From Abbotsford Heat head coach Troy Ward's perspective, Sunday's 6-5 comeback win over the San Antonio Rampage had a retro feel to it.
Ward harkened back to Oct. 28, when Krys Kolanos made his Heat debut on the road against the Grand Rapids Griffins. Kolanos notched a hat trick and added an assist that night, pacing his new club to a 5-1 triumph. His offensive confidence proved contagious, and that victory ignited the Heat on a 9-2-1 hot streak.
On Sunday afternoon at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre, the hosts fell behind 3-0 before Kolanos caught fire. The veteran sniper exploded for five points (three goals, two assists) as the Heat picked up a crucial regulation win over a team they're battling for a playoff berth.
"When Krys is playing the way Krys played today . . . I can't put it into words," Ward marveled afterward. "This guy just illuminates the room. He makes everyone else so much more confident."
After absorbing a 6-1 thumping from San Antonio on Saturday, the Heat seemed to be in for more of the same in the rematch after spotting the visitors a 3-0 lead.
Starting goalie Danny Taylor was the victim of some bad bounces as the Rampage's Greg Rallo, James Wright and Wacey Rabbit put pucks behind him. But he nevertheless got the hook in favour of Leland Irving after Rabbit's shorthanded strike at the 16:05 mark of the first, after allowing three goals on six shots.
Kolanos got the comeback started with just under two minutes left in the opening frame, as his one-timed slap shot on a two-man advantage beat San Antonio keeper Dov Grumet-Morris.
Dustin Sylvester scored to get the Heat to within a goal at 15:33 of the second, but Rampage forward Bracken Kearns replied less than two minutes later on the power play.
But before the period was up, Kolanos was at it again, entering the Rampage zone up the middle and snapping home a shot that found the bottom corner.
In the final frame, the Heat surged ahead on two goals by Ben Walter. The first, at the 1:28 mark, saw Walter rip a shot from the left faceoff circle that went off a Rampage defender's stick in front and beat Grumet-Morris top corner. On the second, on the power play at 14:41, the veteran centre jammed the puck in on a goalmouth scramble.
Kolanos completed the hat trick just over a minute later in spectacular fashion. Sylvester hustled to beat an icing call and whipped a pass across the front of the net to Kolanos, who roofed a shot under the crossbar from a near-impossible angle.
"We can have the whole team shoot that 6,000 times and not maybe make one of those," Ward marveled. "That's an unbelievable shot. You just don't do that."
Rampage blueliner Sean Sullivan scored with just over three minutes left to make the Heat sweat, but that's as close as the visitors would get.
The victory was a huge boon to the Heat's playoff hopes. They came in clinging to the eighth and final Western Conference playoff berth, but leapfrogged San Antonio with the win and now sit in fourth at 35-26-3-4 for 77 points. The Rampage (35-27-3-2, 75 points) are in seventh, though they have a game in hand.
"It was a great win, and the boys are real happy right now," Heat forward Carter Bancks said. "I think the biggest thing was – and it sounds stupid to say in hockey – but we just stuck with our system. We truly did.
"We had guys blocking shots, guys diving in front of pucks. You could just kind of feel it, even when we were down 3-0, that there was no way we were going to let ourselves lose this game."
The Heat came in with the AHL's least potent offence, averaging just 2.37 goals per game. Ward shuffled his lines in order to spark some chemistry – he put Kolanos with diminutive speedsters Sylvester and Paul Byron, and reunited the trio of Walter, Hugh Jessiman and Adam Estoclet, which carried the team through a period of particularly heavy injuries earlier this month.
Ward explained that the aim was to put Kolanos with fleet-footed players, and the move paid off.
"I've got to give all the credit to my linemates," Kolanos said. "They really skate the game well, and they create opportunities for me to come with speed and they give me time.
"Everyone found their own role and niche, and that's going to be the most important thing for us down the stretch."
ICE CHIPS:
• The Heat return to action on home ice with a Thursday-Friday set against the Chicago Wolves, the Vancouver Canucks' affiliate. The puck drops at 7 p.m. both nights.
• As part of the Heat's "Two Minutes for Ruffing" promotion, fans were allowed to bring their dog to Sunday afternoon's game vs. the San Antonio Rampage. The event drew 2,210 fans and 105 dogs.