The early season misery continued on the weekend for the Abbotsford Canucks, as the club dropped two more games in California on Saturday (Nov. 15) and Sunday (Nov. 16).
The road trip got off to a terrible start, with the Canucks allowing three goals on eight shots in the first period to the San Diego Gulls on Saturday.
The Gulls got two goals Judd Caulfield and one from Justin Bailey in the opening frame. Bailey’s goal was scored with San Diego a man down and it marked the second shorthanded goal Abbotsford has allowed already this season. The team set an AHL record last season by not allowing any shorthanded goals.
Not a great decision by Mynio and Bailey undresses Young with a shorthanded goal pic.twitter.com/tNpzMMMArh
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) November 16, 2025
Gulls forward Ryan Carpenter scored the lone goal in the second period and San Diego added three more in the third to earn the 7-0 win. Saturday was the second time in one week that Abbotsford lost 7-0 after losing by that same score to the San Jose Barracuda on home ice on Tuesday (Nov. 11).
It’s also the fourth time this season that the Canucks have been shut out. Abbotsford was blanked just once in 2024-25.
Canucks just a mess down low, all five guys grouped together. 5-0 SD pic.twitter.com/xvcm1b7Wkz
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) November 16, 2025
The Canucks were out shot 30-17 in the loss and managed just three shots in the final frame. Chase Wouters, Saywer Mynio and Nikolai Knyzhov all finished at -3 for the evening. Young allowed seven goals on 30 shots and his stats after six starts this season include: 0-6 record, goals against average of 5.07 and a save percentage of .835.
Saturday saw the return of forward Jonathan Lekkerimaki to the Abbotsford and lineup and he recorded a team-high six shots on goal.
Abbotsford came out looking a lot better in the first five minutes of Sunday’s game against Coachella Valley Firebirds and Lekkermaki gave them a 1-0 lead with his first goal this season at 3:52.
Lekkerimaki makes it 1-0 early pic.twitter.com/rB9PDMSEtB
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) November 17, 2025
Things unraveled after the strong start and the Firebirds got goals from Jacob Melanson (14:16) and Jagger Firkus (18:25) to go up 2-1 after one. Coachella’s momentum continued in the second with goals from Tyson Jugnauth (8:05) and Melanson (17:33).
The Canucks got a late power play goal from Ben Berard at 19:28 of the third, but that was followed up 23 seconds later by an empty net goal from Melanson to complete the hat trick.
Canucks goalie Aku Koskenvuo made 23 saves to post his first AHL loss, but he was forced to make some big saves throughout to keep the game relatively close. Abbotsford was out shot 28-20 and both Berard and Lekkerimaki had two-point nights. Joseph LaBate and Jimmy Schuldt finished at -3 for Abbotsford.
Koskenvuo with two HUGE saves pic.twitter.com/klMegwGlza
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) November 17, 2025
The Abbotsford penalty kill continues to be concerning and the club ranks 31st in the 32-team league. They’re operating at just 71.2 per cent for the season. Offence also is lacking and the team has scored just 26 times in 15 games for an average of 1.7 goals per game. The Canucks have scored just 14 even strength goals in 16 games this season and have the worst goal differential in the league at -42 (26 goals scored and 68 goals allowed).
The club’s record now sits at 3-11-0-2 and they rank 10th in the Pacific Division.
Abbotsford remains on the road and next have a pair of rematches against the Barracuda on Friday (Nov. 21) and Saturday (Nov. 22). The next home game for the Canucks is on Dec. 2 when the Calgary Wranglers come to town.