It’s been a rather inconsistent start to the season for the Abbotsford Canucks. Heading into the week, they had yet to string together two consecutive wins, let alone establish themselves as a force in the Pacific Division.

Cue the road trip.

With their bags packed for a seven-game swing, the Canucks flipped the script and have now rattled off three straight wins to start the trip. It’s not just the wins that have Canucks fans buzzing—it’s how they’ve done it.

Luckily, they had reinforcements helping their cause. Jonathan Lekkerimäki was reassigned to the farm following a seven-game NHL stint. Obviously, he injects a huge influx of offensive muscle, but it wasn’t all him leading the charge over the weekend.

Instead, the rest of the crop provided the looks, with several of them racking up multipoint efforts over the two-game weekend stretch.

Let’s check in on the action.

The lineup remained unchanged throughout the weekend, thanks to a 7-1 victory in game one. The only difference came between the pipes: Ty Young and Nikita Tolopilo split duties, with Young taking game one – his third straight start – and Tolopilo wrapping the weekend up.

Max Sasson got the promotion and was busy taking part in his first National Hockey League game, so Nils Åman and Ty Mueller filled the gap on the top two centre spots. Meanwhile, Tristen Nielsen jumped up to slide in with Jonathan Lekkerimäki, while AHL journeyman Carsen Twarynski got the top-six nod for the first time this season.

On the backend, Elias Pettersson drew back in following his short and sweet stint in Vancouver, sliding back in on the team’s third pairing.

Friday night was a fireworks show for the Canucks, who exploded for a 7-1 victory that showcased their depth – something we haven’t necessarily seen all year long.

It all began midway through the first period on Friday, where Tristen Nielsen potted his first (of two) of the weekend. It came thanks to a puck that just wouldn’t settle as it bobbled between Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Nils Åman. Eventually, the bull dawg (Tristen Nielsen) got hold of the puck in the corner and cut back before firing a far-side shot for just his second of the season.

While manning the powerplay just a few moments later, Ty Mueller took a Kirill Kudryavtsev feed from the top of the circles and snapped his third goal of the season to the short side top corner.

The goal was his third of the season, but his first that hadn’t bounced off his skate while crashing the net. Mueller’s shot is a weapon he’d often used at the NCAA level, but we had yet to truly see its potential at the American League. Here’s to hoping he brings that out more often.

Later in the period, with just under two minutes remaining, it was the captain Chase Wouters’ turn to join in on the fun. While on another powerplay, Nils Aman, Tristen Nielsen and Wouters connected for the team’s patented tic-tac-toe bumper play. The original shot by Nielsen (bumper) was shut down, but Wouters pounced on the rebound for his third of the season.

Now in the second, Ty Glover, who’s been quietly one of Abbotsford’s bright spots over the last few weeks, collected his third of the season off a tremendous stretch pass from rookie Elias Pettersson. Sending one up the ice, Pettersson found John Stevens, who sent a soft cross-ice feed to Glover, who made no mistake on the one-timer.

Suddenly, they already hit their season high in goals (4) by the game’s mid-point. And they weren’t done there.

Later in the middle frame, John Stevens put himself into the goal column, freshly off of killing a penalty. While on that kill, the Silver Knights sent a puck toward the net, only to be blocked by Kudryavtsev. With his head up, he stretched the puck to Jett Woo, who was stepping out of the box himself. On the two-on-one, he sent the puck toward Stevens but redirected off a Knights’ skate directly to the stick of the rushing Stevens for his THIRD – sense a theme here? – goal of the season.

Just moments later, the Canucks struck again. After stripping the puck at the opposing blueline, Danila Klimovich played give-and-go with Cole McWard, who stopped up at the half wall and returned the puck to Klimovich with a beautiful seeing–eye backdoor feed.

For Klimovich, that put him over Lekkerimäki for the outright team lead with seven. That puts him at a 33-goal pace, with just one less goal than he has in total over his three-year career.

Ty Mueller picked up the secondary assist, giving him two points for the evening and his first multipoint game of his young career.

The Canucks decided to cap it at seven goals after Kirill Kudryavstev put a bow on his big night with his second goal of the season. Directly off of the offensive face-off, Carsen Twarynski spun and fired the puck on net. Activated from the point, Kudryavstev got his hands on the rebound and cashed in to make it a 7-1 game.

