The Abbottsford Canucks celebrate a goal against the San Jose Barracuda at Tech CU Arena on Saturday FEB 4, 2022. (San Jose Barracuda)

by Marko Ukalovic

The Abbotsford Canucks scored three goals in the second period as the defeated the San Jose Barracuda 3-2 to sweep the weekend series on Saturday afternoon at Tech CU Arena.

San Jose heads into the All-Star break with having lost three of its past four games. Abbotsford has won three games in a row.

San Jose (18-24-0-3) drew first blood on the power play early in the first period. Danil Gushchin fed a pass back to the point over to Derrick Pouliot who skated in a wired a wrist shot past Canucks goalie Arturs Silovs for his second goal of the season at the 7:23 mark.

Abbotsford (25-15-2-2) evened the score 30 seconds into the second period. A shot from the point pinballed off traffic in the middle over to Tristen Nielsen who deposited the puck into an open net for his ninth goal of the season.

The Barracuda regained the lead exactly five minutes later with an even strength goal. Kyle Criscuolo cleaned up the rebound on a shot by Max Veronneau, who earned his first point in a ‘Cuda uniform, for his ninth goal of the season at the 5:30 mark.

The Canucks scored the equalizer less than three minutes later. Chase Wouters made a wraparound move from behind the net and a trailing Linus Karlsson banged home the puck past ‘Cuda goalie Strauss Mann for his 15th goal of the season at the 8:05 mark.

Abbotsford gained its first lead, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, late in the middle frame. Matt Alfaro centered a pass through the crease where Vincent Arseneau scored his fourth goal of the season from point blank range.

There was no scoring in the final frame despite the ‘Cuda pulling Mann for an extra attacker late in the game.

Silovs stopped 28 of the 30 shots he faced to earn the victory. Mann made 30 saves on 33 shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished 1-for-6 on the power play. Abbotsford went 0-for-5.

The Three Stars of the Game were: 1) Arseneau 2) Pouliot 3) Karlsson

Abbotsford is 5-1 against San Jose this season.

UP NEXT: San Jose hosts the Calgary Wranglers for a two-game series starting on Friday 2/10 at 7:00pm at Tech CU Arena.