The Abbotsford Canucks have their round two opponent.
After punching their ticket to the second round of the Calder Cup Playoffs with a series sweep over the Bakersfield Condors on Friday night, the Vancouver Canucks’ AHL affiliate now knows who they’ll be facing in the next round.
The Calgary Wranglers.
The AHL affiliate of the Flames, the Wranglers finished at the very top of the AHL league standings this season and will be a massive test for an Abbotsford squad that is feeling pretty good about themselves right now.
Abbotsford was led by Nils Höglander in their two-game sweep of the Condors, as the 22-year-old Swede has taken his game to another level. Höglander was noticeably dominant in both games the Canucks won.
“They’ve been excellent,” head coach Jeremy Colliton said of Höglander’s line after Friday night’s win. “We rolled [that line] because they were generating momentum, drawing penalties, [creating scoring] chances, and they were helping us flip the ice. [It was] a really good two-game performance. Nils was a big catalyst — winning races, strong on the puck, and winning battles. I can’t remember a puck management issue in two games, which is for as much as he had the puck, is pretty impressive. That’s a big reason why we won.”
The building was absolutely rocking on Friday night as the Canucks managed to hold onto their 3-2 lead in the third period, with Höglander scoring his fourth goal in two games to give the Canucks the lead late.
The first two games of the Canucks and Wranglers’ best of five series will take place in Calgary on April 26th and 28th, with Abbotsford guaranteed to host at least game three on May 3rd, along with games four and five if necessary on the 5th and 7th, respectively.
CanucksArmy’s Cody Severtson quickly broke down the Canucks’ head-to-head matchup against the Wranglers, who they held a record of 4-5-2-1 against this season.
This should be a very close series, and it will be interesting to see who comes out on top! We’ll have you covered with continued wall-to-wall coverage of Abbotsford’s playoff run!