Goalie matures in Heat of playoffs
Taylor anchors Abbotsford to win over Admirals
Danny Taylor can forgive Calgarians if they don’t know who he is.
He’s bounced around — a lot.
In total, the 25-year-old goalie’s name has been on the back of 13 different jerseys since junior, including the Los Angeles Kings — when he was thrown in for 20 minutes against the Dallas Stars in 2008 — and an East Coast Hockey League team by the name of the Wheeling Nailers (no joke).
But team No. 14 — the Abbotsford Heat — is the only one that matters at the moment as Taylor is quickly becoming the next feel good story coming out of the Calgary Flames’ farm team.
“I’ve been pretty lucky this year,” said the England-born Ottawa resident who started the season with Springfield of the ECHL.
“For two years in a row, I’ve been released. Wondering where you’re going to play. Not having a job. It wears on you a lot.
“I just knew eventually someone out there was going to need me. With goalies, an opportunity can come at you so fast so you have to be ready for it.”
That’s where head coach Troy Ward and the Flames organization came into the picture.
With restricted free agent Leland Irving filling in for Henrik Karlsson at various times throughout the National Hockey League season, the Heat gave Taylor a holler in December.
“He’s a guy that was trying to get an identity,” Ward said. “He found himself like a lot of goalies do — he wasn’t a typical prospect. Everywhere he went, guys would come back after being hurt or whatever and prospects would be signed. He’d find himself out of favour, regardless of his play.
“Sometime, in life, it’s a timing thing.”
And timing, at the moment, has Taylor — not Irving — backstopping the Heat in the Calder Cup playoffs.
After Sunday’s 4-2 road win over the Milwaukee Admirals that featured a 28-save performance from the netminder, the baby Flames are up 2-0 in the first-round best-of-five series against the Nashville Predators’ farm club.
The Heat can finish things off in Game 3 on Wednesday as the series shifts to Abbotsford, B.C.
Ward, who specializes in offering second chances, has also put faith in players like Krys Kolanos for much of this season. Sunday was a good reason why.
The 30-year-old Calgarian — another against-all-odds player who got in 13 games with the Flames this season after sitting out 21 months to undergo hip surgery — scored two goals, including a five-onthree power-play marker and the game-winner.
“When there’s times in the game when it can go either way, Krys loves to be on the ice,” Ward said. “When the game is on the line, 5-5, whatever the score is, 2-2, this guy wants to be out there.
“If there is a push, Krys is usually a part of that push. He wants to block the shot or make the big plays to get it out of the zone. When the game is on the line, Krys wants to play.”
After two post-season games, Kolanos’ contributions consist of four goals and two assists — and 15 goals and nine assists for 24 points in his past 10.
It was a hard-fought win for Abbotsford --- a club that lacks AHL playoff experience.
After Friday’s relatively effortless 6-2 win, power plays, penalty kills and lead-changes dominated Sunday’s game and tested the Heat.
Former Calgary Hitmen winger Brodie Dupont connected 32 seconds into the second period and from there, the teams traded goals with Kolanos, Milwaukee’s Chris Mueller, and Abbotsford’s Ben Walter scoring to make it 2-2 after 40 minutes.
Patiently waiting to go blocker-side over Admirals netminder Jeremy Smith, Kolanos scored the game-winner 4:17 into the third while Jon Rheault iced the win with an empty-netter.
“I thought we grew up in this game,” said Ward, whose club killed off seven Milwaukee power-play chances. “There wasn’t any guarantees and it could have swung either way . . . it was a very mature game for us today.
“We’re not an outcome-based team. We haven’t been all year. We just worry about our process and how we manage a hockey game and I thought we did that (Sunday).”