In an important Game 3 at home, the Abbotsford Canucks did what needed to be done, taking a 6–1 win against the Charlotte Checkers. Sammy Blais scored the AHL Canucks’ opening goal, while Linus Karlsson, Phil Di Giuseppe, Arshdeep Bains (2), and Tristen Nielsen added tallies in a wave of third-period offence. Artūrs Šilovs started in his 21st postseason game, stopping 28 of 29 shots against and adding an assist to his stats.
Jonathan Lekkerimäki made his return to the lineup tonight, starting the game alongside Di Giuseppe and Ty Mueller. His last game was Game 3 against the Texas Stars, during which the AHL Canucks lost 5–2.
A key issue in Game 1 and Game 2 for Abbotsford was getting chances. The team recorded 30 shots throughout their double-overtime victory on Friday and only 13 in Sunday’s loss. Tonight, they got off to a good start, firing the puck in Kaapo Kähkönen’s direction. While the tone shifted throughout the game, one thing was clear even before Abbotsford got off to their onslaught of third-period offence — they wouldn’t be put in the same spot as they were in Game 2.
“I give them a lot of credit for responding the right way. We weren’t overly happy with the performance last game. They obviously had come at us with a ton of pressure, but did a good job of executing when the opportunities were there, and obviously timely goals for us put us in a good spot,” Abbotsford head coach Manny Malhotra said postgame of the team’s effort.
Special teams made a big difference in tonight’s game, as Abbotsford scored on both of their two power play opportunities. They also killed all three of Charlotte’s, which is something they have had issues with. In Game 2, they surrendered two power play goals on the Checkers’ five opportunities.
Despite nearly surrendering a shorthanded goal on their first power play of the night, Abbotsford eventually capitalized on the opportunity and tied the game 1–1 thanks to Blais. Abbotsford went onto the penalty kill after the goal-scorer, Blais, and Justin Sourdif were called for roughing. However, Blais was given a double-minor, forcing the AHL Canucks on the defence. Not only did they kill this penalty, they also managed a decent chance after getting a partial break on Kähkönen.
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An AHL record was also broken tonight, as Karlsson scored his 11th goal of the postseason to send his team up 2–1. His goal set a new AHL record for most goals scored in a single postseason by a Swedish player, which was previously held by Andreas Johnsson and Mikael Andersson with 10 apiece. Karlsson now has 11 goals and 11 assists in 21 playoff games.
Charlotte emptied their net early on, doing so while on a power play with a little over five minutes left in the third period. Abbotsford continued to press, killing the penalty and keeping things at 6-on-5 with four minutes left. When Charlotte should have been applying pressure, Abbotsford did so even more, putting up four goals in the final 10 minutes of the third period. The AHL Canucks will now carry a 2–1 series lead into their final two games of the season at the Abbotsford Centre.
“We were obviously really excited to be back in front of our fans, easily the best fans in the league," Blais said of the energy in the building. "You can see it all. They bring the energy for us, and they’ve been there all year for us. So we were really excited for this one, and really happy we got the win tonight."
Scoring Summary:
1st Period:
8:22 - CLT: Oliver Okuliar (4) from Matt Kiersted and Mikulas Hovorka
2nd Period:
6:43 - ABB: Sammy Blais (5) from Arshdeep Bains and Linus Karlsson (PPG)
3rd Period:
3:58 - ABB: Linus Karlsson (11) from Max Sasson and Arshdeep Bains
11:43 - ABB: Arshdeep Bains (4) from Christian Wolanin and Linus Karlsson (PPG)
13:19 - ABB: Phil Di Giuseppe (6) from Artūrs Šilovs
17:10 - ABB: Arshdeep Bains (5) from Linus Karlsson and Victor Mancini
17:34 - ABB: Tristen Nielsen (5)
Game 4: Thursday, June 19 @ Abbotsford Centre, 7:00 pm PT
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