It was just back on Nov. 30 that Jaxson Stauber, playing as a member of the Utah Hockey Club, blanked the Vegas Golden Knights 6-0.
Many things have happened in the five-months since and the unpredictable life of a pro hockey goalie eventually led him to the bench for the Tucson Roadrunners in Wednesday's (April 23) 4-3 game one loss to the Abbotsford Canucks.
Stauber was suddenly thrust into the starter role for Thursday's (April 24) game two and shined. He stopped 38 of 39 shots and was the best player on the ice in a 4-1 win for Tucson.
Genuinely, Jaxson Stauber, HOW?@TheAHL | @RoadrunnersAHL | @utahhockeyclub #AHL #CalderCup #LetsGoTucson #WhiteOutTucson #UtahHC pic.twitter.com/QIBuNdHQ8G
鈥� FloHockey (@FloHockey) April 25, 2025
That win extends the series to a decisive game three, which is set for the Abbotsford Centre on Saturday (April 26) at 7 p.m.
Goaltending is in Stauber's blood 鈥� his father Robb Stauber played for the Los Angeles Kings and he actually played a playoff game for the Kings against the Vancouver Canucks on May 2, 1993. Vancouver won that game 5-2, Stauber was pulled for Kelly Hrudey and then the Kings went on a run to the Stanley Cup final.
The Abbotsford Canucks would like to somehow reverse engineer those results from 22 years ago and they will have no choice but to try and figure Stauber out on Saturday. Linus Karlsson was the lone Canuck to beat him and that goal at 2:54 of the third made it a 3-1 game and gave the Canucks a little bit of life. Tucson then turned on the offensive pressure, out shooting Abbtosford 12-8 and adding an empty net goal from Ben McCartney at 18:19.
The @RoadrunnersAHL open the scoring thanks to Ben McCartney!!@TheAHL | @utahhockeyclub #AHL #CalderCup #LetsGoTucson #WhiteOutTucson #UtahHC pic.twitter.com/s1WplPxXwT
鈥� FloHockey (@FloHockey) April 25, 2025
The Roadrunners got a first period goal from McCartney to lead 1-0 after 20 minutes, but it was a frame that Abbotsford controlled 鈥� but couldn't beat Stauber. The Canucks fired 17 shots in the first period, with Stauber turning them all aside.
Things went south in the second period when Andrew Agozzino beat Arturs Silovs from the slot at 3:58. Then a bad line change combined with a turnover led to a Kailer Yamamoto breakaway and he put it past Silovs at 19:41.
鈥� x - Tucson Roadrunners (@RoadrunnersAHL) April 25, 2025
Another game, another Karly goal! 馃毃 pic.twitter.com/nkztkCUI6P
鈥� X - Abbotsford Canucks (@abbycanucks) April 25, 2025
Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra said that the Roadrunners putting in Stauber didn't change his team's strategy.
"It's the same mindset regardless of who was in net," he said. "Get as many pucks as you can to the net while limiting his ability to see those things and just create chaos."
Silovs allowed three goals on 31 shots and Malhotra would not reveal if he would be switching up things in goal when asked.
"We will talk about it as a staff tomorrow," he said.
Silovs did play in back-to-back games earlier this month and lost both games to the Calgary Wranglers. This series marks the second time this season he has played on consecutive days in the AHL. Nikita Tolopilo has been his back-up for games one and two. His last appearance was a 5-3 win over the Ontario Reign on April 19.
"Too many self inflicted mistakes that they took advantage of and that was the story of our night."
鈥� X - Abbotsford Canucks (@abbycanucks) April 25, 2025
Head Coach Manny Malhotra addressed the media following tonights 4-1 loss against the Tucson Roadrunners.
FULL MEDIA | https://t.co/b450ArbbVa pic.twitter.com/9qyJciWO5i
Malhotra also stated that he wasn't pleased with some of the errors the Canucks made.
"It was obviously not the game we wanted," he said. "Too many self-inflicted mistakes that they took advantage of. We didn't have much of an ability to sustain a little pressure and get enough to the paint with bodies on the inside."
Malhotra added that he wasn't happy with the power play, which went 0/5 on Thursday. He did confirm that defenceman Christian Wolanin, who left the game early, was getting looked at. His status for game three is not known.
Canucks forward Max Sasson, who led all Canucks with five shots on goal, said the team needs to play with more offensive urgency.
"We made it pretty easy for him," he said of Stauber. "Give credit to him, he played a good game but we need to have a little more poise in the scoring areas."
Sasson added that they played all year to have home ice in a pivotal game and that's what Saturday now is.
"We knew it wasn't going to be easy," he said. "We're upset about tonight, but we can't do anything about it now and we're looking forward to Saturday."
Final from game 2. pic.twitter.com/TjeCwS31R8
鈥� X - Abbotsford Canucks (@abbycanucks) April 25, 2025
Danila Klimovich was the lone Canucks forward to fail to record a shot on Thursday. Jujhar Khaira, Chase Wouters, Guillaume Brisebois and Tristen Nielsen all finished the game at -2. Roadrunners forwards Sammy Walker and Ben McCartney ended the game at +3.
Reported attendance on Thursday was 4,062.
The two teams tangle in the decisive game three on Saturday at 7 p.m.
