The Canucks dropped game 3 in the Pacific Division Semifinals against the Ontario Reign

The Abbotsford Canucks finally returned home for the first time this playoff run, and they took on the Ontario Reign for game 3 of the Pacific Division Semifinals. Abbotsford went with the same lineup as Sunday’s game, with Zach Sawchenko in net for the Canucks once again, facing off against Erik Portillo for the Reign. The defensive pairings in front of him remained the same, with Christian Wolanin and Nick Cicek, Matt Irwin with Filip Johansson, and Akito Hirose alongside Cole McWard. Upfront, Max Sasson continued to center Vasily Podkolzin and Linus Karlsson, followed by the trio of Arshdeep Bains, Sheldon Dries, and Tristen Nielsen. Aatu Räty and Marc Gatcomb bookended John Stevens, and Chase Wouters, Dmitri Zlodeev and Ty Glover rounded out the Canucks lineup. The first period could not have gone any better for the Canucks, when Aatu Räty opened the scoring just 8 minutes and 14 seconds in, after receiving a pass from Chase Wouters in front to give the Canucks a 1 goal lead. A few minutes later, Christian Wolanin gets through an obstacle of bodies and goes through the legs of Portillo to extend the Canucks leads to 2. The Canucks had the lead for the first time in this series and headed into the second with a two-goal lead. Abbotsford kicked off the period on the penalty kill but was able to successfully kill that off. Shortly after, the Canucks found themselves on a 5-on-3 for 14 seconds before going back on the 5 on 4 penalty kill. Despite facing adversity from the special teams, they were able to get back to even strength without giving up their lead. Samuel Fagemo broke the Reigns draught when he deflected in a shot from Joe Hicketts to cut the Canucks lead at 8:59. Just 37 seconds later, Charles Hudon netted his third of the playoffs to tie the game up at 2. The momentum didn’t stop there, because less than a minute after that, Tyler Ward parked himself in front of Sawchenko, who made the initial save on Hicketts, but Ward picked up the rebound and gave the Reign the lead in less than a minute in a half. 4 minutes after that Marc Gatcomb found himself on a two-on-one with John Stevens, where he ripped one past Portillo to tie the game up at 3. The Reign would go on to score one more time before the end of the period, this time, Andre Lee would net his 3rd of the playoffs to give the Reign a 4-3 lead heading into the final frame. The Canucks had 20 more minutes to get it done, but they were dealt a great deal of penalties they needed to kill first. They were successfully able to kill them all but unfortunately couldn’t generate the offensive plays they needed to tie up the game. With a few minutes left, Sawchenko left the net to give the team an extra man on the ice, but the time ran out before the puck could cross the line. The Canucks battled until the very last second but unfortunately dropped game 3 in the Pacific Division Semifinals and were eliminated from the running in the Calder Cup Playoffs.