The Abbotsford Canucks will be looking to bounce back from their first loss of the American Hockey League Western Conference Final when they face the Texas Stars in Game 4 of their series at H-E-B Center in Cedar Park, Texas.
The Canucks fell 5-2 in a special teams battle on Monday night, but still hold a 2-1 edge in the best of seven showdown. The home team has won the first three games of this series.
What we know
Christian Wolanin and Linus Karlsson scored the Abbotsford goals on first period power plays. The Canucks have scored six goals in this series and Karlsson has had a hand in five of them scoring once and setting up four others. Arshdeep Bains has picked up four assists in the series so far, including two on Monday night.
Karlsson and Ty Mueller are the lone Canuck forwards to score in the first three games. Wolanin leads the team with a pair of goals, including the Game 1 overtime winner, while Akito Hirose and Guillaume Brisebois have also found the back of the net.
With his two points Monday, Karlsson is now up to eight goals and 15 points through 15 postseason contests. He leads the team in goals and points. While Karlsson is red-hot, a number of teammates find themselves in scoring slumps. Max Sasson has just one point in his last eight games. Sammy Blais has gone 12 games without a goal. Jonathan Lekkerimäki has not found the scoresheet in his past five outings and has just five shots on goal over that span.
As was the case in the previous series against Colorado, regular-season goal-scoring leader Danila Klimovich may get injected into the lineup for Game 4. He’s been a healthy scratch through the first three games against Texas. Klimovich scored 25 goals in the regular season, but has just one playoff goal so far.
Arturs Silovs stopped 31 of 36 shots on Monday. That was the first time in 15 playoff starts that he has surrendered more than four goals in a game, and just the second time all playoffs he’s allowed more than three.
The Canucks entered Game 3 having killed off 39 of 40 penalties in the playoffs. However, the Stars broke through with a pair of power play goals in the first period and added a pair of shorthanded goals on the night, as well. There have been just two 5-on-5 goals scored in the past two games of this series – one by each team.
Abbotsford has not lost consecutive games in the playoffs and has dropped back-to-back games only once since March 1st. The Canucks are now 3-3 on the road this postseason.
The opponent
The top Texas skaters made their presence felt in Monday’s victory. AHL regular season goal scoring leader Matej Blumel scored a pair of first period goals, including the game-winner. He also led the team with seven shots on goal. Kole Lind scored his second goal of the series while Cameron Hughes had a pair of assists and now leads the Stars and all AHL skaters with 17 playoff points.
After Monday, Texas now has four of the top five scorers in the AHL playoffs.
Justin Hryckowian, who is second in postseason scoring, picked up his first point of this series with a first period assist. Antonio Stranges scored for the second time in this series, extending the Texas lead to 4-2 midway through the second period.
Remi Poirier stopped 22 of the 24 shots he faced in goal. He has allowed six goals in the series – five in regulation time. He has a .939 save percentage in this series.
Texas improved to 3-1 on home ice in the playoffs. A crowd of 6,325 was on hand to see Monday’s win.
Veteran defenceman Alex Petrovic made his series debut after being reassigned by the Dallas Stars on Sunday. He appeared in 17 Stanley Cup Playoff games for the big league team.
Series at a glance
Game 1: Abbotsford 3, Texas 2 (OT)
Game 2: Abbotsford 1, Texas 0
Game 3: Texas 5, Abbotsford 2
Linus Karlsson leads all players in the series with five points, while Arshdeep Bains has four. Cameron Hughes leads all Texas players with three points.. Abbotsford is 2/7 on the power play while Texas is 2/9. The Stars hold a 100-99 edge in shots on goal through three games.
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