The Abbotsford Canucks hit the road for the remainder of the Calder Cup playoffs best-of-five Pacific Division Finals against the top seeded Colorado Eagles.
The series is tied 1-1 with both games having been played at Abbotsford Centre.
Vancouver’s American Hockey League farm club won Game-1 on Friday night 2-0 with the 22-save shut-out earned by Arturs Silovs. Sunday the Eagles tied the series with a 5-3 win.
The simple theme in Game-2: The Eagles were down in the series and desperate, knowing they didn’t want to go home having to win three games in a row. The Canucks didn’t respond with the same intensity.
“If you leave the door open and you make mistakes the opposition will capitalize and that’s exactly what they did tonight,” Abby head coach Manny Malhotra said postgame. “They upped their intensity and their energy and were able to capitalize on some defensive mistakes.”
After Jake Wise opened the scoring for Colorado at the 1:57 mark of the 1st period, Vancouver’s 2022 1st-round NHL Draft pick Jonathan Lekkerimaki tied the game fourteen minutes later with his first career playoff goal.
The game remained even until the Eagles took over just past the midway point of the 2nd period. They opened up a 3-1 lead before the stanza was over and made it 4-1 5:23 into the 3rd.
“Give them credit,” Malhotra added. “They were hunting on the forecheck, they did a great job of putting pucks to places where they can get bodies around it quickly. That’s playoff hockey.”
A season-high 6,960 fans showed up in Abby to support the club for Game-2. For the franchise to enjoy that atmosphere again this spring, they’ll need to pull off a somewhat daunting task; win two of three at Blue Arena in Loveland.
Then again, considering the two teams finished just two points apart atop the Pacific Division, most would consider the series a toss-up. Game-3 is Wednesday night.
A 2019 Stanley Cup champion with the St. Louis Blues, Canucks forward Sammy Blais is second in AHL playoff scoring with ten points.
