It was a special teams Saturday night for the Abbotsford Canucks as they punched their ticket to the second round of the American Hockey League playoffs. Abbotsford scored a pair of power play goals and added a shorthanded marker in a convincing 5-0 win over the Tucson Roadrunners. 
Overall, special teams were at the heart of Abbotsford’s three game triumph that now sets up a second round showdown with Coachella Valley.
Over the course of the opening round, the Canucks outscored Tucson 4-0 on the power play – striking twice in each of the team’s two victories. Abbotsford went 4 for 16 (25%) with the man advantage in the series and also killed off all 11 Tucson chances on the power play. 
In Wednesday’s opener, Sammy Blais cashed in on a pair of second period power plays. Last night, Blais was at it again adding his series leading third goal converting on a third period power play to give Abbotsford a 4-0 lead. That came after a pretty down low passing play that led to Max Sasson cashing in to give Abbotsford a 3-0 lead.
While the power play did its share of damage through the series, the biggest goal on Saturday was likely Chase Wouters’ shorthanded effort in the first minute of the second period to extend Abbotsford’s lead to 2-0. Over the three game series, Canucks penalty killers outscored Tucson’s power play.
Perhaps more than any other factor, the special teams play tells the story of why Abbotsford advanced while Tucson’s season is over.
During the regular season, the Roadrunners had a top 10 power play in the AHL converting at 19.6%. But Abbotsford penalty killers were more than up to the challenge.
The flip side of this equation was that Tucson was an undisciplined group all season and Abbotsford had to know it would get opportunities. Over 72 regular season games, Tucson was the second most penalized team in the league. 
That carried over into this three game set with Tucson putting Abbotsford on the power play a postseason high 16 times – including taking major penalties in both Game 1 and Game 3. Now, it’s one thing to earn power plays and another to make the most of them. S0 full credit to the Canucks putting the hammer down when they had their chances.
This is a team that converted at 18.3% during the regular season. But when it mattered most, Abbotsford was up to the challenge pushing its power play conversion rate to 25% in the opening round.
The challenge will only get steeper from here. Not only did Coachella Valley – Seattle’s top farm team – not surrender a power play goal in its two game sweep of the Calgary Wranglers, the Firebirds were short handed just six times in that series. And going back to the regular season, Coachella Valley was one of the most disciplined teams in the AHL and one of the best penalty killing teams as well. 
Only Hershey was short handed less this season than Coachella Valley and the Firebirds were fifth in the AHL on the kill at 85.2%.
So it’s abundantly clear Abbotsford will have to work to draw penalties in the next round and when they get their chances, they’re going to need the same power play precision they demonstrated against Tucson.
At this time of year, special teams play such a huge role in the outcome of playoff games. Abbotsford found a way to make the most of its opportunities in Round One. 
They’ll need that same sort of success as they advance in the postseason. 
A red-hot power play can take a team a long way in the playoffs and the Canucks have legitimate designs on making this a lengthy run this spring. 
It will be interesting too if those Abbotsford special teams remain on fire against the Firebirds in Round Two.
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