There was only one positive from the 3-0 loss that the Abbotsford Canucks suffered in Laval on Friday night…

With a matinée game on Saturday, there wasn’t much time to dwell on the loss.

But looking back, the 3-0 loss on Friday highlighted some significant flaws in this 2025-26 iteration of the Abbotsford Canucks.

With most of the team’s core forward group enjoying NHL reps, potentially never to return, the offence will remain an ongoing issue if the team does not reclaim some of that power from up top in Vancouver.

Despite some youthful talent on the backend, the forward group lacks the offensive power which was very much on display during their fairytale Calder Cup run last season.

Heck, if it weren’t for some stellar goaltender performances in each of their four games, their now 2-2-0-0 record could look a lot different.

Game two was much improved from the performance on Friday night, but with another sub-20-shot effort and both goals coming from the man-advantage, some much-needed changes need to be implemented once back on home soil later this week.

It may not have worked on Friday, but Abby went back with the same skaters on Saturday afternoon. The lone change came up front, where Anri Ravinskis jumped up to the top line, sliding Ben Berard and Mackenzie MacEachern to the second and third units, respectively.

In goal, Nikita Tolopilo was given his second start of the season, looking to get his team back in the win column after a strong performance in his season opener last week.

Kravtsov – Aman – Ravinskis
Berard – Mueller – Klimovich
MacEachern – Labate – Stillman
Alriksson – Wouters – Kambeitz

Schuldt – Willander
Knyzhov – Mynio
Arntsen – Kudryavtsev

Tolopilo

Scratched: Jett Woo (injured), Guilliame Brisebois (injured), Jayden Lee, Josh Bloom, Jackson Kunz, Cooper Walker, Derek Daschke, Aku Koskenvuo and Ty Young.

The Laval Rocket inserted noted tough guy and former Abbotsford Canuck, Vinny Arseneau, into their lineup.

This was significant after last night’s incident, where Chase Stillman dangerously dropped Josiah Didier to the ice without his helmet.

According to Canucks commentator Brandon Astle, Vinny could be seen delivering words to Stillman during warm-ups.

And right on cue, Stillman was forced to drop the gloves and respond to his actions from the night before.

To his benefit, it wasn’t 6-foot-2, 223-pound Arseneau, but Florian Xhekaj, who took liberties.

It wasn’t much of a tilt, but an expected one.

Once that was settled and done with, Laval picked up where they left off on Friday, piling on the pressure and getting on the board in the early minutes.

After a short stint of pressure, Nikita Tolopilo made the initial save from the point shot before sliding over to rob Sean Farrell.

Unfortunately, the puck pounced right out to Lauren Dauphin in the slot, who was left uncontested to deposit the puck into the yawning cage to open the scoring early.

But that momentum was squashed relatively quickly, as Laval took a penalty shortly after the goal, sending the Canucks to their first powerplay of the day.

Although they did manage a trio of shots, they failed to produce any high-danger attempts and Kappo Kähkönen, who Abby fans may know from last year’s Calder Cup final, was up to the challenge with each.

As the penalty expired, rookie Sawyer Mynio went below his own goal line to kickstart the outlet.

Working under pressure, he gaffed on the attempt for an untimely giveaway, forcing him to use his stick and hook his opponent down for a penalty of their own.

The Canucks not only killed the two minutes off, but also grabbed the best opportunity to score.

After some pressure courtesy of Nils Aman, a Rocket defender threw the puck up, which led to a savvy read from Tom Willander.

Intercepting the puck, he and Aman went in on an odd-man rush. Willander pushed a perfect cross-ice feed toward Aman, but he could not handle the pass, leading to a turnover and a rush down the other way.

Later in the period, the duo of Filip Mesar and Jared Davidson, who gave the Canucks all kinds of trouble on Friday, connected again.

After Alex Belzille dumped the puck low, Mesar collected and acted promptly to find Davidson dropped down in the slot.

He delivered a perfectly placed shot to the far top corner, beating Tolopilo clean to double the lead.

To add insult to injury, Anri Ravinskis took a high-sticking minor mere seconds later to send the home team back on the man advantage with a chance to triple their lead in the opening period.

The Canucks came out unscathed for a second consecutive kill.

But not so much in the period, as they trailed by a pair once again. Despite a slight stretch of time with a few shots, the Rocket held play for the majority of the period.

The Canucks could sure use the skills of Jonathan Lekkerimäki. Or Arshdeep Bains. Or Linus Karlsson. Or Max Sasson. Or even Aatu Räty.

