The Rockford Ice Hogs didn’t just beat the Abbotsford Heat on Friday night. They lined up the nails all neat-like, threw what was left of the Heat’s playoff hopes in the coffin, and started hammering away.
The home side tossed 35 shots at Ice Hogs goaltender Henrik Karlsson, but could only beat him twice. Coming the other way, Abbotsford goaltenders Barry Brust and Danny Taylor combined for just 21 saves on 26 shots. Do the math and you’ve got a 5-2 win for the visitors.
Coming into the game, the Heat sat one spot out of the playoff picture with 11 games remaining. That wouldn’t be so worrying if the teams around them didn’t have five games in hand. At this point in the season, with offensive threats like Sven Bärtschi, Ben Street and Max Reinhart all healthy, they just can’t spend all night making opposing goaltenders look good. Those other teams have a possible 10 extra points up for grabs with those additional games, so the chances of making the post-season start to look very slim indeed unless the Heat run the table. With the Ice Hogs win Friday, these teams swapped positions: the Heat now sit in 11th place in the Western Conference, while Rockford moves up to ninth.
To be fair, the Ice Hogs made the most of their opportunities. Steve Montador, in just his third game back from a vicious concussion suffered last year with the Chicago Blackhawks, scored on a wicked one-timer on the first power play of the game. That goal chased Barry Brust, who allowed three goals on 11 shots. Seven minutes later, Brad Mills earned — then scored on — a shorthanded penalty shot period to make the score 4-0 midway through the second period.
The story has been the same for much of this season: the Abbotsford Heat have a lot of neutral zone and offensive zone puck possession, but just can’t find a way to beat the other team’s goalie. This night they were unlucky to score four goals of their own in the first half of the game, with shots trickling wide, or bouncing off of sticks. Wide open Ben Street one-timed a Sven Bärtschi pass not into the yawning left half of the net, but rather into the bread basket of Ice Hogs goaltender Henrik Karlsson.
Carter Bancks finally muscled a puck past Karlsson, ironically at 13:13 of the second period. He had successive breakaways after some sloppy play by the Ice Hogs power play unit, and buried the second chance. Greg Nemisz made things interesting by tipping home a Joe Callahan point shot with thirty-six seconds left in the second period, but there was no comeback to be had in the third. Karlsson made a huge glove save on Brett Carson, and later made a goal-line stand during a scrum in his crease that featured a helmetless Blair Jones.
The Heat and Ice Hogs go at it again Saturday night at the AESC in Abbotsford.