Abbotsford Canucks check-in: Three game win streak snapped

With the Vancouver Canucks having a couple of days off before their next game against the Montreal Canadiens, let’s check in on how the Abbotsford Canucks have been doing over the past week.

Abbotsford currently has a 24-18-3-1 record and sits fifth in the AHL’s Pacific Division. That makes them seventh in the Western Conference and 13th in the AHL. The Canucks also have the AHL’s second-best power play at 23.7%. They are only behind the Ontario Reign, the Los Angeles Kings’ affiliate.

The playoffs seem likely for the Baby Canucks as 23 out of the 31 teams in the AHL make the playoffs. That was a format that was implemented before the start of this season.

Abbotsford’s week started with a big 6-2 win at home over the Stockton Heat, the Calgary Flames affiliate on February 27. Michael DiPietro stopped 34 out of 36 Stockton shots and Sheldon Dries got a goal and two assists. Dries was named the AHL’s player of the month for February and is currently tied with Stefan Noesen of the Chicago Wolves for the league lead in goals with 30. His 52 points are seventh in the AHL.

Nic Petan was one of the goal scorers in that game as he displayed a great effort scoring a shorthanded goal.

The Canucks then travelled east for a three-game road trip and up first was the Toronto Marlies on March 2. Sheldon Rempel had two goals in that game and Dries continued his scoring streak.

Brandon Hickey,who was signed on a PTO on February 25 scored his first goal with Abbotsford against the Marlies.

Danila Klimovich, Vancouver’s second-round pick in 2021 has had an up and down season with Abbotsford. He scored his sixth of the season against Toronto.

Petan got his 12th of the year and DiPietro ended up making 25 saves for the 6-4 win.

Then, the Canucks headed to Quebec to take on the Montreal Canadiens AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket for a two-game series with the first happening on March 4.

The Sheldons continued to light the lamp for Abbotsford as Rempel got his 23rd goal and Dries got his 30th.

Rempel made a slick move behind the net to fool Kevin Poulin.

https://twitter.com/abbycanucks/status/1499920664324575234

Spencer Martin got the start and he made 31 saves for the 4-2 win.

The Canucks tried to sweep the series and extend their win streak to four but they couldn’t solve Poulin who stopped all 15 shots for a 3-0 Rocket win. Dipietro stopped 26 out of 28 shots.

Rempel was called up by Vancouver on Monday.

The Abby Canucks head back to Toronto to play the Marlies on Wednesday and then they return home for four games. The first two are against the Colorado Eagles and the next two are against the Manitoba Moose.