The Abbotsford Canucks dominated in a 8-4 win over the Calgary Wranglers
The Abbotsford Canucks rematched the Calgary Wranglers tonight following a tight game last night.
It was Ty Young’s night in net, starting between the pipes for the Canucks, and he faced Devin Cooley for the Wranglers.
The Canucks continued to play around the offensive structure, placing Linus Karlsson on the left wing of Max Sasson and Jonathan Lekkerimäki. Tristen Nielsen, Aatu Räty, and Nate Smith joined forced to make up the second line, followed by Sammy Blais, Ty Mueller, and Danila Klimovich. Ty Glover returned to the lineup following an injury, and he lined up next to his captain Chase Wouters, and Cooper Walker to round out the offense.
This is the fourth game in a row that Abbotsford has rolled out an identical defensive structure, with Joe Arntsen and Cole McWard kicking things off. Christian Wolanin and Jett Woo remained a duo, as did Akito Hirose and Kirill Kudryavtsev to close out the lineup for the night.
It was a busy first period and a big one for the Canucks. It started with Abbotsford needing to kill off a penalty very early on, but after they got back to even strength, the teams kicked it into high gear. After winning a faceoff cleanly in the offensive zone, the puck was sent back to the blue line, where Cole McWard sent a long shot right to the back of the Wranglers' net, giving the Canucks a 1-0 lead, 6 and a half minutes in. The Canucks were sent back on the PK, but just as they got back to 5-on-5, the Wranglers responded when Parker Bell deflected a shot from Yan Kuznetsov to tie the game up at 1 a few minutes later. Just a minute and 10 seconds later, Akito Hirose walked right on into the Wranglers’ crease and stuffed home the puck giving the Canucks the lead once again. Just over 3 minutes after that, the Wranglers headed to the box for 4 minutes after a high stick on Christian Wolanin. The Canucks, on their first powerplay opportunity of the night, used about 30 seconds before the shot from Kirill Kudryavtsev was tipped in by Aatu Räty, and the Canucks had a 2-goal lead. No one else was able to score for the remained of the periods, and the Canucks led 3-1 into the second frame.
The middle frame started out in favour of the Wranglers, but quickly shifted gears back toward the Canucks. Just a minute and 20 seconds into the period, Rory Kerins found the pass from Hunter Brzustewicz in front of the Canucks net and brought Calgary within one. A few minutes later, Ty Glover and Chase Wouters found themselves on a 2-on-1, where a feed from Ty Glover found Chase Wouters in the same fashion as the goal prior, and the Canucks captain found the open net to restore Abbotsford 2 goal lead. Waltteri Ignatjew took over in the crease for Devin Cooley at this point of the game. It wasn’t going to be a smooth transition for him, as Calgary’s Alex Gallant got called for elbowing and roughing, leaving Calgary to kill off another 4-minute penalty. The Canucks made it worth it once again when Sammy Blais took the shot from the left circle that made its way past the goal line, giving the Canucks a 5-2 lead. With the powerplay far from over, Chase Wouters came in all alone from the blue line, and with open ice and space, walked in and sent a wrist shot past Ignatjew, and the Canucks had a 6-2 lead.
20 minutes remained for the Canucks to hold on to the lead. The Wranglers put up a fight quickly when Rory Kerins backhanded in the puck off a pass from Jeramie Poirier to cut the lead in half, 3 and a half minutes in. 40 seconds later, Dryden Hunt helped his team out when he went bar down from the right circle to bring the Wranglers within 2. The Canucks had other plans when Danila Klimovich headed down the ice alone and sent a wrist shot from the right circle, bringing the Canucks ahead by 3 once again. The Wranglers hoped for anything to go their way at this point with time expiring, so Ignatjew headed to the bench for an extra attacker. Danila Klimovich got a hold of the loose puck and sent it down the ice for the empty net goal, giving the Canucks an 8-4 lead. With a last-minute penalty to the Canucks, the Wranglers gave it one last go on the ice, but time was up and the Canucks took a hard-earned victory.
Abbotsford will return home for a 6 game homestand taking on Pacific division teams for big games like Top Dogs Night, Hockey is for Everyone, and our St Paddy’s Game!
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