The Canucks dropped their second game against the Coachella Valley Firebirds, 4-3.

Tonight, the Abbotsford Canucks rematched the Coachella Valley Firebirds and looked to split the series 1-1. The two teams continue to sit beside each other in the standings, so another even matchup was to be expected.

Ty Young got the go-ahead tonight, starting between the crease for the Canucks for his AHL debut. He would face off against the Ales Steza.

Switching up the lines from last night, Max Sasson and Danila Klimovich joined Arshdeep Bains on the first line, followed by the new line of Ty Mueller, Nils Åman, and Tristen Nielsen. Carsen Twarynski and Nate Smith continued to bookend Chase Wouters, and John Stevens, Ty Glover, and Cooper Walker remained a trio to solidify the offence.

At the blue line, Elias Pettersson joined Jett Woo, and Kirill Kudryavtsev slotted back in next to Cole Mcward. Guillaume Brisebois and Christian Felton stuck together to round out the Canucks lineup.

The first period got off to a quick start, with Abbotsford netting the first goal. Just under 3 minutes in, Cooper Walker passed the puck ahead to Ty Glover who, with speed and finesse, backhanded the puck right into the Firebirds' net, to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead. The Canucks headed to the powerplay shortly after, and which a bunch of close calls, Ales Steza stayed sharp denying Abbotsford some insurance. Instead, a few minutes later, it was Luke Henman who would find himself on the scoresheet to tie the game up at 1, after getting the puck past Young. Abbotsford successfully killed off a penalty, but after getting back to even strength, Max McCormick would be the one to score, giving the Firebirds a lead heading into the second.

The second period was another big one, but this time in favour of the Canucks. Edward Sale got his goal fixing, just one minute into the period, to extend the Firebirds' lead to 2 goals to kick off the period. Although down, the Canucks were not out, because just two minutes later, Cooper Walker stashed the rebound into Coachella’s net, to bring them within one. Continuing this stretch, the Canucks offence exploded registering shot after shot on net, but Ales Stezka denied them all. After 14 minutes, Chase Wouters took a long shot from the blue line, that tipped off of Nate Smith’s stick to tie the game up at 3. This goal came as Nate Smith’s first goal as a Canuck, and ensured the Canucks would not be down heading into the final frame.

The teams would look to battle to come out ahead in the third period. Coachella outshot Abbotsford, after being the only team to have the man advantage. The Canucks had a great attempt at killing the penalties, coming close to a short-handed goal themselves, but with 36 seconds left in the game, Cale Fleury was the one who ultimately found the back of the net to secure the victory and come out on top. The Canucks pulled the goalie but the time ran out before they could equalize.

Despite coming back from a 3-1 deficit, the Canucks dropped this game 4-3. Abbotsford will hit the road for a 6 game road trip in California, before returning home to a holiday frenzy at the Abbotsford Centre.

To purchase tickets to an upcoming game, click HERE.