Do or die.

All or nothing.

Loser goes home.

Whatever you want to call it, it was a big night in the Fraser Valley.

After dropping Game 2 on Thursday evening, the Abbotsford Canucks hosted the Tucson Roadrunners for an elimination match Game 3.

What began as an apprehensive and safe game for either side, turned into a complete full-effort victory for the Abbotsford Canucks, as they punched their ticket to the next round with a 5-0 victory.

With five different goal scorers, the Abby Canucks got help from all angles, which included a 21 save shutout for Arturs Silovs.

In front of the series’ largest crowd on a Saturday night, the Abbotsford Centre was treated with a little bit of everything in Game 3.

Let’s check in to see how it all went down.

Significant changes were made, both upfront and on the backend. Christian Wolanin sat out after suffering an injury in the third period of Game 3. In his place, Kirill Kudryavtsev returned to the lineup to slide in next to Victor Mancini.

Nate Smith came in for Jonathan Lekkerimäki, who was a late scratch due to lingering effect of oral surgery (according to Canucks Insider).

After getting both starts in the series, Manny Malhotra went to his tried and true, sticking with Arturs Silovs between the pipes.

The first few minutes were filled with skirmishes and several whistles — five icing calls within the first five minutes — slowing down the pace.

Both teams played an apprehensive and safe start, which led to few chances and little substance.

It took nearly eight minutes for the Canucks to see their first shot of the night, courtesy of a floating point shot from Jett Woo.

But that shot kicked the Canucks into gear, where they followed up with a tremendous shift and a spark that would carry them through the entire game.

They nearly opened the scoring, with Jujhar Khaira throwing the puck toward the net before Linus Karlsson jammed it past the line.

Unfortunately, the referee lost sight of the puck and blew the whistle early to negate the goal.

But it was life, and suddenly the ice felt tilted.

With the play spending the majority of time in the Tucson end, Arturs Silovs still found ways to stay sharp.

But the Canucks continued their press, nearly opening the scoring again after some tremendous forecheck by Sammy Blais. The Stanley Cup winning forward was a menace all period long, racking up three (big) hits and setting up several looks for the Canucks.

His experience has been invaluable to this team all season, and that hasn’t changed throughout this opening round.

Despite them having zero shots at the 12-minute mark, the Canucks were up to 12 with six to go.

Finally, after buzzing for 10 minutes straight, Max Sasson showcased why he’s a fan favourite.

Collecting the puck from behind his own net, Sasson turned on the jets to race up the ice before dropping it over to Arshdeep Bains.

With his head up, Bains sent the perfect cross-ice pass to Tristen Nielsen, who made no mistake in ripping it past a sprawling Jaxson Stauber.

And with the season’s largest crowd, things were rocking at the Abbotsford Centre on a Saturday Night.

The Canucks wrapped up the period with a failed power play.

But you can’t ask for a better finish to an elimination game. What started as a sleepy and sluggish game ended with an electrifying buzz felt throughout the arena.

The Canucks put 20 shots on Stauber in 12 minute to take the 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.

As had been tradition in this series, the Canucks were dealt a late first period penalty. As a result, they began the middle frame on their first penalty kill.

But Ty Mueller and Chase Wouters didn’t care.

Abbotsford’s Rookie, Ty Mueller, provided the shorthanded forecheck, battling in the corner.

Winning that battle, Mueller threw the puck to the slot where Captain Chase Wouters prowled. Left all alone, he made a tremendous move to slide the puck past Stauber to double their lead early in the second.

Moments later, with the Roadrunner on their heels, Andrew Agozzino delivered an extremely dirty and high hit to an unexpected Ty Mueller.

Mueller did skate to the bench on his own, but Aggozino was assessed a five-minute major for the infraction.

Surprisingly, he was not ejected from the game, though.

The home team made them pay.

Working the perimeter, the Canucks set up the perfect bumper play, with Chase Wouters sending a quick pass toward Max Sasson in the slot.

He made no mistake, tripling their lead with ample time on the man advantage remaining.

Meanwhile, Silovs was still stopping pucks and standing tall with little action in his end.

The next several minutes included a barrade of plays from the Canucks. Too many to even clip.

And of course, it wouldn’t be an Abbotsford game without a daily dose of Victor Mancini doing something fun.

But they had the Roadrunners pressed on their backs. And despite handing them their second power play, the Roadrunners could not muster any shots during the two minutes.

The Roadrunners were sent back to the power play later in the period, but Silovs and the Abbotsford defence were up to the task, killing their ninth straight penalty kill.

Despite a few power plays for the away team, the second period was all Abbotsford. They grabbed 13 more shots to carry a 33-14 shooting advantage and a strong 3-0 lead.

With a three-goal lead, the game plan was simple: kill the clock.

They got some help with some more aggressive play from Tucson, sending the Canucks to their fifth power play of the game.

More importantly, it was two more minutes off the clock. And with no goals, that’s exactly what they got – two critical minutes off.

The remainder of the period was rather uneventful, which is precisely what they were looking for. The Canucks played an extreme shutdown game to kill the clock and ride off into the sunset.

And with the visiting team getting increasingly frustrated, the undisciplined penalties continued.

With just over nine minutes remaining, the Canucks grabbed another power play and another chance to kill two more minutes off the clock or extend their lead even further.

But they elected for the goal.

Right off the faceoff – which Aatu Räty won with the knob of his stick – Linus Karlsson made a tremendously confident play. Rather than rim the puck away, he corralled and found a wide-open Sammy Blais.

The veteran forward made no mistake, beating Stauber cleanly for their fourth goal of the game.

Abbotsford took a penalty directly after this goal, where Tucson went for it all, pulling their netminder with tons of time left.

The Canucks threw several attempts toward the yawning cage, but couldn’t quite nail their aim down.

But they finally hit one.

The Roadrunners attempted to gain entry into the zone, but a steady defensive line held strong.

Grabbing the puck was Phil Di Giuseppe, who turned and finally hit one into the empty net to officially ice the game.

While the game was all but wrapped up, there were still saves to be made. And Silovs continued to do so.

When all was said and done, the Latvian netminder stopped all 21 saves he faced for his first AHL playoff shutout and 10th as an Abbotsford Canuck.

With the victory, the Canucks advance to the second round of the playoffs. Thanks to the San Jose Barracuda sweeping the Ontario Reign, the Abbotsford Canucks will now face the Coachella Valley Firebirds, who have enjoyed back-to-back trips to the Calder Cup finals.

As the higher seed, Abbotsford decides how the home-ice advantage works, and they have elected to take the final three games. While the dates of the first two games are undetermined, we know that there will be hockey on May 7, 9, and 11, if necessary.

The dates for the first two games of the second round are still undetermined. We will ensure that you are kept informed once the news is released.