Abbotsford – (Abbotsford Canucks) -The Abbotsford Canucks made the most of their home-ice advantage and the energy from the crowd, to beat the Charlotte Checkers 3-2 at Abbotsford Centre.
Jonathan Lekkerimäki found his scoring touch, setting the tone early, and Artūrs Šilovs had another impressive performance, turning aside 30 of 32 shots he faced, improving his 2025 playoff record to 15-6.
Abbotsford Head Coach Manny Malhotra was impressed with Lekkerimäki’s poise and the way he played in a big-game environment.
“The kid has ice in his veins. He doesn’t shy away from these big moments. You can see tonight, he had two quality looks, and he made them count. So, that sums up the type of player that he is when given the opportunity and put in the right spot – he’ll make good,” Malhotra said.
In the first period, Lekkerimäki opened the scoring just 75 seconds into the game, finishing a two-on-one off a pass from Ty Mueller. Christian Wolanin got the secondary assist on the play with a strong breakout to spring Mueller and Lekkerimäki.
Abby had two power play opportunities in the first, but the Checkers’ penalty kill showed why they had the best PK rate during the regular season. The Canucks’ PK was a perfect 3 for 3 in the opening frame and Šilovs was sharp from puck drop, the Checkers holding a 10-6 advantage of shots on net in the first.
The Canucks took a 1-0 lead into the first break.
In the second, Phil Di Giuseppe danced through the defence, with a chance on net, but Kaapo Kähkönen was steadfast, keeping it to a one-goal game.
Coming off a four-point performance in Game 3, Arshdeep Bains went one-on-one against Charlotte defenceman Matt Kiersted, scoring at 11:30 off a wrist shot from the left circle. It was Bains’ sixth goal of the postseason, and Max Sasson and Linus Karlsson assisted on the play, for their eighth and 12th assists in the playoffs respectively.
Abbotsford and Charlotte were an even 8-8 shots on net in the middle frame, the Canucks taking a 2-0 lead going into the second intermission.
The Canucks came out strong to start the third period, Lekkerimäki scoring at 3:47 off the rush and deking Kähkönen for his second of the game and third of the postseason. Sammy Blais and Mueller assisted in the play.
Charlotte answered late in the third period; Checkers forward Kyle Criscuolo scored the team’s first goal of the night on the power play at 8:34. With six skaters on the ice, Checkers forward Jack Devine scored his first goal of the playoffs to bring Charlotte within one with 25.4 seconds left, but the Canucks closed out the game 3-2.
The Canucks hold a 3-1 series lead. Game 5 will be back at the Abbotsford Centre on Saturday, June 21st with an earlier 6:00 p.m. start time.
