One night after seeing a late lead slip away against the Oklahoma City Barons, the Abbotsford Heat came up with some late-game heroics of their own against the Houston Aeros.
Ales Kotalik hammered a slap shot past Houston goalie Josh Tordjman with 45.5 seconds left in the third period to lift the Heat to a 5-4 victory at the Toyota Center, capping a five-game road trip.
The win gave the Heat a solid 3-1-1 record on the journey, which featured five games in six nights. Abbotsford (31-25-4-5) is fifth in the AHL’s North Division, but they’re within three points of the first-place Hamilton Bulldogs, with the Manitoba Moose, Toronto Marlies and Lake Erie Monsters jammed in between.
Gaelan Patterson, T.J. Brodie, Quintin Laing and Cam Cunning also scored for the Heat, while Jon DiSalvatore paced the Aeros attack with a pair of power play goals.
DiSalvatore, though, found himself in the penalty box with 2:32 left in the final frame after tripping up Heat forward Ryan MacMurchy. That set the stage for Kotalik, who one-timed a feed from Gord Baldwin to snap the 4-4 tie.
The Heat now return home for a Friday-Saturday set against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, the AHL’s top team. The puck drops at 7 p.m. both nights at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre.