After a jinxed January, the Abbotsford Canucks power play finally broke through at home and connected twice in a 3-2 win over the San Jose Barracuda on Saturday (Feb. 3).
The Canucks fell behind 2-0 midway through the second, but Linus Karlsson unloaded a cannon during a long two-man advantage to get Abbotsford on the board. Just over five minutes later, Canucks defenceman Nick Cicek scored against his former team to tie the game.
Karlsson finally decided to just wire one, 2-1
鈥 Ben Lypka (@BenLypka)
The power play struck again just before the end of the second period when Max Sasson blasted a one-timer past San Jose goalie Georgi Romanov at 19:48. The tic tac toe play saw Aatu R盲ty and Karlsson draw the helpers.
搁盲迟测馃憠碍补谤濒蝉蝉辞苍馃憠厂补蝉蝉辞苍馃憠馃毃
鈥 饾棖饾椀饾椏饾椂饾榾 Faber 馃敟 (@ChrisFaber39)
Canucks goalie Nikita Tolopilo shut the door in the third period and no offence was recorded in the third. Tolopilo made 24 saves for his 10th win on the season and he has quietly put together an effective season in the back-up role for Abbotsford. The Belarus product has a save percentage of .904 and he has a goals against average of 2.88 in 16 games.
Sasson continues to have a productive offensive season as a rookie and he now has 13 goals. That ranks him tied for fifth in the AHL in goals by a rookie. Five of those goals are game winners, which ranks him second amongst all rookies and first amongst all players in Abbotsford.
Head down to ice level with in-arena host, Celine Trimarchi and first star, Linus Karlsson!
鈥 Abbotsford Canucks (@abbycanucks)
Karlsson now ranks second on the Canucks in points with 27 in 30 games.
Cicek stated after the game that it was a satisfying after a 2-1 loss to San Jose on Friday (Feb. 2).
鈥淚t鈥檚 great to see the boys bounce back from a tough loss last night,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 really like how we played last night, so we were excited that we battled through the adversity and get a big win.鈥
Cicek-mate 鈾燂笍
鈥 Abbotsford Canucks (@abbycanucks)
He admitted it was nice to pot a goal against his former teammates.
鈥淚t鈥檒l be nice to rub it in a little bit for sure,鈥 he said, with a grin.
Cicek also said it was nice to see the power play finally get going because players have been trying to work out the kinks in practice.
鈥淚 know the guys are working on it everyday,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e trying new things, Ulms [assistant coach Jeff Ulmer] is drawing up new stuff and obviously it clicked tonight so that鈥檚 all we can really ask for.鈥
Cicek was dealt to Abbotsford on Dec. 15 and said one bonus is that he鈥檚 now closer to his brother Michael Cicek, who plays for the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL He stated that the Canucks were in San Diego when his younger brother and the Rockets were in 91原创, but that he continues rooting for him from afar. He hopes to catch a Rockets game if it works out later this year.
Big lines for the alumni
鈥 Ben Lypka (@BenLypka)
Saturday was also Vancouver Canucks Night at the Abbotsford Centre, with Canucks alumni Dave Babych, Jyrki Lumme, Kirk McLean and Darcy Rota on-hand. There was a special pre-game ceremony celebrating the quarter and they also signed autographs for fans during the intermissions.
Darcy Rota, Dave Babych, Jyrki Lumme and Kirk McLean all in the house tonight for night
鈥 Ben Lypka (@BenLypka)
The 3-2 win comes off a 2-1 loss on Friday to San Jose.
The Canucks trailed 2-0 after the first period and couldn鈥檛 muster any offence until Marc Gatcomb scored at 16:00 of the third. Abbotsford made a late push, but couldn鈥檛 beat Romanov again.
Arturs Silovs made 22 saves in the loss and Danila Klimovich led all Canucks with six shots on goal.
BARRICADED THE BARRACUDA 馃槑
鈥 Abbotsford Canucks (@abbycanucks)
The Canucks sit in fourth place in the Pacific Division after the weekend with a record of 23-14-3-2.
Abbotsford鈥檚 Arhdeep Bains now heads to San Jose to represent the Canucks at the All-Star on Sunday (Feb. 4) and Monday (Feb. 5).
The club next hits the road and takes on the Colorado Eagles on Friday (Feb. 9) and Saturday (Feb. 10). The next home game is on Feb. 17 when the Calgary Wranglers come to Abbotsford.