The Abbotsford Centre was rocking on Wednesday night as the Abbotsford Canucks defeated the Tucson Roadrunners 4-3 in Game 1 of their first-round series. The Canucks received a multi-goal effort from Sammy Blais, while Tristen Nielsen and Linus Karlsson also found the back of the net. As for Artūrs Šilovs, he had a strong night in net, stopping 21 of the 24 shots he faced.

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This was a physical game from start to finish. Whether it was net-front battles or massive hits laid along the boards, both teams brought their "A" games when it came to throwing their bodies around. The physicality was not surprising to Head Coach Manny Malhotra, who said "Yes" when asked if the team believed the game would be as physical as it was. 

As for the biggest moment from the game, that came with 35 seconds remaining as Tucson was awarded a penalty shot. In the end, Šilovs came up big, stopping Max Szuber and securing the win. After the game, Šilovs was asked about the penalty shot, saying, "I was ready. I was mentally prepared for that."

Despite the win, Malhotra felt that his team could have played better. Post-game, he said, "Most importantly for us is we got the win. Not in ideal fashion. When you have a game at four to one, we'd expect to have more control of the game and be able to settle things down a little bit more. Give credit to them. They're the type of team that will not go away. We understand that. And you know, right down to the wire, they were, they were in the game, so we're happy that we got the win ultimately." 

While there are some areas Abbotsford needs to work on, like their power play, which went two for four, but gave up a shorthanded goal, the AHL Canucks played well in Game 1. They didn't let a more experienced Roadrunners team intimidate them, and matched every hit with one of their own. If Abbotsford can make some adjustments to their game, they could be second-round bound tomorrow night after Game 2. 

Scoring Summary:

1st Period:

9:45- ABB: Tristen Nielsen (1) from Jett Woo and Guillaume Brisebois
18:22- TUC: Hunter Drew (1) from Montana Onyebuchi and Travis Barron

2nd Period:

3:42- ABB: Sammy Blais (1) from Phillip Di Giuseppe and Arshdeep Bains (PP)
14:36- ABB: Linus Karlsson (1) from Arshdeep Bains and Kirill Kudryavtsev
16:49- ABB: Sammy Blais (2) from Max Sasson and Aatu Räty (PP)
18:05- TUC: Travis Barron (1) from Cameron Hebig (SHG)

3rd Period:

7:29- TUC: Artem Duda (1) from Robbie Russo and Travis Barron

Next Up:
Game 2- Thursday, April 24 @ 7:00 pm PT

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