JOHN STEVENS HAS THREE-POINT NIGHT AS CANUCKS DEFEAT MANITOBA 4-2

The Abbotsford Canucks kicked off their final road series of the regular season on Thursday evening, as they squared off with the Manitoba Moose from the Canada Life Centre.

Max Sasson and Andy Carroll made their professional debuts after both being signed to ATO’s earlier in the week. Meanwhile, fellow rookie Arshdeep Bains looked to continue his hot streak, having registered three goals through his last four games. Arturs Silovs held down the Abbotsford crease, having gone 4-1-0 with a shutout against Manitoba this season. Arvid Holm was the Moose starter in between the pipes.

It would take eight minutes but Holm would soon be beaten, this time coming from the Abbotsford captain, Chase Wouters. John Stevens sent a no-look, backhanded pass out in front to Wouters who snapped home his seventh goal of the season and his second in three games.

Less than three minutes later, Winnipeg native Jett Woo doubled Abbotsford’s lead. Collecting the puck from John Stevens off of an offensive zone faceoff draw, Woo fired a shot from the blue line, beating traffic, and inevitably ending up behind Holm in the Moose goal. Woo’s tally was his fifth of the year, and his third against Manitoba this season.

Manitoba would answer back 19 seconds later, with a Leon Gawanke effort coming from the slot. Fresh off of hitting his 200th AHL game, Gawanke buried his 16th of the season, cutting Abbotsford’s lead to a 2-1 score line.

The visitors would take that one goal lead into the first intermission, leading 2-1 after 20 minutes. The Canucks also outshot the Moose 6-5 in the opening frame.

It would take more than half of the second period, but Manitoba would draw level. Going back and forth with Domenic Toninato, Jeff Malott was able to tuck his 21st of the season past Silovs, levelling the game up at 2-2.

Jett Woo would soon get on the scoreboard once again, this time picking up an assist just 71 seconds after Malott tied the game up. Woo fired a shot from the point, which was steered aside by Holm. However the rebound fell straight to Danila Klimovich at the side of the net, who jammed home the go-ahead goal.

The Belarussian’s 13th goal of the season was the difference maker after 40 minutes, giving Abbotsford the 3-2 lead as the two sides headed for the dressing room.

Toninato thought that he had once again pulled the Moose even just 17 seconds into the third, however his goal was quickly overturned due to goaltender interference.

Arturs Silovs was certainly the busier of the two netminders down the stretch, producing several key saves in the final frame to help Abbotsford hold onto their one goal lead. A Linus Karlsson empty net tally would seal the deal for Abbotsford, as the Canucks snapped a three-game losing skid with a 4-2 victory in Manitoba. John Stevens had his first game with three or more points (0G, 3A) since February of 2022, where he picked up two goals and two assists against Manitoba. Jett Woo made it seven points in his last nine games (3G, 4A) thanks to a two-point night on Thursday, while Chase Wouters picked up his third multi-point game of the season, all of which were against Manitoba.

Arturs Silovs stopped 25 of the 27 Manitoba efforts he saw, while Holm turned aside 22 of the 25 Canucks shots he faced on the evening.

For the full AHL box score, please click HERE.

Following Saturday’s game in Manitoba, up next for the Canucks is a five game home stand to close out the season, starting off with a pair of games against Ontario. The two games against the Reign get underway on Friday April 7th and Saturday April 8th at 7:00pm, with the Saturday game being Abbotsford’s Community Heroes Night. Following that, the Canucks close out the year with a Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday series against the Calgary Wranglers. The first Calgary game is Autism Acceptance Night, before Friday’s Spring Country Night and Saturday’s Fan Appreciation game.

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