Abbotsford Canucks | Season Starting

[Blue and Green]

Pettersson all alone in the slot during a PK, good chance for his first AHL goal but the CV goalie kicked out his right pad to make the save.

 

[Blue and Green]

Sasson with a nice move at the centre line and then used his NHL-level speed to break in for a good chance, stopped by the goalie's glove. Cheap crosschecking call against Twarynski put Abby onto the PK. A minute into the PK, Felton got boarded (shaken up but seems okay) to end the CV PP. Abby couldn't convert their own one-minute PP.

First line (Aman-Bains-Nielsen) needs to pick it up. 34 minutes without much good hockey from any of the three.

A good effort so far from the fourth line of Stevens-Glover-Walker.

 

[Blue and Green]

Still 1-1 after the 2nd. CV carried the majority of the play, hit the crossbar on a deflected shot early in the period. Tolopilo's doing okay tonight although he still looks a bit scrambly. Team's a bit lucky that CV hasn't quite gotten to some loose rebounds.

Sasson and Klimovich have had a decent 40 minutes. Sasson set up Klimovich for a great chance in the last minute of the period but he was stopped, didn't have the right placement on his shot. Second and fourth lines have clearly outplayed the first and third lines.

Felton does some good things but he doesn't seem like a very good defender near his net. Good enough to play capably and regularly on a third pair in the AHL but, like Hirose, shouldn't be taking much time away from a respectable prospect. Not many mistakes tonight from the defencemen but they aren't helping to drive play very much. Pettersson mostly steady again aside from one bad giveaway.

 

[orcatown]

Tolopilo weak on the at second goal. McWard and Pettersson getting backed in too much.

 

[Blue and Green]

Third period brought to you by Mohawk Valley Credit Union where the venerable Bad Goalie maybe (or maybe not) stacks his huge pile of cash.

Abbotsford loses track of the backside guys joining the rush; a cross-ice pass and a shot beats Tolopilo for a 2-1 CV lead.

Multiple steals tonight by Klimovich. Another one early in the third and then a smart pass to Mueller who crested a good chance alone in the slot. Then a steal by Aman, to Bains, a nice pass back to Aman who sent it to Hirose but it was also stopped by the CV goalie who has been quite solid. The boys are starting to come on, trying to eliminate the deficit.

Boneheaded crosscheck by Klimovich, CV gets a PP opportunity. 12 minutes to go, Abby down by a goal.

 

[orcatown]

Klimo might be the best Abby forward in this one.

 

[Blue and Green]

Klimo might be the best Abby forward in this one.

Close between him and Sasson; giving it to Sasson at this point due to the needless penalty on Klimovich.

Abbotsford kills the penalty. Eight minutes left to try to tie the game.

 

[orcatown]

Third period brought to you by Mohawk Valley Credit Union where the venerable Bad Goalie maybe (or maybe not) stacks his huge pile of cash.

Abbotsford loses track of the backside guys joining the rush; a cross-ice pass and a shot beats Tolopilo for a 2-1 CV lead.

Multiple steals tonight by Klimovich. Another one early in the third and then a smart pass to Mueller who crested a good chance alone in the slot. Then a steal by Aman, to Bains, a nice pass back to Aman who sent it to Hirose but it was also stopped by the CV goalie who has been quite solid. The boys are starting to come on, trying to eliminate the deficit.

Boneheaded crosscheck by Klimovich, CV gets a PP opportunity. 12 minutes to go, Abby down by a goal.

Unnecessary but still it didn't look very hard

Sassons and Klimo working well but Mueller not helping much

 

[Blue and Green]

Unnecessary but still it didn't look very hard

Sassons and Klimo working well but Mueller not helping much

Mueller skates well, tries hard, is responsible defensively, but there's just not much puck skill there.

 

[Blue and Green]

CV dominated the play again for several minutes but didn't expand their lead. Abbotsford pulled the goalie, the puck eventually came to Sasson near the net but he couldn't get a good shot away. Less than two minutes to go, still 2-1 for CV.

