ABBOTSFORD, B.C. — Rookie forward Igor Chernyshov scored his first professional hat trick and goaltender Jakub Skarek turned aside all 27 shots he faced, as the San Jose Barracuda (6–5–1–0) cruised to a 7–0 rout of the Abbotsford Canucks (2–9–0–2) on Tuesday night at the Abbotsford Centre.
The shutout marked San Jose’s most decisive win of the season and extended their winning streak to three games, and points streak to five.
The Barracuda weathered an early Canucks push before Patrick Giles (2) opened the scoring at 8:48 as backhanded in a feed from Pavol Regenda. Later in the frame, Zack Ostapchuk (3) doubled the lead, finishing off a partially blocked Regenda shot at 16:09.
The Barracuda broke the game open in the second. Defenseman Lucas Carlsson (2) started the scoring on a fortuitous bounce that went of a Canuck and in. Giles (3) followed with his second of the night midway through the frame on a breakaway, and Chernyshov (4) got in on the act at 16:20, firing home his fourth of the year to push the lead to 5–0.
Chernyshov (5, 6) wasn’t done there, the 19-year-old added two more in the third, including a power-play tally with under four minutes to go to complete the hat trick. Chernyshov finished with a game-high seven shots and now leads the team with six goals on the season.
Offensively, San Jose dominated from start to finish, outshooting Abbotsford 36–27 and converting on one of two power plays while killing off both penalties they faced. Quentin Musty finished with a career-high three assists, while Filip Bystedt, Luca Cagnoni, Carlsson, and Regenda each registered multi-point nights.
Between the pipes, Skarek was sharp from the start, stopping all 12 shots he saw in the first period and making several key saves late to preserve his first shutout of the season and fifth of his career.
Canucks rookie goaltender Ty Young was pulled after allowing five goals on 21 shots through two periods, while Jonathan Lemieux surrendered two on 15 in relief. The Canucks have now dropped 11 straight (0–9–0–2).