The Abbotsford Canucks hosted the Colorado Eagles on Saturday night, setting up their third match over their last five games.

Cowboy night at the Abbotsford Centre brought in a healthy Saturday crowd — a reported 4815 strong — which hasn’t been all that common in recent weeks.

The home team did not disappoint.

It’s safe to say that the Abbotsford Canucks had the Canada versus USA match blasting in the dressing room; they were buzzing all night long and clearly had fed off of that incredible energy.

Propelled by an energetic Jonathan Lekkerimäki, the Canucks pulled out a strong performance for the cowboy-crazed fans.

The youngster always has his shot locked in, but this was one of the most engaged we’ve seen him all season. Not only did he score one of the prettier goals of the season, but he was incredibly dangerous ALL night with five shots on net and several turnovers.

Let’s check in on the action.

Bains – Räty – Lekkerimäki
Blais – Aman – Karlsson
Sasson – Mueller – Klimovich
Nielsen – Stevens – Wouters

Pettersson – Mancini
Wolanin – Woo
Kudryavtsev – McWard

Silovs

From what we saw last weekend, the lineup remained relatively intact. Of course, with the 4 Nations Face-Off in full swing, Abbotsford continues to enjoy a fully stacked roster.

The big news for the lineup was the return of Elias Pettersson, who missed their last game for precautionary reasons after taking a puck up high last Friday. He returned to form a pair with newcomer Victor Mancini.

Arturs Silovs got the crease for the night.

The Canucks enjoyed an early powerplay in this one, where they collected the first string of chances.

Of course, Jonathan Lekkerimäki was the initiator, firing a shot that caused some havoc and a juicy rebound. The Canucks never found the back of the net, but they did grab four shots to get the momentum going early.

With the penalty expired, the Canucks continued to work. Arshdeep Bains has been red-hot as of late, and he got a little overzealous, attempting the Spin-O-Rama before he forced the puck toward Lekkerimäki. The idea was great, but the defender read the play like a children’s book.

But the Swede wasn’t done. Not even close.

After receiving the stretch pass from Victor Mancini, the youngster went in and out on the defender before cutting into the middle with a strong burst of speed. Leaving the defence in the dust, he found himself one-on-one with the netminders, where he roofed the puck for his 17th goal of the season.

The rookie forward is making a huge statement down in the American League. With his 17th goal, he’s just two goals shy of the rookie leader despite playing 11 fewer games.

Believe it or not, Arturs Silovs collected his first point of the season with the secondary assist on the save before the Mancini breakout pass. For Mancini, that’s his first point as a member of the Canucks’ organization.

With Brock Boeser facing UFA status, the incredible goal in which the young Swede showed off a powerful stride and speed sparked some interesting conversation among social media platforms. Does a goal like this give faith that he could slide in as an immediate Boeser replacement? The aging 27-year-old is likely expecting a term but rarely, if ever, shows strong, speedy plays such as this. This has seemingly left many feeling that he’s ready to make that replacement.

What say you? Leave a comment if you feel that Lekkerimäki provides an immediate replacement for the long-time Canuck.

The opening period was all Canucks, and despite having to spend two minutes killing off a Danila Klimovich penalty, they doubled their lead later in the frame.

Receiving the cross-ice pass from Sammy Blais, Christian Wolanin sent the puck toward the net, where Linus Karlsson deflected it perfectly past Kevin Mandolese. As goalies must, he contested the goal for a high stick, but that stick was comfortably below the crossbar.

The goal, his 15th of the season, was his ninth goal in as many AHL games and his 12th. He’d wrap this game up with three points, giving him 23 points in 20 games for the year.

It wasn’t just goals that the Canucks were dialled in with, though. With the minutes dwindling, the home team put themselves into some penalty trouble, with Karlsson and Jett Woo taking penalties in quick succession to put Colorado on an extended 5-on-3 powerplay to wrap up the period.

