The Abbotsford Canucks snapped their five-game losing streak in style.

Hosting the San Diego Gulls for a two-game set, Abbotsford came away with a pair of convincing wins to close out the season series with a 5-3-0 record against their Pacific Division rivals.

Already eliminated from playoff contention, the Canucks embraced the spoiler role and executed it to perfection. The Gulls, battling to hold onto the final playoff spot in the Division, dropped four critical points to allow the Tucson Roadrunners to close within one point in the standings.

Not only did Abbotsford sweep the weekend, but they also outscored San Diego 10–5, scoring five goals in each contest.

The Canucks wasted no time setting the tone. Just over two minutes into the weekend, Jack Thompson fired a point shot that created a juicy rebound in front for a trailing Canuck. That trailer was Guillaume Brisebois, who jumped into the play to bury his first goal of the season in just his third game back. The game also marked his 300th AHL appearance, and the veteran blueliner would go on to earn first-star honours.

Abbotsford doubled its lead midway through the period, after Kirill Kudryavtsev stepped up with a heads-up pinch to keep the puck active. Collecting the puck down low was Chase Stillman, who found Ben Berard in the high slot for the one-timer.

They continued to pile things on and extend their lead in the second period, with Danila Klimovich picking up a historic goal on the power play. After recovering his own chance, the Belarusian spun and wired a shot into the top corner for his 66th career AHL goal. The tally moved him past Sheldon Dries for sole possession of second on the franchise’s all-time goals list, now just four shy of Linus Karlsson’s record (70).

The home team appeared to have things all but locked up with a three-goal cushion in the final four minutes. But the Gulls made things interesting, striking twice in quick succession to cut the lead to one in the dying minutes. But Captain Chase Wouters squashed that momentum quickly. Just moments later, Arshdeep Bains chipped the puck in before he sent a quick pass to send Wouters all alone, where he slipped the puck through the goaltender’s legs for the insurance marker.

Ty Mueller put a bow on the game off the ensuing faceoff, setting up a 5-2 final to take game one of the series.

Game highlights:

Less than 24 hours later, the two teams were back on the ice for a Sunday matinee. Riding a strong performance the night before, Jiri Patera got the nod for a second straight start. Once again, he delivered.

While it wasn’t as quick as two minutes, the Canucks were the first to draw blood on Sunday off a broken play in front. This time, it was Ben Berard, who picked up his second goal of the weekend.

Collecting the puck at the circles was Chase Stillman, who turned and fired an innocent shot toward the net. Whether on purpose or not, Ty Mueller redirected the puck toward the slot where Berard was sitting, allowing him to pull to his backhand.

Later in the period, Nils Åman made a strong play to keep the puck in the zone before completing a give-and-go with Nick Poisson. Collecting the puck back in the slot, he made a patient play to outway the Gulls netminder before finishing for his sixth goal of the season.

The Canucks were milliseconds away from taking a 2-0 lead into the second period before the Gulls scored a buzzer-beater courtesy of Sacha Pastujov while on their second power play of the game.

Unfazed, Abbotsford regained its two-goal cushion early in the second. Bennett Schimek patiently worked the puck behind the net before finding a lurking Arshdeep Bains, who snuck between the netfront defence for his 10th of the season. The assist marked Schimek’s fourth as a pro — all of them near identical primary helpers.

The Gulls responded again before the end of the period, with Drew Elliott finishing a rush for his first AHL goal. They eventually clawed their way back to even the score just seconds into the final frame. While on another power play, the speedy Matthew Phillips gained the zone with pace, got hit with the give-and-go and found Sacha Pastujov, who acted quickly to blast the one-timer past Patera for his second goal of the game.

But the Canucks would enjoy a power play of their own just before the midway point of the period. The puck found its way to Sawyer Mynio, who found Klimovich in the slot relatively uncontested in the high slot. He sent a shot toward the net that hit a body and deflected up and over the netminder. That was career goal No. 67 for Klimovich.

Moments later, Schimek capped off an impressive game by scoring his first professional goal. Taking a pass from Åman, the rookie took a few strides before snapping a shot from the lower circle to restore a two-goal lead.

Patera shut the door from there, making several key saves late to secure the 5–3 win. He finished with 29 saves and stopped 62 of 67 shots across the back-to-back starts, improving his record to 11-13-4 on the season.

Game highlights:

The Canucks will wrap up their home schedule next weekend with a two-game set against the Coachella Valley Firebirds.

Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. PT on both Friday and Saturday at Rogers Forum.