It wasn’t the ideal start, but the Abbotsford Canucks managed to salvage a split against the red-hot San Jose Barracuda over the weekend at Rogers Forum.

After keeping Friday’s opener close through forty minutes, Abbotsford was undone by a brutal third period that saw San Jose erupt for five goals and skate away with a lopsided result.

The response on Saturday was far more controlled. Getting back-to-back starts, Nikita Tolopilo delivered a 39-save performance to steal a 2–1 victory and halt the Canucks’ four-game slide.

With just ten healthy forwards available, Abbotsford dressed 11 forwards and seven defencemen, bumping Christian Felton up front to help manage the rotation.

Unavailable due to injury were Vilmer Alriksson, Kirill Kudryavtsev, Joseph LaBate, MacKenzie MacEachern, Nils Åman, Chase Stillman, and Sawyer Mynio.

Recently returned netminder Nikita Tolopilo made his first AHL start since January 21 and opened the night on a good note. After a scoreless first period in which shots were even at 6–6, Abbotsford struck first early in the second.

Arshdeep Bains cut into the middle of the ice and went to the backhand, burying his sixth goal of the season. The marker was Bains’ 146th career AHL point, leaving him just two shy of tying Linus Karlsson for the franchise lead. He also now sits nine assists away from Christian Wolanin’s all-time team record.

The lead wouldn’t last long, as San Jose responded just past the midway mark of the period. Off an offensive-zone draw, Lucas Carlsson fired a quick shot that Jimmy Huntington redirected past Tolopilo to even the score.

Cue some Lekkeri-magic.

The Canucks regained the lead just moments later when Jonathan Lekkerimäki was sprung on a clear breakaway and hauled down by Carlsson. Awarded a penalty shot, the Swede made a patient move to beat Gabriel Carrière and restore Abbotsford’s lead.

The goal extended his AHL point streak to five games, with goals in four of those outings, and pulled him within two goals of the franchise’s top-10 list despite just 59 career games.

The lead didn’t last long, either. Playing in his 400th AHL game, Jimmy Schuldt couldn’t clear the puck after it was tied up by an interfering official, allowing Oliver Wahlstrom to step into space and wire a shot upstairs.

Abbotsford pushed ahead again early in the third. Lekkerimäki cycled the puck down to Ty Mueller, who used his frame to fight through coverage before finding Victor Mancini trailing into the slot. Mancini snapped home his third of the season, while Mueller’s second point of the night moved him into second on the team in scoring with 22 points — one back of Ben Berard.

From there, the game went off the rails. San Jose scored six goals on six shots, including five in a five-minute span (one empty-netter). Suddenly, what was an even-keeled match for most of the night turned into a bloodbath, and a 7-3 victory for the away side.

With the win, San Jose extended its winning streak to five games to move just two points outside of third place in the Pacific Division. At the opposite end, it was a fourth straight loss for Abbotsford.

Head coach Manny Malhotra kept the same lineup for Saturday’s rematch and, somewhat surprisingly, turned back to Tolopilo for a second straight start.

It was a physical opening period filled with multiple fights and carry-over tension from the night before.

Using that momentum, Abbotsford struck first for the second consecutive night.

Victor Mancini moved the puck quickly at the blue line and found Danila Klimovich down low with a heads-up pass. Klimovich showed patience, outwaiting Laurent Brossoit before tucking a low shot home for his seventh of the season.

The lead held until the second period, when Ty Mueller continued his strong run. After winning a faceoff, he drove the net and deflected Nikolai Knyzhov’s point shot to give Abbotsford a 2–0 cushion. The goal gave Mueller ten points over his last nine games, sitting as one of the team’s most productive players in the calendar year.

That marker proved to be the difference. San Jose made things interesting, with Igor Chernyshov cutting the lead in half midway through the third after a failed clearing attempt, sliding his 13th goal past Tolopilo. But it wasn’t enough.

The Barracuda pressed hard late, but Tolopilo was rock-solid, turning aside chance after chance to close out the win.

Named first star of the game, Tolopilo stopped 39 of 40 shots in a standout performance that helped Abbotsford snap its four-game losing streak.

The Canucks remain at home next weekend, hosting the Ontario Reign for a two-game set. Game one is Friday, February 14, with puck drop at 7:00 p.m. PT at Rogers Arena.

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