The Abbotsford Canucks drop their first game against the San Jose Barracuda, 5-3.
The Abbotsford Canucks were looking for their 5th straight win, taking this road trip by storm, as they faced the San Jose Barracuda for the first time this season.
Ty Young started in net for the Canucks today, after having a 2 game break, and he took on Yaroslav Askarov.
The Canucks didn’t change their first line, continuing to have Jonathan Lekkerimäki wing Nils Åman with Tristen Nielsen. They also had the addition of Arshdeep Bains rejoin the team tonight, and he lined up next to Ty Mueller and Danila Klimovich. John Stevens moved up to bookend Chase Wouters with Carsen Twarynski, and Nate Smith shifted to center Ty Glover and Dino Kambeitz.
Going with different defensive pairing as well, Elias Pettersson teamed up with Cole McWard to kick things off. Kirill Kudryavtsev lined next to Akito Hirose, and Christian Wolanin and Christian Felton slotted into the lineup tonight to strong-arm the backend. Abbotsford kicked off the first few minutes strong, using their possession of the puck to generate some shots on net. A quick penalty call to the Barracuda meant the Canucks would head to the powerplay first, but San Jose successfully killed it off. It ended up being Lucas Vanroboys who took a sneaky shot on Ty Young that went top left corner, to give the Barracuda a 1-0 lead. They continued to register a bunch of chances, but with 52 seconds left to play in the first period, another shot by Luca Vanroboys squeezed through Ty Young's legs to give the Cuda a 2-0 lead, heading into the second period.
The Canucks looked to get on the board and build momentum, but a tripping call to Ty Mueller meant they would be down a man just a minute into the period. Although killing that off, Justin Bailey would be the one to score first, giving the Barracuda a 3-0 lead. Chase Wouters dropped the gloves with Anthony Vincent shortly after, hoping it would spark something in his team. As he sat in the box, the Canucks offense came to life, just as he hoped. Elias Pettersson scored his first career AHL goal, with a beautiful shot from the blue line, going right past Akvarov, before he could even see it. Three minutes after that, Dino Kambeitz stickhandled across the ice and fired the puck straight to the back of the Barracuda's net to bring them within one.
Once again, the Canucks found themselves on the kill early on in the final frame. This time, during what the Barracuda thought would be a reset in their zone, Dino Kambeitz came in hot, colliding with Shakir Mukhamadullin, turning around and firing the puck on net. Dino’s second goal of the game came short-handed and tied it up at 3, giving the Canucks life. Looking for the tiebreaker, Ty Young came up with some big saves to keep the Canucks momentum rolling, but it was ultimately Scott Sabourin who would get the go-ahead goal for the Barracuda with 5 minutes left. The Canucks pulled their goalie in exchange for an extra attacker. Coming so close, an unlucky bounce saw Justin Bailey and Filip Bystedt head down the ice and secure the empty netter, giving them a 2 goal lead.
The Canucks drop this one 5-3, snapping their win streak, but will rematch the Barracuda tomorrow night, for their final game of the road trip before heading home.
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