Coming off one of their more spirited wins of the season, the Abbotsford Canucks showed up in Calgary looking to sweep the weekend series and earn back-to-back wins for the first time since opening weekend.

And if the first pair of periods were any indication, they were well on their way to doing so. They started fast, scored early, frustrated the Wranglers, and turned the entire second period into a parade of penalties and chaos. Jonathan Lekkerimäki continued his hot return, while Victor Mancini paid homage to his former teammate Quinn Hughes with a beautiful coast-to-coast tally.

Everything was going according to plan.

But the script flipped hard in the third. Calgary punched back with three straight goals in a span that erased a 2–0 lead, and suddenly the Canucks were the ones scrambling for answers. Chase Wouters dragged them to overtime with a captain’s goal in the dying minutes, but blown coverage in OT ultimately sealed their fate.

This game had a little bit of everything short of two points for the visiting team. But after such a poor start to the 2025-26 season, baby steps must be taken. And three points out of a possible four should be considered a successful road trip in anyone’s books.

MacEachern–Aman–Berard
Kunz–Wouters–Lekkerimäki
Alriksson–Labate–Kambeitz
Durandeau–Poisson–Klimovich

Kudryavtsev-Mancini
Schuldt–Woo
Arntsen-Waugh

Tolopilo

Scratched: Josh Bloom, Ty Mueller, Anri Ravinskis, Nikolai Knyzhov, Sawyer Mynio
Injured: Guillaume Brisebois, Cooper Walker, Chase Stillman

Riding high off their overtime victory less than 24 hours earlier, the Canucks came out flying, firing the first four shots on goal within the opening minute.

Nikita Tolopilo, back between the pipes for the first time since early December, was tested early. Calgary worked a clean give-and-go through the slot, forcing him to flash out the pad on a redirect to settle himself in.

And then Jonathan Lekkerimäki went to work.

Picking up the puck in his own zone, Lekkerimäki burst up ice and took the Wranglers’ defender one-on-one. Using the defender as a screen, he cut to the middle and snapped a perfectly placed wrist shot off the far-side top corner to open the scoring in Calgary.

The goal marked his fourth in as many games, giving him goals in five of his first seven AHL appearances this season. As if we needed the reminder…the kid is special.

But Abbotsford couldn’t fully ride the momentum. Moments after scoring, they took a delay-of-game penalty, sending out the league’s second-worst penalty kill. This time, though, they survived it cleanly, turning in a composed early kill.

That penalty sparked what would become a parade of whistles, with both teams trading infractions throughout the frame.

Tensions finally boiled over later on, perhaps courtesy of some built-up tension from the night before. After Alex Gallant and Danila Klimovich exchanged some early shoves, Jett Woo jumped in and went after the young Andrew Basha, landing a few (cheap) shots before officials intervened. Several penalties were handed out, including a justified 10-minute misconduct for Woo.

It wouldn’t be the last time Woo and Gallant found each other.

Up to this point, the period felt sloppy with broken plays, choppy flow, and little rhythm for either side.

And then Abbotsford produced another highlight.

Gathering the puck behind his own net on the (yet another) power play, Mancini took off up the ice. He sold a fake drop pass at his own blue line, froze his check, and accelerated wide into the zone with a defender stuck flat-footed. Driving the lane with authority, he slid a five-hole finish past the Wranglers’ netminder to cap off a full coast-to-coast effort to channel his inner Quinn Hughes.

What a way to score your first of the season and one way to pay homage to your recently traded teammate.

Between the goals, the sloppiness, highlight reels and a massive 40 penalty minutes handed out, the opening frame was chaotic.

But Abbotsford came out of it with a well-earned 2–0 lead and real momentum carrying over from the previous night.

The Canucks opened the middle frame with a jump, finding lanes off the rush and generating clean looks as they carried play through the neutral zone.

Both teams traded chances early, but much of the opening stretch was a tug-of-war for momentum rather than anything dangerously threatening.

But just before the midway point, the period completely fell off the rails.

Abbotsford earned a power play with a chance to take its widest lead in weeks. They didn’t score, but they did build extended momentum, hemming Calgary in their own end for long stretches and grinding minutes off the clock with steady zone time.

Unlike the first frame, the second still hadn’t produced many highlight chances, but Abbotsford owned the puck.

And here came the rough stuff.

Jett Woo, who had been under the Wranglers’ skin all weekend, finally had someone come looking for him. Alex Gallant took matters into his own hands and jumped the Canucks defender, dropping him to the ground before throwing several hard punches. Understandably, Gallant earned a five-minute major and a game misconduct for the attack.

It’s worth noting that Gallant was involved in a similar incident against Abbotsford earlier this season, which earned him a three-game suspension. With that history and this escalation, it will be interesting to see whether more discipline follows. Yes, Woo was guilty of a relatively cheap sequence in the opening frame, but this felt a bit much.

Suddenly, the Canucks had a massive opportunity to put the game out of reach with an extended five-minute man advantage. And the excitement didn’t stop there.

