Historic shot output results in loss for the Abbotsford Canucks

/ Uncategorized / By

The easiest way to explain the Abbotsford Canucks 3-2 loss to the Bakersfield Condors on Saturday (Jan. 31) is – they simply got goalie-d.

The Canucks fired a franchise-record 53 shots on Condors goalie Connar Ungar, but the rookie net minder was spectacular to earn the win.

Bakersfield came out aggressively to open the game and forward James Hamblin put the Condors up 1-0 at 4:36. That goal held up after 20 minutes, but the real story was the dominance by the Abbotsford Canucks. The club held a 20-13 shots advantage and both Ty Mueller and Jimmy Schuldt had four shots in the first.

Abbotsford continued to control the play in the second period and out shot the Condors by a mind-boggling 23-6. The Canucks finally got rewarded when Lukas Reichel solved Ungar at 13:46 of the second.

Things unraveled for the Canucks in the third, as the Condors got goals from Viljami Marjala (10:39) and Roby Jarventie (11:20) to quickly take a 3-1 lead. The shellshocked Canucks did respond about four minutes latter when Reichel made it a 3-2 games, but that’s as close as the Canucks would get.

The 53 shots breaks the previous record of 47, which was set by the team against the Calgary Wranglers on Oct. 13, 2024. Mueller recorded eight shots, Schuldt posted seven and Klimovich fired six. Only two Canucks players failed to register a shot. Abbotsford only allowed 24 shots in the loss. The Canucks also were not assessed a penalty in the game and went 0/3 with the man advantage.

Reichel now has five goals and 10 points in 19 AHL games. He will join the German team at the 2026 Winter Olympics in February. Jiri Patera made 21 saves in the loss and he has now lost three of his last four starts.

Saturday’s loss was a better effort after the Canucks were blitzed 7-2 by the Condors on Friday (Jan. 30).

Abbotsford fell behind 5-0 after the first and rookie goalie Aku Koskenvuo was yanked early after allowing four goals on 16 shots.

A scoreless second period followed and the teams traded two goals apiece in the final frame. Arshdeep Bains and Schuldt both scored power play goals for the Canucks to get them on the board. Five different Condors players had multi-point nights and Bakersfield had a 40-38 shots advantage.

Every single player on Abbotsford finished at least a -1 on the night, with defenceman Cole Clayton ending up at -3. Bains led all Canucks with five shots on goal. The five goals allowed in a period ties a team record and it is now the third time in franchise history that has occurred. The last time was when the Canucks allowed five against the San Diego Gulls on Nov. 3, 2024.

The Canucks are now on a three-game slide and the team’s record drops to 15-25-3-3 on the season. They remain in 10th place in the Pacific Division and sit 10 points out of the seventh and final playoff spot.

The team returns home to host the San Jose Barracuda for games on Friday (Feb. 6) and Saturday (Feb. 7). Friday’s game is being promoted as First Nations Night, while Saturday is Vancouver Canucks Day. Face-off times are 7 p.m. on Friday and 4 p.m. on Saturday.