Abbotsford Canucks defeated the Colorado Eagles 4-1 and take the edge on the season series

The Abbotsford Canucks took on the Colorado Eagles for their third game together in less than a week and looked to use the home ice to their advantage, pulling them ahead in the series.

Artūrs Šilovs started in net following his overtime victory against Colorado last week, and he took on Kevin Mandolese of the Eagles at the other end.

The Canucks switched things up tonight, with Arshdeep Bains, Aaty Räty, and Jonathan Lekkerimäki kicking things off. Sammy Blais, Nils Åman, and Linus Karlsson followed suit, with Ty Mueller centering Max Sasson and Danila Klimovich. Tristen Nielsen and Chase Wouters continued to bookend John Stevens, and the Canucks offense was complete.

On defense, Elias Pettersson lined up next to Victor Mancini, and Christian Wolanin stuck with Jett Woo. Kirill Kudryavtsev moved back beside Cole McWard to round out the Canucks lineup for the night.

Abbotsford looked to set the tone quickly, but the teams played some good back-and-forth hockey. The Eagles had the first penalty, but the Canucks were unable to cash in on the advantage. It took till about 7 minutes into the game, back at even strength, where Artūrs Šilovs set up the play to Victor Mancini. Mancini stretch passed down the ice to Jonathan Lekkerimäki on a breakaway, who split the D and stickhandled the puck to the back of Colorado’s net. The Canucks had a 1-0 lead before the halfway mark in the first period but headed to their own penalty kill shortly thereafter. The Eagles had no luck with their man advantage, and once the game was back to 5 on 5, the Canucks set themselves up once again. Christian Wolanin sent a seeing-eye shot in front of the net, where Linus Karlsson was there to tip it in. The Canucks had a 2-0 lead 14 minutes into the game. The period wouldn’t end without some adversity, and the Canucks found themselves killing off a 5-on-3. With some great clears and time expiring on the period, Abbotsford was up 2-0 heading into the second period.

The Canucks got through the remaining seconds of the Eagles' powerplay and the even-strength period began. Four minutes into the game, positions changed, and the Canucks found themselves on the other end of a two-man advantage. They had some really close calls, but Mandolese and the Eagles' defense stayed strong. It wasn’t until there was 1 second left before an Eagle could come out of the box that Aatu Räty took a sharp angle shot that deflected off a Colorado defender and bounced into the net, and the Canucks took a 3-0 lead, 6 minutes in. Despite some great chances from each end, this was the lone goal of the period. Artūrs Šilovs remained a brick wall for the duration of the period, and the Canucks had a 3-goal cushion with 20 minutes left to play.

There was one period standing between the win for Abbotsford, and they were determined to make it happen. With tensions rising, many guys found themselves in the box, but the goaltenders were making it very difficult for anything to get through despite the advantages. With a few minutes remaining in the game, Colorado pulled their goaltender to try and get on the board. They burned about a minute of it, but with just over 50 seconds in the game, Jere Innala ripped a sharp-angle shot, getting the Eagles on the board and ensuring they would not get shut out. After resetting, Mandolese left the net, but this time, Abbotsford got possession of the puck, and Aatu Räty dumped it in the empty net with 8 seconds to go. Abbotsford defeated the Colorado Eagles 4-1 and took the edge on their season series.  

The teams will take a day to reset before going head-to-head again on Monday for our family day game! Then Abbotsford will head south to San Diego to play one game against the Gulls before their weekend series in Tucson against the Roadrunners.

To purchase tickets to an upcoming game, click HERE.