In the following sequence, after a clean hit, former Abbotsford defenceman Nick Cicek took liberties on Joseph LaBate, triggering another fight.

With those two down, Vilmer Alriksson stepped in as the bodyguard, which eventually led him to drop the gloves for his second career tilt.

With the instigator going to Calgary, Abbotsford emerged with a full two-man advantage and an incredible chance to take a daggering three-goal lead.

It was a circus at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Lekkerimäki stayed out for nearly the entire stretch and generated multiple dangerous looks, but Calgary’s goaltender stood tall.

For five straight minutes, the Canucks swarmed, cycled, shot, and reloaded. But somehow, they came away with nothing to show for it.

Still, the pressure was (understandably) entirely one-way. Abbotsford finished the period firmly in control, even if the scoreboard didn’t reflect it.

By the time the dust settled, the contest had racked up 109 penalty minutes between the two teams, and there were still twenty minutes of hockey left.:

With a dominant 17–4 shot advantage in the middle frame, the Canucks doubled up the Wranglers and set the stage for a wild final period.

With all the penalties, the heavy shot deficit, and being a forward short, the Wranglers had every excuse to fade out of this one. Instead, they came out swinging to start the third and clawed their way back into the game.

After a couple of fortunate bounces off Canucks defenders, the puck settled behind the net on Carter King’s stick. He found Daniil Miromanov alone in front, and the defender chipped it up and over Tolopilo to cut the lead in half.

Considering how long Abbotsford had the puck in the second period, suddenly the game felt tight. And the pressure caught up with them.

Just moments before the tying goal, Victor Mancini took a hard shot off the foot and was visibly hobbled. With a Canuck defender hobbling around, Calgary capitalized.

They worked the puck around until Strömgren found time in the high slot and fired a shot on goal. Battling in front with Phip Waugh was Clark Bishop, who managed to get a deflection — or a body — on it. Either way, it beat Tolopilo, and just like that, the game was tied.

(Mancini would be fine, for the record.)

Suddenly, that massive five-minute penalty kill — with two minutes at 5-on-3 — from the second period felt enormous in hindsight.

Then came a strange and extensive delay at the ensuing faceoff, as one of the bench gates needed attention. The stoppage might have been a welcome momentum killer for Abbotsford after giving up two quick ones.

Or… maybe not.

Twenty-eight seconds later, Calgary took its first lead of the night. Woo attempted a dump-in along the wall, but it was blocked and redirected toward the Abbotsford zone. Strömgren chased it down and fired a shot that hit a shin pad. Kerins followed up the loose puck and slid it through Tolopilo’s legs.

And just like that, a 2–0 Canucks lead had evaporated in minutes and flipped into them trailing for the first time of the evening.

But Abbotsford wouldn’t go out without a fight.

With Tolopilo preparing to head to the bench for the extra attacker, Wouters dumped the puck in and started the chase. Kudryavtsev held the zone and cycled it back to Lekkerimäki, who spotted the captain driving the crease. Wouters redirected the feed past the Calgary netminder to tie the game late and force overtime for the second straight night.

Boy, did this game have a little bit of everything.

The opening minute of overtime brought the usual slow build of possession and regrouping, until Nils Aman sparked a chance out of nowhere.

Taking advantage of a blown tire by a Calgary defender, he cut inside and stretched the netminder across the crease. Somehow, getting his toe on the puck, Connor Murphy managed to keep it from crossing the goal line.

Down at the other end, Tolopilo matched it. With Lekkerimäki and company stuck at the end of a long shift, Martin Frk blew past everyone for a clean breakaway. He tried to outwait Tolopilo with a patient move, but the netminder extended his leg and denied him the chance to keep the game alive.

Seconds later, it ended.

Off a broken play in the neutral zone, Abbotsford made a costly line change. MacKenzie MacEachern left his check alone, and Strömgren immediately recognized it, threading a pass to send Nick Cicek in alone. Against his former club, Cicek went upstairs and ended the night.

This one had every ingredient of a character win…until it didn’t.

Extended power plays played their part, but Abbotsford dominated the second period. They controlled momentum and earned a multi-goal lead heading into the third. But when the game tightened, and the Wranglers pushed, the Canucks couldn’t hold the line.

As has been the case for many of this season’s games, the collapse wasn’t necessarily about effort. Credit to the Wranglers, who caught fire in a bottle for a quick stretch, which changed the entire trajectory. Much like Saturday, a few fortuitous bounces helped, but they clawed back for the comeback victory.

But the compete level is there. The structure is improving. And the young core continues to show growth. Now it’s about finding a way to close.

Jonathan Lekkerimäki is doing everything he can to help the team’s cause. He has now scored in four straight games and in five of his seven games played. He led the charge with a career-high nine shots on target in this game, giving him 35 in those seven games. Aside from multi-goal efforts to put the team on his back, there’s not much more he could be doing.

The Canucks will head back home to host the Tucson Roadrunners at Rogers Forum before the team enjoys a week-long break for the Christmas holidays. Game One comes Friday, December 19th, with puck drop at 6:00 pm PT.