It’s not only the Vancouver Canucks that have started their hunt for a trophy to end the season. Their farm team, the Abbotsford Canucks began their playoff run the exact same way as their parent team with a 4-2 win over the Colorado Eagles.
CANUCKS TAKE GAME 1🤩 pic.twitter.com/8V52P5drYM
— Abbotsford Canucks (@abbycanucks) April 25, 2024
The game started out hot for the Canucks as Arshdeep Bains opened up the scoring just under two minutes into the game off of a rebound from a John Stevens shot. It was just the start that they needed to try and assert their dominance in the Calder Cup playoffs. However it didn’t last long, as Colorado scored just on a power play later that period to make it 1-1. The score remained the same for the rest of the period, and the Canucks had to kill off the powerplay a couple times before Sheldon Dries fired home a shot to make it 2-1. However again, the lead didn’t last long and the Eagles were right back in the game with an Ivan Ivan goal. Abbotsford was in need of a hero and up stepped Dries again to make it a 3-2 going into the final period. After multiple great saves from Canucks goalie Zach Sawchenko to keep them in the lead, the Eagles pulled away with an empty net goal from the Canucks regular season point leader Linus Karlsson. The game ended 4-2 and Abbotsford goes up 1-0 in the best of three series, if the Canucks win again tonight, they move onto the next round.
There was plenty to be happy about after Vancouver’s game one win on Wednesday. And that’s no surprise based off of the kind of hockey they were playing going into the playoffs. Head coach Jeremy Colliton thinks that his team answered the call of the intimidating playoffs.
“I thought we finished the season really well. We won nine of our last 11 and it was more than just the results. We challenged the group to prepare better and play a playoff style. The guys really answered the call. We feel like our game is in a good place with how we’re playing, and understanding what it takes to win playoff-style games. And that’s a good feeling.” Jeremy Colliton, Head Coach, Abbotsford Canucks.
Game two of the first round series is tonight at 6:05pm PST in Colorado, and if that game ends not in the favour of the Canucks, they will play again on Sunday the 28th at 1:05pm.