
The Canucks Fall 2-1 in an Overtime Loss to the Laval Rocket
January 3, 2025 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Abbotsford Canucks News Release
The Abbotsford Canucks flew East for the first time this season to take on their French rivals, the Laval Rocket. Looking to change the course of their last few games, Nikita Tolopilo got the start between the pipes tonight, taking on Cayden Primeau at the other end.
Kicking off the offence, Tristen Nielsen drew back into the lineup after missing the last few, lining up next to Nils Åman and Linus Karlsson. Aatu Räty returned to the centre between Arshdeep Bains and Jonathan Lekkerimäki, followed by Sammy Blais, Ty Mueller, and Danila Klimovich. John Steves and Nate Smith wingmanned their captain Chase Wouters to complete the offensive 12.
At the blue line, Elias Pettersson continued to defend with Mark Friedman, and Christian Wolanin and Jett Woo stuck together. Cole McWard also drew back in next to Kirill Kudryavtsev to complete the Canucks lines tonight. The first period started out pretty tame, with puck possession switching off between the two teams. Abbotsford edged out the Rocket just a touch in the first half, coming up with some really great chances, but Primeau had his touch on all of them. A couple of penalties came to the Canucks in the second half, which meant they would need to play defence a bit more, but Tolopilo came up huge for them, making some unreal saves to keep in a scoreless game into the second period.
The second period started off no different, scoreless for the first half, with a ton of back-and-forth action. Just after the halfway mark, things changed when the Rocket headed down the ice toward the Canuck zone when Sean Farrell sent the puck across the ice to Xavier Simoneau, who was able to stash it in the Canucks net to break the deadlock. Simoneau was called for goaltender interference on the play, but the goal would stand and the Rocket had a 1-goal lead. Things didn't stay that way for too long, when just 3 minutes later, Cole Mcward took a long shot on net, and Aatu Räty picked up the rebound to tie the game back up at 1. A few more penalties to each team, but neither was able to cash in, keeping it 1-1 into the final frame.
With both teams looking to pull ahead, both goaltenders were on their A-game, not allowing anything past them. Despite a few more penalty calls and ample opportunities for each team, the third period remained scoreless, and extra time was required to settle this tilt. The Canucks got the first shot in overtime when Christian Wolanin ripped on Primeau, but it wasn't enough to end it. Just over a minute into the extra time, Laurent Dauphin called game when he fired home the rebound to secure the Rocket victory 2-1.
Canucks picked up a point tonight and will rematch the Rocket tomorrow before returning home for their 6-game stint.
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