The Abbotsford Canucks look to grab a 2-0 lead in their second round American Hockey League playoff series tonight when they face the Coachella Valley Firebirds at Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs, California. Game time tonight is at 6pm PT.
The Canucks took Thursday’s opener of this best of five series with a 3-1 victory.
What we know
Abbotsford responded to giving up the first goal of the series just 96 seconds after the opening face off in Game 1. Coachella Valley scored on its first shot of the game, but did not score again.
Arturs Silovs made 29 saves to improve to 3-1 in the post-season. He is expected to get the start again tonight. Silovs has a 1.75 GAA, 93.4% save percentage and a shutout in his four playoff starts this spring.
Jett Woo, Danila Klimovich and Guillaume Brisebois scored the Canucks goals on Thursday. Those were the first career AHL playoff goals for all three players.
Sammy Blais (3+1), Arshdeep Bains (0+4) and Linus Karlsson (2+2) share the team lead with four playoff points. Blais leads the team with three goals – all of them coming on the power play.
Special teams were not a factor in Game One with both teams going 0 for 2 on the power play. The Canucks have now killed off all 13 shorthanded situations in the AHL playoffs. They have also managed to score a shorthanded goal.
Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Christian Wolanin have both missed the past two games. Lekkerimäki is recovering from dental surgery while Wolanin suffered an undisclosed injury late in Game Two against Tucson. There has been no update on the status of either player.
The opponent
The Firebirds find themselves trailing in the playoffs for the first time after sweeping Calgary in the opening round. In fact, until Thursday, they had not trailed at any point in any game of the playoffs jumping out to a 3-0 lead in their first contest against the Wranglers before winning 4-3 in overtime and then posting a 2-0 shutout in the elimination game.
With the loss in the opener of a shorter series, Coachella Valley finds itself desperate to salvage a split on home ice before the series shifts to Abbotsford for Game 3 on Wednesday. Ryan Winterton scored the Firebirds lone goal in Game 1. He and Brandon Biro shared the team lead with five shots on goal in that contest.
The Firebirds played without Mitchell Stephens who scored three of the team’s six goals in the opening round. His status for tonight is unknown. The Canucks did well to keep Jani Nyman and Ben Myers – the Firebirds leading scorers during the regular season – off the scoresheet on Thursday.
Nikke Kokko got the Game 1 start in goal for Coachella and is expected to be back between the pipes tonight.
Thursday’s series opener drew 5726 fans.
The other Pacific Division series kicked off on Friday night with division winner Colorado handling San Jose 6-3.
Make sure to join the Rink Wide postgame live stream immediately following tonight’s game. Rink Wide will provide a full breakdown and comprehensive coverage of the Abbotsford Canucks through the AHL playoffs. When the final buzzer sounds, be sure to log onto Rink Wide and join the YouTube live chat to discuss the game with other Canucks fans. Subscribe to the Rink Wide YouTube channel and never miss an episode.
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