Can you believe it? After weeks of struggling with consistency, the Abbotsford Canucks came into Tuesday&#8217;s road game sporting a three-game win streak. Believe it or not, this is the first time they had won back-to-back games this season, let alone three.
&nbsp;
And history was on their side. So far, they had earned wins in both Tuesday matches they had played this season, and they came out eager to extend that to three.
Not to mention, their goaltending &#8212; whether it be Ty Young or Nikita Tolopilo &#8212; had been red hot coming in, and that trend would continue in this one.
The Canucks rode a strong stretch in the second period and earned themselves a 3-1 victory in Bakersfield.
Let&#8217;s see how it unfolded.
<blockquote>Starting Lineup</blockquote>
Nielsen – Aman – Lekkerimäki 
Twarynski – Mueller – Klimovich 
Smith – Wouters – Kambeitz 
Glover – Stevens – Walker
Pettersson – Friedman 
Kudryavtsev – Woo 
Hirose &#8211; McWard
Tolopilo
With the lone change of Akito Hirose in for veteran Guillaume Brisebois, the Canucks lineup remained intact from their clinical double-header season sweep from the weekend.
After earning his first career shutout, Nikita Tolopilo received the start for a consecutive game.
<blockquote>First period: Nikita&#8217;s Back</blockquote>
With both teams feeling things out, the initial first minutes were slow-moving.
The Canucks did not see their first real chance until just past the four-minute mark, when Jonathan Lekkerimäki unloaded a labelled one-timer from his office.
Former Canuck Colin Delia made it look somewhat flashier than necessary, but alas, he whipped out the glove to make his first solid save of the match.
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/AapHp2tIixIwxeZBqP/giphy.gif" />
Nikita Tolopilo was steady in this opening frame, but it wasn&#8217;t without some help from his backend. Shortly following the Lekkerimäki opportunity, the Canucks got into some trouble on their own end.
Nate Smith took a hit on the boards on the breakout, leading to an unfortunate defensive zone giveaway which sent three Condors the other way. Dropping to his belly was Cole McWard, but the attacking forward managed to sneak the puck through, where it popped out to the slot on a tee for Daniel D’Amato.
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/vMSesLBUPVzsQePinL/giphy.gif" />
Luckily, after viewing a few games from the press box, Akito Hirose was back in the lineup and was there to sacrifice the body with Tolopilo out of sorts.
Don&#8217;t worry, the Canucks&#8217; goalie would return the favour later in the period.
After losing the last two meetings to the Canucks, it’s clear that the Condors had an agenda, and that was to play the body. Jonathan Lekkerimäki received the first significant body check after being crunched in an attempt to break up the wing.
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/oJCQLDyKq2nLdUUh7a/giphy.gif" />
Moments later, it was time for Tolopilo to return that favour we mentioned earlier. Freshly off his first career shutout, the Belarusian settled in nicely, making his first big stop of the game. First, he dropped and got the glove on the initial shot, and with the puck lying around, he managed to stand tall and shut the rebound.
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/2eqjJMFEvypBL3U8CL/giphy.gif" />
Almost exactly at the midway point of the match, the Canucks were handed the game&#8217;s first powerplay, courtesy of a holding call to Cameron Wright.
PP1 – Jonathan Lekkerimäki, John Stevens, Nate Smith, Danila Klimovich and Cole McWard 
PP2 – Ty Mueller, Tristen Nielsen, Chase Wouters, Nils Åman and Kirill Kudryavtsev
The Canucks failed to generate any shots, and it was the Condors to gain momentum from the perfect kill.
Mere seconds following the two-minute infraction, Tolopilo was tested once again. This time, sticking with the puck after a Condor squeaked through the defence off the boards and was allowed to cut through the middle to collect a few chances at rebounds.
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/8EizozmkD6c90lxMFR/giphy.gif" />
Despite a few chances few and far between, the ice felt somewhat tilted in the Canucks’ end, forcing Tolopilo to make the stronger saves between the two net minders.
