There's an argument to be made that the Abbotsford Heat's 4-3 overtime victory over the Chicago Wolves on Friday evening was the most important regular-season win in franchise history.
The timing of it, in every respect, was sublime.
The Heat desperately needed the two points – locked, as they are, in a dogfight for a playoff berth.
Beyond that, they turned in an exceedingly entertaining performance in front of just the fourth sellout crowd in franchise history – 7,044 paying customers made the trek to the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre.
The triumph, moreover, reversed a pattern that has seen the Heat struggle mightily at home against the Vancouver Canucks' farm teams (the Manitoba Moose in 2009-10 and 2010-11, and the Wolves this season). Coming into Friday's game, the Baby Canucks were 9-1-0-1 in Abbotsford.
Add it all up, and there were a lot of smiles on the faces of Heat players and staff in the aftermath.
"The atmosphere in here with the full barn, it would be great if we could do that every night," Heat forward Jon Rheault marveled. "Probably the majority of them were Canucks fans, and it's a little different. But energy is energy, and when this place is full, it's a lot of fun.
"I thought we responded well to that – we stuck to the game plan, and it feels good to have success against that team."
Brian Connelly played the hero for the Heat, scoring the game-winner with 11.9 seconds left in OT. The speedy defenceman jumped into the rush, took a lovely cross-ice pass from Ben Walter, and buried a top-corner wrist shot over the glove of Wolves goalie Matt Climie.
The goal represented a bit of redemption for the offensive-minded blueliner – he struggled with defensive-zone turnovers in the early going, and Heat head coach Troy Ward benched him for a big chunk of the first period.
It was also Connelly's first goal in 23 games with the Heat.
"I've just been trying to create shots and opportunities, and they haven't gone in," said Connelly, who was acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks organization in a trade for Brendan Morrison in late January. "It's good to kind of get that off my back, and hopefully it springboards me for the rest of the season."
The Heat weathered a rare power-play outburst from the Wolves en route to victory. Chicago came into the weekend set with the worst power play in the AHL, but they scored a key goal on the man advantage in Thursday's 5-4 shootout win, and they went 3-for-4 on Friday.
The Heat, though, could draw a great deal of confidence from the fact they were easily the better team five-on-five on Friday, as they out-shot the Wolves 44-31.
"Sometimes that's just the ebb and flow of the game," Ward said, analyzing the Wolves' power-play proficiency. "I thought we helped them out a great deal last night at the end of the game to give them a power-play goal, and I thought it just carried into tonight. I thought they were crisp, I thought they passed the puck hard."
Darren Haydar lit the fuse on the Wolves' power-play prowess at 13:04 of the first period, cruising down the right wing and picking the top corner over Heat goalie Leland Irving's glove.
Some physical play from Guillaume Desbiens paved the way for the Heat to knot the score before the period was up. The veteran winger crushed Chicago's Matt Clackson with a huge hit along the side boards, and Clackson came up swinging. Desbiens scored the takedown in the scrap, and Clackson picked up an extra minor penalty for roughing.
The Heat didn't score on the ensuing power play, but just as it expired, Nick Tuzzolino pinched in from the right point and fed Greg Nemisz in the slot. He wheeled and fired a wrister past Climie.
The hosts owned the early portion of the second period – they out-shot Chicago 10-1 over the first 10 minutes of the frame, and had two goals to show for it.
Both came from point-blank range. At the 5:05 mark, Krys Kolanos drove to the net and cleaned up a Quintin Laing rebound. Just over three minutes later, Walter circled the net and fed Clay Wilson at the top of the crease, and and the mobile blueliner jammed the puck past Climie.
Late in the frame, a pair of Heat penalties changed the complexion of the game.
The first, a rather soft tripping call on Greg Nemisz, yielded a goal for Kevin Connauton on a one-timed shot from the right point. The second, a slashing penalty on Krys Kolanos on Connauton behind the play, led to another goal on a one-timer – this one by Mark Mancari from the left point.
The third period, while entertaining, produced no goals, setting the stage for Connelly in the extra frame.
The Heat got a tremendous performance out of Wilson, who picked up first star honours after a busy travel day.
The veteran defenceman took the morning skate with the Calgary Flames, then was reassigned to Abbotsford after Cory Sarich was cleared to return to the Flames' lineup. He landed at the Abbotsford International Airport at 1:30 p.m.
"It's one man's opinion – if we had an MVP, it would be him," Ward said of Wilson, noting his ice time hovers around 30 minutes per game. "His maturity showed, and certainly his play was indicative of how he's been for us lately."
The Heat (36-26-3-5, 80 points) strengthened their grip on fourth place in the crowded Western Conference standings, while the single point helped the third-place Wolves (38-25-3-3, 82 points) gain a bit of breathing room as well.
Mancari said the Wolves could take a lot of positives from the weekend, beginning with their performance on the power play.
"We looked at our power play, and we weren't really content," he said. "We weren't moving our feet – we were just passing the puck and hoping something happened. And I think the last few games we've been moving our feet and putting guys in front of the net, and just letting pucks go."
ICE CHIPS:
• The Heat made five lineup changes on Friday, inserting Wilson, Desbiens, Rheault, Roman Horak and James Martin, while scratching Joe Piskula, Brett Carson, Carter Bancks, Adam Estoclet and Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond.
• Heat right winger Ryan Howse left the game in the second period after losing an edge and crashing hard into the end boards. He suffered a knee injury and went to hospital for evaluation, though Ward said early indications were it wasn't a long-term injury.
• All four of the Heat's sellouts have come when the Canucks' farm team was in town. In 2009-10, they sold out back-to-back games vs. the Moose on Jan. 12-13. Last season, they drew a capacity crowd for a Nov. 27 date with Manitoba.
• The Heat host a huge two-game set with the Rochester Americans on Tuesday and Wednesday (7 p.m. both nights, AESC). The Amerks (32-24-8-4, 76 points) are also in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race – they're hanging onto the eighth and final post-season spot.