Abbotsford Canucks swept by Coachella Valley Firebirds on home ice

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The Abbotsford Canucks struggles on home ice continued this season, as the club posted two more losses to the Coachella Valley Firebirds inside the Rogers Forum on Saturday (Dec. 6) and Sunday (Dec. 7).

The club’s home record has dipped to 2-8-0-2 and they are tied for the worst home winning percentage in the AHL at .250. The Canucks have been outscored 48-21 in 12 games at home and have the worst goal differential in the AHL at -27 this season.

Abbotsford fell 4-3 in the shootout on Saturday and then 2-1 on Sunday to complete the weekend. Sunday’s game was promoted as the team’s fifth anniversary and featured a celebration of some of the team’s history.

After a scoreless first period, Abbotsford’s Ben Berard opened the scoring at 3:09 of the first period. The Vancouver Island product has been an offensive bright spot for the Canucks this season and leads the team in scoring with 14 points.

The Firebirds responded just over three minutes later when J.R. Avon scored a shorthanded goal. The Canucks set an AHL record by not allowing a single shorthanded goal in 2024-25, but the club has already allowed four this season. The Firebirds controlled play in the second period and out shot Abbotsford 12-6.

Coachella Valley’s Ben Meyers scored the eventual game winning goal at 15:57 of the third to secure the win for the visitors. Canucks goalie Aku Koskenvuo made 25 saves in the loss and the Firebirds held a 27-26 shots edge. Reported attendance on Sunday was 3,736.

Saturday saw the Canucks host the annual Teddy Bear Toss night, but the player truly forced to ‘bear down’ was Abbotsford starting goalie Jiří Patera.

The Czechia product stopped 42 of 45 shots in the team’s 4-3 shootout loss. Patera stood on his head in the first period, as the Canucks were out shot 17-6. Abbotsford was also out shot 13-3 in the third and 45-19 for the game. The club record for most shots allowed in a game was 46 and has happened twice (most recently vs. Calgary on Dec. 29, 2023).

Forward Nils Åman joined Phil Di Giuseppe, Chase Wouters and Jett Woo as Teddy Bear Toss goal icons when he potted the game’s opening goal at 9:16 of the first period. The bears came flying down for minutes and players did their part by cleaning up after all the chaos.

The Firebirds evened the game up at 17:25 when Jagger Firkus beat Patera on the power play, but Abbotsford replied just 14 seconds later when Jimmy Schuldt put Abbotsford back on top. The Canucks were the better team in the second period and forward Mackenzie MacEachern made it 3-1 when he scored his fourth of the year at 3:21. The Firebirds out shot Abbotsford 11-8 in the middle frame, but the Canucks controlled the majority of the play.

The mess of a third period followed and the three-on-three overtime solved nothing, but the Firebirds again out shot the Canucks 4-2 in those five minutes. The shootout saw Coachella’s Logan Morrison and J.R. Avon beat Patera, while Abbotsford’s Vilmer Alriksson was stopped and Ben Berard scored. Patera then made a stop on Firebirds forward Osca Fisker Molgaard, but Aman was unable to beat Nikke Kokkko and the Canucks dropped the game 4-3.

Reported attendance on Saturday was 4,972. Abbotsford’s record moves to 5-15-1-3 on the season and they remain in 10th place in the Pacific Division.

The Canucks now hit the road and face the Calgary Wranglers for games in Alberta on Saturday (Dec. 13) and Sunday (Dec. 14). They return home to host the Tucson Roadrunners on Dec. 19 and 20 before the holiday break.