Score: ABB: 0 BAK:0 
Shots: ABB: 7 BAK: 11
<blockquote>Second period: A tale of two periods</blockquote>
The second period started poorly. Pushing hard on the forecheck, Chase Wouters became too aggressive and was called for an early holding penalty, bringing the Condors to their first powerplay.
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/Pyen9uJF2sjY6QjoAS/giphy.gif" />
PK1 – Nils Aman, John Stevens, Elias Pettersson and Mark Friedman 
PK2 – Dino Kambeitz, Ty Mueller, Jett Woo and Kirill Kudryavtsev 
The good news? The Condors sported a 0-19 powerplay on home ice.
The attacking team rattled off three shots and had decent movement throughout the two-minute stretch. As he had been all game, though, Tolopilo was dialled in to turn all of them aside.
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/Qs9Z2ob7yEr7UoQROX/giphy.gif" />
Along with strong goaltending, the Canucks were committed to getting in front of shots. Just as the penalty had expired, Wouters sacrificed the body directly out of the box.
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/kG1xJEMSrcKVPucCom/giphy.gif" />
Between the defenders and the goaltender, the Canucks had set aside roughly 12 shots, with Tolopilo making nine saves midway through the game.
The Canucks? Zero shots.
That would all changed midway through the period, and their commitment to strong defence would kickstart an eventual offensive push.
Stripping the puck at his own blue line, Danila Klimovich sent himself on a breakaway, nearly tucking the puck through Delia&#8217;s legs. That was the catalyst to a strong offensive push to wrap up the remainder of the period.
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/ff6IjIluAdc7FKhfdI/giphy.gif" />
The Condors would take a penalty on the play, and it was there that Klimovich and Lekkerimäki would go to work.
The two combined for six shots on the man advantage, each grabbing several good looks from their respective flanks.
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/Bmb7qLpzTMMKrzDtYy/giphy.gif" />
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/HNOeIGtBBwmqWAxQiJ/giphy.gif" />
Goal &#8211; Abbotsfrod 1-0 &#8211; Danila Klimovich from Kirill Kudryavtsev and Ty Mueller
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/0PO0CcG0Tjq8DtCVJg/giphy.gif" />
Eventually, it would lead to good things, as Klimovich took the puck in his office and fired a seeing-eye shot to the short side for his team-leading eighth goal of the season. Assisting on the goal were rookies Kirill Kudryavtsev and Ty Mueller, who would each connect again just minutes later.
Following a huge (and late) open-ice hit from Josh Brown, the Canucks were sent to their second powerplay in short succession.
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/KBKnVuNSPQKe6Jfvnh/giphy.gif" />
Despite not officially scoring while on the man advantage, they took advantage just as time had expired.
Goal &#8211; Abbotsford 2-0 &#8211; Ty Mueller from Nils Åman and Kirill Kudryavtsev
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/rW4xxfuU9TwYstLpQ7/giphy.gif" />
Thanks to a beautiful threaded backdoor feed from Nils Åman, Mueller deposited his fourth goal of the season, second goal in three games and second multipoint game in three games. Grabbing the secondary was Kudryavtsev, who also picked up his second multipoint match in his last three.
Tolpilo would come up big one last time, and after being hemmed in for most of the first half (outshout 9-0), the Canucks took over to come away with a doubled lead after 40 minutes.
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/EiYcqgSLiITcZXQE0M/giphy.gif" />
Score: ABB: 2 BAK:0 
Shots: ABB: 16 BAK: 22
<blockquote>Third period: Holding Down the Fort</blockquote>
Like the middle frame, the Canucks took an early penalty, with Elias Pettersson getting the gate for hooking.
But as we mentioned, the Condors were now scoreless in 20 attempts on home ice, so naturally, the Canucks killed the penalty with ease.
Goal &#8211; Bakersfield 2-1 &#8211; Noel Hoefenmayer from Connor Carrick and Cameron Wright
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/mH7AStoJso54Fs2uls/giphy.gif" />
