The Abbotsford Canucks came agonizingly close to leaving North Carolina with a 2-0 lead in the Calder Cup Final.
After thanks to 51 saves from Arturs Silovs and a clutch goal from Danila Klimovich, the Canucks couldn't repeat the same result in Game 2 against the Charlotte Checkers.
In fact, the Checkers steamrolled the Canucks on Sunday, outshooting the Canucks 42-to-13, which is about as one-sided as a game can get. Only, Game 2 also went to overtime.
Despite the lopsided shot totals, the Canucks got the game to the end of regulation still tied and came inches from winning the game in sudden death before the Checkers got the game-winning goal. The Canucks can thank their goaltender for them even having a chance to win the game, as Silovs made 39 saves, giving him a total of 90 saves on 96 shots across the first two games of the Calder Cup Final for a .938 save percentage.
The Canucks and Checkers traded goals in the first period
The Checkers got on the board first, taking advantage of a Linus Karlsson turnover inside his own blue line. Rasmus Asplund stole the puck and set up John Leonard at the top of the crease, and he choked up on his stick to make sure he could put the puck past Silovs to make it 1-0.
Sammy Blais responded a minute later for the Canucks, intercepting a pass inside the Checkers' zone when Jujhar Khaira knocked down his man. Blais set up a Khaira shot, then crashed the net to knock in the rebound. The goal was initially waved off by the officials, suspecting it was kicked in, but called a good goal on review, even though Blais got a goaltender interference penalty for running into Kaapo Kähkönen after the puck was already in.
Wilmer Skoog put the Checkers ahead 2-1 midway through the first period with a wicked wristshot off a power play rush that beat Silovs on the glove side, but then Abbotsford evened the score with a power play goal of their own.
Linus Karlsson scored his league-leading tenth goal of the playoffs late in the first period off some lovely puck movement from Arshdeep Bains and Blais that left Karlsson wide open down low. Karlsson curled out front and tucked the puck under Kähkönen to tie the game 2-2.
That was it for scoring in regulation, despite Charlotte piling up the shots on goal. The Checkers, like their parent club, the Carolina Hurricanes, play a relentless puck possession game and never hesitate to fire the puck on net.
Abbotsford, on the other hand, struggled as much as Vancouver this season to get shots on goal, managing just two shots in the second period and four in the third, giving Kähkönen little to do. Too often, their opportunities resulted in a shot missing the net or getting blocked. Some of those misses weren't by much, however, as Christian Wolanin hit a couple of posts in the third period.
16 seconds into overtime, Max Sasson drew a tripping penalty to give the Canucks a golden opportunity to end the game on the power play. Unfortunately, Sasson, like Wolanin, hit the post on their best chance to end the game.
Before the power play was over, Chase Wouters took a tripping penalty of his own, and the Checkers made the most of their chance. Justin Sourdif held the blue line, whipped the puck across to Michael Benning, and Jim Benning's nephew ripped a wristshot past Silovs' glove for the overtime winner.
After the game, Abbotsford head coach Manny Malhotra had to admit he was frustrated.
"We're obviously not happy with the result. We had opportunities, especially in the overtime starting with the power play, to get the job done, and we didn't," said Malhotra. "But it comes down to the things we discussed before the game, in terms of making sure we stay out of the box, our discipline. We took far too many undisciplined penalties to be able to be successful."
"Our fans have been absolutely outstanding"
As much as it was frustrating to lose the game in overtime, especially on an undisciplined penalty, the Canucks have to be thanking their lucky stars that the series is even. Charlotte has outshot Abbotsford 96-to-43 through the first two games of the series, and only Silovs' heroics have gotten both of those games to overtime.
The upshot for the Canucks is that they have stolen home-ice advantage from the Checkers.
Thanks to the AHL's budget-conscious scheduling, the next three games of the Calder Cup Final will all be played in Abbotsford — a 2-3-2 format that limits the amount of travel, but takes away some of the benefit of the Checkers earning home-ice advantage in the regular season. With the series tied 1-1, the Canucks now have the benefit of three-straight games on home ice to potentially win the series.
"Big picture stuff, to come out on the road and get one out of this building is big for us to set ourselves up going home," said Malhotra. "It's just the way we lost tonight doesn't sit well."
The Canucks will have to hope the home-ice crowd can spur them on to a stronger performance that doesn't rely on Silovs standing on his head for 60+ minutes.
"We're looking forward to getting back to Abby and playing in front of our faithful fans there," said Malhotra. "We've discussed from day one of the season that we want to be a difficult team to play against in Abbotsford. Our fans have been absolutely outstanding throughout the year and especially throughout the playoffs."
There's reason to believe that playing in Abbotsford could be a real advantage for the Canucks. They have an 8-2 record on home ice in the playoffs and, dating back to the regular season, the Canucks have won 14 of their last 18 games on home ice.
In the regular season, the Canucks had a 24-11-0-1 record at home and only the Colorado Eagles had more regulation wins than the Canucks at home.
