Special Teams Issues Sink Abbotsford Canucks In 5-2 Game 3 Loss To The Texas Stars
The Abbotsford Canucks dropped Game 3 of their Western Conference Final, falling 5-2 to the Texas Stars. Christian Wolanin and Linus Karlsson scored the goals, while Artūrs Šilovs stopped 31 of the 36 shots he faced. Despite the loss, Abbotsford still has a series lead and will head into Game 4 up 2-1.
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Special teams were the story of this game as the Canucks allowed multiple power play and shorthanded goals. Abbotsford went two for five on the power play, while the Stars finished two for four with two shorthanded goals. Ultimately, the Game 3 special teams performance was shocking, as not only had the Canucks penalty kill been unbeatable this post-season, but they had only allowed one shorthanded goal during the entire regular season and playoffs leading up to Game 3.
Abbotsford also struggled to generate shots from in tight throughout the game. According to the shot chat, the Canucks only five of Abbotsford's 24 shots came below the faceoff dot. If the Canucks are going to win this series, they need to find a way to crash Remi Poirier's crease more often and create scoring chances from high-danger areas.
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Abbotsford's overall defensive performance was also problematic, as Texas was able to record 36 shots on net. The Stars were able to generate chances from distance, as well as in tight, as they controlled the majority of puck possession in this game. Ulitmatley, the Canucks did not look like themselves as they could not find a way to create any form of sustained momentum in Game 3.
Overall, this may have been Abbotsford's most disappointing performance of the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs. They were outplayed from start to finish, and as mentioned, their special teams had a night to forget. While the Canucks are still up in the series, they cannot afford to put forth a similar effort when they hit the ice in Game 4 on Wednesday.
Abbotsford Canucks (Photo Credit: @abbycanucks on
Scoring Summary:
1st Period:
7:41- ABB: Christian Wolanin (2) from Arshdeep Bains and Linus Karlsson (PPG)
9:53- TEX: Kole Lind (8) from Justin Hryckowian and Cameron Hughes (PPG)
17:07- TEX: Matěj Blümel (4) from Cameron Hughes and Kyle Capobianco (PPG)
18:39- TEX: Matěj Blümel (5) from Arttu Hyry and Michael Karow (SHG)
19:38- ABB: Linus Karlsson (8) from Arshdeep Bains and Kirill Kudryavtsev (PPG)
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2nd Period:
11:00- TEX: Antonio Stranges (2) from Jack Becker and Emilio Pettersen
3rd Period:
5:25- TEX: Michael Karow (1) from Arttu Hyry (SHG)
Game 4: Wednesday, June 4 @ 5:00 pm PT at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park
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But not only making the saves but looking confident. If anyone needed to feel good about their game and have a little reward, he definitely deserved it.' 3. Golden Knights get nothing from their top guns Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images To see why the Golden Knights are going home, just take a look at how Vegas' top five regular-season goal-scorers failed to come through against the Oilers. Pavel Dorofeyev (35), Tomas Hertl (32), Jack Eichel (29), Ivan Barbashev (23) and Brett Howden (23) did not score a single goal in the series. Advertisement Yes, Dorofeyev missed two games with injuries and Eichel had five assists and played terrific two-way hockey. But you can't win without putting the puck in the net, and Vegas did that just 10 times in five games – not at all in the last two. The effort was there, according to coach Bruce Cassidy, but the results were not. 'I'm super proud of the guys. When they came out, they were committed to playing the right way. They wanted to win,' Cassidy said. 'Sometimes you've got to walk away and say, 'You know, we didn't blow it.' We needed to be better in certain parts of the game. … As the game went on, we looked better and better, and I thought, 'Hey, we're going to get this one. We just need a break to get the first goal.''
