The Canucks complete a comeback in a 2-1 shootout victory against the Ontario Reign
The Canucks traveled south to take on the Ontario Reign for their 6th time this season. Both teams will battle hard tonight, looking to climb the Pacific division standings.
Upfront for the Canucks tonight are Tristen Nielsen, Sheldon Dries, and Linus Karlsson, followed by Dmitri Zlodeev, John Stevens and Vasily Podkolzin. Max Sasson centered Aatu Räty and Marc Gatcomb, and Chase Wouters lined up with Ty Glover and Danila Klimovich to complete a well-rounded offense.
Quinn Schmiemann returns to the lineup and he will pair up with Nick Cicek, and the duos of Matt Irwin and Cole McWard, as well as Chad Nychuk and Alex Kannok Leipert, remain unchanged. Nikita Tolopilo gets back-to-back starts after standing tall in Abbotsford’s overtime victory on Monday against the Wranglers, and he will face Eric Portillo at the other end.
Not much to report during the first period with each team having some good looks on net, but both Tolopilo and Portillo were able to stand tall for their respective teams. The Canucks faced some adversity after being dealt 4 penalties, two of which landed them at the latter end of a 5 on 3 for just over a minute, but they put their kill to use and headed into the second period scoreless.
The Canucks still had about 40 seconds of a penalty to kill as they kicked off the second period, but it’s a testament to their penalty kill, as they were able to hold on and keep the Reign in check. About 6 minutes in, Tyler Madden was able to find the back of the net first off a feed from Charles Hudon, for his 11th of the season to put the Reign up 1-0. Despite kicking it into high gear, Abbotsford was unable to register a goal after 40, and the Reign maintained their lead heading into the final frame.
The Canucks faced pressure in this final frame, as they had to find their equalizer to push overtime and be able to take home a point. As time passed, no one was able to find themselves on the scoresheet. With just under 3 minutes to play in the third, it seemed the Reign was going to take this one, but Sheldon Dries was able to find the loose puck in front of the net and bury it for his 15th of the season and force overtime.
Neither team found success in the extra time, so a shootout became necessary. See the results of the shootout below.
Round 1: Tristen Nielsen : ✅ Tyler Madden : ✅
Round 2: Vasily Pokolzin: ❌ Akil Thomas: ❌
Round 3: Sheldon Dries: ❌ Samuel Fagemo: ❌
Round 4: Linus Karlsson: ✅ Charles Hudon: ❌
Linus Karlsson gets the game-winning goal in the fourth round of shootouts, to take home 2 more points.
The Canucks head to San Jose to take on the Barracuda on Friday and Saturday before returning home to take on the Colorado Eagles for our Hockey Talks and First Nations night.
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