 

[Blue and Green]

CV cleared the puck, McWard got a piece of it at the blue line but unfortunately merely redirected the puck from what would've been an icing and turned it into an empty net goal. Another empty net goal finishes the scoring, 4-1. The better team won, a pretty solid all-around effort by the Firebirds.

Third line basically invisible offensively, at least held up alright defensively. Not good enough by the first line, not much for scoring chances and on the ice for both of CV's non-empty net goals. Good game for Sasson and Klimovich, defencemen were okay but nothing special, same with Tolopilo.

Rematch is 4pm Saturday so that the faithful can scramble home to get in front of their TV's to watch Bedard's first game at the Coliseum.

 

[orcatown]

Couple of en goals. Overall game was evenly played.

Hirose continues to show a big improvement in play. Lot more authority in his play.

Pettersson illustrating more of willingness to get offenisvely involved

Klimovich had a lot of takeaways in both the offensive and defensive ends

Felton real nice skater but probably lacks the size to defend well enough defenisvely. Wasn't bad in this game

Bains a very lethargic game. No wheels in this one. Aman not much better.

Forwards game time was quite uneven. Players like Smith and Twarynski barely used.

 

[kanucks25]

Any chance Sasson gets a chance at some point to play 4C over Raty? At least he can skate at an NHL level.

 

[Blue and Green]

Any chance Sasson gets a chance at some point to play 4C over Raty? At least he can skate at an NHL level.

Sasson is a good AHLer but I think he'd be hard-pressed to become a lineup fixture in the NHL. Certainly wouldn't mind seeing him get into a couple of NHL games at some point. It's not as though Aman and Bains have distinguished themselves in their NHL action; let Sasson have a try and see what he does.

 

[VanJack]

Most encouraging thing about this general lackluster start to the season by Abbotsford is the play of Elias Pettersson II.

His skating for such a big man is certainly noticeable, and he's carrying the puck a lot more and joining the rush. Still the odd wobble, which you'd expect from a 20-year playing in his first AHL season.

But you can see his game growing by the game.....he's probably a depth defender on the parent Canucks by at least the end of this season. Really hope that he isn't sacrificed on some deadline deal.

Canucks need to patient with him, and they really might have something.

 

[kanucks25]

Sasson is a good AHLer but I think he'd be hard-pressed to become a lineup fixture in the NHL. Certainly wouldn't mind seeing him get into a couple of NHL games at some point. It's not as though Aman and Bains have distinguished themselves in their NHL action; let Sasson have a try and see what he does.

Yeah I wouldn't expect him to stick but perhaps with two veterans wingers he can offer a more consistent game than the others have until they (I hope) trade for a real 4C.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Most encouraging thing about this general lackluster start to the season by Abbotsford is the play of Elias Pettersson II.

His skating for such a big man is certainly noticeable, and he's carrying the puck a lot more and joining the rush. Still the odd wobble, which you'd expect from a 20-year playing in his first AHL season.

But you can see his game growing by the game.....he's probably a depth defender on the parent Canucks by at least the end of this season. Really hope that he isn't sacrificed on some deadline deal.

Canucks need to patient with him, and they really might have something.

If we don’t trade him in an upgrade deal of some sort, I think he will see some NHL action either by the end of this season or the start of next season.

 

[Blue and Green]

I think Pettersson should stay in the AHL for the full season-- and I feel quite strongly about that. Puck skills and some of the quick defensive reactions/decisions necessary for NHL duty would be real problems for him right now. He's an okay second-pair AHL defenceman at this early stage, not a first-pair guy. A realistic progression would be to deserve call-ups next season and then hopefully stick in the NHL in the following season.

 

[Snatcher Demko]

Yeah give EP2 a couple of years and let him develop. Let him cook. As it stands, a rookie isn't going to make a difference on our D - we need a top 4 experienced minute-eater who can play in all three zones.

Hopefully he doesn't get traded for that fix but I'm sure every team would ask for him.