You’d be hard-pressed to find a more eventful matchup than last year’s season series between the Abbotsford Canucks and the Colorado Eagles. It all started with a late hit from Keaton Middleton on Vasily Podkolzin last October, igniting a season-long rivalry. Across eight games, the teams racked up 199 penalty minutes, plenty of extracurricular antics, and, oh yes, the Canucks narrowly edged out the series with a 4-3-1-0 record.

Fast-forward to tonight—the first meeting of the 2024-25 season–and tempers had certainly cooled off, as the match lacked its feisty 2023-24 nature. That was until the third period, when the hinges blew off, and we were blessed with the game’s first goals and the first real sense of hatred between the two sides.

What was trending toward a long night for the Abbotsford Canucks quickly turned into a profitable night in the standings. For the second consecutive game, the Canucks found themselves in a shootout situation; only this time, got the result they were looking for.

Let’s see how things played out.

The Canucks were once again without Jonathan Lekkerimaki, who’s yet to make his 2024-25 debut due to an illness. In his place, however, was Aatu Räty, who made his Abbotsford debut after a three-game stint with the parent club in Vancouver. With weeks of Rick Tocchet’s system still fresh in his head, it was time to manage the club’s top-line everything as this team’s go-to option in the American League.

On defence, rookie Elias Pettersson moved up to take top-pairing minutes alongside Jett Woo. Kirill Kudryavtsev earned full-time minutes after playing as an extra defender in the previous two games. Akito Hirose also drew into the lineup for the first time this season, filling in for Erik Brannstrom, who was called up following a strong debut in last weekend’s doubleheader.

Nikita Tolopilo got the start between the pipes.

As in last week’s season-opening games, the first period was primarily spent attempting to figure each other’s games out. It saw various stints of wide-open, hectic hockey and very few high-danger opportunities at either end.

Right off the opening face-off, the Canucks spent the first minute and a half pinned in their own zone. While not an ideal start, they did provide enough solid defence to keep the Eagles on the perimeter and prevent any shots during the early pressure.

In fact, the game’s first penalty came before the game’s first shot on goal over three minutes in, as Colorado’s Tye Felhaber held Jett Woo in front of the referee. Easy call.

Powerplay Units:

PP1: Aatu Räty, Tristen Nielsen, Linus Karlsson, Max Sasson, Jett Woo
PP2: Danila Klimovich, John Stevens, Sammy Blais, Cole McWard (Ty Mueller eventually added)

With Räty back in the lineup, the powerplay group set up a familiar formation and set play—Räty to Karlsson, then Sasson in the slot. They ran this play, or variations of it, several times but could not solve Eagles’ netminder Trent Miner in tight.

With the second unit now out, it was the Canucks who gave up the best chance of the two-minute man advantage, nearly allowing a shorthanded break. Aside from Karlsson’s chance, the powerplay expired with no real high-danger chances.

At even strength, the game reverted to its back-and-forth affair, with both teams feeling each other out with no real flow to the game. Frankly, it was an uneventful stretch of hockey.

At the 11-minute mark, things opened up after an Abbotsford giveaway. What started with a Räty turnover at the offensive blueline, the Eagles managed to transition the play the other way and pick up a quality chance, and thanks to several Canucks trailing the zone, they picked up two point-blank chances in tight.

As he would for much of the evening, Nikita Tolpilo bailed the team out to stand tall between the pipes.

Shortly following, Danila Klimovich was called for a lazy offensive zone penalty. The ref was almost willing to let the first one slide, but Klimovich got greedy, doubled, and even tripled down with the stick. He was off to the box for holding.

On the penalty kill:

PK1: John Stevens, Chase Wouters, Kirill Kudryavtsev, Guillaume Brisebois
PK2: Dino Kambeitz, Nate Smith, Elias Pettersson, Jett Woo

As we’ve come to expect, the PK unit’s diamond formation held firm, stifling any real scoring chances for Colorado. What stood out from the get-go was the young Kirill Kudryavtsev earning top unit penalty kill reps in just this third match of his young AHL career. So far, the 20-year-old has looked right at home, and early PK responsibilities are a good indication that Manny Malhotra agrees with that sentiment.

Speaking of the young defender, he went to work on the offensive side immediately following the penalty kill. Receiving the puck in his own end, he confidently rushed up the ice to gain entry before dropping it to Tristen Nielsen. There, Nielsen attempted his patented toe drag but was hauled down before he could get a shot away, drawing the game’s third penalty of the young game.

With another lacklustre powerplay behind them, the Canucks gave us a nice predecessor of why things would go haywire for them in this game. On several occasions, the team’s coverage broke down, and players looked out of sorts while leaving a man wide open for the backdoor look.

With no pre-season to work through kinks and a massively turned-over roster, it’s not a surprise that break-downs happen, but it certainly put them into a bind the further the game went on.

Following that attempt, Räty embedded himself into the game by picking off an errand Eagles’ pass before firing a shot from the circles for one of Abbotsford’s leading eight shots.

With time winding down, Akito Hirose took a hooking call, putting them down a man for the remainder of the period. Carsen Twarynski took his hooking penalty on that kill to put the team down two men, heading to the dressing room. That wasn’t before Elias Pettersson did what Elias Pettersson does and ate a puck in the dying seconds.