Even so, the puck remained inside their own end, and after a failed clearing attempt, it found its way to the point where Noel Hoefenmayer threw a shot toward the net. It has yet to be confirmed whether it hit a Condor in front, but the puck found its way through the wickets of Tolopilo to cut their deficit to just one.
Immediately following the goal, Kirill Kudryavtsev took another penalty to send them back to PK. This time, they were leading by just one goal.
The Canucks were flawless and not only shut them down for two minutes but also did not concede anything immediately after that.
The action cooled off from there until Jonathan Lekkerimaki was gifted the puck at the compositing blueline. Going in all alone, he attempted the reverse “Forsberg” on Delia, but wasn’t able to tuck the puck home.
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/REmgErS4q2Uf0cFTGP/giphy.gif" />
However, he did receive a healthy hack from the chasing defender, which led to his first AHL penalty shot attempt.
Looking to make too many moves, the Swedish sniper ultimately ran out of room and failed to double their lead.
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/sPvK0dE0weHFAmfWL4/giphy.gif" />
From there, Tolopilo continued his strong play, making several strong saves in the final half.
One of the team&#8217;s best chances came courtesy of the stanchion. Following a routine dump-in, the puck took a wild hop directly into the middle of the ice, leading to a heavy slap shot attempt that the netminder stood tall to set aside.
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/csGOdhR0CzyMQ1zBbi/giphy.gif" />
Minutes later, he came up big again, getting the pad over for his 34th and final save of the game.
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/Fvpr1ZhaQ4JO6jPNvp/giphy.gif" />
Goal &#8211; Abbotsford 3-1 &#8211; Nils Åman from John Stevens
<img decoding="async" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/JXY1aw2WjvhQGU0pXd/giphy.gif" />
With the Condors net empty and their offence pressing, John Stevens managed to find Nils Åman, who shot his first goal of the season into the empty net. With another two point match, Åman now has points in four straight games and seven points during that time.
Despite being outshot by a 35-29 margin, the Abbotsford Canucks held on for the 3-1 victory for their fourth consecutive victory.
They are now 3-0-0-0 on Tuesdays.
Final score: ABB: 3 BAK: 1 
Final shots: ABB: 20 BAK: 35
<blockquote>Final Thoughts</blockquote>
It wasn&#8217;t a perfect game by any means, but the Canucks played well enough to grab another victory. After a very average start, the team is finally starting to form several big-ticket storylines. Whether it&#8217;s Danila Klimovich scoring at will, Tolopilo and Ty Young finding their stride between the pipes, or rookies like Kirill Kudryavtsev and Ty Mueller each finding their footings in the AHL, it’s all starting to come together.
Thanks to a combined effort from the defence and netminding, the Canucks pick up their fourth straight victory to move into a tie for second place in the Pacific Division.
<blockquote>CanucksArmy Three Stars</blockquote>
Third star: Ty Mueller/ Kirill Kudryavtsev
We are going to go a bit off the beaten path here, and pick both 20-year-old rookies. Both contributed two points, and both played impactful roles in all three situations for this team. Big penalty kills, much-needed points on the power play. Steady play at even strength.
Second star: Danila Klimovich 
With a rocket of a goal and four shots, Danila Klimovich continues to bring the heat during his revenge tour season. He picked this team up when they needed it the most, after the Canucks went shotless in the initial 10 minutes of the second frame. He leads this team with eight goals and 12 points.
First star: Nikita Tolopilo
It did not take long to come up with this star. Making 34 saves in the effort, Nikita Tolopilo came up big when asked, and spearheaded this entire victory. After a six game struggle, he&#8217;s now rattled off back-to-back wins, stopping 62 of 63 shots in the process.
<blockquote>What&#8217;s Next?</blockquote>
The Canucks wrap up their long-winded six-game road trip with a doubleheader in San Jose. Game one falls on Friday, with the puck set to drop at 7:00 pm Pacific Time at the Tech CU Arena.
Sponsored by bet365
&nbsp;

