Canucks blank Wranglers 4-0 behind Young’s shutout

Photo by David Moll / Calgary Wranglers

CALGARY — The final home night of the season at the Saddledome ended quietly for Calgary, as the Abbotsford Canucks rode a perfect performance from Ty Young to a 4-0 win over the Wranglers on Saturday.

Neither side entered the night bound for the postseason, but Abbotsford found early control and never let it go, matching Calgary at 57 points with the victory.

Riley Patterson opened the scoring just 3:51 into the first, taking open ice off the rush before snapping a shot glove-side past Connor Murphy from the top of the circle. Patterson, playing just his second game of the season, added an assist later in the period for a two-point night.

Abbotsford doubled the lead at 9:33 on the power play after Brennan Othmann was sent off for delay of game. Bennett Schimek’s shot from the slot was kicked out by Murphy, but Arshdeep Bains was left unchecked and buried the rebound for his 11th of the season. Patterson picked up the secondary assist after setting up Schimek in tight.

The Canucks carried a 2-0 lead through the opening frame and held it through a quieter second period, with Calgary pushing back on the shot clock. The Wranglers held a 14-13 edge in shots after 40 minutes, but Young remained flawless, turning aside every attempt.

Dino Kambeitz extended the lead to 3-0 just over five minutes into the third, tracking down a loose puck at the blue line and carrying across before sending a shot toward goal that struck Murphy and deflected up and over his shoulder. It was Kambeitz’s second of the season, with Nick Poisson credited on the assist.

Calgary’s best push came late in the period, including a four-minute power play after Bains caught Dryden Hunt up high, but Young shut the door. He flashed the glove to rob Hunt at the side of the net and preserve the shutout.

Bennett Schimek sealed it with an empty-net goal with 17 seconds remaining, finishing off a four-goal night for Abbotsford that came on just 20 shots.

Young stopped all 24 shots he faced for a 1.000 save percentage, while Murphy turned aside 16 of 19 shots for Calgary, finishing at .842 before the empty-netter.

Scoring summary:
Riley Patterson (1) — Arshdeep Bains (13)
Arshdeep Bains (11) — Bennett Schimek (6), Riley Patterson (1) (PP)
Dino Kambeitz (2) — Nick Poisson (6)
Bennett Schimek (4) — Jujhar Khaira (6) (EN)

Calgary wraps its home schedule with the loss and closes the regular season next weekend in Colorado, with 7:05 p.m. MT starts on Friday and Saturday.