The Abbotsford Canucks first trip to Colorado this season saw the club play at high elevation, but drop to a new low in the standings after a 4-2 loss to the Colorado Eagles.
The Canucks stumbled out of the gates, falling behind 2-0 in the first period after the Eagles scored twice in 31 seconds.
Beaucage allowed to walk in front of the net and score, 1-0 Colorado pic.twitter.com/hFfMzWSajn
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) February 25, 2023
Alex Beaucage opened the scoring at 6:06 and Wyatt Aamodt added another at 6:37. Abbotsford was outplayed in the first period and Colorado had a 10-6 shots advantage.
Abbotsford giving Colorado a ton of space, they go up 2-0 early pic.twitter.com/DZayIWB3pP
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) February 25, 2023
The second period was a completely different story, as Abbotsford controlled the play – especially the latter stages of the middle frame. Marc Gatcomb scooped up a rebound off of a shot by Nils Höglander at 15:07 to get Abbotsford on the board and Linus Karlsson added his 16th at 19:00 to tie the game up.
Karlsson with his 16th ties the game. That five-hole was gaping pic.twitter.com/8rnZKSNbS8
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) February 25, 2023
Abbotsford outshot Colorado 12-9 in the second.
The teams went back-and-forth in the third, but Charles Hudon broke the tie at 4:38 and Abbotsford could not answer. Callahan Burke added an empty net goal to make it 4-2.
Deadly rebound there by Martin, 3-2 Colorado early in the third pic.twitter.com/fN5zUAYXip
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) February 25, 2023
Both teams recorded 27 shots and Canucks goalie Spencer Martin made 23 saves in the loss. Martin now has a record of 1-4 in the AHL since being reassigned to Abbotsford from Vancouver earlier this month.
Gatcomb, Phil Di Giuseppe, Höglander and Kyle Rau all had three shots on goal. Jack Rathbone, Jett Woo, Wyatt Kalynuk and Noah Juulsen were all -2 on the evening.
Back at it tomorrow night. pic.twitter.com/ovtd1rVKJt
— Abbotsford Canucks (@abbycanucks) February 25, 2023
The loss is a critical one for the Canucks, as the Eagles now leapfrog them for third place in the Pacific Division. As of this posting, the Ontario Reign are leading the San Jose Barracuda 2-0 after two periods and if Ontario holds on for the win they will also pass Abbotsford and the Canucks will fall to fifth place.
Abbotsford’s record is now 29-19-2-2, but the club has now lost three straight.
The Canucks and Eagles play again on Saturday (Feb. 25) at 6 p.m. Abbotsford time. The next home game for the Canucks occurs on March 7 when the Manitoba Moose come to town.