Can you believe it? After weeks of struggling with consistency, the Abbotsford Canucks came into Tuesday's road game sporting a three-game win streak. Believe it or not, this is the first time they had won back-to-back games this season, let alone three.

&nbsp;

And history was on their side. So far, they had earned wins in both Tuesday matches they had played this season, and they came out eager to extend that to three.

Not to mention, their goaltending -- whether it be Ty Young or Nikita Tolopilo -- had been red hot coming in, and that trend would continue in this one.

The Canucks rode a strong stretch in the second period and earned themselves a 3-1 victory in Bakersfield.

Let's see how it unfolded.
<blockquote>Starting Lineup</blockquote>
Nielsen – Aman – Lekkerimäki
Twarynski – Mueller – Klimovich
Smith – Wouters – Kambeitz
Glover – Stevens – Walker

Pettersson – Friedman
Kudryavtsev – Woo
Hirose - McWard

Tolopilo

With the lone change of Akito Hirose in for veteran Guillaume Brisebois, the Canucks lineup remained intact from their clinical double-header season sweep from the weekend.

After earning his first career shutout, Nikita Tolopilo received the start for a consecutive game.
<blockquote>First period: Nikita's Back</blockquote>
With both teams feeling things out, the initial first minutes were slow-moving.

The Canucks did not see their first real chance until just past the four-minute mark, when Jonathan Lekkerimäki unloaded a labelled one-timer from his office.

Former Canuck Colin Delia made it look somewhat flashier than necessary, but alas, he whipped out the glove to make his first solid save of the match.

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/AapHp2tIixIwxeZBqP/giphy.gif" />

Nikita Tolopilo was steady in this opening frame, but it wasn't without some help from his backend. Shortly following the Lekkerimäki opportunity, the Canucks got into some trouble on their own end.

Nate Smith took a hit on the boards on the breakout, leading to an unfortunate defensive zone giveaway which sent three Condors the other way. Dropping to his belly was Cole McWard, but the attacking forward managed to sneak the puck through, where it popped out to the slot on a tee for Daniel D’Amato.

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/vMSesLBUPVzsQePinL/giphy.gif" />

Luckily, after viewing a few games from the press box, Akito Hirose was back in the lineup and was there to sacrifice the body with Tolopilo out of sorts.

Don't worry, the Canucks' goalie would return the favour later in the period.

After losing the last two meetings to the Canucks, it’s clear that the Condors had an agenda, and that was to play the body. Jonathan Lekkerimäki received the first significant body check after being crunched in an attempt to break up the wing.

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/oJCQLDyKq2nLdUUh7a/giphy.gif" />

Moments later, it was time for Tolopilo to return that favour we mentioned earlier. Freshly off his first career shutout, the Belarusian settled in nicely, making his first big stop of the game. First, he dropped and got the glove on the initial shot, and with the puck lying around, he managed to stand tall and shut the rebound.

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/2eqjJMFEvypBL3U8CL/giphy.gif" />

Almost exactly at the midway point of the match, the Canucks were handed the game's first powerplay, courtesy of a holding call to Cameron Wright.

PP1 – Jonathan Lekkerimäki, John Stevens, Nate Smith, Danila Klimovich and Cole McWard
PP2 – Ty Mueller, Tristen Nielsen, Chase Wouters, Nils Åman and Kirill Kudryavtsev

The Canucks failed to generate any shots, and it was the Condors to gain momentum from the perfect kill.

Mere seconds following the two-minute infraction, Tolopilo was tested once again. This time, sticking with the puck after a Condor squeaked through the defence off the boards and was allowed to cut through the middle to collect a few chances at rebounds.

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/8EizozmkD6c90lxMFR/giphy.gif" />

Despite a few chances few and far between, the ice felt somewhat tilted in the Canucks’ end, forcing Tolopilo to make the stronger saves between the two net minders.

