The Abbotsford Canucks took a 2-0 series lead in the Western Conference Finals with a 1-0 win over the Texas Stars at a sold-out Abbotsford Centre on Saturday night.
The series continues with Game 3 in Cedar Park, Texas, on Monday.
Akito Hirose scored the only goal of the contest 7:39 into the third period, as his shot from the point pinballed off a skate in front and trickled past Remi Poirier.
Artūrs Šilovs made 26 saves for his fifth shutout of the playoffs, one shy of the AHL record set for a single postseason by Rochester’s Mika Noronen in 2000. Šilovs has held the Stars off the board for the last 93 minutes and 41 seconds.
Texas nearly tied the game with 2:46 to go, but the officials ruled that Šilovs had frozen the puck before it was poked over the goal line from under his pads.
The Stars were 0-for-4 on the power play in Game 2 as the Canucks’ penalty kill improved to 39-for-40 (97.5 percent) on the postseason.
Poirier stopped 28 of 29 shots in the loss, his first defeat in regulation during the playoffs.
(Abbotsford leads series, 1-0)
Game 1 – Thu., May 29 – ABBOTSFORD 3, Texas 2 (OT)
Game 2 – Sat., May 31 – ABBOTSFORD 1, Texas 0
Game 3 – Mon., June 2 – Abbotsford at Texas, 8:00
Game 4 – Wed., June 4 – Abbotsford at Texas, 8:00
*Game 5 – Fri., June 6 – Abbotsford at Texas, 8:00
*Game 6 – Sun., June 8 – Texas at Abbotsford, 9:00
*Game 7 – Mon., June 9 – Texas at Abbotsford, 10:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
