CANUCKS FALL TO THE WRANGLERS 4-3 IN A SHOOTOUT LOSS
The Abbotsford closed out their season opener road trip today, facing off against the Calgary Wranglers, hot off an opening night win.
The Canucks once again chose to continue with an 11 and 7 formation, with very minimal changes from Friday’s game. The trio, Tristen Nielsen, Max Sasson, and Linus Karlsson stuck together to kick off the offense tonight, and Ty Mueller slotted in the middle of Sammy Blais and Danila Klimovich. John Stevens and Carsen Twarynski bookended Nate Smith, and Chase Wouters paired up with Dino Kambietz once again to solidify the forwards. There were no changes to the backend lines, as Guillaume Brisebois and Jett Woo continued to pair up, followed by duos Cole McWard and Erik Brännström, as well as Elias Pettersson alongside Mark Friedman. Kirill Kudryavtsev remained the 7th defender to close out the blue line.
A notable change in the crease, as Jiří Patera started in net for the first time as Abby Canuck, facing off against Devin Cooley with the Wranglers.
The first period saw action quickly, with Dryden Hunt getting on the board for the Wranglers just 46 seconds into the game. The Canucks found themselves down by 1 very early into the game, looking for the equalizer. A couple of good chances, but it was ultimately Dino Kambeitz who came to the rescue, scoring a shorthanded and unassisted goal just under 14 minutes into the first, to tie the game up at 1. Both teams pushed to get the go-ahead goal, but it was Chase Wouters who came the closest, once again finding himself on a shorthanded breakaway. Devin Cooley was able to stop his shot with 30 seconds left in the first, leaving the game tied heading into the second.
Heading into the second, both teams looked to get the go-ahead goal. The Canucks had some great chances, but just couldn’t tuck it past Cooley. Carsen Twarynski found himself in a great spot, with just under 5 minutes left in the period, and he was able to lay down the slapshot straight to the back of the net, giving the Canucks the much-wanted go-ahead. Carsen Twarynski scored the lone goal of the period, and the Canucks were up by 1 heading into the third.
Walker Duehr wasted no time in the third, grabbing his first goal of the season just a minute and twenty seconds in. Duehr’s goal tied the game up for the Wranglers, extending their life in the third. Shortly thereafter, the Canucks headed to the powerplay, but the Wranglers were able to capitalize on a turnover sending themselves on a 2 on 1 toward Patera. Patera comes up big with a massive stop, directly leading to Tristen Nielsen and Linus Karlsson breaking out on a 2-on-1 in the other direction, where Linus Karlsson grabbed his 1st of the season, and gave the Canucks a 3-2 lead. Desperate to stay in the game, Lucas Ciona came up big for the Wranglers and tied the game up at 3, leading to overtime.
Overtime was a goalie's game, as neither team was able to score that game-winning goal. 5 minutes of extra hockey were played, and teams headed to a shootout after being deadlocked at 3 goals a piece.
Round 1: William Strömgren ✅ Tristen Nielsen ❌
Round 2: Jeremie Poirier ✅ Sammy Blais ❌
The Wranglers took this game in a shootout, but the Canucks still picked up 3 out of 4 possible points on this road trip. Abbotsford will head to Colorado to face the Eagles next weekend, before finally returning home for their home opener weekend against the San Diego Gulls on Oct 25-26.
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