CANUCKS BEAT THE WRANGLERS 4-3 IN SEASON OPENER
The Abbotsford Canucks kicked off the 2024-25 regular season tonight, taking on their rivals, the Calgary Wranglers. Manny Malhotra also made his AHL Head coaching debut tonight, alongside new assistant coaches Jordan Smith and Harry Mahesh.
The Abbotsford Canucks debuted many new faces tonight, deciding to go with an 11 and 7 formation. Kicking things off up front, familiar faces Tristen Nielsen, Max Sasson, and Linus Karlsson line up next to each other, followed by Danila Klimovich alongside new names Sammy Blais and Nate Smith. John Stevens winged newbie Carsen Twarynski and Ty Mueller who made his AHL Debut tonight in his hometown. Captain Chase Wouters paired up with Dino Kambietz to round out the offense.
On the backend, Guillaume Brisebois and Jett Woo linked up, while Cole McWard paired up with new acquisition Erik Brännström. Elias Pettersson returns alongside Mark Friedman, and Kirill Kudryavtsev closed out the blue line. Nikita Tolopilo got the nod tonight, facing off against Devin Cooley with the Wranglers.
The first period got off to a hot start with both teams getting some good chances on net, but the netminders came to play, not allowing anything past them for the greater part of the period. The battle for the first goal of the season finally concluded, with Abbotsford’s Captain, Chase Wouters, picking up the rebound from Carsen Twarynksi and burying it in the back of the net to claim that title with 2 minutes left in the first. Just a minute and a half later, Sammy Blais netted his first as an Abby Canuck, after tipping in the wraparound from Erik Brännström. Abbotsford closed out the first 20, with a 2-goal lead.
Looking to extend their lead in the second, Danila Klimovich found himself on a breakaway just over 4 and a half minutes in, where he was able to tuck it away for his first goal of the season, and put the Canucks up 3-0. Shortly after that, Rory Kerins netted his first of the season and put the Wranglers on the board. Tristen Nielsen was quick to respond, as he ripped a sharp-angle shot into the back of the net, restoring the Canucks 3-goal lead once again. The Wranglers, determined to provide some adversity, saw Ilya Solovyov cut the Canucks lead in half once again before heading into the third period.
The final 20 minutes saw both teams battling for the win, but the Wranglers found themselves on another powerplay around 8 minutes in, where Rory Kerins doubled down and netted his second of the night to bring Calgary within 1. Calgary found themselves on another powerplay with 3 minutes left, but the Canucks held on and were able to come away with their first win of the season on opening night.
Congratulations to Manny Malhotra on securing his first win as Head Coach of the Abbotsford Canucks tonight. Kirill Kudryavtsev also got his first AHL point in his first AHL game in Calgary tonight, and Tristen Nielsen now holds the franchise record of single most Game Winning Goals after scoring the go-ahead goal tonight.
The Abbotsford Canucks will rematch the Wranglers once again on Sunday at noon PT in Calgary, before heading to Colorado to face the Colorado Eagles for the first time since knocking them out of the playoffs in May.
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