The Abbotsford Canucks capped off the best month in club history with a 5-2 win over the Manitoba Moose on Saturday (Dec. 31) to finish December at a sizzling 9-2.
The victory completed the team’s first away sweep this season after the Canucks took down the Moose 4-2 in Winnipeg on Friday (Dec. 30).
Manitoba opened the scoring at 5:51 when Cole Maier potted his eighth on the season, but Canucks captain Chase Wouters tied the game up just under four minutes later. Evan Polei put the Moose up 2-1 at 16:53 and Manitoba led 2-1 after one. The Canucks did have the 12-6 shots edge.
Wouters ties the game up, Karlsson and Hoglander with the assists pic.twitter.com/FVsL2zBDmB
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) December 31, 2022
Wouters tied the game up again at 6:27 of the second period. The Wouters, Danila Klimovich and Arshdeep Bains line had an excellent game on Saturday and all three players had strong offensive nights.
Wouters with his second, great feed by Bains from behind the net to get it started. Klimovich draws an assist on the goal pic.twitter.com/hT5i6MAd9k
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) December 31, 2022
The third period was all Abbotsford, as they held the Moose to just three shots on goal and broke the game apart at 10:09 of the third when defenceman Jett Woo scored the eventual game winner. Klimovich used his speed off the rush to create space and set up Woo perfectly for the goal.
Klimovich turns on the after burners and sets up Woo for the go ahead goal pic.twitter.com/6lEu7TVCar
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) January 1, 2023
Nils Höglander and Justin Dowling both scored empty net goals in the game’s final minutes to make it a 5-2 win. Höglander’s tally was his first-ever in the American Hockey League.
Wouters, Höglander, Klimovich and Linus Karlsson all had multi-point nights. Klimovich, Noah Juulsen and Phil Di Giuseppe all recorded four shots on goal and the Canucks outshot the Moose 33-15. Arturs Silovs made 13 saves for his 12th win on the season.
Doing what we do best 📈 pic.twitter.com/myrzmYjraT
— Abbotsford Canucks (@abbycanucks) January 1, 2023
The Canucks record now improves to 18-9-1-1 and they bump up to third place in the Pacific Division. The 9-2 record established a new mark for regulation wins in one month. Abbotsford also did go 9-2 in April 2022, but three of those wins came in overtime.
The Canucks remain on the road for games against the Calgary Wranglers on Monday (Jan. 2) and Wednesday (Jan. 4). The next home game is set for Friday (Jan. 6) when the Henderson Silver Knights come to the Abbotsford Centre.
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