The Canucks are Cup Champions.
Sure, it's the Abbotsford Canucks and not the Vancouver Canucks, but it's still an incredible accomplishment.
The Canucks had a chance to win the Calder Cup on home ice on Saturday, but . No matter: they came through with a big win on the road against the Charlotte Checkers in Game 6 to hoist the Calder Cup for the first time in franchise history.
No AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks has ever won the AHL championship, making this a first for the entire Canucks organization.
It's the second championship won by the Canucks organization since they entered the NHL: after the pre-NHL Canucks won the Lester Patrick Cup in 1969 and 1970 as WHL champions, their IHL affiliate, the Des Moines Capitols, won the Turner Cup in 1974. The Capitols were led in playoff scoring by Vancouver's 10th-round pick from the 1973 Amateur Draft, Terry McDougall, who had 8 goals and 19 points in 10 games. McDougall played in the IHL for his entire career.
The Canucks also prevented the Florida Panthers organization from being the fourth club in hockey history to win both the Stanley Cup and the Calder Cup in the same year. The Checkers switched their affiliation to the Panthers from the Carolina Hurricanes in 2021.
Recovering from a rough start
The Canucks didn't get the start they wanted on the road. The Checkers came out flying, outshooting the Canucks 12-to-6 in the opening frame and scoring the first two goals of the game.
The first goal came off a defensive zone turnover by the Canucks, as Linus Karlsson was too casual with a pass from Victor Mancini. Matt Kiersted poked the puck off his stick, and it came to John Leonard in a dangerous area of the ice. He made no mistake, sniping a shot past Silovs as Kiersted drove Mancini into a screening position.
Then Ty Mueller turned the puck over during a 4-on-4, with Akito Hirose blowing a tire as he attempted to turn for the backcheck. Mueller hustled back valiantly to turn the 3-on-1 into a 3-on-2, but Mancini couldn't take away the passing lane between the remaining two Checkers, Jack Devine and Eamon Powell, who worked a quick give-and-go for a Devine one-timer on which Silovs had no chance.
The 2-0 lead wasn't a checkered flag for the Checkers, however, as the Canucks have shown time and time again that they can come back from a deficit. The Checkers were well aware of this, as they had a 3-1 lead in Game 1 of the Finals, only for the Canucks to score twice in regulation to tie the game, with Danila Klimovich .
The comeback Canucks
There were no overtime heroics necessary on Monday night, however.
A sweet snipe by Sammy Blais on the power play got the Canucks on the board before the end of the first period.
Superb shot by Sammy Blais on the power play with Max Sasson screening in front to get the Abbotsford #Canucks on the board, now down 2-1 late in the first period.
— Daniel Wagner ()
Arshdeep Bains won the puck in a battle in the corner to get the Canucks power play set up, then Christian Wolanin set up Blais at the left faceoff circle. With Max Sasson setting a screen in front, Blais went off the far post and in past Kaapo Kähkönen's glove.
The Canucks then started to tilt the ice in their favour in the second period, earning a bounce in their favour from their hard work.
Tristen Nielsen won a puck down low and fed Chase Wouters. The Canucks' captain showed tremendous patience with the puck and nearly tucked it around Kähkönen, but the goaltender stretched out the left pad for the save. Klimovich, however, found the rebound and got good wood on it despite the puck being in his skates, only to ring the puck off the post.
Danila Klimovich ties it up for the #Canucks! Chase Wouters shows tremendous patience and nearly tucks the puck in, then Klimovich puts the rebound off the post, and it bounces in off the back (I think) of Kaapo Kähkönen.
— Daniel Wagner ()
Luck was in Klimovich's favour, however, as the puck ricocheted off the post and hit Kähkönen in the back before rolling over the goal line to tie the game.
Later in the second period, the Canucks pinned the Checkers into their own zone by taking advantage of the referees pocketing their whistles. Some not-so-subtle interference extended an offensive zone possession for the Canucks, and Bains took full advantage.
