THE CANUCKS DEFEAT THE SAN DIEGO GULLS 3-1 IN THEIR HOME OPENER

After starting the season on a 4 game road trip, the Abbotsford Canucks finally returned home and hosted their Home Opener, taking on the San Diego Gulls.

In net for the Canucks tonight is Nikita Tolopilo after playing a full 60 mins in both of the Canucks wins so far this season. He is going head-to-head with Calle Clang of the San Diego Gulls. Standing tall in front of him are Guillaume Brisebois and Jett Woo, followed by Elias Pettersson and Mark Friedman, and Kirill Kudryavtsev and Cole McWard.

Up front, Jonathan Lekkerimäki made his season debut tonight, winging Aatu Räty with Tristen Nielsen. Max Sasson centered Danila Klimovich and Ty Mueller, and John Stevens and Nate Smith bookended Chase Wouters. Carsen Twarynski, Cooper Walker, and Dino Kambeitz rounded out the Canucks Home Opener Lineup.

The Gulls were quick to capitalize, when just 3 minutes into the game Judd Caufield passed in front to Yegor Sidorov who scored the first goal of the game and put the Gulls up 1-0. Abbotsford drew the first penalty of the game just 5 minutes later and was able to capitalize to tie the game up. Danila Klimovich ripped one from the point right past Clang and the game was tied. Another 5 minutes later, Jonathan Lekkerimäki took his shot on net from the point, and with Räty parked in front, the puck was deflected in, and the Canucks had a 1-goal lead. Abbotsford held on to that and headed into the second period up 2-1.

The Abbotsford Canucks were all over the Gulls during the second period, holding them to just 1 shot. With the Canucks holding possession of the puck for the majority of the period, Ty Mueller was able to intercept a Gulls play to set up Mark Friedman, who placed the puck perfectly in the back of the net! The Canucks then maintained a 3-1 lead going into the third period.

With twenty minutes left to play, the Canucks looked to hold onto the lead and close out their home opener with the lead. The Gulls had a strong push, but neither team was able to find the back of the net again.

Despite dropping the first goal, the Canucks were able to fight back and defeat the Gulls 3-1 in their first home game of the season!

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