[GDT] Heat vs Comets - March 28th & March 29th @ 5:00pm MST

[Drury18]

Scratches: Lamb, Jones, Seiloff, Ferland, Ostrow, Foster, Kulak, Gillies, Lyon

Starting:

Ortio
Breen-LaFranchise
Reinhart-Street-Jooris

[Drury18]

Lines:

Reinhart-Street-Jooris
Baertschi-Knight-Bancks
MacPherson-Locke-Olson
Miller-Kremyr-Hathaway

Arsene-Davies
SOB-Smith
Breen-LaFranchise

[Drury18]

Puck has dropped for the 1st

[Savvy27]

Judging from the highlights last night, this ought to be a physical game.

[Drury18]

Breen and Huskins were pushing around :18 after the whistle and first puck drop.

Definitely expect some heavy hits and possibly fights tonight.

[Savvy27]

How has Knight been playing since he returned?

[Drury18]

Very average if not slightly poorer then when he left.

I think he's still up there in face-off wins for the team (and with no advanced stats, I can't really back it up with numbers), but offensively he's dropped off a little bit. Not sure if that's due to the demotion (doubtful) or due to him being a college player and not used to this long season and heavier workload. He's only gotten 1 assist and 4 shots in his 5 games back.

I'm not particularly worried though. I think this is part of that "natural" college drop off. He's not being a liability so just need to ride through the slump.

[Drury18]

Heat take the first penalty of the game as Arsene goes off for Slashing.

[Drury18]

The physicality of the game is definitely up there. Couple of big hits (Heat on the giving end) and pushing and shoving after every whistle.

[Drury18]

Street and Reinhart missed an empty net after a giveaway deep in the Utica zone. Bounced off Reinhart's shinpad and wide of the empty net.

Great shift by Street and Reinhart.

[Drury18]

HEAT GOAL!

Jordan Kremyr - Backhander 5 hole

1-0 Heat

1st career AHL goal for Kremyr

Assist to Miller and LaFranchise

[Drury18]

Miller's assist is his first as a member of the Heat. Snaps a 8 game pointless streak.

Kremyr's goal is his first in the AHL, snaps a 15 game pointless streak

Super slumpbuster goal!

Goal was a product of Street/Reinhart's awesome shift as the puck stayed in the offensive zone while Street and Reinhart came off and Kremyr/Miller came on.

[Enoch Root]

who are these guys?

[Drury18]

End of 1st Period

1-0 Heat

Shots on Goal: 14-11 Heat

[Drury18]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

who are these guys?

Kremyr's an Aces player who the Heat have signed twice to a PTO. First one was in early January and he was released at the end of January. He was then signed to a second on in late Feb and on the team since. Usually a 3/4 line player, grinder style.

Miller was added at the AHL trade deadline from San Antonio when we had a number of players up with the Flames and desperately needed bodies on the team. He was basically a filler as this is his 4th AHL team this year.

[Drury18]

Interview with Baertschi:

- Thinks the OT win was huge for the Heat. High paced game, lots of shots, back and forth. Utica needs the wins, Heat want the wins, perfect matchup of teams wanting to win

- Ortio was outstanding for the Heat. If they make mistakes, they can rely on Ortio to bail them out. If he is playing well and D is playing well, it gives the Forwards confidence. Can rely on him and D to clean up when the forwards turn over the pucks (which he acknowledged they shouldn't)

- On his goal, he didn't think there was time to score and they did. Smith did a good job pinching, he tipped a Street shot and was lucky it counted. He didn't think it counted originally.

- Thinks the Comets play a good, fun, hard game. Knows the Coach of Utica and style that he plays. Utica has some good players, allowed to make plays, make alot of chances. There's a special rivalry created between the two teams.

- Coach Green (coach for Sven for Portland, current Utica coach) has been great to him since he's left Portland. Always in contact with him and a key for him to getting to the NHL. Can ask him anything.

- Weird feeling to go from NHL to AHL. It's still pro hockey, AHL comes with more pressure. He's there to help out the guys coming in and guys coming down from NHL. Had fun with MacPherson, thinks he will be a great player.

- Chemistry between Locke - Fun to play with him. Understands the game well, knows what to do. Has the pleasure to play with him and he likes to pass first so Sven's been trying to get to the area's so Locke can pass to him and they can score.

- There's been more scoreboard watching then usual. He usually doesn't watch scoreboards, but has found himself looking whose ahead/whose behind. Wants to win, focused on winning, but if they lose, he looks at the standings.

[Drury18]

If the Texas Stars win tonight and Heat lose tonight, Stars will clinch the West Division title for the 2nd straight year.

[Drury18]

Puck has dropped for the 2nd Period

Street with a shot off the post seconds into the 2nd.

[Drury18]

Comets Goal - Welsh

1-1

Beats Ortio clean glove side.

[Drury18]

HEAT GOAL!

Zach Davies

2-1 Heat

Assist to Reinhart and Street

Beauty pass by Reinhart!