The #Canucks hem the Checkers in the offensive zone, and Arshdeep Bains makes a stupendous pass to Linus Karlsson at the backdoor for the tap-in. What a pass.
— Daniel Wagner ()
After a Jett Woo shot deflected wide, Bains shook off a check from Eamon Powell to win the puck, then wired a no-look pass to the backdoor, where Karlsson was waiting to finish into the open net. It was a tremendous pass by Bains and smart positioning by Karlsson, as the Canucks' two leading scorers connected yet again for a crucial goal.
A Calder Cup and an MVP
The 3-2 lead was all that Arturs Silovs would need. The Canucks' goaltender slammed the door shut the rest of the way, with his biggest save coming in the dying seconds of the second period.
The Canucks, who kept such a solid structure throughout the playoffs, got pulled out of whack as the second period came to a close. Woo left his spot on the right side of the defence to chase a big hit in open ice, and Wouters was caught napping when he should have been covering for his defenceman.
Wilmer Skoog snuck in behind Mueller and tipped a hard centring pass on net, but Silovs slid across for the clutch save.
Silovs was perfect the rest of the way, stopping all 11 shots he faced in the third period to secure the one-goal win. He did get some help, of course, as the Canucks threw themselves in front of as many shots as possible, racking up the blocks in the final frame.
The Canucks' penalty killers also deserve a lot of credit, as they were a perfect 4-for-4 in Game 6. They also defended well after the Checkers pulled Kähkönen to go 6-on-5, keeping the puck primarily to the outside.
The final shift of the game was a masterclass of work along the boards, as Phil Di Giuseppe and Chase Wouters tied the puck up along the boards and gradually muscled it out over the blue line, essentially killing off the final 30 seconds of the game.
The shift that effectively iced the game deserves some love. Absolute balls out effort to grind out the puck along the boards to force an offside and get the puck out of their zone
— Wyatt Arndt (@TheStanchion)
Still, it's Silovs who was the obvious selection , announced as the winner of the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy before Wouters, the Canucks' captain, hoisted the Calder Cup.
— Wyatt Arndt (@TheStanchion)
There's something strangely beautiful about Di Giuseppe, the former Checker, flipping someone in the crowd a double deuce in the background as Wouters is handed the Cup.
The Canucks' stars stepped up in the Calder Cup Playoffs
It was an outstanding final game of the Calder Cup Playoffs for the Abbotsford Canucks, and a well-deserved championship. From about mid-January on, the Canucks were seemingly unstoppable.
Since January 10, the Canucks won 45 games and lost only 19, including both the regular season and the playoffs. It's been a legitimately stunning run.
Rookie head coach Manny Malhotra and his staff deserve a lot of credit, as much of that run came while navigating multiple call-ups to the NHL, as the Vancouver Canucks dealt with injuries. It seemingly didn't matter who was in the lineup; the Canucks kept winning.
In the Calder Cup Playoffs, however, the Canucks' AHL stars stepped up.
Linus Karlsson led the playoffs with 14 goals and 26 points in 24 games, while Arshdeep Bains was close behind with 24 points. Sammy Blais also had a fantastic playoffs, tallying 19 points in 23 games, while also constantly getting under the skin of the Canucks' opponents.
On defence, Kirill Kudryavtsev turned some heads, as he not only tied for the team lead in playoff scoring with 10 points in 21 games, but also tilted the ice in the Canucks' favour shift after shift, finishing with a playoff-leading plus-18 plus/minus.
But it was Silovs who was the worthy MVP, as he was the major difference-maker throughout the playoffs and into the Calder Cup Finals. Silovs finished with a sparkling .931 save percentage in the postseason. His counterpart for the Checkers, Kaapo Kähkönen, finished with a .906 save percentage.
That's not even to mention his five shutouts, with three of them coming in series-deciding games.
There's still a looming question of , who will be waiver-eligible next season, as will Karlsson, Bains, and Aatu Räty, who unfortunately didn't play in the Calder Cup Finals due to injury.
But the question of what's next will wait for another day. Silovs and the Abbotsford Canucks are Calder Cup champions, and that can never be taken away from them.
