The Abbotsford Canucks were back at the Scotiabank Saddledome for a Sunday matinée rematch with the Calgary Wranglers. With a 4-3 game one victory under their belt, the Canucks aimed to kick off this 2024-25 campaign off right and head to Colorado with an undefeated (2-0-0-0) record.

Unfortunately, undisciplined penalties and a hot goalie stood in front of those dreams. Despite outshooting their opponents by a wide margin, they had to settle for a weekend split in their second of 12 season matches.

This one was chock full of action, so let’s check how things shaped up.

The club ran identical lines from what we saw on Friday. The only change in the skating group was Ty Mueller jumping up as the team’s second-line centre. The rookie had a strong debut on Friday, playing sound 5-on-5 hockey while deploying on each special team’s unit. Meanwhile, fellow rookie Kirill Kudryavtsev stuck in the lineup as an extra defender after a very positive debut in which he grabbed his first AHL point.

Speaking of rookies, the Swedish sensation Jonathan Lekkerimaki remained out of the lineup for a consecutive match due to an undisclosed illness.

Between the pipes, 25-year-old Jiri Patera got the start to make his Abbotsford debut.

For those wondering where Phil Di Giuseppe and Christian Wolanin have been this year, the AHL has a veteran rule: only six players with over 260 combined North American pro experience can dress. For today, here are your six veterans.

Sammy Blais: 406 games
Guillaume Brisebois: 277 games
Erik Brännström: 357 games
Mark Friedman: 307 games
Carsen Twarynski: 299 games
John Stevens: 345 games

Phil Di Giuseppe is currently sidelined with an injury, but we are unaware of Wolanin’s status. It could be an injury or illness, or the team could be running different looks to start the season. Regardless, it’ll be important to remember this rule as the season rolls on, as this current roster does carry its fair share of veterans.

Jiri Patera’s anticipated Canucks debut aged like poor wine, conceding a goal within the first minute off of the game’s first shot. If we’re being honest, though, he was hardly at fault.

Still asleep at the wheel, Abbotsford remained hyper-focused on the forward below the goal line, which led to confusion between Max Sasson and Danila Klimovich. As a result, Dryden Hunt was left patiently waiting for the puck to squirt out as he was left uncontested in the high slot. That’s not to mention the incredible screen that Guilamme Brisebois left on his netminder.

Alas, it was a quick one for the Wranglers.

Calgary was handed their first of many game penalties following the ensuing face-off. Wrangler defenceman Jarred Tinordi was called for running interference on Danila Klimovich when battling for possession of the puck on the Canucks’ forecheck.

What say you?

PP1 – Max Sasson, Tristen Nielsen, Linus Karlsson, Erik Brannstron and Mark Friedman
PP2 – Sammy Blais, Danila Klimovich, John Stevens, Ty Mueller, and Jett Woo

Luckily for Calgary, the Canucks powerplay has not been very effective, and as was the case on Friday, and much of last season, they struggled to gain entry and set up with the man advantage. They failed to register a single shot within those two minutes.

Following a quiet stretch, both teams were looking to settle the game down. Here, the Canucks managed to grab its first spurt of sustained pressure, holding the Wranglers in their end for a good minute. Rookie defender Kirill Kudryavtsev would notch his first (of two) shot of the game to end that pressure.

To showcase the perfect example of how uneasy the game felt early on, the Wranglers nearly set themselves up for a 3-on-0 following a perfect giveaway pass from Canucks’ Jett Woo.

On the ensuing counterattack, Calgary’s forwards struggled to maintain the puck, nearly setting themselves off-side. This turned their high-danger chance into an average rush without a shot on net.

It went both ways, too.

Just past the midway point, Linus Karlsson picked up a stray Wrangler pass and nearly dangled his way toward his first of the season. Unfortunately, the puck bobbled and rolled off the Swede’s stick at the last second.

Speaking of sloppy stuff. In hockey, there’s a moment in time when a team gets hemmed in their own zone, and you can almost smell an infraction coming. At the eight-minute mark of the opening period, that’s exactly what happened, as Nate Smith was caught holding onto the defenceman jersey to send the Wrangler on their first powerplay of the match.

