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Abbotsford Canucks season-long win streak ends at 3 following 1-0 loss to Gulls

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The Abbotsford Canucks season-long win streak of three games was snapped after falling 1-0 to the San Diego Gulls on Friday (Jan. 16).

The loss marks the sixth time this season that Abbotsford has been blanked and the third time San Diego had held them without a goal. It’s also the first-ever 1-0 win in the history of the Gulls franchise.

A scoreless first period saw Abbotsford goalie Jiri Patera again come up big with 11 saves, while the Canucks fired just six shots on San Diego goalie Calle Clang.

The Gulls continued having a lopsided shots advantage in the second period and it paid off early when Sasha Pastujov found himself all alone after a perfect pass from Jan Mysak at 2:15. San Diego had a 12-5 shots edge and were out shooting Abbotsford 23-11 after 40 minutes.

The Canucks poured on the pressure in the third period, but were unable to solve Clang. Abbotsford held an 8-3 shots edge in the period and were out shot 26-19 for the game. Forward Vilmer Alriksson led all Canucks with three shots on goal in the loss.

Patera made 25 saves and his numbers are outstanding despite being on one of the AHL’s worst teams. He has a record of 7-6-2-0, a goals against average of 2.49 and a save percentage of .915.

Friday saw the return of forward Jonathan Lekkerimaki to the Canucks lineup and he recorded two shots.

The loss comes off a 5-3 win in San Diego on Wednesday.

That game followed a similar script to Saturday, with the Patera keeping the Canucks in the game for the first two periods but Abbotsford turned on the offence in the third to earn the win.

San Diego’s Sam Colangelo opened the scoring with a power play goal at 18:47 of the first and the Gulls dominated the first with a 12-3 shots advantage. Patera made several key saves in the first to keep it 1-0.

The Canucks got on the board at 6:07 of the second when Juhjar Khaira beat Clang, but Yegor Sidorov responded about two minute later and the Gulls led 2-1 after two. San Diego held a 32-11 shots edge after 40 minutes.

Canucks forward Ben Berard tied the game back up with a power play goal at 3:31 of the third and Chase Wouters put Abbotsford on top for the first time in the game about a minute later. San Diego’s Roland McKeown tied it up at 11:28, but Khaira scored what would be the eventual game winner at 14:28. Lukas Reichel added an empty net goal to seal the victory.

Patera was spectacular with 36 saves, while Woo and Khaira had two point nights. Abbotsford was out shot 39-24 in the contest and defence man Jimmy Schuldt finished a team-best +4.

Abbotsford’s record now sits at 12-20-3-3 and they remain in 10th place in the Pacific Division. The Canucks continue on the road and next take on the Coachella Valley Firebirds in Palm Springs on Sunday (Jan. 18). The team returns home to host the Laval Rocket on Tuesday (Jan. 20).