The middle frame brought much-needed momentum, thanks to Tom Willander drawing the early holding call to send the Canucks on their second powerplay.

And this time, they made it count.

Working the perimeter, Kirill Kudryavtsev found a patient Nils Aman, down on the half-wall.

Taking his time, he found a wide-open lane and sent a cross-ice feed to Vitali Kravtsov, who ripped a booming one-timer to beat Kähkönen on the far side for his first goal as an Abbotsford Canuck.

Just seconds after the goal, Jared Davidson lost his cool and dropped his gloves with Dino Kambeitz.

In the play, Davidson was given the extra two minutes for roughing after delivering the initial blow to send the Canucks on back-to-back man-advantages.

And back to work they went.

Quarterbacking the blueline, Tom Willander collected the puck from Aman before throwing a laser wrist shot toward the top corner for his first professional goal.

And with that, the Canucks top-ranked defender prospect has his first professional point after being drafted 11th overall in the 2023 entry draft.

More importantly, it evened the score and gave the Abbotsford Canucks a huge injection of life.

At the other end, Nikita Tolopilo was having a quietly strong game, doing his part to keep this game close with composed saves.

Just before the midway point of the period, the Canucks were handed their consecutive powerplay.

This time, it was a four-minute double minor after Ty Mueller was caught with a nasty high stick, which sent him to the ice for several moments before he skated off on his own power with a face full of gauze.

He did not return to the game.

But it only lasted one minute, as Joseph Labate was called for an interference penalty as he attempted to set a pick play at the blueline.

The good news is that the game would play 4v4 before sending the Canucks back to the advantage.

Unfortunately, neither amounted to much of anything for either side.

The period wrapped up with another successful penalty kill from the Canucks, keeping the 2-2 tie alive and into the final frame.

The second saw a pair of firsts with goals from Kravtsov and Willander for the team’s best offensive period of the two-game set.

For Willander, it’s a nice cherry on top of what has been a strong weekend for him as a prominent piece of the team’s backend. Whether it’s in the offensive or defensive zone, he’s delivered patient and composed plays, looking much more comfortable in the game compared to his opening weekend in Henderson.

The early minutes of the final frame were welcomed with some sloppy giveaways and back-and-forth natural zone plays.

It wasn’t until the period approached the five-minute mark that Tolopilo was tested with a shot, dealing with a bouncy puck while Vinny Arseneau stood directly in front of him in his kitchen.

Despite being a young rookie, Sawyer Mynio wasn’t afraid to showcase his mean side and refusal to take anything from anyone.

Did anyone tell him he was pushing Vinny Arseneau, though?

At the other end, the rough stuff continued. After a MacKenzie MacEachern shot attempt, more extracirculars took place, resulting in another roughing minor to Jared Davidson.

But despite a strong two-minute powerplay, it was the Rocket who broke the seal.

Just as the penalty expired, Xavier Simoneau worked his magic down below the goal line. Following up on the point shot, he retook the puck behind the net before finding Lucas Condotta on the slot.

He went farside to beat Tolopilo with an identical goal to Davidson back in the opening period.

That would be all the Rocket would need, as they wrapped up with a pair of empty net goals to sweep the weekend series convincingly.

Game two was a much better performance, but with another sub-20 shot day, it just wasn’t enough.

Both goals came via powerplay opportunities as the offence is still proving tricky to come by.

The Abbotsford Canucks drop game two by a 5-2 score, losing both games in Laval.

There was a bit more to like in this game, particularly with Tom Willander and players like Vitali Kravtsov, but not enough to generate offensive looks.

Third star: Vitali Kravtsov

The Russian got his team going early in the second period with a nasty one-timer that beat the Rocket netminder clean. He led the field with four shots and was one of the few forwards who had an offensive edge in the game.

Second star: Tom Willander

After a touchy opening weekend, Tom Willander had himself a strong weekend in Laval. In addition to achieving his first professional goal, he was likely the team’s best skater. It’s clear that Manny Malhotra agreed, as he was on the ice in what felt like every moment of the final period.

First star: Nikita Tolopilo

If there were any positive storylines to the young Abbotsford season, it’s that goaltending has been very strong. Despite allowing three goals in a losing effort, Nikita Tolopilo was the shining star again with a 30-save effort.

After a four-game road trip to begin the 2025-26 season, the Abbotsford Canucks will head home to start a six-game home stand. The Canucks host the Ontario Reign for a two-game set next weekend, with game one, the banner-raising game, set for Friday, October 24, at 7:00 pm PT.