender Interference.
Gazdic got his second of the game beating Irving glove side giving them a 4-1 lead. Shots on goal saw the Stars outshot the Heat by a 36-31 margin.
Game stars:
1st # 32 Tyler Beskorowany (Texas)
2nd # 7 Sceviour (Texas)
3rd # 5 Breen (Heat)
