Wednesday, December 31 – Abbotsford 5, Manitoba 2
Since it was the holidays and the Moose were hosting their annual New Year’s Eve game, complete with a post-game fireworks show, the crowd was almost at full capacity, an exciting sight for the AHL club. Unfortunately, Manitoba couldn’t get two points for the packed barn.
Manitoba hit the first 6:21 into the opening period when Jaret Anderson-Dolan extended a long pass to Danny Zhilkin, who used his speed to cut in a partial breakaway and slip the puck through Nikita Tolopilo’s legs for his seventh of the season, making it 1–0 to Moose.
Abbotsford tied the game late in the frame on the power play when Danila Klimovich beat Domenic DiVincentiis for his fourth of the year.
The match remained tied at 1-1 after 20 minutes, with Abbotsford beating Manitoba 12-6.
Despite being outscored 21-7 in the middle frame, the Canucks took a 4-2 lead into the second intermission. Lukas Reichel scored his first as a Canuck at 3:15, followed by Ty Mueller’s power-play goal less than two minutes later for his fourth. Moose defenseman Elias Salomonsson pulled Manitoba within one at 13:49 with his first of the season, but Abbotsford restored its two-goal cushion late in the period when a Moose miscommunication allowed Mueller to set up Arshdeep Bains for his second of the year.
Manitoba was unable to beat Tolopilo in the third, and Bains added his second of the match with an empty net goal as Abbotsford defeated Manitoba 5–2.
DiVincentiis made 23 saves as the Moose fell to 15-12-2.
Friday, January 2 – Manitoba 4, Abbotsford 1
The two teams met again two days later, with Manitoba looking for revenge after coming up short in the New Year’s Eve game.
Moose captain Mason Shaw, playing his first game since representing Team Canada at the Spengler Cup in Davos, opened the scoring at 6:22 when he redirected Salomonsson’s point shot past Jiri Patera for his seventh of the season.
Parker Ford doubled the lead at 17:41 when Colby Barlow sent him in alone with a backhand pass. Ford beat Patera with his backhand for his second of the year.
Manitoba led 2-0 after the opening period while outscoring Abbotsford 17-7.
The only goal of the second period came at 5:37 when Anri Ravinskis beat Thomas Milic with a wraparound for his first AHL goal, cutting the Moose lead to 2-1.
The third period remained tight until David Gustafsson made it 3-1 at 13:32 with his seventh goal and twentieth point of the season. Walker Duehr put Gustafsson in control of the net and he beat a sprawling Patera.
Phillip Di Giuseppe sealed the victory with an empty-net goal at 3:45 p.m., his eighth of the season, making it 4-1.
Manitoba improved to 16-12-2 as Milic knocked down 22 shots.
The Moose now hit the road for six straight games, starting Thursday in Milwaukee against the Admirals. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 PM on AHLTV.
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