Canucks: Veteran Di Giuseppe leaning on experience to help Abbotsford stay calm in chaos of deep AHL playoff run

For the third time in their last eight games, the Abbotsford Canucks carried a 1-0 lead to the final minute of the third period on Saturday night. In the previous two instances, the Canucks managed to seal victories into an empty net to give themselves a little breathing room before the final buzzer. In Game 2 against Texas, however, Abbotsford had to grind to the very last second to preserve the 1-0 triumph.

In the throes of high intensity, no margin for error playoff hockey, those final few ticks of the clock can – and often do – present chaos. But the Canucks are becoming masters of pushing tight games across the finish line. And by doing so again on Saturday night, they have jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in this best of seven American Hockey League Western Conference Final.

“There is a calmness to our group,” veteran winger Phil Di Giuseppe says about the team’s poise under pressure. “In those games, if you start overthinking it, we do a really good job of just focussing on the drop of the puck, shift by shift, stacking shifts, I think that’s what’s giving us success. No one looks scared, everyone felt calm. From my experience, it’s not easy to manufacture that.”

It’s clear by now that the Canucks are manufacturing something special in the Fraser Valley. From a late season 13-game win streak to the fact this team has suffered just four regulation losses in its last 32 outings (26-4-2), this is a team that is oozing confidence. And why wouldn’t it with a goaltender that is playing the best hockey of his career.

Arturs Silovs delivered his fifth shutout of the postseason on Saturday stopping all 26 shots he faced. The goalie is clearly in a groove and the team in front of him is feeding off that in the postseason.

Di Giuseppe believes this playoff run is simply a continuation of the commitment and work habits this team instilled down the stretch.

“When you win, everything’s a lot easier,” Di Giuseppe says. “You can get caught up in the momentum swing and lose your head a little bit thinking you’re better than you are. But I think the way we approached it was just that next game mentality. We didn’t worry about how many wins we had in a row. I think we took a lot from it in the sense that we know how well we can play when we’re on top of our game, focussed and playing direct. It kind of gave us a blueprint of what will bring us success down the line.”

Here the Canucks are now just two wins away from a trip to the Calder Cup Final. But they are well aware that the first two games against Texas have been remarkably tight and the results easily could have swung the other way. So this series is far from over as it shifts to the Lone Star State for the next two games (and three if necessary).

A year ago, Phil Di Giuseppe was battling in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and dressed for 11 of the Vancouver Canucks 13 postseason contests. The 31-year-old holds a unique position in the minors having played more than 300 games in both the NHL and the AHL.

A veteran leader in Abbotsford, Di Giuseppe is doing what he can to share the wisdom he’s gained from more than a decade in professional hockey with some of his teammates who are just starting to forge careers of their own. And he’s quick to tell them that playoff runs like this one don’t happen every season.

“I was talking to some of the younger guys and telling them how big this is for their careers,” he says. “I didn’t play much playoff hockey. I had a couple of rounds early on, but it was usually home in mid-April. Last year, I was fortunate enough to play in those Nashville and Edmonton series and it brought a different love for the game. It’s a different passion when you go further. I’m having fun because I know how much this will help every single guy in that room – especially the younger guys. They get a different viewpoint of what hockey is rather than just grinding 72 games or 82 games in the NHL. This is the fun part of hockey. I wish I got to experience this when I was younger. I would have had a different outlook on the game.”

Di Giuseppe has five goals and eight points through the Canucks first 14 playoffs games. He’s also been a key part of an Abbotsford penalty kill that went four for four on Saturday and is now an astounding 39 for 40 in the postseason.

The further Abbotsford gets on this run, the higher the stakes will be. But as Phil Di Giuseppe and the Canucks demonstrated yet again on Saturday night, this is a team that seems to be at its best when the tension is at its peak.

And much of that success stems from leaders like Di Giuseppe who are leaning into their experience and providing a perspective that’s helping Abbotsford rise to the occasion night after night.

It may not always look like it – especially in the frantic few moments of some of these tight games – but as Di Giuseppe says there is a calmness about this group that is now suddenly just six wins away from a Calder Cup title.