That gave the 20–year–old defender three points—his first three-point game of his career—comfortably placing him fifth among all U21 defenders with eight points in 14 games.

With the touchdown, the Canucks saw six players enjoy multipoint games: Kirill Kudryavtsev (1G, 2A), Chase Wouters (1G, 1A), John Stevens (1G, 1A), Ty Mueller (1G, 1A), Tristen Nielsen (1G, 1A) and Nils Aman (3A).

In net, Ty Young was stellar, stopping 29 of 30 shots for his second consecutive victory. After a very rocky start, allowing three goals on his first three shots to kick off his AHL career, he’s now stopped 62 of his last 65 shots for a 2-1-0-0 record.

Game two wasn’t a barn burner like Friday, but it was a clinical performance from a confident Abbotsford team.

And unlike Friday, this one took some time to get going. The game did not see its first goal until midway, and it was Jonathan Lekkerimäki breaking loose for his first goal—and point—since his return to the lineup.

Swiping at the defender in the neutral zone, the Swedish sniper turned the puck over and sent himself on a clear-cut breakaway. Poised, as per usual, he juked left and right before sneaking a soft shot through the wickets of the Knights’ goaltender to open the scoring.

Believe it or not, that shot counted for one of his two of the games. With only three the night before, he finished the weekend with one goal, just five shots and a plus-1 rating over two games.

However, the goal proved to be the game-winning goal for his first GWG of his AHL career.

Later in the period, the Canucks doubled down on the man advantage. Working their typical tic-tac-toe play, Tristen Nielsen made no mistake this time, taking the Chase Wouters goal line feed and depositing his second goal and third point of the weekend.

As for Nikita Tolopilo, he wasn’t tested all that much but was sound when called upon. He finished the evening with a perfect 21 saves for his first shutout of the season and first win in six outings (4-5-0-1)

Sitting last in the Pacific Division, earning four points against the Henderson Silver Knights is certainly nothing to plan the parade over. Yet, considering the inconsistent back-and-fourth play they have displayed this season, the Canucks couldn’t have asked for a better start to their road trip. Winning all three games—highlighted by a statement win over Henderson on Friday—the Canucks jump up to a tie for second place in the Division. However, they have played three more games than most of the field.

The special team played a major role in their two-game sweep. They went a perfect 8/8 on the penalty kill while their powerplay connected for three goals.

For the first time in weeks, goaltending was a main catalyst for the two wins and big weekends for Kirill Kudryavtsev (1G, 2A), Nils Åman (4A) and Tristen Nielsen (2G, 1A) paved the way for a big weekend in Nevada.

If there’s one thing left to improve, it’s consistency. The Canucks have shown flashes of brilliance but will need to sustain this level of play to climb the Pacific Division standings.

Third Star: Ty Young

With a big 29-save victory, this week’s third start goes to the 20-year-old netminder, Ty Young. While the offence in front of him certainly did their part (seven goals), his effort between the pipes kept them coming on and alive in the game. It’s not easy to recover from a disappointing debut match, but he has done so with utmost poise and has given the team confidence from the backend. While he is still the likely candidate to be on the outside looking in when Jiri Patera and Arturs Silovs return, he’s proven he can be a valuable depth piece in a pinch.

Second Star: Nils Åman

With four assists, Nils Åman gets the nod for this weekend’s second star. He’s now operating on a point-per-game basis, with five points over his last three games and eight assists in total. Granted, three of those assists came on the powerplay. However, given the team’s struggle for powerplay pizzazz (without Lekkerimaki providing it), it’s a necessary and welcomed addition from the veteran skater.

First Star: Kirill Kudryavtsev

This weekend’s first star belongs to the 20-year-old rookie defender Kirill Kudryavtsev. With a goal and two assists, he was a big part of the 7-1 push on Friday and has now established himself as a viable powerplay quarterback threat. He finishes the weekend with a goal, two assists, five shots and a plus-2.

The Canucks head to Bakersfield on Tuesday for a one-off rematch with the Condors. The puck drops at 6:30 PM PT at the Mechanics Bank Arena. With momentum finally on their side, Abbotsford will look to extend their win streak and continue climbing the Pacific Division standings.