The Vancouver Canucks have announced that goaltender Arturs Silovs has been assigned to their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks.

Silovs had been with the NHL squad since February after Thatcher Demko sustained a lower-body injury and missed about a month and a half of game action. While Demko had returned for Monday’s 4-3 shootout win over the New Jersey Devils, the Canucks ran with three goalies on their team as a precaution in case Demko wasn’t fully ready to return. But after two starts, and one from Kevin Lankinen on Friday, the Canucks felt confident enough to send Silovs back down to the minors.

Silovs will likely play in tandem with Nikita Tolopilo with Abbotsford like they have for the past two seasons, at least for the final 10 games of the AHL regular season. Abbotsford currently sits in a playoff spot, so it’s unclear who will be the starting goalie between the two for the playoffs, unless Vancouver experiences another injury in net and require Silovs’ services again.

Silovs has had a disappointing run in the NHL this season, with just a 2-6-1 record, an .861 save percentage and a -8.56 goals saved above expected in 10 games. However, he’s been much better in the AHL, with an 11-4-0 record, and a .902 SV% in 15 games.

Vancouver currently sits in fourth in the Pacific Division with a 34-26-13 record, and are four points behind the St. Louis Blues for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference with a game in hand. They’ll look to bounce back from Friday’s shootout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets when they visit the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday at 12 p.m. PST.

Abbotsford sits in third in the Pacific Division in the AHL with a 36-23-2-1 record. They’ll look to extend their eight-game winning streak when they visit the San Jose Barracuda on Saturday at 3 p.m. PST.