What’s the old West Coast saying?
“Don’t like the weather? Wait five minutes.”
Well, there’s a new saying in Abbotsford that goes: “Don’t like the result of game one? Wait a day.”
It’s been a recurring theme this season, where the Abby Canucks come out incredibly flat in game one of a regular season series and typically suffer an embarrassing loss. Only to follow up with one of their best outings of the season.
Let’s check in on the stats, shall we? Since the calendar turned to 2024, the AHL Nucks have a 1-13 record in two-game series openers and a 10-2-1-0 record in game two.
Well, that all continued this weekend. After dropping Saturday’s match – game one of a two-game series between the Henderson Silver Knights – the Canucks came out gangbusters on Sunday, scoring five goals in the opening period en route to a convincing 8-2 victory.
The match saw six different goalscorers, as well as 13 out of 18 players contributing at least a point to the effort.
Nobody stood out more than Aatu Räty, who came in sporting a seven-game pointless skid before tallying two goals and two assists tonight, all of which came in the opening frame. The four points set a new franchise record for the most points in a single period.
Goal one.
Goal two.
The Finnish forward is now up to 41 points over 61 games, sitting in a tie for third on the Abbotsford Canucks – good for seventh among all U22 skaters in the AHL.
Räty wasn’t the only Abby Canuck to post multiple points. Marc Gatcomb (two goals), Filip Johansson (three assists), Tristen Nielsen (goal and an assist), Linus Karlsson (goal and two assists) and Akito Hirose (who notched not only his first career AHL point but second with two assists in the effort) all had incredible nights.
Five of the goals scored happened to be on the powerplay, setting the second record of the night. This time, a team record for the most goals scored on the man advantage in a single game. It’s an impressive, and somewhat surprising feat, as this team has been one of the least productive teams on the power play. Heading into the night, they had only scored 30 goals all season long via the power play and had ranked 31st in the league. After today, they jump up three spots to sit 28th overall.
With the win, the Canucks earn a much-needed two points, bringing their total to 68 for the season to place them sixth in the Pacific Division standings.
They now carry a 12-point cushion over the Silver Knights, who sit eighth in the division. Seven teams make the playoffs, putting the Canucks in a strong position with 12 games remaining in the schedule.
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