The second half of the 2025–26 season kicked off tonight as the Abbotsford Canucks hosted the Ontario Reign for the first time since their home opener. Decked out in their home greens, the Canucks delivered a dominant effort and earned their first win against Ontario this season.
There were some notable lineup changes for Abbotsford. Chase Stillman dressed for the first time since October after recovering from injury. Nils Åman returned to the forward group, while Sawyer Mynio slotted back in on the blue line. Nikita Tolopilo got the start between the pipes, taking on Eric Portillo at the other end.
Tolopilo was sharp from the opening puck drop, turning aside a flurry of Reign shots in the first 20 minutes. Abbotsford took the only penalty of the frame but successfully killed it off. Despite the Reign’s shot advantage, the game remained scoreless after one.
The Canucks needed to generate more offense if they wanted to shift momentum. However, penalty trouble in the second period made that difficult. After Tolopilo continued to stand tall, Ontario broke through on the power play. A shot from Martin Chromiak slipped through Tolopilo’s legs and sat loose in the crease before Cole Guttman jammed it home to give the Reign a 1–0 lead. Abbotsford received its first power play later in the period but struggled to create quality chances and headed into the third trailing by one.
The response in the final frame was immediate. Just under two minutes in, Nils Åman led a rush up ice, followed up on his own rebound, wrapped around the net, and banked the puck in off the goaltender to tie the game 1–1. The equalizer energized the home side, and ten minutes later they struck again. Nikolai Knyzhov fired a shot from the blue line, and Nick Poisson was positioned perfectly to tip it home, giving Abbotsford its first lead of the night.
With time winding down, the Reign pushed hard to even the score and pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker. In the dying seconds, Arshdeep Bains came up with a massive block to seal the victory.
Abbotsford skated away with a 2–1 come-from-behind win, securing their first victory of the second half and their first triumph over Ontario this season.
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