THE ABBOTSFORD CANUCKS PICK UP THEIR 8TH STRAIGHT WIN IN AN OFFENSIVE GAME AGAINST THE ROADRUNNERS
The Abbotsford Canucks carried the momentum into the road trip after a victory last night, and they looked to sweep the series against the Tucson Roadrunners with a hopeful win again tonight.
Keeping up with the trend to switch goaltenders, Artūrs Šilovs got the nod in net, taking on Jaxson Stauber.
No tweak to last night’s lineup otherwise, with Danila Klimovich on the right wing of Sammy Blais and Ty Mueller, and Aatu Räty centering Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Arshdeep Bains. Tristen Nielsen and Nils Åman stuck together beside Nate Smith, and John Stevens, Chase Wouters, and Dino Kambeitz continued as a trio to round out the lineup.
Erik Brännström and Jet Woo kicked off the blue line, followed by Guillaume Brisebois and Cole McWard. Christian Wolanin and Kirill Kudryavtsev closed off the defensive pairings to solidify the Canucks lineup tonight.
The game got off to a relatively quick start, this time in favour of the Canucks. Just over 4 minutes in, Nate Smith found himself on a breakaway, passed back to Sammy Blais, who came in and sealed the deal, giving the Canucks a 1-0 lead early in the period. Opposite of last night, it didn’t take long for the Roadrunners to respond, when Austin Poganski tucked it home to even the scoring just 50 seconds later on the powerplay. The Canucks found themselves on a powerplay but were unable to cash in before the Roadrunner penalty expired. Kailer Yamamoto received the puck from Sam Lipkin just as he exited the box, to find himself on the breakaway, and tucked the puck past Šilovs to pull them ahead. The Canucks were down 2-1 heading into the second period.
The next 20 minutes couldn’t have gone better for Abbotsford. Kicking things off quickly was Aatu Räty as he went down the stretch in a 2-on-1, where he shot it through the 5 hole to tie the game up just over 3 minutes in. Just over a minute later, Tristen Nielsen deflected in a shot from Nils Åman that rolled past the goal line, to grab a hold of the lead once again. Penalties were exchanged in the middle part of the frame, but neither team could capitalize on the man advantage. As the period was coming to a close, Nils Åman cashed in on his own, when a shot through a maze of bodies went right to the back of the Roadrunners net. The Canucks were now up 4-2, but with weren’t done yet, because Danila Klimovich added to the tally with 9 seconds remaining when he picked up the rebound from Ty Mueller. Abbotsford got all 4 unanswered goals in the period and headed into the final frame up by 3.
Although sitting with a comfortable lead to start the third, the Abbotsford Canucks did not ease up. Just over 2 minutes in, Danila Klimovich picked up speed heading into the offensive zone, and just as Szuber played the puck, Klimovich snatched it up and put it right back where it came from. The Canucks now sat with a 4-goal lead, and 18 minutes of play remaining. The Roadrunners kept up the pressure, but couldn’t quite crack Šilovs and the Abbotsford Canucks. No one else was able to get their name on the score sheet and Abbotsford came away with their 8th straight victory and a 6-2 win over the Roadrunners tonight. The team will look to finish up the road trip strong with a win over Coachella Valley before heading back home to take on the Wranglers.
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