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The Abbotsford Canucks are one win from the AHL Calder Cup Finals.

After stumbling in Game 3, they roared back in Game 4, delivering a heart-pounding, double-overtime barn burner that left the Cedar Park crowd stunned.

The unlikely hero? A 22-year-old rookie, Danila Klimovich, who’d been watching this series from the press box.

To win, the Canucks battled through a murkey start, weathering a shaky first period and a flurry of quick goals from the Texas Stars.

But resilience is their trademark, and they surged back with a tremendous back-half to enjoy a 4-3 lead late into the third period.

With one final punch to the gut, the Stars found a tying goal in the dying seconds, and this one needed extra time.

Two overtime periods of apprehensive action followed, until Klimovich took the league by storm, unleashing a dazzling individual effort to bury the game-winner and catapult Abbotsford to a commanding 3-1 series lead.

Aside from a stretch during the Colorado Eagles series, Jonathan Lekkerimäki had struggled to find his game throughout this team’s playoff run. Despite participating in the pre-game warm-up, he was listed as a scratch in this game.

Sammy Blais, who didn’t participate in warm-ups, was also listed as a scratch with no updates on his status.

Drawing back into the lineup were Danila Klimovich and Dino Kambeitz, with the former overtaking the spot of Lekkerimäki as a hopeful triggerman in the top-six.

The defence remained untouched, while Arturs Silovs was back between the pipes after giving up five goals on Monday night.

It took three minutes for this game to ease in and offer any action.

And that action came courtesy of a Chase Wouters penalty.

After surrendering two shorthanded goals in Game 3, this wasn’t the ideal kickoff, and Arturs Silovs had to slide to the post to bail his team out, flashing his pad to deny the opening goal.

But that top power play unit is red-hot, and eventually found their mark.

With some strong movement, the Stars worked things around before Cameron Hughes threaded a perfect cross pass, where Matěj Blümel dropped to a knee to beat Silovs.

The goal comes as a carbon copy of his first of two goals in Game 3, as he pots his sixth goal of the playoffs.

The Canucks weren’t doing themselves any favours, immediately taking a second penalty to put Stars special teams to work again.

This time, the penalty kill managed to shut things down. However, that wasn’t without the top unit having its fair share of chances.

That kill proved huge, as they took back momentum and channelled it into an equalizer at the hands of the newly formulated top line.

With the puck dumped around, Phil Di Giuseppe provided intense pressure, chipping down low to Max Sasson.

With his head up, he quickly found Linus Karlsson in front, who got behind the defence to snap home his Calder Cup-leading ninth goal.

Karlsson continues to step up in big moments and provide sparks for this Abbotsford team. Of course, that goal wouldn’t happen without a strong forecheck from PDG.

A moment later, it was the visiting team’s turn for a power play opportunity. While they couldn’t capitalize on the man-advantage, they ended up grabbing the go-ahead goal off the strength of their in-zone pressure.

Linus Karlsson drove the net from in tight, kicking off a mad scramble in front of the net.

With the puck popping out to Chase Wouters, he found Kirill Kudryavtsev at the point, who put it on a tee for Tristen Nielsen.

He put everything he had into a one-timer, driving it past Remi Poirier for his third goal of the playoffs to give his team their first lead in Texas.

There was a tense moment during the next shift where Arturs Silovs was on the receiving end of a Curtis McKenzie drive to the net, catching Silovs up high.

The netminder remained on the ice and appeared shaken up, but shrugged it off and stayed in the net for the rest of the game.

1

Despite early stumbles — two penalties and a goal against — the Canucks roared back with two quick strikes, carrying a rare 2-1 first-period lead down the tunnel.

New period, same start.

Identical to the opening period, the Canucks took an early penalty to send a high-flying power play back to work.

Shorthanded, Max Sasson collected the best chance. Courtesy of a tremendous backcheck, Sasson swooped in to intercept the pass and drop it back to his defender.

With a favourable bounce off the defender, the speedy centre rushed up the ice to look for Arshdeep Bains in front.

While nothing came of it, it killed valuable time, which led to a strong kill.

But back to even strength, the Stars doubled up with a pair of quick goals to retake their lead midway through the frame.

First, Jack Becker benefited from one of the oldest tales in hockey, with a strong chance at one end and a goal at the other.

With the puck turned over in the Canucks’ zone, they broke out for an odd-man rush led by Jett Woo.

Looking to find the cross-ice seam pass, the Stars intercepted and transitioned the other way.

After a battle in the corner, the puck came out to the slot where Antonio Stranges remained uncontested to rip the one-timer.

With Silovs unable to corral the rebound, Becker pounced and roofed the puck past the shoulder to even the score.

Just over a minute later, the home team grabbed a lucky one.

Thanks to another board battle win, the Stars came up with the puck at the offensive blueline. Looking for Hughes, Michael Karow sent the backdoor thread.

Meanwhile, battling with Hughes was Kirill Kudryavtsev, who stuck with his man and sent him to the ice. Unfortunately, that was fortuitous for the home team, as the puck pinballed off the falling forwards back and into the net.

Now down by a goal, the Canucks had just one shot in the second period through nearly 15 minutes of play.

But all you need is one, right?

With some more gritty work in the corner from PDG, he poked the puck to Linus Karlsson, who instantly sent it back to Christian Wolanin.

Receiving the pass was a backpedalling Victor Mancini, who threw a relatively innocent shot from a terrible angle toward the net.

Squeezing his arms tight was Poirier, but the damage was done as the puck found its way through to even the score.

That goal sparked a five shot run for the Canucks, which led to another goal for the visiting team.

