Abbotsford Canucks snap 11-game losing streak with shootout win

/ Uncategorized / By

The 1999-00 Syracuse Crunch can rest easy after Wednesday’s (Nov. 12) result.

That team, which was coached by Stan Smyl and featured future Vancouver stalwarts like Jarkko Ruutu, Matt Cooke and Artem Chubarov, went a Vancouver affiliate record 12 games without a win from Feb. 25, 2000 to March 19, 2000.

The Abbotsford Canucks entered Wednesday on the verge of tying that 25-year mark after 11 games without a win, but a late power play goal by Joseph LaBate combined with timely saves from rookie Aku Koskenvuo helped turn the tide.

Some nifty shootout goals by Vilmer Alriksson and Ben Berard sealed the deal in the shootout and the Abbotsford Canucks long winless drought finally came to an end with a 4-3 shootout win over the San Jose Barracuda.

But it wasn’t easy or pretty early on, as the Canucks fell behind 2-0 after goals from Lucas Carlsson at 7:31 of the first period and Quentin Musty at 1:09 of the second. Abbotsford was also badly out shot in the first period and managed just four shots compared to 13 for San Jose.

One of the reasons why the game didn’t get out of hand early was the aforementioned Koskenvuo, who arrived from Kalamazoo earlier this week after all the goalie injury issues swirling around both Vancouver and Abbotsford. The 2021 fifth round draft pick made some massive saves, especially during a power play flurry by the Barracuda in the first.

Abbotsford’s Joe Artnsen got the Canucks on the board at 4:12 and Ty Mueller tied the game up with a power play marker at 9:26. The positivity was short-lived, as Colin White pounced on a Canucks turnover at 14:56 of the second and the Barracuda had a 3-2 lead after two.

That goal held up until Abbotsford got a late power play and turned it into a 6-on-4 advantage. That eventually led to a LaBate deflection of a Sawyer Mynio shot and the game was sent to overtime. Nothing was settled in the five-minute three-on-three session and the shootout allowed another Abbotsford rookie to shine.

Alriksson deked San Jose goalie Gabriel Carriere out of his jockstrap to score Abbotsford’s first goal, Berard made it 2-1 and Koskenvuo made another big save to earn the win.

It marks the first home win for Abbotsford this season and just the team’s third win overall. The rare victory was in front of a reported crowd of 2,753.

Mueller and Nils Aman had two point nights for Abbotsford and Koskenvuo made 33 saves for his first career AHL win.

The win comes off a 7-0 beatdown that the Barracuda handed the Canucks inside the Abbotsford Centre on Tuesday (Nov. 11).

San Jose scored two in the first, three in the second and two more in the third to cruise to the win. Tuesday marked the third time this season Abbotsford has been shut out, which is significant because the team was only blanked once last season.

Canucks starting goalie Ty Young was yanked after two periods and allowed five goals on 21 shots. Jonathan Lemieux came on in relief and made 13 saves on 15 shots. LaBate, Josh Bloom, Anri Ravinskis and Nikolai Knyzhov all finished at -4.

Abbotsford’s record moves to 3-9-0-2 on the season and they remain in 10th place in the Pacific Division. The Canucks now hit the road for games against the San Diego Gulls on Saturday (Nov. 15) and the Coachella Valley Firebirds on Sunday (Nov. 16).

The club’s next home game is set for Dec. 2 when the Calgary Wranglers come to town.