CANUCKS EXTEND WINNING STREAK TO THREE, SWEEP SAN JOSE WITH 3-2 ROAD VICTORY
The Abbotsford Canucks took on the San Jose Barracuda on Saturday afternoon for the second time in as many days. The clash was the fifth and final game of a southern road trip that has seen the Canucks go 2-2-0-0.
Matt Alfaro, Vincent Arseneau and Marc Gatcomb all returned to the lineup following Vasily Podkolzin, Nils Åman and Phil Di Giuseppe were recalled to Vancouver on Saturday morning. Nils Höglander came into the contest with three multi-point performances over his last six games.
Abbotsford also announced that they signed goaltender Dave Guy to an amateur try out agreement on Saturday morning. However it would be Arturs Silovs to start in goal for the Canucks, while Strauss Mann would get the nod to tend the Barracuda crease.
The Barracuda would break the deadlock seven minutes in, as Derrick Pouliot converted on the powerplay. Picking up the puck at the point, Pouliot would walk in and bury the puck from the top of the circles past Silovs.
Apart from Pouliot’s tally, the period would wind down amidst a flurry of penalties for both sides, with seven powerplays split between Abbotsford and San Jose. The Canucks trailed 1-0 after 20 minutes, and trailed the shot count 6-9.
30 seconds into the second period, Tristen Nielsen pulled the Canucks level. Following up on a Jett Woo effort from the point, Nielsen jumped all over the rebound and buried his ninth of the season.
The level game would last just five minutes, as the Barracuda would grab the lead. Max Veronneau brought the puck into the attacking zone and fired a shot towards Silovs. The Canucks netminder steered aside the initial effort, but Kyle Criscuolo was quick on the rebound and gave San Jose a 2-1 lead.
Less than two and a half minutes later, Linus Karlsson once again pulled the Canucks level. Chase Wouters collected the rebound from an Alex Kannok Leipert shot, and Abbotsford’s captain took the puck behind Mann’s goal. On the wrap around effort, Wouters slipped the puck to Karlsson, who buried the puck into the empty cage past a sprawled Mann for his fifteenth of the year.
Abbotsford would grab a late lead before the end of the period, and it would come via the stick of Vincent Arseneau. Noah Juulsen feathered a cross-ice pass to Matt Alfaro, who slipped the puck across to Arseneau who buried home his fourth of the season.
The go-ahead-goal came with less than four minutes remaining in the second, and Abbotsford took the 3-2 lead into the locker room after forty minutes. The Canucks took 19 shots to the Barracuda’s nine in the second frame, and lead the shot count 25-19.
Arseneau’s tally would turn out to be the difference maker, paired with some bug stops from Silovs, as the Canucks saw out a scoreless third period and walked out of Tech CU Arena as 3-2 winners.
The victory marked three straight for the Canucks, with nine different players picking up a point in the contest. Arturs Silovs turned aside 28 of the 30 shots he faced, while Mann made 30 stops on 33 efforts.
For the full AHL box score, click HERE.
Up next for the Canucks will be a few days off due to the AHL All Star Break, featuring Christian Wolanin travelling to Laval to represent the team in the festivities. After the break, the team will return to action for a pair of games on Friday, February 10th and Saturday, February 11th with a pair of 7:00pm games against the Tucson Roadrunners.
The games will also be “Celebrate The Sedins” Night, as well as “90’s Night” respectively.
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