Score: ABB: 0 BAK:0
Shots: ABB: 7 BAK: 11
<blockquote>Second period: A tale of two periods</blockquote>
The second period started poorly. Pushing hard on the forecheck, Chase Wouters became too aggressive and was called for an early holding penalty, bringing the Condors to their first powerplay.

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/Pyen9uJF2sjY6QjoAS/giphy.gif" />

PK1 – Nils Aman, John Stevens, Elias Pettersson and Mark Friedman
PK2 – Dino Kambeitz, Ty Mueller, Jett Woo and Kirill Kudryavtsev 

The good news? The Condors sported a 0-19 powerplay on home ice.

The attacking team rattled off three shots and had decent movement throughout the two-minute stretch. As he had been all game, though, Tolopilo was dialled in to turn all of them aside.

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/Qs9Z2ob7yEr7UoQROX/giphy.gif" />

Along with strong goaltending, the Canucks were committed to getting in front of shots. Just as the penalty had expired, Wouters sacrificed the body directly out of the box.

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/kG1xJEMSrcKVPucCom/giphy.gif" />

Between the defenders and the goaltender, the Canucks had set aside roughly 12 shots, with Tolopilo making nine saves midway through the game.

The Canucks? Zero shots.

That would all changed midway through the period, and their commitment to strong defence would kickstart an eventual offensive push.

Stripping the puck at his own blue line, Danila Klimovich sent himself on a breakaway, nearly tucking the puck through Delia's legs. That was the catalyst to a strong offensive push to wrap up the remainder of the period.

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/ff6IjIluAdc7FKhfdI/giphy.gif" />

The Condors would take a penalty on the play, and it was there that Klimovich and Lekkerimäki would go to work.

The two combined for six shots on the man advantage, each grabbing several good looks from their respective flanks.

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/Bmb7qLpzTMMKrzDtYy/giphy.gif" />

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/HNOeIGtBBwmqWAxQiJ/giphy.gif" />

Goal - Abbotsfrod 1-0 - Danila Klimovich from Kirill Kudryavtsev and Ty Mueller

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/0PO0CcG0Tjq8DtCVJg/giphy.gif" />

Eventually, it would lead to good things, as Klimovich took the puck in his office and fired a seeing-eye shot to the short side for his team-leading eighth goal of the season. Assisting on the goal were rookies Kirill Kudryavtsev and Ty Mueller, who would each connect again just minutes later.

Following a huge (and late) open-ice hit from Josh Brown, the Canucks were sent to their second powerplay in short succession.

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/KBKnVuNSPQKe6Jfvnh/giphy.gif" />

Despite not officially scoring while on the man advantage, they took advantage just as time had expired.

Goal - Abbotsford 2-0 - Ty Mueller from Nils Åman and Kirill Kudryavtsev

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/rW4xxfuU9TwYstLpQ7/giphy.gif" />

Thanks to a beautiful threaded backdoor feed from Nils Åman, Mueller deposited his fourth goal of the season, second goal in three games and second multipoint game in three games. Grabbing the secondary was Kudryavtsev, who also picked up his second multipoint match in his last three.

Tolpilo would come up big one last time, and after being hemmed in for most of the first half (outshout 9-0), the Canucks took over to come away with a doubled lead after 40 minutes.

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/EiYcqgSLiITcZXQE0M/giphy.gif" />

Score: ABB: 2 BAK:0
Shots: ABB: 16 BAK: 22
<blockquote>Third period: Holding Down the Fort</blockquote>
Like the middle frame, the Canucks took an early penalty, with Elias Pettersson getting the gate for hooking.

But as we mentioned, the Condors were now scoreless in 20 attempts on home ice, so naturally, the Canucks killed the penalty with ease.

