The Abbotsford Canucks dominated the Ontario Reign offensively and defensively en route to a 4-0 win on Friday (March 17).
Canucks goalie Spencer Martin recorded his 13th career American Hockey League shutout, but the team in front of him limited Ontario’s opportunities and outshot the Reign 30-22.
Sophomore forward Danila Klimovich opened the scoring at 13:20 and fired a shot past Reign goalie Cal Petersen. Captain Chase Wouters set-up Klimovich perfectly on the goal. It’s Klimovich’s first goal since Feb. 18 and ends a 10 game scoreless drought for the second round pick. He has 12 goals on the season.
Klimovich with his first goal since Feb. 18, great set-up by Wouters pic.twitter.com/x8vkSYAUQ0
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) March 18, 2023
Forward Marc Gatcomb then put the Canucks up 2-0 at 15:07 of the first. Gatcomb now has two goals on the season.
Gatcomb makes it 2-0, he has really improved the past few weeks pic.twitter.com/WOpl0SbGrg
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) March 18, 2023
Vincent Arseneau then got the fans out of their seat for the second time and scored his seventh of the year at 3:49 of the second. Arseneau won a foot race and battled his way to the front of the net to score. The fan favourite also got the crowd going in the first period when he fought Ontario’s Tyrell Goulbourne.
Arseneau wins a foot race and beats the Reign goalie, 3-0. He's one assist away from a Gordie Howe hat trick pic.twitter.com/wyG5D8YHGO
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) March 18, 2023
Nils Höglander continued his strong play with his sixth goal this month at 14:13 of the second period. Justin Dowling fed Höglander a perfect pass in the slot and he made no mistake. Höglander now has 14 goals on the season.
3-on-1 leads to a Hoglander goal, 4-0 Abbotsford. He has 14 this season pic.twitter.com/UxZyZmwilT
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) March 18, 2023
A scoreless third period followed and the Canucks continued limiting chances in front of Martin, who was solid when called upon. Martin now has a record of 5-5-1 in Abbotsford this season.
Jack Rathbone, John Stevens, Gatcomb and Höglander all recorded three shots to lead the Canucks.
The win was an important one for Abbotsford, as they increase the distance between themselves and the fifth place Reign. Abbotsford remains in third in the Pacific Division with a record of 33-21-2-4. The Canucks magic number to clinch a playoff berth is now down to nine.
The two teams meet again inside the Abbotsford Centre on Saturday (March 18) at 7 p.m.
SPENCER MARTIN SHUT OUT VICTORY! pic.twitter.com/XAdmpweAdg
— Abbotsford Canucks (@abbycanucks) March 18, 2023
