Abbotsford Stays Alive With 3-1 Win In Game 5
April 24, 2010 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release
(Abbotsford, BC - April 23)... On the brink of elimination and with their season on the line, the Abbotsford Heat held on for a 3-1 victory in a must-win Game 5 over the Rochester Americans tonight at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre. With the win, the Heat force Game 6 and climb back within one game as the Amerks take their 3-2 series lead in the best-of-seven North Division semifinals back to Rochester.
Three different goal scorers contributed single tallies for Abbotsford as former Amerk David Shantz stopped 18 of 19 shots for the win in his fifth straight start.
Veteran forward Mike York scored Rochester's lone goal while Tyler Plante turned away 31 saves in the losing effort.
Jon Rheault put the hometown Heat up 1-0 with his second of the playoffs at 7:45 of the opening frame. Tyler Spurgeon found a breaking Rheault to the right of slot, who made a nifty move around Amerks defenseman Clay Wilson and slipped the puck five-hole past Plante for the game's first tally. Brett Sutter also picked up an assist on the play.
Abbotsford doubled its lead to 2-0, courtesy of its captain Garth Murray, just under three minutes later. Murray batted in Cam Cunning's rebound from the left of the goal at 10:27 for his first of the postseason and the eventual game-winner.
Rochester quickly responded minutes later, cutting its deficit in half, after York converted on his third attempt on a goal-mouth scramble. Shawn Matthias raced down the right-wing side into Abbotsford's zone and threw the puck on net just below the hash marks. After Shantz failed to cover the puck, York was able to jam the puck past the Heat netminder from his position on the near-post. With the goal, York collected his league-leading 11th point and has now recorded a point in all five games this series. Matthias also extended his current point streak to four games with the lone assist.
The Heat had a great opportunity to regain their two-goal cushion when Jason Jaffray, in his first game this postseason, was awarded a penalty shot at 7:44 of the second stanza. Luckily for Plante, Jaffray, Abbotsford's leading regular season scorer point-getter, lost control of the puck just moments before shooting.
David Van der Gulik made it a 3-1 game midway through the final frame as he beat Mathieu Roy to the outside and fired a low backhander through the pads of Plante to restore Abbotsford's two-goal lead. The unassisted goal at 9:48 was Van der Gulik's first of the playoffs.
The Amerks nearly came back within one goal in the closing minutes of the period. With Plante on the bench and an extra attacker on the ice, Jeff Taffe's shot appeared to hit the upper right corner of the net. Shortly after referee Frederic L'Ecuyer signaled the goal, however, the call was quickly overturned, claiming the puck never did cross the goal line.
The Amerks return home to The Blue Cross Arena for Games 6 and 7, if necessary, on Sunday, April 25th and Tuesday, April 27th. Game 6 is slated for a 5:05 p.m. start Sunday evening at The Blue Cross Arena.
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