MARTIN’S 43 SAVES LEADS CANUCKS TO SIXTH CONSECUTIVE WIN

LOVELAND, CO -- Spencer Martin made 43 saves to lead the Abbotsford Canucks to a franchise record sixth straight win in a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Eagles Saturday night at the Budweiser Events Center.

Both Ashton Sautner and Phil Di Giuseppe scored for the red-hot Canucks, as the win improved Abbotsford’s overall record to 21-15-3-1 this season.

The Canucks have now won 10 of the past 13 games dating back to January 17th, 2022.

Martin, a former Colorado Eagle during the 2018.19 season, picked up his fifth consecutive win. The victory improves his personal record to an impressive 10-1-2 this season.

Colorado had the first prime opportunity of the game at the midway mark of the first, but Martin stood tall in the Canucks’ crease on a two-on-one to keep things scoreless.

While Abby was outshot 12-6 through the opening 20, the Canucks entered the first intermission in a scoreless tie.

Abbotsford opened the second frame with a pair of two-minute powerplay opportunities, but the league’s third-best team on the man-advantage was ultimately unable to convert. The Canucks seemingly built momentum off their pair of powerplay chances, however, and were rewarded at the 5:12 mark of the second period courtesy of a Sautner point shot. Will Lockwood and Carson Focht picked up the helpers on Sautner’s second goal of the season.

After outshooting the Eagles through the opening half of the period, Colorado found new life in by returning the favour on a 12-5 shooting run. Martin continued his hot play in the crease to keep the home team scoreless and the Canucks in the driver’s seat.

Abby then extended its lead late in the second frame, with Dries capitalizing off a turnover behind the Eagles’ net before a spin-o-rama pass found Phil Di Giuseppe in the slot to extend the Abby lead to 2-0. The goal was Di Giuseppe’s 11th of the season.

Colorado continued throwing everything it could at Martin into the third period, finally capitalizing on a rebound at the 15:08 mark to pull to within one goal. Despite being outshot 19-1 in the final frame, Martin and the Canucks pulled through for the 2-1 win.

QUOTEABLES

• “Spencer Martin is a gamer. That guy has been unbelievable for us all year and tonight was no different. He came up huge in the third period. Seeing him play like that comes as no surprise at this point.” – Sheldon Dries on Martin’s 43-save performance tonight.

• “This place holds a special place in my heart. Both the fans and organization were great to me, so it was nice to see a lot of the people that I hadn’t seen in a long time tonight.” – Sheldon Dries on playing against the Colorado Eagles, whom he was a member of between 2018.19 to 2020.21 (93 games).

NOTABLES

• The Canucks remain in sixth place in the Pacific Division but are now just six points behind fifth-place Colorado having played five fewer games.
• The game was Sheldon Dries’ first back in Colorado since being a member of the Eagles last season. The Canucks’ leading scorer (24-18-42) played 93 games over parts of three seasons with Colorado (2018.19 to 2020.21).
• Spencer Martin leads all Canucks goaltenders with 10 wins this season, while registering a 2.37 GAA and .920 SV%.
• Sautner’s first period goal was his second of the season, as the Canucks defenceman has now registered six points (2-4-6) over his past nine games.
• Both Phil Di Giuseppe and Justin Dowling led Canucks’ skaters with three shots apiece.
• Saturday’s game was Vincent Arseneau’s first back in Abbotsford’s lineup since Feb. 3, 2022.
• Martin holds the Colorado Eagles record for most saves in a shutout in team history, after a 68-save shutout in a 4-0 win over the Ontario Reign Jan. 25, 2019.

UP NEXT The Abbotsford Canucks wrap up their three-game road trip with a Sunday rematch against Colorado at 2:05pm (PT) at the Budweiser Events Center.