PK1 – Chase Wouters, Carsen Twarynski, Mark Friedman and
PK 2 – John Stevens, Max Sasson, Guillame Brisebois and Jett Woo:

Last season, the Abby Canucks sat fifth leaguewide in shorthanded goals, scoring 11 throughout the year.

With just four seconds remaining on the penalty, Dino Kambeitz started this year’s quota by forcing the puck as it was wrung around the boards to send himself on a shorthanded breakaway. With a quick backhand-to-forehand move, he made no mistake to even the score at one goal apiece for his first goal in an Abbotsford Canuck sweater.

With 3:20 remaining in the period, Danila Klimovich drew his second penalty by making a nice between-the-legs move to get past the defender. Unable to maintain Klimovich’s momentum, Ilya Solovyov was caught clutching on for a ride to put the away team on the man advantage for the second time in the first period.

Klimovich was given a shot at top powerplay minutes on Friday, which he had seldom seen last season. When at his best, the Belarusian is shooting a ton of pucks and getting himself in on the offence. Putting him on the powerplay is an easy and effective way to push him toward doing that.

While he was dropped to the second unit in today’s match, it bodes well for his potential to develop accordingly after a major glitch in the process last season.

Unable to maintain solid possession, Erik Brännström wrapped up the powerplay by hauling down Yan Kuznetsov’s with just two seconds remaining to swap advantages.

If you have not noticed by now, this game was flooded with penalties.

Did we mention 11 shorthanded goals last season, though? Well, with just ticks over 30 seconds remaining in the opening frame, captain Chase Wouters intercepted a cross ice-pass to send himself alone for yet another shorthanded chance. Going to the backhand, Devin Cooley stuck with it to put up the blocker and keep the game in a stalemate heading into the dressing room.

Despite the Canucks outshooting their opponents by a 14-8 margin, we were all tied at one through 20 minutes.

The team exchanged early chances, with the top chance coming courtesy of Sammy Blais, who single-handedly handed himself an offensive opportunity. Grabbing the puck from the circle, he cut into the middle before having his initial shot blocked. Following up on the puck himself, he grabbed an even better shot, forcing Cooley to dive across and get his shoulder on the puck.

That play set off a hefty stoppage, as the referees insisted on getting a second look at whether the puck crossed the line. It didn’t, and after nearly a five-minute hiatus, we pressed on.

From there, the Canucks went to work and would grab several chances to break the seal and score their second goal.

First up was Erik Brännström, who showed off his slippery hands as he dazzled the crowd and nearly tucked in a pretty one.

Seconds later, Linus Karlsson, Tristen Nielsen and Max Sasson nearly connected for a pretty tic-tac-toe play. Once again, Devin Cooley was up to the task, putting the pad on the Sasson’s redirection.

A minute later, the Canucks were handed their third powerplay of the day as Jeremy Poirier was caught clutching his check after being beaten on the outside.

Midway through that man advantage, Brännström showed off his incredible hands again. Grabbing the drop pass from Max Sasson, he worked his way through the Wrangler defence and eventually threw a fantastic chance upstairs, only to be denied by Cooley’s glove.

Off that play, Max Sasson was caught cross-checking his opponent, abruptly sending the game to a 4-on-4 and eventually a Wrangler powerplay.

Jiri Patera was the team’s best penalty killer in this one, and here’s a prime example of why. Martin Frk, who famously carries one of hockey’s hardest shots, delivered a booming one-timer off of a Hunter Brzustewicz setup.

Like he’s done it before, Patera calmly flashed the glove on it to keep the game at bay.

With just over five minutes remaining, however, Brännström continued to make his mark on the period, gaining the zone and dropping it to Nate Smtih. From there, the puck found its way to Carsen Twarynski, who unloaded a hefty slapshot from distance to pick up his first as a member of the Abbotsford Canucks.

Minutes later, on yet another powerplay, the Wranglers came close to finding an equalizer to close out the period. Once again, Jiri Patera was up to the test and made the stop while sitting down in the crease.

At this point, both netminders had played strong hockey, collectively making 46 saves as the two teams walked down the tunnel 2-1 for the Abbotsford Canucks.

If you haven’t been impressed by Erik Brännström’s hands yet, he provided one final toe drag for your viewing pleasure.

