The Abbotsford Canucks had a bounce back effort on Wednesday (Feb. 15), defeating the Calgary Wranglers 4-2 and beating Calgary for just the second time in nine games this season.
Goalie Spencer Martin recorded his first professional win since Dec. 27 and made 30 saves. Martin, who was reassigned to Abbotsford from Vancouver after clearing waivers on Tuesday (Feb. 14), last won an AHL game on April 15, 2022.
Wolanin sneaks in from the point and puts the Canucks up 1-0 pic.twitter.com/ynO5tYXvFE
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) February 16, 2023
Defenceman Christian Wolanin opened the scoring at 11:48, but Calgary evened the game up just three and half minutes later. Tristen Nielsen scored a late goal at 18:55 to put the Canucks up 2-1 after one and they did not trail for the rest of the game. Arshdeep Bains set up Nielsen perfectly on the goal.
Great play by Bains to draw to defenders and find a streaking Nielsen. Shorthanded goal puts Canucks up 2-1 pic.twitter.com/EIWnhMx1Z0
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) February 16, 2023
A scoreless second period followed and Nielsen scored the eventual game-winner at 14:10 of the third. The sophomore stole the puck in the Calgary zone and beat Wranglers goalie Dustin Wolf high.
Huge goal by Nielsen, his second of the night pic.twitter.com/md2hsotJoc
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) February 16, 2023
Emilio Pettersen scored his second goal at 18:05 to draw the Wranglers to within one again, but Jack Rathbone put the Canucks up for good just 17 seconds later. It was a good response after Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to Calgary.
Rathbone with his first goal since Dec. 21 puts the Canucks back up by two pic.twitter.com/SRvh1IDuU6
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) February 16, 2023
Nielsen and Wolanin both had two point nights and Nielsen now has 12 goals on the season – good for fourth overall on the team. Wolanin now leads the team with 55 points and he sits tied for third in league scoring.
Rathbone led all Canucks with eight shots on goal, while Linus Karlsson had six. Abbotsford outshot Calgary 37-32 and it was only the fifth time in 37 games this season that Wolf has allowed four goals or more.
THAT'S A ROCKY MOUNTAIN RIVALY VICTORY! pic.twitter.com/9UEcbHbBci
— Abbotsford Canucks (@abbycanucks) February 16, 2023
The two teams will play each other three more times to close out the regular season in April.
The Canucks’ record now improves to 29-16-2-2 and they remain in third in the Pacific Division. Calgary at 34-12-2-0 sits in first place.
Abbotsford next hosts the San Jose Barracuda on Saturday (Feb. 18).
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