What started as a spark ended in familiar flames.

The Abbotsford Canucks opened their Sunday night matchup in Coachella Valley looking sharp and engaged, even drawing first blood courtesy of Jonathan Lekkerimäki’s laser for his first AHL goal of the season. But, as has been the case too often this year, the momentum evaporated quickly.

By the second period, the Coachella Valley Firebirds found their footing, exposing defensive gaps and piling on goals in waves. Despite another strong showing from rookie netminder Aku Koskenvuo and a late push on the power play, Abbotsford couldn’t recover from another mid-game collapse, dropping their 10th regulation loss of the season in a 5–2 defeat.

The bright spots were few, but they were there: Lekkerimäki’s confidence is creeping back, and Koskenvuo made several high-end stops to keep things respectable.

Still, with a league-worst minus-42 goal differential, Abbotsford’s issues remain painfully clear — the system is running low on spare parts.

The ever revolving door continues in Abbotsford, as both Nils Aman and Jackson Kunz were unable to dress for this Sunday night affair. As a result, Ty Mueller, who has been heating up as one of the team’s bright spots, jumped to centre the top line.

On the backend, Phip Waugh drew back in for his second game with Abbotsford to replace Derek Dashke.

Coming off his debut AHL game, Aku Koskenvuo got the nod between the pipes.

Berard–Mueller–Lekkerimäki
Alriksson–Labate–Klimovich
Ravinskis–Khaira–Durandeau
Poisson–Wouters–Bloom

Arntsen-Schuldt
Knyzhov–Kudryavtsev
Waugh-Mynio

Koskenvuo

Scratched: Dino Kambeitz, Jake Murray, Nils Aman, Jackson Kunz, Derek Dashke
Injured: Jett Woo, Guillaume Brisebois, Nikita Tolopilo, Cooper Walker, Chase Stillman

The first five minutes felt like an eternity, with whistle after whistle taking over the game. But the wait was well worth it, as the Canucks were first to the punch.

Ty Mueller made a quick and thoughtful defensive play before kicking the puck up to Ben Beard. Working the odd-man rush, Berard brought in the defender before sliding a perfectly placed pass toward Jonathan Lekkerimäki.

It’s not often the sharpshooting Swede will miss an opportunity, and he didn’t here.

Lekkerimäki wasted no time, snapping a high laser up and over the shoulder of Victor Östman to open the scoring for his first AHL goal of the 2025-26 season.

Enjoying the lead, Aku Koskenvuo was holding up his end of the bargain at the other end. Bailing out his defence, he slid over for the incredible save on the initial one-timer.

With the puck finding its way to the low man off some tremendous passing, Aku dropped down the pad to make a stretch save to keep the Firebirds off the scoresheet.

The entertainment didn’t stop there, as both teams were playing with an impressive pep in their step. But if there’s one thing that has plagued this team throughout the early season to derail any built momentum, it’s penalties.

And they were first to go shorthanded, taking a hooking penalty just past the midway point of the period. But Koskenvuo wasn’t ready to give up, continuing his strong play to slide over to get the paddle on another prime chance.

Heck, even the Canucks were enjoying chances at their end. This time, Josh Bloom made the defensive zone chip to send himself off to the races. A race he typically wins. Using Chase Wouters as bait, he elected for the shot, which Östman managed to soak up.

But with time winding down in the power play, the Birds found the back of the net.

Oscar Fisker Mølgaard walked into the zone and made a savvy toe drag to dodge the Kirill Kudryavtsev poke check. From there, the puck dropped to Jacob Melanson, who fired a seeing-eye bardown laser.

But the entertainment was far from finished, as both teams exchanged strong chances. Many of which became strong saves from Koskenvuo.

Playing sound hockey, Aku was square to the shooter as the Firebirds connected for the slot play. Dropping down, he denied the opportunity to send his team up the other way.

On the counter, Jujhar Khaira picked up the bobbled puck to find a streaking Arnaud Durandeau behind the defence. The netminder managed to get his left pad on the initial shot before the forward put the rebound just wide into the corner.

And back we went.

Utilizing the wide point-shot, a Firebird forward acted quickly to stretch Aku’s pads again, trying for the wrap-around. Once again, the Canuck goalie was up to the task to set aside another high chance.

But they would eventually collect the go-ahead goal, with the Koskenvuo being hung out to dry by his defence.

With Joe Arntsen unable to slow down a breaking J.R. Avon, Jimmy Schuldt left his post to attempt the corner.

In doing so, he left Logan Morrison on his own at the netfront, with Vilmer Alriksson just missing the attempt to bail out his defender. The puck found its way to Jagger Firkus, who made no mistake with the empty net, as Aku dropped to his knees.

For a second night in a row, the Canucks found themselves on the wrong side of the scoreboard despite a decent period. They enjoyed a late power play opportunity but would ultimately head down the tunnel with a 2-1 deficit.

It was the home team who came out with a buzz, grabbing several chances to force the Abby goalie to stay sharp.

But those saves were the only real highlights through the early minutes, as we saw several minutes of back-and-forth neutral-zone exchanges.

As the clock turned towards the 12-minute mark, the tumbleweed blew away, and the Firebirds pounced on their first chance in several minutes.

Following a routine zone entry, the puck took a fortuitous bounce to a Firebirds stick, putting the Canucks forwards into a bit of a blender.

With Arnaud Derandeau cheating out of the zone, he left his check alone at the top of the circles. By the time Kudryavtsev could respond, Tyson Jugnauth was ready to fire a perfectly placed wrist shot to the far side, beating Koskenvuo clean.

By this point, the pep in the Canucks’ step felt like a distant dream, as they had little to no push back for the Birds’ attack. And after a long stretch of no action, the Firebirds tripled up their lead with a backdoor play.

Winning out of the forecheck, the Firebirds sent the puck around the net to find its way to Mitchell Stephens at the halfwall. With his head up, he spotted an open Jacob Melanson, who dropped to his knees to deflect the perfect backdoor play behind Koskenvuo.

It was another goal from the weekend that resulted in a man being left all on his lonesome at the net front.

Oof.

We typically don’t fast-forward through an entire period. But with the Canucks offering just three shots during the first 15 minutes or so, there wasn’t much to highlight.

Koskenvuo stood tall, doing what he could to let his team press.

That press did come, but came late in the period, while on the man advantage.

With the netminder pulled, the Canucks went to work on the power play. Taking the Sawyer Mynio feed, Berard crept in from the top of the circles and delivered a perfect snap shot to the top shelf.

It may have been a press, but that press was far too late.

The Firebirds hit the empty net just seconds later to trip up the Canucks for another loss on the season.

The Canucks continue to struggle mightily, suffering yet another loss this season. That puts them at a dismal 3-10-0-2 on the season, with a league-worst minus-42 goal differential.

The Canucks’ road trip continues, as they stick in California for the next week. They head to San Jose for a weekend doubleheader, with game one on Friday, November 21st, at Tech CU Arena. Puck drops at 7:00 pm PT.