The Ontario Reign limited offensive chances by the Abbotsford Canucks and held serve on home ice with a 3-1 win in game one of the best-of-five series on Wednesday (May 1).
After a scoreless first period that saw Abbotsford outshoot Ontario 8-4, Reign forward T.J. Tynan returned to his familiar role as Canuck-killer with a goal at 12:05 of the second. The Canucks again outshot the Reign in the second 8-7.
Cicek with a bad clear and the Reign pounce, 1-0 pic.twitter.com/seifb348vX
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) May 2, 2024
Tynan’s goal held until 4:55 of the third when Alex Turcotte capitalized on sloppy play down low by the Canucks to start the third and the Reign would go up 2-0.
Sloppy start to the third for Abbotsford and Turcotte makes it 2-0 pic.twitter.com/jkTSp2mZzc
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) May 2, 2024
Max Sasson got the Canucks back on the board at 8:15, but just over three minutes later Nikita Pavlychev made it 3-1 at 11:29. Abbotsford pulled goalie Zach Sawchenko several times over the final five minutes but could not cut the lead.
Sasson cuts the lead to one pic.twitter.com/94rnZupOVV
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) May 2, 2024
Sawchenko made 18 saves in the loss, while Reign goalie Erik Portillo turned aside 23 saves for the win.
It was a rough night defensively for several Abbotsford players, as Dmitri Zlodeev (-3), Nick Cicek (-2), John Stevens (-2) and Marc Gatcomb were all on for two of the three goals against.
Final. pic.twitter.com/TBPs8OnSoQ
— X - Abbotsford Canucks (@abbycanucks) May 2, 2024
Ontario’s Hayden Hodgson was also making life difficult for the Canucks, delivering several big hits and setting the tone physically in the first period.
Ontario also managed to shut down two of Abbotsford’s top forwards in Linus Karlsson and Aatu Räty, who were both held without a shot. Podkolzin led all Canucks with four shots, while Sheldon Dries, Matt Irwin and Sasson recorded three.
Ontario had a lot more chances down low and inside the hash marks than Abbotsford. Canucks were settling for a lot of shots from far away pic.twitter.com/m8n3TLeoOC
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) May 2, 2024
Shot data tracked by the AHL shows that the Canucks were relegated to taking a lot of shots from the outside, while the Reign had more success down low and crashing the net.
The Reign now take a 1-0 lead in the series, with game two set for Sunday (May 5) at 3 p.m. The series then shifts to Abbotsford for game three on May 8. Games four and five, if necessary, will occur on May 10 and 12 in Abbotsford.
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