Sunday's game between the Coachella Valley Firebirds and the Abbotsford Canucks might have been a matchup of the bottom two teams in the Pacific Division of the American Hockey League, but it looked like a game between two teams going in different directions.

The Firebirds, a young team seemingly finding its way as a squad, had another big offensive game sparked by a hat trick by Jacob Melanson for a 5-2 win over Abbotsford. The Canucks, the defending Calder Cup championship, are acting like the last-place team in the AHL that they are, dropping to 3-11-0-2 and just eight points. The two points for the Firebirds Sunday, now 7-5-2-0, pushed Coachella Valley from ninth in the Pacific Division to a tie for fourth with 16 points.

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