Moose run of New Year’s Eve misfortune continues as Canucks win 5–2

The Moose ended the pre-Christmas portion of the schedule with a 4-1 win and were looking to end the year with a win against the defending Calder Cup champion Canucks. Working against them has been a run of misfortune during these New Year’s Eve games which they’ve lost for the past three years heading into today’s game.

Lineup news:

Pair of players (Mason Shaw and Kale Clague) were unavailable according to play-by-play voice Daniel Fink. Shaw was over in Switzerland playing for Team Canada at the Spengler Cup and I am uncertain as to why Clague didn’t play.

Moose lineup:

Di Giuseppe – Yager – Fagemo
Ford – Gustafsson- Duehr
Barlow – Lambert – Chibrikov
Empey– Zhilkin – JAD

Phillips – Bauer
Heinola – Salomonsson
Sautner – Anhorn

DiVincentiis

Notable:

Jets prospect Danny Zhilkin opened the scoring for the Moose with his seventh goal of the season with a backhand.

Late in the 1st the home team gave up a power play with the Canucks scoring on a 4 on 3 to tie the game.

An offensive zone turnover by the Moose leads to an odd man rush for the Canucks and Lukas Reichel makes no mistake with this beauty to give the visitors a 2-1 lead.

An unfortunate bounce as the puck breaks the stick of the Moose defender and lands right on the stick of Canucks Ty Mueller who buried it to make it a 3-1 game.

Jets prospect Elias Salomonsson gets his first of the season which brought the Moose within one on a delayed penalty call.

Bit of a Keystone Cops situation in the Moose D Zone as a pair of Manitoba players collide and the Canucks make them pay making it 4-2 for the visitors.

With the goalie pulled for the extra attacker, the Moose lost the faceoff in the Canucks zone and Abbotsford grabbed the puck and put it into the empty net to make it 5-2 for the visitors.

Moose end 2025 with a 5-2 loss to the defending Calder Cup champion Canucks. The loss drops them to 15-11-2-0 on the season which puts them 3rd in the Central. Still much better than how 2024 ended for Manitoba.

Multi-point game:

Danny Zhilkin 1G 1A

Highlights:

Player media:

Coach media:

Up next:

The Moose will hit the ice for practice on Thursday at 11 AM CST as they prepare for their Friday re-match with the Canucks which concludes six straight games at home.