The Manitoba Moose (28-31-1-1) rematched with the Pacific’s Division’s Abbotsford Canucks (32-24-4-2) on Sunday afternoon at Canada Life Centre. Manitoba was coming off a 3-2 win over Abbotsford yesterday.
Abbotsford opened the scoring 2:19 into the contest with a goal from Aatu Raty. Marc Gatcomb gained the line and drew in a pair of Moose defenders before moving the puck to Raty on the wing. The forward picked his spot and beat Collin Delia with a quick shot under the glove. The Moose tied the contest on the power play with a tally from Nikita Chibrikov. Ville Heinola made the pass to Chibrikov, who used the extra space to walk in and fire a shot. The puck struck a Canucks defenceman and redirected past Zach Sawchenko. Abbotsford reclaimed the lead with a goal from Arshdeep Bains. The forward’s shot hit the arm of Delia and rolled up and over the padding. Bains followed the disc and knocked it home shortly after. The goal prompted a change for Manitoba and Thomas Milic took over in place of Delia. Manitoba tied the contest 20 seconds later courtesy of Axel Jonsson-Fjallby. Brad Lambert wheeled into the zone and took a shot. The puck handcuffed Sawchenko and Jonsson-Fjallby put away the rebound. The two sides ended the frame in a 2-2 tie. Sawchenko made 13 saves for Abbotsford in the period.
Abbotsford pushed back ahead 2:33 into the second period with a goal from Christian Wolanin. Raty moved the puck to Wolanin at the point. The defenceman saw a lane open up and lofted the disc through the air, which then eluded Milic. The Canucks took a two-goal lead with a power play goal from Tristen Nielsen. Sheldon Dries fired a shot wide of the net that bounced off the wall at a sharp angle and Nielsen was waiting to rip the rebound past Milic. Abbotsford found twine for the third time in the frame with a marker from Gatcomb. The forward took advantage of a turnover and snapped a shot home from the slot. Abbotsford outshot Manitoba 11-10 in the middle frame but trailed by three heading into the final 20 minutes of play.
Neither side was able to find the back of the net in the third period. Manitoba pushed and outshot Abbotsford 11-7 in the frame, but the Canucks and Sawchenko clamped down defensively to keep the Moose from drawing any closer. Milic was tagged with the loss and ended the contest with 16 stops, while Sawchenko picked up his first win of the season on the strength of 34 saves of his own.
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