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Abbotsford Canucks beat Calgary Wranglers 5-2 for fifth straight win

Canucks snap Calgary’s eight game win streak, shorthanded play looms large in third period
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Justin Dowling and the Abbotsford Canucks have now won five straight games after defeating the Calgary Wranglers 5-2 in Calgary on Monday (Jan. 2) (Abbotsford Canucks photo)

The Abbotsford Canucks held off being shorthanded for seven minutes in the third period of a 2-2 game and scored three unanswered goals to post a 5-2 win over the Calgary Wranglers in Alberta on Monday (Jan. 2).

Tristen Nielsen redirected the eventual game winning goal and Nils Aman scored a pair of insurance markers to seal the win for Abbotsford and the club has now won five straight.

Abbotsford opened the scoring at 14:40 of the first when Nils Höglander scored on the power play and the Canucks outshot Calgary 11-6 in the opening frame.

Danila Klimovich continued his strong offensive play and made it 2-0 at 3:18 of the second, but Calgary’s Jakob Pelletier fooled Canucks goalie Arturs Silovs from an odd angle at 18:24 to make it 2-1 after two.

Calgary then tied the game up at 1:29 of the third when Mitch McLain scored. Abbotsford defenceman Jett Woo took a five-minute elbowing major penalty shortly after that goal and the Canucks were forced to kill those five minutes. Abbotsford was then assessed a too many men penalty after that and again the team came up big shorthanded. The three goals began at 14:03 and Abbotsford skated to the win.

Defenceman Christian Wolanin continued to rack up eye-popping numbers and collected an impressive four assists. He now has an AHL-leading 34 assists on the season. Aman and Karlsson also had multi-point nights and Karlsson now has 26 points in 30 games.

Silvos had another strong game and made 26 saves for his 13th win this season. He’s won his last six starts. Abbotsford outshot the Wranglers 34-28 and Höglander led all players with six shots on goal.

The Canucks also snapped the Wranglers three-game win streak and gained some ground on them in the standings. Abbotsford sits in third place in the Pacific Division at 19-9-1-1 and Calgary is second with a record of 21-8-1-0.

The two teams meet again on Wednesday (Jan. 4) in Calgary at 5 p.m. Abbotsford time. The next home game for the Canucks is set for Friday (Jan. 6) when the Henderson Silver Knights come to the Abbotsford Centre.

RELATED: Abbotsford Canucks sweep Manitoba Moose with 5-2 win, complete best month in team history



Ben Lypka

About the Author: Ben Lypka

I joined the Abbotsford News in 2015.
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