The Canucks fall 7-4 to the San Jose Barracuda concluding their 6 game road trip
The Abbotsford Canucks rematched the San Jose Barracuda, following a 5-3 loss last night, for their final game of the road trip.
Switching things up in the net, saw Nikita Tolopilo get the start for Canucks tonight, against Gabriel Carriere.
The Canucks first and second lines remained identical to last night, with Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Nils Åman with Tristen Nielsen. Ty Mueller continued to center Arshdeep Bains and Danila Klimovich. Ty Glover moved up a spot, winging Nate Smith, alongside Dino Kambeitz who had his first multi-goal AHL game last night. Ben Berard made his Abbotsford debut tonight, lining up next to captain Chase Wouters and John Stevens to round out the offense.
Elias Pettersson continued defending with Cole McWard to kick things off. Christian Wolanin and Christian Felton stuck together once again, and Layton Ahac slotted back into the lineup next to Kirill Kudryavtsev to strong-arm the defensive group.
A quick start to the game, going in favour of the Barracuda. An early penalty call to Arshdeep Bains, meant San Jose would head to the powerplay just under 4 minutes into the game. Luca Cagnoni cashed in on the advantage just 30 seconds in, to give the Barracuda a 1-0 lead. 30 seconds later, Donovan Houle scored off a seemingly harmless shot, to extend their lead to 2. The Canucks were able to cool them down, preventing any more goals before the end of the period, but were unable to secure any themselves. Abbotsford was in a 2 goal deficit heading into the second period.
The next twenty minutes started with an uno reverso, this time going in favour of the Canucks. Just one minute in, Elias Pettersson intercepted and created a turnover, sending a long pass down the ice for Tristen Nielsen, who scored the Canucks first goal of the game on the breakaway. Just seventy seconds after that, John Stevens and Ben Berard found themselves on a 2-on-1, where Stevens set up Berard to score his first goal as an Abby Canuck. The game was now tied, just two minutes and ten seconds into the second period. Unfortunately, a few minutes later, the Canucks were caught trying to kill another penalty, but once again Luca Cagnoni was able to capitalize, after a shot from the top of the zone went straight to the back of Abbotsford’s net, to regain their lead, 3-2. Looking to respond, Danila Klimovich capitalized on a San Jose giveaway, going top shelf on Carriere, to tie the game up at 3 once again, halfway through the period. With just over a minute and a half to go, the Barracuda found themselves on yet another powerplay, this time, Andrew Poturalski took a shot from the right circle to restore the lead, 4-3. With 0.4 seconds left on the clock, Colin White was able to sneak one past Tolopilo for the buzzer-beater, and the Barracuda had their 2-goal lead restored, heading into the final frame.
The third period, once again, saw action quickly, back in favour of San Jose. After creating a turnover, Thomas Bordeleau secured some more insurance, netting their 6th goal of the game, extending the Barracuda’s lead to 3. The Canucks headed to the powerplay and registered some grade-A chances, but Carriere stooped them all. Coming down to the wire, the Canucks secured another powerplay, and just two seconds after it expired, Tristen Nielsen ripped a shot on net from the right circle to secure his second of the game, bringing the Canucks within 2. Unfortunately, a late penalty to the Canucks, and a last-ditch effort to regain even strength, didn’t go as planned and Justin Bailey netted the empty net goal once again to secure the victory for the Barracuda.
San Jose sweeped the back-to-back in a 7-4 win over the Canucks, concluding their 6-game road trip. The Canucks went 4-2-0 this road trip and will return home for a holiday frenzy, playing their Teddy Bear Toss, Ugly Sweater Night, and many more.
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