The Canucks drop game 1 against the Manitoba Moose, 3-2.

The Abbotsford Canucks are back on the road this afternoon, as they headed east to take on the Manitoba Moose for their first matchup this season.

With Artūrs Šilovs still up with the big club, Nikita Tolopilo retains control over the Canucks net, facing Thomas Milic of the Manitoba Moose. Helping Tolopilo at the blue line are d-men Nick Cicek and Jett Woo, followed by Matt Irwin and Filip Johansson, who is celebrating his 24th birthday today. Guillaume Brisebois returns to the Canucks lineup after missing the game against Henderson on Sunday, and he will slot in with Akito Hirose.

Up front, standing strong is trio Tristen Nielsen, Sheldon Dries, and Linus Karlsson, followed by John Stevens, Aidan McDonough, and Arshdeep Bains. A line that continued to produce on Sunday’s game remains unchanged today as Max Sasson centered Aatu Räty and Marc Gatcomb. Closing out the Canucks lineup is Chase Wouters, Ty Glover and Dmitri Zlodeev.

The first period seems to be interrupted quite a bit by whistles. Neither team could really generate any scary chances on the net until after the midway point of the period. The Moose really ramped up, picking up turnover, heading into the attacking zone and Kyle Capobianco was the first and only one to capitalize in the period after dancing around the offensive zone before ripping one straight to the back of the Canucks net. This goal came as his 9th of the season and put the Moose up 1-0. The Canucks struggled to register many shots on net and headed into the second period down by 1.

Picking up the pace in the second period, the Canucks got called for elbowing, served by Jett Woo. Kristian Reichal was able to capitalize on their powerplay, just 5 minutes into the period, and the Moose found themselves with a 2 goal lead. Just 30 seconds later, a mishap on the Moose’s turnover landed right on Max Sasson’s stick, where he was perfectly placed in front of the net to notch his 16th goal of the season and cut the Moose’s lead in half. Just 3 minutes later, after a series of passes, Linus Karlsson was able to pick up the rebound from Aatu Räty to notch his 16th goal of the season and knot the game up at 2 after 2. The Canucks were only able to register 6 shots on net during the second period, but luckily all they needed was 2 to find themselves in a more comfortable spot heading into the final frame.

The Canucks looked to generate more shots on net and hoped to pull ahead to take this one in regulation. An unlucky penalty to John Stevens around the halfway mark, led to Jeffery Viel notching his 13th of the season after Nikita Tolopilo made a ton of tremendous saves. The Moose found themselves up 3-2 with 12 minutes left to play. The Canucks did not ease up the pressure, but they were unable to come up with enough shots to tie up the game.

Despite erasing a 2-goal deficit, the Canucks drop this one, 3-2 against the Manitoba Moose, and look to battle back tomorrow.