The Abbotsford Canucks will have a second chance to advance to the Calder Cup Final with a win on Sunday night in Game 6 against the Texas Stars.

Abbotsford had a chance to wrap the series up on Friday in Game 5, but fell short early in the first overtime. This marked the Canucks’ third overtime loss of the postseason, bringing them to 3-3 in extra time this year.

Head Coach Manny Malhotra did make one small change to last games winning lineup with Sammy Blais re-insterted back into the Canucks lineup. Blais filled in for Ty Glover on a line with captain Chase Wouters and Dino Kambeitz.

Arshdeep Bains scored the lone Canucks goal, capitalizing on a rush on the power play. This marked Bains’ first goal of the postseason (17 games). The Surrey native was the only player in the Abbotsford lineup who played more than six games and did not have a goal in this playoff.

Linus Karlsson’s five-game point streak came to an end on Friday night, but it wasn’t because of a lack of effort. The Swedish forward had a game-high seven shots on goal. This was the highest shot on goal total of Karlsson’s postseason and the highest since December 14. While his point streak may be over, Karlsson still sits at a point-per-game, leading the team in points (17) and has a tie for the lead in goals (nine).

While there hasn’t been a shortage of physicality in this series, it was the first time we saw players actually drop the gloves. Standing at 5’11”, Ty Mueller had no fear when challenged by 6’4″ NHL tweener Alex Petrovic. This was Mueller’s first fighting major of his career.

It’s unclear why Blais was out of the lineup for Game 4. He didn’t take warmups, so he could have been dealing with a slight ailment. Blais has gone six games without finding the scoresheet since he caught fire in the first two rounds with 11 points in 10 games. The same goes for Phil Di Giuseppe. PDG has just three points since the start of the Colorado Eagles series (10 games) – one of which was an empty net goal.

Arturs Silovs had his best road performance of the series in Game 4, allowing two goals on 25 shots with a 1.92 goals against average and a .920 save percentage. He will now look to close out the series tonight, with a perfect 2-0 record in close-out games in the Abbotsford Centre, stopping all 50 shots he’s faced.

Abbotsford wasn’t the only team to make a lineup change, as the Stars’ head coach decided to go back to their regular season starting netminder, Magnus Hellberg.

Hellberg came in relief in the third period of Game 4 and nearly stole the Stars a victory. He stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced, before a ridiculous individual effort by Danila Klimovich called game. Hellberg came in and got the job done, stopping 30 of 31 shots to buy his team one more game in this Calder Cup chase.

After not scoring through the first three games of the series, Justin Hryckowian notched his second in as many games, early in the first period on the power play. After such an impressive penalty killing streak, the Canucks have now allowed a power play goal against in three straight games. Hryckowian now sits in a tie for goals this postseason with Karlsson.

Captain Curtis McKenzie notched his first point of the series when it mattered most, scoring the overtime winner. McKenzie has been a physical force throughout the series and has now given his team another shot to keep their season alive.

AHL leading scorer Cameron Hughes was held without a point for only the second time this postseason, both games being against the Canucks. Abbotsford was also able to contain Matej Blumel, keeping him off the scoresheet after scoring three goals over the past two games.

Game 1: Abbotsford 3, Texas 2 (OT)

Game 2: Abbotsford 1, Texas 0

Game 3: Texas 5, Abbotsford 2

Game 4: Abbotsford 5, Texas 4 (OT 2)

Game 5: Texas 2, Abbotsford 1 (OT)

With a win tonight, Abbotsford can punch their ticket to the Calder Cup finals and a date with the Charlotte Checkers.