The Canucks open their 4 game series against the Wranglers with a 3-1 win!
The Abbotsford Canucks kick off their final road trip with head to head against the Calgary Wranglers. Tonight’s game kicked off a series of 4 consecutive games with Calgary.
Starting in net tonight for the Canucks is goaltender Nikita Tolopilo, and he will face Conor Murphy down at the other end. Continuing to play with an 11 and 7 formation, Guillaume Brisebois returns to the lineup, pairing up with defenseman Christian Wolanin. Nick Cicek and Akito Hirose follow suit, and Filip Johansson lines up with Matt Irwin. Sawyer Mynio makes his AHL debut tonight as the 7th defenseman.
Up front, the trio of Aatu Räty, Max Sasson, and Linus Karlsson hold strong, as well as Sheldon Dries, Tristen Nielsen, and Marc Gatcomb. Aidan McDonough and Arshdeep Bains bookend John Stevens, and Chase Wouters and Ty Glover round out the Canucks lineup for the night.
Not much to report after the first 20 minutes of play. Abbotsford managed to stay out of the box, meanwhile Calgary found themselves killing off 3 penalties. The Canucks had some close chances on the powerplay, but Conor Murphy and the post had other plans. Although outshooting the Wranglers 12-5, neither team was able to find the back of the net, and the game was scoreless heading into the second period.
The Canucks looked to continue outplaying and outshooting the Wranglers. Just past the 6-minute mark, Sheldon Dries picked up a feed from Marc Gatcomb and went bar-down to open the scoring and put Abbotsford up 1-0. This came as Dries’ 28th goal of the season, and 200th AHL Career point. The Wrangler managed to keep themselves out of the box, and instead, Nick Cicek took the Canucks first penalty of the game. The Canucks maintained control, while Nikita Tolopilo held on to keep the Canucks up by 1, heading into the final period of the game.
Looking to keep the momentum going and maintain the lead, the Canucks continued to push. Just past the halfway mark of the period, Arshdeep Bains drove the puck towards the net and dropped passed to Tristen Nielsen who ripped home his 14th goal of the season, and the Canucks found themselves with a 2-goal lead. With about 3 minutes left in the game, the Canucks found themselves battling another penalty, this time, Jordan Osterle netted his 2nd of the season, to cut the Canucks lead in half. With a last stich effort to tie the game, the Wranglers pulled their goaltender. Chase Wouters backhanded the puck down the ice and landed right in the Wranglers' empty net to regain their 2-goal lead, with 19 seconds to play.
The Canucks take their first of 4 consecutive games against the Wranglers, 3-1, and will look to use this momentum into their final road game tomorrow night.