The Canucks kicked off the second period on the penalty kill and quickly neutralized the 5-on-3 disadvantage.

With the fresh ice, Colorado could not muster anything special regarding chances. The best opportunity came courtesy of the Canucks, as the powerplay expired when Danila Klimovch nearly converted off a slick redirected pass.

The Eagles answered back with four shots in quick succession. First, Tolopilo made an easy blocker save off the rush, then flashed made several stops in tight, finishing with a flashy leather glove save to end the pressure.

It was just getting started, though.

Remember that shoty defensive coverage? Well, that plagued them for much of the second period.

From there, the Canucks couldn’t shake the Eagles’ pressure, spending the majority of the period trapped in their zone. Colorado dominated possession, but Abbotsford’s defensive coverage, while messy at times, managed to hold the line. Mainly thanks to a 14-save performance by their netminder, Tolopilo.

On yet another man advantage, Colorado began switching up its tactics. With a well-known penalty kill, Abbotsford was perfect when setting up in their zone. So why not try the stretch play?

On the ensuing powerplay, the Eagles would attempt the Swedish Torpedo three-line stretch play not once but twice. On both occasions, Jason Polin was the intended target, and he set himself up for a dangerous attempt each time.

The Canucks iced the puck more times than we could count (seven?) during this period. If Natural Stat Trick tracked AHL games, we’d likely see Colorado controlling 95% of the possession at this point.

The period ended with a few more defensive breakdowns, Tolpilo’s hero antics, and a scoreless tie.

After 40 minutes, the Colorado Eagle enjoyed a 20-13 shot advantage and a 95-5 chance advantage (not confirmed).

The Eagles picked up right where they left off, with early pressure in the Canucks’ zone. But in hockey, all it takes is one shot and one opportunity (mom’s spaghetti?) to change the game.

Thanks to some stellar puck protection from Nate Smith in the neutral zone, he chipped it ahead to Tristen Nielsen. Nielsen found Max Sasson in stride, and Sasson slipped it through the five-hole to put Abbotsford on the board.

Just like that, after being out-chanced for nearly the entire game, the Canucks were in control.

Just minutes later, as the Canucks were back on the powerplay, they nearly doubled their lead. After a quick give-and-go from Raty and Woo, the Finnish pivot found Sasson in the slot, who banked the puck off of Nielsen’s foot to double their lead.

But not so fast. After further review, it was assessed that there was a distinct kicking motion, and the tally was quickly called off to be erased.

As momentum swung back, the Eagles took advantage of their next powerplay.

With Hirose in the box for his second infraction of the night, Jacob MacDonald delivered a cross-ice pass to a wide-open Polin, who made no mistake in tying the game at one apiece. That’s hockey, folks.

That seemed to spark the two teams, and after 40 minutes of not-so-spirited hockey, the two teams began to rekindle their past hatred.

Following a Canuck chance, Twarynski gave Miner the old “snowplow” to the face. As expected, that kicked off a mass brouhaha, leading to the game’s first bout of 4-on-4 action.

Immediately off the face-off, Linus Karlsson forced Miner – with a face still full of fresh powder – to stretch over to make his best save of the evening to keep this game at bay.

In one last chance for the Eagles to jump ahead, Tolopilo stood tall for one final save of regulation time.

As was the case for much of the game and season, the powerplay wouldn’t amount to much, and for the second consecutive game, the Canucks would head into extra time.

As expected from 3-on-3 hockey, the overtime frame brought widespread back-and-fourth looks.

Aatu Räty fired a one-timer off a cross-ice feed, but the Eagles broke up the play and countered the other way.

Shortly after, Räty found Klimovich with a brilliant cutback move, but Klimovich’s shot missed the mark.

With the overtime solved by neither team, it was off to the shootout.

Believe it or not, the camera angles in Colorado are so off that the only goal we could clip was the only one that mattered. In typical Tristen Nielsen fashion, Tristen Nielsen iced this game with the shootout winner.

Attempt one:
Jayson Megna: No goal
Tristen Nielsen: Goal

Attempt two:
Oskar Olausson: No goal
Aatu Räty: No goal

Attempt three:
Jere Innala: No goal

The Abbotsford Canucks defeated the Colorado Eagles 2-1 in a shootout, largely thanks to Nikita Tolopilo’s stellar goaltending. Despite the game’s sluggish pace, the Canucks found a way to steal two points in a matchup they were outplayed for long stretches. A win’s a win, and they now carry a 2-0-0-1 record after three games.

Tonight’s third star goes to Max Sasson, who not only scored the team’s only goal but led the charge with five shots on target.

The second star goes to Tristen Nielsen, who called this game with a slick shootout goal and an assist on Sasson’s tally. He drew a penalty and was one of the only forwards consistently providing offence for this team.

The first star goes without saying, as Nikita Tolopilo stood on his head and delivered a 29-save victory to remain undefeated through two starts. We saw this time and again last season, and early indications are looking positive for another strong season in Abbotsford.

These two teams will meet again tomorrow night at Blue Arena. The puck drops at 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time.