The Canucks Fall 4-1 against the Bakersfield Condors.
The Abbotsford Canucks returned home after a 5 game road trip, and they are taking on the Bakersfield Condors. The Canucks and Condors are both tied with 64 points on the season, so both teams are looking for the go-ahead 2 points at the end of the night.
Nikita Tolopilo starts between the pipes tonight after Artūrs Šilovs heads west to the big club, Vancouver Canucks, and he will go up against Bakersfield goaltender Jack Campbell. The lines look the same as the last 2 road games, with Nick Cicek and Jett Woo paired up on defense, followed by duos Matt Irwin and Filip Johansson, with Cole McWard and Akito Hirose.
On the attack up front are Tristen Nielsen, Sheldon Dries, and Linus Karlsson, followed by Aidan McDonough, John Stevens, and Arshdeep Bains. Chase Wouters continues to center Aatu Räty and Marc Gatcomb, and Cooper Walker slots in the middle of Jermaine Loewen and Ty Glover to round out the Canucks lineup.
It was a quiet first period, with the Canucks registering 9 shots on net, and the Condors with 6. Around the 14-minute mark, Cameron Wright of the Condors picked up an unlucky turnover for the Canucks and ripped one past Tolopilo for his 10th of the season, and the Condors were up 1-0 heading into the second period.
The second period, once again was a slow one. There remained zero penalties in the game. It took some time to get going, but once again the Condors were the ones to find themselves on the board first. Noel Hoffenmayer picked up the feed from Lane Pederson, ripped one straight to the back of the Canucks net to put Bakersfield up 2-0. The Condors 2 goal lead didn’t last long, as just a few minutes later Matt Irwin picked up Aidan McDonough’s rebound and netted his 4th of the season on a one-timer. This cut the Condors' lead to just 1 goal heading into the final period.
The third period got off to a good start for the Condors after Matvey Petrov passed in front to Sam Gagner who notched his 2nd of the season, and put the Condors up 3-1 after just 2 minutes of play. Shortly after, Philip Broberg also netted his 2nd of the season after receiving a pass from Philip Kemp, and Bakersfield found themselves with a 3-goal lead.
The Canucks dropped this one 4-1 against Bakersfield, but they will get a chance to redeem themselves tomorrow night for Women in Sports Night at the Abbotsford Centre. They will look ahead to the weekend where they will take on the Henderson Silver Knights on Saturday and Sunday, before heading back on the road.