Power Plays Win The Day for Heat 2-1

It was a hectic weekend for me with some hockey friends getting married outside of Austin. I wasn't able to watch this game live, so apologies for that. More on the special Texas Stars themed wedding though later in the week.

Texas and Abbotsford looked to be aiming for an old fashioned track meet as three power play goals were scored in the first eight minutes of the game. Krys Kolanos and Ben Walter tallied for the Heat and Texas answered with Esposito's fifth of the year. That would be all the offense though as the rest of the game featured more sparring than scoring. Brenden Dillon had two fights among fourteen total penalty minutes. Eric Godard also squared off with Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond. Dillon assisted on the Stars' only goal and earned third star honors for his efforts.

Here's the release:

The Texas Stars (24-28-2-2, 52 points) were defeated by the Abbotsford Heat (31-21-3-2, 67 points) 2-1 in front of 3,609 fans at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre on Friday night. Heat forwards Krys Kolanos and Ben Walter each scored a power-play goal 2:27 apart in the first five minutes of the game and Abbotsford goalie Danny Taylor (16-12-1) took care of the rest, stopping 22 of 23 Texas shots for the win. Texas goalie Andrew Raycroft (8-9-1) suffered the loss despite making a game-high 27 saves. Forward Angelo Esposito scored the team’s lone goal in the defeat, as Texas fell to 10-19-0-1 on the road this season. Texas remains in Abbotsford for a rematch with the Heat on Sunday, March 4th at 3:00 P.M. (CT).

The Heat jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first five minutes of the opening period. Krys Kolanos gave Abbotsford a 1-0 with his 19th goal of the season at 2:33. Dustin Sylvester had the lone assist on the power-play goal that opened the scoring. Abbotsford lead was extended to 2-0 at 5:00 of the first period off Ben Walter’s 12th goal of the year. Ryan Howse and Clay Wilson set up the power-play tally for the two-goal lead. Texas countered with a power-play goal of its own at 7:32. Forward Angelo Esposito tucked a wrist shot under the cross and over the shoulder of Heat goalie Danny Taylor. Espositio’s fifth of the year was set up by Travis Morin and Brenden Dillon, trimming the Abbotsford lead to 2-1.

Tonight's lines:
Unable to watch tonight, so no lines.

Injuries, scratches, and notes:
Labrie, Spang, Schultz, Fortunus (injury)
Tousignant, Weller, Forney (scratch)

Tonight's attendance was 3,609.

AHL Gamesheet - Texas at Abbotsford - March 2 2012