Unfortunately, that toe drag caused havoc among the Abby Canucks’ skaters. With the puck turned the other way, the Canucks lost their checks. To make matters worse, Brännström had lost his stick and was on his way to the bench to fetch a new one. Unable to find a new one promptly, he attempted to return to his check, but it was too late.

With the Canucks way out of sorts, the Wranglers were able to find an equalizer to tie this game at two goals apiece.

Later on, the Canucks were set to embark on their fourth powerplay of the night. Before that, however, Linus Karlsson attempted to skip that whole process and do it all himself, stick-handling through the entire team before putting one just above the crossbar.

Unfortunately, despite the Canucks enjoying the man-up, it was the Wranglers who grabbed the stretch’s best opportunity. With Lucas Ciona crashing the net on a 2-on-1 chance, Jiri Patera slid over to make another stretched-out pad save.

Midway through the period, that’s when we saw the most classic hockey event take place.

Thanks to an incredible sliding play from Wrangler’s forward, the team was sent on a shorthanded 3-on-0. You read that right: a shorthanded 3-on-0. Incredibly, Patera slid over and got his right pad on the backdoor feed.

Grabbing the rebound, Brännström sent a stretch pass toward Tristen Nielsen, who sent Linus Karlsson all alone.

After having many chances like this already, Karlsson made no mistake on this one to tuck the backhand up top to give his team their second lead of the day.

It did not take too long for the Wranglers to respond, however.

With just under six minutes remaining, Walker Dueher rushed toward the net before dishing the puck to Lucas Ciona, who would seek redemption from being robbed just moments before. He chipped the puck past Patera, and we pushed on and tied at three goals aside.

With three minutes to go, Danila Klimovich took an unfortunate penalty to send the Wranglers to one last-man advantage in a late tie game.

That’s what Canucks fans are used to hearing. Instead, Martin Frk took a “holding the stick” penalty seven seconds into the powerplay to even the ice and skated 4-on-4 for nearly two minutes.

Despite outshooting their opponents by a 42-22 margin, this game would need extra time to determine its champion.

Rather than attempt to explain all the action in words, here is a quick, rapid-fire montage of all the action within the first few minutes of extra time.

It took three minutes and 30 seconds for the extra frame to see its first whistle after Max Sasson took a tripping penalty to wrap up the remainder of the clock.

Chase Wouters connected with John Stevens on that ensuing penalty kill for the perfect cross-ice pass. As was the case all night, Devin Cooley was able to stretch out to make his 44th save, phenomenally sending this game to a shootout.

Attempt one
William Strömgren: Goal

Tirsten Nielsen: No goal

Attempt two
Jeremie Poirier: Goal

Sammy Blais: No goal

This game was a much higher-paced game than Friday’s match. Despite the incredible amount of penalties, there was a good flow, and of course, each goalie played incredibly well. Despite the Canucks dropping this game 4-3 in a shutout, it could have easily gone either way. Every player on this Abbotsford roster collected a shot on the net, with Karlsson (6), Sasson (6) and Brännström leading the charge.

Undefeated is always best, but they will take three out of four points on the weekend.

The third star of the night goes to Linus Karlsson. He eventually scored a pretty one, but he could have had quite a few throughout the game. As mentioned, he co-led the team in shots on target and was noticeable all night.

Three goals were conceded, and there was a shootout loss, but Jiri Patera still deserves the second star. He made several incredible sliding pad saves and kept his team within this game on several occasions. What started as a nightmare goal against just one minute in ended with a huge pat on the back from his teammates to grab a single point.

If you couldn’t tell from the highlight package, Brännström had himself a night. Simply put, the 25-year-old Swede was everywhere today — sometimes to his demise. He led the way with two assists, five shots on net and plus-1 in the game, but he could have had five points if he had better luck.

At times, it felt like he was a rover on the ice and had been given the green light to run amok the ice in search of points. Of course, as impressive as it is, it does come at a cost. At least today, his defensive responsibilities were nearly non-existent, and the team gave up several opportunities as a result. Regardless, his ability to move the puck up the ice and provide tantalizing offensive plays is second to none, at least at the AHL level.

The Abbotsford Canucks will take the week to travel to Colorado as they continue their season-opening road swing to visit the Eagles next Friday. The puck is slated to drop from Blue Arena at 6:05 pm Pacific Time.