Starting the third period down a goal, Coach Kirk Muller shuffled the lines and shortened up the bench a bit. The Admirals then proceeded to score three goals in the first ten minutes of the frame, and Atte Engren made that lead stand as the Admirals beat the Heat 3-1 Saturday night.
Michael Latta tied the game just 57 seconds into the 3rd period, deflecting a Kyle Wilson shot off the shaft of his stick.
About 8 minutes later, a Victor Bartley shot from the point went through Abbotsford goalie Leland Irving, sliding through his legs. Taylor Aronson assisted on that goal for his first professional point, and it was the first power play goal on the road this season for the Admirals….on their 14th attempt.
31 seconds later, Taylor Beck scored an insurance goal, but Ryan Flynn did the dirty work. Flynn made a very strong move to the net and tried to jam the puck in short side. Irving had the door closed, but Beck followed the play and knocked it past Irving to give the Admirals the 3-1 lead.
The Ads then gave the Heat essentially four straight minutes of power play time (including a Yonking penalty to Foss), but Engren was able to make some big saves, and keep the puck out of the net.
“I think that’s the most poised and confident that I’ve seen him in the net,” Coach Herbers said of Engren after the game during the radio broadcast.
Engren, making his first appearance of the season, finished with 24 saves on 25 shots.
(Incidentally, Chet Pickard, who apparently wears an “A” for the Cyclones, lost to Reading tonight 3-2….he’s 0-2 on the year, but has decent stats. Cincy has only scored three goals for him over those two games)
– Ryan Thang returned to the lineup after leaving last nights game prematurely. I think that A) Thang must be pretty tough, and 2) we’re pretty lucky that the hit wasn’t worse than it was.
– Raitis Ivanans made his season debut for the Heat tonight, presumably to make sure there wouldn’t be any retribution for Byron’s hit on Thang last night. Raitis didn’t drop the gloves with anyone…but man, that name brings back some great memories…. I don’t remember ever seeing him lose a fight in an Admirals jersey.
– Three out of a possible four points on the Abbotsford trip? We’ll take it. 20th straight road game with at least a point. Travel day tomorrow, practice this week, and then the first 3-games-in-3-days stretch of the season this weekend. Friday in Rosemont, and then Saturday and Sunday at the Bradley Center.
Admirals Roundtable 
