Abbotsford Canucks swept by Bakersfield Condors on home ice

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The Abbotsford Canucks nightmare season took an unusual turn this week, with a number of players suffering injuries or illness and losses to the Bakersfield Condors on Tuesday (Jan. 6) and Wednesday (Jan. 7).

The club announced to fans about 30 minutes before Tuesday’s game that forwards Danila Klimovich, Ben Berard and Mackenzie MacEachern, along with defender Sawyer Mynio were out with injuries after a 4-1 loss to the Manitoba Moose in Winnipeg on Friday (Jan. 2).

It was also revealed that forward Lukas Reichel was sick and unable to dress on Tuesday. Add those absences to forwards Jonathan Lekkerimaki, Joseph LaBate and Nils Aman and seven of the Canucks top 10 leading scorers were not playing on Tuesday.

As a result, the club was forced to dress only 10 forwards and played defender Phil Waugh up front. Unsurprisingly, the team struggled early and the Condors scored just 41 seconds into the game when Quinn Hutson capitalized on an Abbotsford turnover. Hutson scored again at 10:45 and the Condors held a comfortable 2-0 lead after 20 minutes. The Canucks did out shoot Bakersfield 11-4 in the first.

Canucks captain Chase Wouters cut the lead to one with a goal at 15:01, but Bakersfield restored the two-goal lead just 163 seconds later when Damien Carfagna made it 3-1 on the power play.

Bakersfield’s Seth Griffith made it 4-1 at 5:30 of the third, however Wouters scored less than two minutes later. Griffith again replied just 10 seconds after that goal. Cooper Walker would add a late goal for Abbotsford, who fell 5-3.

The Canucks out shot the Condors 39-18 and it was a rare below-average performance from Abbotsford goalie Nikita Tolopilo, who let in five goals on 18 shots. Canucks defender Jett Woo finished at a -4 in the loss. Ty Mueller and Victor Mancini both had a team-high five shots. Reported attendance on Tuesday was 2,985.

There was good news and bad news related to team health for the Canucks on Wednesday, as Aman and Reichel returned – but forward Juhjar Khaira and defender Kirill Kudryavtsev were both unavailable.

The Condors again scored early and often, with Beau Akey (2:50), Josh Samanski (5:36) and Hutson (12:15) building a 3-0 lead for the visitors after one.

Wouters got the Canucks on the board at 14:04 of the second with a power play goal, but that would be all the offence Abbotsford could muster. Griffith added an empty net goal at 17:16 to earn the Condors a 4-1 win.

The Canucks had the 22-20 shots edge in the game and Aman led all players with five shots on goal. Mancini finished at a -3 and Wouters was one assist away from a Gordie Howe hat trick. Wednesday was also Wouters’ 300th career AHL game and it marked the AHL debut for forward Zach Okabe. Reported attendance on Wednesday was 3,214.

The Canucks record now falls to 9-19-3-3 and they have just five regulation wins in 34 games this season. The club’s home record is now 4-10-0-2 and they have the worst home win percentage in the AHL. Abbotsford currently sits 12 points out of the playoffs.

The team next hosts the Calgary Wranglers for games on Saturday (Jan. 10) and Sunday (Jan. 11). Saturday is being promoted as ‘Flaunt Your Flannel’ night and fans are encouraged to wear flannel. Face-off is set for 7 p.m. Sunday is being referred to as ‘Mystery Night’, with several surprises planned. Face-off for Sunday is scheduled for 3 p.m.