But Silovs was focused, stopping five Eagles’ shots in the finals with two minutes left to carry their 2-0 lead into the second period.

Heading into the match, the Canucks sported a clean 14-2-0 record after leading the opening period, so history was on their side. And wouldn’t you know it, this stat tracked.

Both teams enjoyed early looks, with each producing pretty passing plays. First, Jonathan Lekkerimäki quickly found a streaking Aatu Räty, who once touched his cross-ice dish to find Arshdeep Bains on the doorstep. The puck just bounced over the stick.

On the bounce, the Eagles pounced the other way, with Silovs making a poised save to hold the two-goal lead early.

The Canucks weren’t done, as Lekkerimäki was buzzing. Stripping the puck, he found Ty Mueller, who couldn’t best Mandolese low. Following up on the juicy rebound, however, was Bains, who whiffed on his second high-grade chance of the early period.

But right after, the home team would enjoy a 5-on-3 of their own, which they made count.

Following a mad scramble out front, Christian Wolanin found Aatu Räty at the goal line, who patiently sent the puck toward Linus Karlsson. Lucky for him, the puck would ricochet off an Eagles’ skate to redirect through the legs of the netminder.

That’s Räty’s 11th goal and Wolanin and Kalrssons second point of the evening.

From here on out, we’ll showcase a few Victor Mancini plays. He played a subtle, strong game, providing several defensive efforts and three shots on net. If you focus your attention on the top of the clip, where you’ll see the number 90, you’ll get a good idea of his size.

With a 6-foot-3, 229-pound frame, he doesn’t take a lot of crap, and he does a great job boxing out and, in this case, dominating. Combined with his smooth skating, there are definitely some intruding qualities within his game.

Propelled by their fourth powerplay, the Eagles enjoyed some solid o-zone time to cap off the period. But Silovs remained locked in, stopping all 10 faced.

When we mentioned that Lekkerimäki was feeling it, we weren’t lying. He was all over the ice and nearly cashed in once more to end the period—first, with a strong drive of his own, and second, setting up Mueller all alone.

We Repeat: THIS. KID. WAS. FEELING. IT.

Navigating another penalty kill, Mancini showed off more of his defensive acumen, putting out the stick to break up the cross-ice pass with ease.

Speaking of sticks, Nils Aman got his own takeaway off a sloppy Colorado pass, sending himself on a shorthanded breakaway before being denied by the netminder.

With their sixth penalty kill behind them, the Canucks continued the even-strength pressure. This time, courtesy of the speedy Max Sasson, who turned on the jets to spring him and Sammy Blais on the 2-on-1. Keeping the puck himself, he rang iron for his best look of the game.

How about another Mancini defensive play? Once again. He uses a good stick to transition the play the other way to send Max Sasson on another break.

Silovs continued to hold up his end of the bargain, shutting the door on each Eagles attempt.

But with the netminder pulled and the Eagles pressing, they would finally solve the Latvian with just 52 seconds remaining in the game to spoil his first shutout of the season.

Spoiled shutout or not, the Canucks would hold for the 3-1 lead, despite being outshot 30-29.

But not before Aatu Räty added a second goal of the night, depositing his 12th goal of the campaign.

From start to finish, this was a complete game for the Abbotsford Canucks. Linus Karlsson finished with three points (goal, two assists), Aatu Räty notched two goals, Arturs Silovs was rock solid with 29 saves, and the Swedish sensation scored one of the prettier goals of his young AHL career. Oh, he also played out of his mind for one of his best games as an Abbotsford Canuck with five shots.

As for Victor Mancini, this was probably his best game with his new team. He wrapped up the night with his first assist, three shots, plus–2, several defensive breakups, and he was a beast on the box out.

Overall, nothing but positive from tonight.

Although these two teams will square off for a second game, they will enjoy a day off in between to set up a Family Day matinée game. The puck drops at 2:00 pm PT at the Abbotsford Centre.