John Stevens scored two goals for the Canucks, including the final goal of the game into an empty net with one second left in regulation, and Abbotsford defeated the Laval Rocket 4-2 on Friday night.
Sheldon Dries and Vasily Podkolzin also found the back of the net for the Canucks. Artūrs Šilovs stopped 30 shots.
Defender Brady Keeper and forward Philippe Maillet scored for the Rocket. Strauss Mann, who made several important saves to keep the Rocket in the game until the end, stopped 35 pucks.
Keeper scored his first goal of the season to give the Rocket a 1-0 lead at 4:02 of the first period. Lucas Condotta and Riley Kidney assisted on the goal.
The Rocket doubled their lead when the puck ended up in the slot and the Canucks defender was unable to control it. He wanted to clear it away from the net, but Gabriel Bourque was nearby and recovered it.
Bourque then made a nice backhand pass to Maillet, positioned on the other side, in the slot, and the latter threaded the needle.
The Canucks, however, scored two goals in 27 seconds to tie the score. Stevens first closed the gap by scoring his third goal of the season at 17:09 of the first period, then Dries tied the game with his ninth goal.
Nathan Légaré had a great chance to give the Rocket the lead again in the first half of the second period, two on one, but his shot was blocked by Šilovs.
With 7:57 left in the second period, Mann made a nice shield save on another Canucks breakaway in the game. The stop was profitable for the Rocket, who obtained a numerical advantage in the following seconds.
The Rocket’s lack of opportunism ended up hurting him, who did not take advantage of this third numerical advantage in the match. Podkolzin raced past Condotta to make his way to the net, and beat Mann with a quick shot, close to the body, with 5:07 remaining in the second period.
Tristen Nielsen raced alone toward Mann with less than five seconds left in the second period, but the Rocket goaltender made the save narrowly with his right pad, and the Canucks led 3-2 after 40 minutes.
The Rocket was never really able to apply constant pressure in the third period, while Jean-François Houle’s squad only took six shots in the last 20 minutes of play.
