Mike Santorelli scored five points in his return to the AHL, but the Admirals succumbed to the Heat in Abbotsford Friday night, 7-5.

Santorelli, reassigned by parent club Nashville on Thursday, scored Milwaukee's second goal and assisted on the other four.

The game marked the professional debut of former first-round pick Chet Pickard. The goalie was challenged often in the first period as he saw 13 shots from the Heat.

Abbotsford center John Armstrong started the scoring at 4:55 of the first period when he slapped a loose puck into the net after a scramble in front of Pickard. Heat forward Mikael Backlund made it 2-0 when he scored on a rebound at 8:36. Backlund's goal was scored during a 5-on-3 power play.

Milwaukee's power play cut the deficit in half at 17:23 of the first period. Defenseman Alex Sulzer, coming off a three assist night in the previous game at Peoria, shot the puck past Abbotsford netminder Leland Irving for his first goal of the season. Jonathan Blum and Santorelli notched the assists.

Santorelli scored his goal at 7:57 of the second period to knot the game at two. Taking a feed from Peter Olvecky, Santorelli breezed through the right circle and roofed a shot over Irving's left shoulder. Olvecky gave the Admirals the lead at 11:32 of the second when he pushed a rebound of a shot by Andreas Thuresson past Irving. Santorelli and Thuresson picked up helpers on Olvecky's second goal of the season.

Abbotsford wrestled the lead back in a span of 69 seconds at the end of the period. David Van der Gulik slapped in a loose puck at 17:39 before Colin Stuart's shot from the right wing boards beat Pickard over his glove at 18:48.

Defenseman Keith Aulie gave the Heat a 5-3 lead at :59 of the third. Pickard wandered to far from the crease, allowing Armstrong to find Aulie for the easy goal. Garth Murray scored what proved to be the game winner at 3:45 of the third when he skated behind the Milwaukee defense and went in on Pickard alone, beating him with a backhander.

Blum scored his second goal of the season at 8:54 of the third with another assist to Santorelli. However, Keith Seabrook's shot from the right point during another Abbotsford power play gave the Heat a 7-4 lead. Blum added a power play goal with 11.4 seconds left as he tapped in a pass from Santorelli for his first two goal game.

Pickard turned aside 24 of 31 shots in the loss.