ABBOTSFORD, B.C. (theahl.com) … Jonathan Lekkerimäki scored twice and Artūrs Šilovs made 32 saves as Abbotsford moved to inside one victory of a Calder Cup championship with a 3-2 win over Charlotte on Thursday evening.
The Canucks lead the best-of-seven sequence, three video games to 1, and may safe the Vancouver group’s first-ever AHL title in Sport 5 on Saturday at Abbotsford Centre (9 ET, AHLTV on FloHockey, NHL Community, SiriusXM NHL Community Radio).
Lekkerimäki, a scratch for 5 straight video games earlier than returning to the lineup for Sport 3, opened the scoring simply 1:15 into Thursday’s contest, and his objective 3:47 into the third proved to be the game-winner as Abbotsford constructed a 3-0 lead earlier than holding off a late Checkers rally.
Arshdeep Bains scored his sixth objective within the final six video games for the Canucks, and Ty Mueller registered two assists.
Šilovs (15-6) prolonged his shutout streak to 100:12 earlier than Charlotte received on the board with a power-play objective from Kyle Criscuolo at 8:34 of the third interval. It was the primary power-play objective allowed by Abbotsford on house ice all postseason.
Jack Devine, who joined Charlotte in April following his senior season on the College of Denver, scored his first skilled objective with 26.4 seconds remaining.
Kaapo Kähkönen (11-5) made 20 stops for the Checkers.
NOTES: Attendance was 7,161, the fourth sellout of the sequence and the biggest crowd ever for an AHL sport at Abbotsford Centre… Criscuolo’s third-period objective for Charlotte ended a run of 9 consecutive objectives scored by the Canucks… Three groups in AHL historical past have received the Calder Cup after trailing 3-1 within the Finals: the 1949 Windfall Reds (vs. Hershey), the 1947 Hershey Bears (vs. Pittsburgh) and the 1946 Buffalo Bisons (vs. Cleveland).
(Abbotsford leads sequence, 3-1)Sport 1 – Fri., June 13 – Abbotsford 4, CHARLOTTE 3 (2OT)Sport 2 – Solar., June 15 – CHARLOTTE 3, Abbotsford 2 (OT)Sport 3 – Tue., June 17 – ABBOTSFORD 6, Charlotte 1Game 4 – Thu., June 19 – ABBOTSFORD 3, Charlotte 2Game 5 – Sat., June 21 – Charlotte at Abbotsford, 9:00*Sport 6 – Mon., June 23 – Abbotsford at Charlotte, 7:00*Sport 7 – Wed., June 25 – Abbotsford at Charlotte, 7:00*if needed… All instances Jap
