Abbotsford Canucks vs Calgary Wranglers Game 3 Preview
The Abbotsford Canucks are returning to the Abbotsford Centre to continue their best-of-five match up with the league-leading Calgary Wranglers. Last week Abbotsford fell to the Wranglers in overtime in both of the first two games at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The game one of round two saw Marc Gatcomb net his first career playoff goal, with Aatu Räty sending the game to overtime late in the third period.
Game one was won by Calgary’s Jakob Pelletier halfway through overtime, joining Dryden Hunt and Adam Klapka on the scoreboard.
Game two saw the return of Calgary’s Matthew Phillips who had been ejected from game one in the first period. With the game heading to overtime once again, after efforts from Calgary’s Clark Bishop, Ben Jones and Dryden Hunt, Phillips got his redemption, scoring the game-winner for Calgary seven minutes into the extra period. Despite the loss, Abbotsford’s Arshdeep Bains scored two short-handed goals within the same penalty kill, and Tristen Nielsen netted the only goal of the second period.
After the past two games in Calgary, Arshdeep Bains has headed straight to the top of the leaderboard for shorthanded goals with two. Bains has also reclaimed the spot he held in the regular season as the leading rookie in shooting percentage. Both Alex Kannok Leipert and Matt Alfaro returned to the lineup in Calgary, each recording a helper and their first career playoff points. Nils Höglander, Arshdeep Bains, Justin Dowling, and Kyle Rau all top Abbotsford’s leaderboard in scoring.
Calgary’s Dryden Hunt recorded his first two career post-season points against Abbotsford, opening the scoring in game one and scoring the equalizer in game two. The BC native recorded 15 points in 17 games with Calgary in the regular season after being traded from Toronto mid-season. Nick DeSimone, who is making his fifth Calder Cup Playoffs appearance has already recorded four points in Calgary’s first and only two games of the post-season so far.
Clark Bishop, Ben Jones, Jakob Pelletier, and Matthew Phillips have all collected both a goal and an assist in their two matchups with Abbotsford.
Regular Season Special Teams:
Power Play %
ABB: 18.1%, CGY: 21%
Power Play Goals For
ABB: 52, CGY: 69
Penalty Kill %
ABB: 79.9%, CGY: 85.1%
Post Season Special Teams:
Power Play %
ABB: 9.5%, CGY: 18.2%
Power Play Goals For
ABB: 2, CGY: 2
Penalty Kill %
ABB: 81.3%, CGY: 100%
Fast Facts:
The Pacific Division’s best of five is a 2-3 format, with the higher seeded team getting their choice of playing the first two games or the final three games at home.
In four playoff games, 17 different Canucks have registered points, 12 of whom collected their first career playoff point.
Calgary rookies Jeremie Poirier and Adam Klapka both recorded their first career post-season points during game two against Abbotsford.
So far round two has been a battle of the goaltenders, with Spencer Martin and Dustin Wolf both making 37 saves in game one, and Arturs Silovs denying 38 of Calgary’s shots in game two.
By the end of the second round, the Calgary Wranglers will have faced Abbotsford at least six times in row, rounding off their regular season with a three-game series at the Abbotsford Centre.
Games 3, 4 (if required), and 5 (if required) will be hosted at the Abbotsford Centre on May 3rd, May 5th, and May 7th, with all games starting at 7PM.