THE CANUCKS CLOSE OUT THEIR ROAD TRIP WITH A 6-0 VICTORY OVER THE HENDERSON SILVER KNIGHTS
The Abbotsford Canucks are closing out their five-game road trip, taking on the Henderson Silver Knights. After dropping game one in the back-to-back last night, the Canucks are looking to battle back and come away with the win tonight.
No changes to the Canucks lineup tonight, other than a change in goaltender. Artūrs Šilovs gets the go-ahead tonight, and he took over for Nikita Tolopilo, who has gotten 3 out of the 5 starts on the road this trip. The same netminder for the Silver Knights as Jiri Patera gets back-to-back starts.
The same 3 defensive pairings remain unchanged from last night as Nick Cicek and Jett Woo, Matt Irwin and Filip Johansson, and Cole Mcward and Akito Hirose suit up at the blue line. Up front, the same 12 forwards also dress with the same linemates as yesterday. Tristen Nielsen, Sheldon Dries, and Linus Karlsson stick together, followed by Aidan McDonough, John Stevens, and Arshdeep Bains. Chase Wouters continued centering Aatu Räty and Marc Gatcomb, and Cooper Walker, Jermaine Loewen, and Ty Glover round it out.
The Canucks started off with a bang in the first period. The first shot on net was credited to John Stevens who was able to sneak away with the turnover and fire it past Patera to open the scoring just over 3 minutes into the game for his 13th of the season. Just over a minute later the Canucks headed to their first powerplay of the game. A passing sequence between Arshdeep Bains and Jett Woo landed on the stick of Aidan McDonough who was able to notch his 7th goal of the season on just the second shot of the game. There was just a short break between scoring, but the SheLdon Dires came away with the puck off a feed from Matt Irwin and Tristen Nielsen, and he was able to net his 21st of the season, and the Canucks were up 3-0 halfway into the first period. Matt Irwins' assist on Sheldon Dries's goal, became his 100th AHL Career assist. By the end of the first period, the shots on goal were held to just 5 goals for the Canucks and 4 for the Silver Knights, but luckily for the Canucks, 3 of those 5 shots landed in the back of the net and they maintained the lead heading into the second period.
Things did not slow down in the second period. Isaiah Saville took over in net for the Silver Knights, but that did not stop the Canucks. Just 52 seconds into the period, Tristen Nielsen was able to jam one past Saville for his 10th goal of the season, and 4th goal for the Canucks tonight. Jett Woo found himself in the box for 4 minutes, as the Canucks penalty kill got to work, and Arturs Šilovs came through for the Canucks with some huge saves to keep the Silver Knights at 0 goals. Halfway through the second, John Stevens fired one on net, and Arshdeep Bains cleaned up the rebound for his 11th goal of the season, and the Canucks headed into the final frame up by 5.
The Silver Knights were able to tame the Canucks shots in the final period, but they were also not able to get any past Šilovs. The final frame was scoreless for the majority of the period, until late in the third, when Ty Glover passed the puck in front of the net, and Cooper Walker was able to complete the pass for his 2nd goal of the season, and 6th Canucks goal of the game.
Artūrs Šilovs shut out the Silver Knights and the Canucks came up with a big 6-0 win over Henderson. They will return home to take on the Bakersfield Condors on Tuesday and Wednesday, before hosting Henderson at home on the weekend.
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