Recap: Marlies 5, Heat 0

After defeating the Rochester Americans 3-2 Friday in the first of a five-game road trip, the Abbotsford Heat were blown out by the very same Toronto Marlies they started the month of November with back-to-back wins against.

The Marlies led 1-0 after one on a goal by Ryan Hamilton just over halfway through the opening frame, despite being outshot 10-6 by the Heat. Toronto went up 2-0 just over two minutes into the second period when Nazem Kadri put the puck past Leland Irving for his second goal of the season, but the Heat still had the Marlies in their sights, out-shooting them again 8-6 in the middle frame.

Toronto pulled away for good in the third period, scoring three more unanswered goals, including one on the powerplay by Matt Frattin at 12:46. The Marlies doubled up on the Heat in shots in the final frame, out-shooting them 12-6 and quashing any hopes of a comeback, giving Abbotsford a taste of their own shutout medicine.

As is the norm with almost every 5-0 loss, this does not appear to have been an especially good game for any member of the Heat. Leland Irving, who has been struggling against Danny Taylor and Brian Boucher’s apparent protege Barry Brust for the starting job, allowed five goals on 24 shots in his first regulation loss of the season, and the line of Ben Walter, Roman Horak, and Sven Baertschi seems to have been particularly hard-up this afternoon, as each player was minus-3 and managed only a combined six shots on goal.

Abbotsford's top-ranked special teams, which have been heavily contributing to their standing at the top of the league thus far this season, also seem to have failed them today; the Heat were 0/6 with the man advantage this afternoon and the Marlies were 1/2 on the powerplay against their visiting opponents.

The Heat now have four full days to recuperate from today's loss and make the necessary adjustments before a three-game swing through Texas starting Friday evening with stops in Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston to close out their road trip.

Troy Ward's troops return home on November 30th to take on the Hamilton Bulldogs.

by Hayley Mutch