Recap: Aeros 3, Heat 2

Justin Fontaine put one past Danny Taylor on an Aeros powerplay at 14:32 of the first period, giving Houston a 1-0 lead. But Brett Olson evened things up just over minute later on a goal assisted by Paul Byron and Dustin Sylvester. The opening frame concluded with the affair squared at one.

Aeros centre David McIntyre scored to put his team ahead 2-1 at 8:56 of the second period, and the middle frame would end that way. The Aeros had just five shots on Taylor in the period, while the Heat had only four.

Joe Piskula evened things up on a shot from the point, assisted by Zach McKelvie and Carter Bancks at 10:18 of the third period, and for the third time in three nights the Heat would again go to extra time to declare a winner.

But much like Chris Breen’s quick OT goal against the Texas Stars two nights ago, Houston’s Jason Zucker scored just five seconds into the extra frame to claim the two points for the Aeros, tying a record for the fastest overtime goal in AHL history in the process.

The Heat are undefeated when out-shooting the opposition so far this season, which they failed to do last night in what was overall a low-shooting game, as the Aeros finished with a slight 23-20 edge in shots. Last night was not such a good showing for some of the Heat’s top scorers, as Sven Baertschi and Ben Walter finished with 0 shots on net while Roman Horak had just one. Ben Street accounted for a quarter of the entire team’s output with five shots on Aeros goalie Matt Hackett. Max Reinhart continues to struggle in his first full pro season, with just two assists and 20 shots on goal to his name in 17 games so far this season.

With the point, the Heat maintain their first overall standing in the American Hockey League, earning seven of ten possible points on their five-game trip. Despite this, something of a trend is beginning to emerge early in the Heat’s season. Much like the Flames a few years back, the team has twice as many wins at home as they do on the road; they’ve scored almost twice as many goals at home and allowed almost half of the goals they’ve allowed on the road, although that 5-0 loss a week ago accounts for a good chunk of the team’s 21 goals against away from home. The Heat are still above .500 on the road, but their powerplay away from the AESC remains second last in the league, scoring just once on 33 opportunities.

Abbotsford returns home this week to rest a few injured bodies before taking on the Hamilton Bulldogs at home on Friday, November 30th.

by Hayley Mutch