ABBOTSFORD CANUCKS VS MANITOBA MOOSE SERIES PREVIEW

For the final time this regular season, the Abbotsford Canucks will take to the ice on Thursday night and Saturday afternoon as the visiting team ahead of their two game series against the Manitoba Moose.

Manitoba sits in third place in the Central Division (34-21-5-4) with 77 points from 64 games. The Canucks are in a tie for third place with Colorado in the Pacific Division (35-23-2-4) with 77 points from 65 games, and hold the tiebreaker (32 Regulation Wins) over the fourth place Eagles (29 Regulation Wins).

Despite holding similar records and point totals, the Canucks narrowly edge out the Moose in terms of goals scored (210 – 203) and goals allowed (191-199).

Through six games of their eight game season series, Abbotsford picked up wins in four of those contests. The last two games took place on March 7th and 8th at Abbotsford Centre, with the Moose taking the first contest 4-3 before Kyle Rau scored the overtime winner for Abbotsford in a 3-2 victory. Four of the six games this far were decided by two or fewer goals.

Also scoring in that contest was Winnipeg native Jett Woo, with the defenceman notching two of his four goals this season against the Moose.

On the opposite blue line, Declan Chisholm leads the Moose in assists with 38, with three coming against Abbotsford. Jansen Harkins leads the team in goals with 21, while Alex Limoges is the team leader in total points with 50.

For Abbotsford, Linus Karlsson leads the active Canucks roster in goals (20) and total points (45), with Justin Dowling registering the most assists on the team with 31. Arsh Bains looks to continue his hot streak, having put up 10 points through his last 11 games (3G, 7A).

Those Canucks leaders will be up against a rookie goaltending duo for the Moose with Arvid Holm and Oskari Salminen. Each netminder has picked up 17 wins, with Holm losing 13 games (10 in regulation) while Salminen has dropped 17 games (11 in regulation). The pair rank amongst the top 10 rookie goaltenders in terms of Goals Against Average, Wins and Save Percentage.

Special teams continues to be an area where the Moose are dangerous, with the league’s third best Powerplay Percentage (23.2%). They achieved this while having the third fewest powerplay opportunities, while also having a top 10 Penalty Kill unit (82.5%). Manitoba have also picked up seven Overtime victories, tied for the second most in the league.

Following this weekend’s games in Manitoba, up next for the Canucks is a five game home stand to close out the season, starting off with a pair of games against Ontario. The two games against the Reign get underway on Friday April 7th and Saturday April 8th at 7:00pm, with the Saturday game being Abbotsford’s Community Heroes Night. Following that, the Canucks close out the year with a Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday series against the Calgary Wranglers. The first Calgary game is Autism Acceptance Night, before Friday’s Spring Country Night and Saturday’s Fan Appreciation game.

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