Pushing up the ice, Matěj Blümel attempted to send a Hail Mary pass down the ice. However, Nielsen got in the way, gloving the puck down and rushed up the ice.

Driving wide, he went backhand on Poirier to deliver a pinpoint shot to the short-side top corner.

The period was set to wrap up with an Abbotsford Canucks power play after Max Sasson had been hauled down to the ice in the defensive zone.

The arm was up. The goalie was pulled. The whistle was blown upon the Stars’ possession.

But when the whistle finally went, the referees overturned the call entirely.

No diving call on Sasson. No reasonable explanation (for us). Just no penalty.

Manny Malhotra was not happy.

Luckily, the Canucks had the upper hand on the scoreboard, and continued to lead the game after 40 minutes of play.

Credit to the Canucks who responded late with seven shots on the period after just one through 15 minutes.

The third period saw a goaltending change for the first time of the series.

Remi Poirier got the hook after allowing four goals on just 11 shots, giving Magnus Hellberg his first game action of the series.

He made his first save of the series on PDG after he was sprung on the breakaway from Max Sasson.

Keeping it for himself, he forced Hellberg to flash the glove.

Hoping to capitalize on a cold netminder, they continued to pepper him.

After the barrage, the period zipped by without many whistles and minimal action.

The Canucks were happy playing meaningless neutral zone hockey, and that’s primarily what we got through the guts of the period.

In search of some insurance, Ty Mueller picked up a strong chance thanks to more terrific corner work from PDG.

Swiping the puck, he won another battle and found Jett Woo, who turned up to the rushing centre.

Looking off Sasson, he fired a short-side shot to force Hellberg to come up big again.

With time winding down, the Stars pulled their netminder and kicked off a long stretch of sustained pressure.

Despite making several shot blocks, the Canucks continuously fanned on opportunities to clear the puck.

And in hockey, there’s an unwritten rule that if you miss too many of those opportunities, you’re going to get burned.

And boy, did they get burned.

With time ticking down, Kyle Capobianco collected the puck at the point and fired a Hail Mary attempt toward the net.

Battling at the netfront was Justin Hryckowian, who got his stick on the shot to redirect it past Arturs Silovs for an incredible game-tying goal.

After a terrific shutdown period, the Canucks were 18 seconds away from a series stranglehold.

Instead, they needed to settle things in extra time for the second time in the series.

The initial minutes of the extra frame were quiet, with the Canucks enjoying a 3-0 edge in shots though five minutes.

The stakes were high, and each team was taking their time and playing apprehensive hockey.

But the Stars got things going, providing a few good looks of their own. None more dangerous than an Alex Petrovic one-timer directly off the faceoff victory.

While early offensive looks were scarce, the physicality was not.

Kole Lind required help from his medical staff after receiving a nasty cross-check from Danila Klimovich.

The Belurrisan looked back several times, likely expecting a call that never came.

Kole Lind didn’t miss a shift.

The Canucks did muster up a few good looks throughout the extra frame, though.

First, Manicini fired a heavy one-timer on Hellberg, which stuck to the netminder’s chest.

Moments later, Di Giuseppe continued digging and won a neutral zone battle to put himself on the rush.

They were even getting contributions from their fourth line.

Going the other way, the Stars nearly ended things with Trey Taylor making a nice cut toward the net.

Mancini saved the day with the puck hopping about in the crease, pushing the puck toward Silovs for safety.

But in the dying moments, Texas took an interference call, allowing the Canucks to set up in the offensive zone.

With time ticking down, Akito Hirose sent a desperate shot toward the net, which bounced out to a wide-open Max Sasson in the slot.

With the initial shot saved, Arshdeep Bains collected the rebound with a sprawled-out Hellberg in the crease. Unable to get it upstairs, the puck would lie on the ice for the netminder to cover it up and put an end to the period.

The good news? Abbotsford was the better team, while Texas looked shaky and nervous (13-5 shot advantage).

The other good news? Abbotsford will enjoy a complete two-minute power play to start OT2.

It’s not often a team enjoys a two-minute power play with a fresh sheet of ice. It’s even more rare for that to happen in a double overtime period.

But that’s exactly what the Canucks enjoyed, and boy, did they get some looks. Working the perimeter, they set up several looks off of set plays, nearly closing out the game on several looks.

Ty Mueller alone could have had a few of his own. But Hellberg was tremendous in keeping his team in this game.

But he just wasn’t good enough.

Minutes later, Danila Klimovich – the Klim Reaper – delivered one of the most ice-cold moments of the AHL season.

Collecting the Mancini outlet in stride, Klimovich burst up the neutral zone to gain speed and take the puck wide. Sensing the defender’s turn, he cut through the inside, offering a cheeky toe drag before going under the bar with a labelled backhand.

Playing only eight games throughout this playoff run, it’s a storybook moment for the team’s regular-season leading scorer.

More importantly, it’s a storybook moment for the organization, as they are just one win shy of a date with the Charlotte Checkers in the AHL Calder Cup Finals.

Whether it was a testy start (shocker) or a string of goals against in the second period, this Abbotsford team had several excuses to sit back and take another loss. Instead, they continuously battled back and showcased their trademark resilience, which has defined them for months.

Keeping the Stars to only nine shots in nearly 44 minutes of hockey, this team took over and ultimately deserved the victory.

And with a few bumps along the way, it’s a fitting end for Danila Klimovich, who now enjoys the spotlight after drawing back into the lineup after a nearly two-week absence.

The Canucks have an opportunity to wrap this series up with one last game in Texas. The puck drops at 5:00 pm PT on Friday at the H-E-B Center in Cedar Park, Texas.