The Abbotsford Canucks have hit their stride — and the timing couldn’t be better.
After a brutal February fade left them scrapping for the Pacific Division’s seventh playoff spot, they’ve roared back, jetting to five straight wins and clawing their way out of the muck.
This weekend, the Calgary Wranglers rolled into town with a three-point edge, but Abbotsford devoured that cushion with a two-game sweep, locking into a fourth-place tie.
Stellar goaltending, sound defence, and clutch scoring fueled the charge. With just 13 games left in a do-or-die stretch, the Canucks are peaking when it counts.

Game one

First period
Did we mention that goaltending played a big part in the weekend? Well, you can disregard the first period highlights.
Collectively, both teams fired a total of 12 shots (six apiece), and collectively, they contributed to five goals.
And it only took 1:07 for the Wranglers to open things up.
Thanks to an uncharacteristic pizza up the middle from Cole McWard, Sam Morton collected the puck and fired a snapshot cleanly over the glove of rookie Ty Young.
Things did settle down as the period progressed, however. That is, until the final five minutes when both teams combined for mayhem to wrap up the opening frame.
It began with Abbotsford on the power play, where they had set up for some good movement. Ty Mueller found Max Sasson from behind the goal line.
Showing good patience, he sent a perfect pass across the crease to find Arshdeep Bains, who had activated down from the far side blueline.
He acted quickly to drop to a knee and take the off-hand one-timer for his ninth goal of the season.
Less than a minute later, Sammy Blais provided his typical dump and chase, pinning the Calgary defender to the boards.
Collecting the puck through the muck was Jujhar Khaira, who turned and found Aatu Räty in the slot.
Like Bains, the Finn wasted no time, firing the one-timer to beat Devin Cooley quickly for what would be his first of two goals on the night.
The recently signed Khaira grabbed his third point with the Canucks, collecting a point in all three games with his new club.
But the Wranglers responded with two quick ones of their own to end the period.
After being flattened into the boards, Sam Morton cut to the slot and provided the nifty one-touch pass over to Rory Kerins, who made no mistake all alone from the side to keep his dream season alive.
And in the final minutes, Ty Glover blew a tire during his retrieval, coughing the puck up to Kyler Kupka in the corner. He acted quickly and provided the swift backhand feed to find Clark Bishop in the slot. He beat Young far side to give them their second lead of the period.
Total shots: ABB 6, CGY 6
Total goals: ABB 2, CGY 3
Second period
After a hectic opening frame, the second slowed down, allowing both netminders to settle into the game.
Ty Young stopped all seven shots he faced, setting up for his team to make a third-period push for the win.
Total shots: ABB 15, CGY 13
Total goals: ABB 2, CGY 3
Third period
The Canucks came on in the third with something to prove, and it didn’t take long for Räty to even the score.
Sammy Blais broke into the zone at the five-minute mark before firing a shot toward the net. Bouncing off a Wrangler defender, the puck popped out to McWard, who fired his own shot.
Through the chaos in front of the net, the puck found its way over the goal line to tie things at three goals. But how?
Despite the majority of the building assuming it was McWard’s goal, a closer look shows that the Finnish pivot got a stick, foot, shin, or hand on the puck.
If we’re being honest, we still don’t completely understand how the puck went in, so you can [insert body part here] and come to your own conclusions.
Just over two minutes later, Arshdeep Bains provided a breaking Max Sasson with a cheeky one-touch pass.
Driving the zone, Sasson pushed toward the net but could not get a shot on target, thanks to some tight defensive pressure.
Sticking with it, Sasson did not panic and sent a perfect drop pass from behind the goal line to connect with the franchise’s all-time leading goalscorer, Linus Karlsson.
The recently re-signed Swede made no mistake, depositing the puck into the empty net for his 20th goal of the campaign.
That goal would hold up to the very end. And we mean the very end.
The puck was worked around the perimeter with seconds remaining on the clock, and the Wrangler net pulled. Sitting on the goal line was NHL veteran Tyson Barrie, who rifled the one-timer past a sliding Young to send things into overtime.
With nothing doing in overtime, the game would find its way into a shootout.
As if his two assists weren’t enough, Sammy Blais delivered the dagger, pumping the fake slapshot before going backhand forehand to call the game and earn the extra point.
Ty Young picked up his third consecutive AHL victory with 26 saves with the win.
Final shots: ABB 26, CGY 30
Final score: ABB 5, CGY 4

Game two

Okay, when we mentioned terrific goaltending at the top, it’s this game that we were referring to.
There wasn’t much to report on this game, aside from a spectacular performance from Nikita Tolopilo, who stopped all 30 saves en route to his fourth shutout of the season and AHL career.
He flashed the leather several times throughout the evening and never gave the Wranglers any true dangerous looks. He was lights out.
The only goal of the contest came midway through the second, with the Canucks navigating one of their two power plays on the night.
Right off the offensive zone faceoff, Christian Wolanin set things up from the top of the umbrella. He handed the puck to Sammy Blais, who sent it toward Linus Karlsson.
As we’ve seen countless times, Karlsson cut toward the net, jamming the puck between the Wrangler netminders’ wickets.
With his 21st goal, Karlsson tied Danila Klimovich for the team lead and became just three shy of his previous career-high with 13 games to go on the schedule.
With the primary assist, Blais extended his point streak to five games, where he picked up seven points. He’s now well on pace to set a new career high in points-per-game, firing at 40 points in 51 games pace (.78%).
As mentioned, the strong weekend put them in a tie with their Calgary opponents with 69 points on the season. With 13 games remaining, they are also just three points shy of second place in the division.
As is the case with the AHL schedule, it is very divisional-heavy, so each game continues to be just as important as the next.
The 13-game breakdown:
Calgary x2
Manitoba x2
San Jose x2
Bakersfield x2
San Diego
Laval x2
Coachella Valley
Ontario
What’s next?
The Canucks head out on the road for a long six-game trip, which will take them into the month of April. Their next game is in Manitoba, where they kick off a doubleheader against the Moose on Friday. The puck drops at 5:00 pm PT at the Canada Life Centre.
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