Knight with a goal and an assist as Heat down Marlies 6-3

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. – Corban Knight scored once and assisted on the game winner as the Abbotsford Heat defeated the visiting Toronto Marlies 6-3 in American Hockey League action Sunday.

With the game tied 3-3 Brett Olson converted a pass from Knight off a Tyler Wotherspoon rush while playing four-on-four at 12:21 of the third period.

Michael Ferland also had a goal and an assist for the Heat (11-4-1), who matched a franchise-record with their seventh win in a row, while Chad Billins, Ben Street and Markus Granlund scored the others.

Joey MacDonald made 24 saves for Abbotsford.

Josh Leivo, Trevor Smith and Jerry D’Amigo scored for the Marlies (6-5-1) while Spencer Abbott chipped in with two assists to extend his point streak to 11 games.

Garret Sparks stopped 24 shots for Toronto.

Leivo opened the scoring for the Marlies at 8:09 when he took a pass at full speed from Abbott and made a move around a defenceman to beat MacDonald through the five-hole.

The Heat tied the game at 17:46 when Greg Nemisz blazed down the right wing and threw a puck to the net. Sparks couldn’t corral it and, with Nemisz in the crease, Billins raced in to wrist it past the Marlies’ netminder for his team-leading sixth goal of the season. The goal was reviewed for a considerable length of time but the officials deemed there to be no interference with the Sparks.

MacDonald stopped D’Amigo on a partial breakaway early in the second period, taking away the bottom of the net with a double-pad stack to keep the game tied.

The Heat took the lead at 5:02 when Street converted a two-on-one rush with Ferland and Knight made it 3-1 two minutes and 31 seconds later. Ben Hanowski fed the puck to Knight in the high slot as Olson went to the net to provide traffic and Knight placed a hard wrist shot from the top of the circle past Sparks.

Toronto cut into the deficit while on a five-on-three power play. Abbott found Smith open at the side of the net and the Marlies’ captain one-timed it past MacDonald at 11:49.

The Marlies tied the game at 6:10 of the third period when D’Amigo put one past MacDonald. After blocking a shot at his own blue line, Sam Carrick rushed down the ice and tried to centre for David Broll. The puck found its way to D’Amigo at the side of the net with MacDonald sprawled.

MacDonald’s most important save may have been with four minutes to go when he came across to glove a T.J. Brennan slap shot, a quality save even the Toronto defenceman had to acknowledge with a stick tap.

Granlund scored on a penalty shot at 17:13 and Ferland added one more into an empty net to round out Abbotsford’s offence.