Goal - Bakersfield 2-1 - Noel Hoefenmayer from Connor Carrick and Cameron Wright

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/mH7AStoJso54Fs2uls/giphy.gif" />

Even so, the puck remained inside their own end, and after a failed clearing attempt, it found its way to the point where Noel Hoefenmayer threw a shot toward the net. It has yet to be confirmed whether it hit a Condor in front, but the puck found its way through the wickets of Tolopilo to cut their deficit to just one.

Immediately following the goal, Kirill Kudryavtsev took another penalty to send them back to PK. This time, they were leading by just one goal.

The Canucks were flawless and not only shut them down for two minutes but also did not concede anything immediately after that.

The action cooled off from there until Jonathan Lekkerimaki was gifted the puck at the compositing blueline. Going in all alone, he attempted the reverse “Forsberg” on Delia, but wasn’t able to tuck the puck home.

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/REmgErS4q2Uf0cFTGP/giphy.gif" />

However, he did receive a healthy hack from the chasing defender, which led to his first AHL penalty shot attempt.

Looking to make too many moves, the Swedish sniper ultimately ran out of room and failed to double their lead.

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/sPvK0dE0weHFAmfWL4/giphy.gif" />

From there, Tolopilo continued his strong play, making several strong saves in the final half.

One of the team's best chances came courtesy of the stanchion. Following a routine dump-in, the puck took a wild hop directly into the middle of the ice, leading to a heavy slap shot attempt that the netminder stood tall to set aside.

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/csGOdhR0CzyMQ1zBbi/giphy.gif" />

Minutes later, he came up big again, getting the pad over for his 34th and final save of the game.

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/Fvpr1ZhaQ4JO6jPNvp/giphy.gif" />

Goal - Abbotsford 3-1 - Nils Åman from John Stevens

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/JXY1aw2WjvhQGU0pXd/giphy.gif" />

With the Condors net empty and their offence pressing, John Stevens managed to find Nils Åman, who shot his first goal of the season into the empty net. With another two point match, Åman now has points in four straight games and seven points during that time.

Despite being outshot by a 35-29 margin, the Abbotsford Canucks held on for the 3-1 victory for their fourth consecutive victory.

They are now 3-0-0-0 on Tuesdays.

Final score: ABB: 3 BAK: 1
Final shots: ABB: 20 BAK: 35
<blockquote>Final Thoughts</blockquote>
It wasn't a perfect game by any means, but the Canucks played well enough to grab another victory. After a very average start, the team is finally starting to form several big-ticket storylines. Whether it's Danila Klimovich scoring at will, Tolopilo and Ty Young finding their stride between the pipes, or rookies like Kirill Kudryavtsev and Ty Mueller each finding their footings in the AHL, it’s all starting to come together.

Thanks to a combined effort from the defence and netminding, the Canucks pick up their fourth straight victory to move into a tie for second place in the Pacific Division.
<blockquote>CanucksArmy Three Stars</blockquote>
Third star: Ty Mueller/ Kirill Kudryavtsev

We are going to go a bit off the beaten path here, and pick both 20-year-old rookies. Both contributed two points, and both played impactful roles in all three situations for this team. Big penalty kills, much-needed points on the power play. Steady play at even strength.

Second star: Danila Klimovich 

With a rocket of a goal and four shots, Danila Klimovich continues to bring the heat during his revenge tour season. He picked this team up when they needed it the most, after the Canucks went shotless in the initial 10 minutes of the second frame. He leads this team with eight goals and 12 points.

First star: Nikita Tolopilo

It did not take long to come up with this star. Making 34 saves in the effort, Nikita Tolopilo came up big when asked, and spearheaded this entire victory. After a six game struggle, he's now rattled off back-to-back wins, stopping 62 of 63 shots in the process.
<blockquote>What's Next?</blockquote>
The Canucks wrap up their long-winded six-game road trip with a doubleheader in San Jose. Game one falls on Friday, with the puck set to drop at 7:00 pm Pacific Time at the Tech CU Arena.

Sponsored by bet365

&nbsp;

Recent articles from Dave Hall

Breaking News