Everything Manny Malhotra touches lately has been turning into gold and the Abbotsford Canucks head coach has now guided his club to eight wins in a row after a dominant 5-1 win over the San Jose Barracuda on Friday (March 28).
Despite seven regular players suiting up for Vancouver (as they lost 7-6 in overtime to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday), Abbotsford was not fazed and controlled the Barracuda for the entire game.
Malhotra diced up his forwards, seasoned them perfectly and then threw them in a blender and the line combinations he used were a smash success almost from puck drop.
San Jose goalie misplays the puck and Cooper Walker makes it 1-0 Abbotsford. Canucks look very good early
鈥� Ben Lypka (@BenLypka)
Cooper Walker pounced on a mistake made by Barracuda starting goalie Gabriel Carriere to put Abbotsford up 1-0 just 2:13 into the game. Just over two minutes later it was Phil Di Giuseppe tallying after a perfect set-up from Ty Mueller. Captain Chase Wouters put the game in a stranglehold when Arshdeep Bains fed him the puck in front of the net at 11:08
Mueller sets up Di Giuseppe, I knew that line was going to be a headache for SJ. 2-0 Abbotsford
鈥� Ben Lypka (@BenLypka)
Abbotsford had the 13-8 shots advantage after one and set the tone for the rest of the game.
Jujhar Khaira put the Canucks up 4-0 at 5:55 of the second and Di Giuseppe added a power play goal at 2:57 of the third to make it 5-0 Abbotsford. The Barracuda broke Nikita Tolopilo's shutout bid art 7:53 of the third and Abbotsford posted the 5-1 victory.
PDG with the PPG, 5-0 Abbotsford
鈥� Ben Lypka (@BenLypka)
Di Giuseppe, Wouters and Tristen Nielsen all had two point nights and Jett Woo was a team-best +3. Three Barracuda players finished at a -3.
It was another solid performance from Tolopilo, who made 38 saves for his fourth straight win. He's allowed just five goals in his last four starts and now has 16 wins on the season.
NO QUIT IN ABBOTSFORD! EIGHT STRAIGHT! 馃槫
鈥� Abbotsford Canucks (@abbycanucks)
What made the win even more impressive is that Abbotsford handled San Jose easily without regular forwards Linus Karlsson, Jonathan Lekkerimaki, Max Sasson, Nils Aman and Aatu Raty. Defenceman Victor Mancini and goalie Arturs Silovs are also travelling with Vancouver.
Abbotsford's win streak has now increased to eight games and it's the second eight game win streak the club has had this season. The franchise record for a win streak is nine, which was set in the 2021-22 season.
Abbotsford's record improves to 36-23-2-1 and they sit in third place in the Pacific Division. They are now just one point out of second place and would hold the tiebreaker over most teams because they have a significant amount of regulation wins.
The Canucks can tie the franchise win streak record tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon when they battle the Barracuda again at 3 p.m. That game is streaming for free on FloHockey's social channels.
