Charlotte Checkers head coach Geordie Kinnear has memories of the Abbotsford Centre when it was the home of the Abbotsford Heat and he was still an assistant coach with the Charlotte club.
They weren't great memories, as his team lost 7-1 and 5-3 to the Heat back on Feb. 4 and 5, 2014. The not-so-great experiences continued for Kinnear on Tuesday (June 17) when his Checkers were blasted 6-1 by the Abbotsford Canucks in game three of the Calder Cup Finals.
The biggest difference from those two experiences 鈥� the crowds. The Abbotsford Heat drew a total of 3,360 (1,790 and 1,528) to their games, while the Canucks packed the AC on Tuesday with 7,052. Kinnear said the atmosphere that the Canucks have created in the AC made it hard for his team to find its groove.
"Unbelievable atmosphere," he said, following the game. "It's a tough environment. We talked about certain things before the game, but we didn't really, as a group settle into the game."
He felt in the first two periods that his team was matching Abbotsford's pace of play, but they lost themselves in the third. The teams were knotted 1-1 after two and the Canucks somehow managed five goals in the final 20 minutes to earn the 6-1 win.
"We knew the environment it was going to be," he said. "But as a coach you can talk about that all day long, but especially with a younger group, you've got to feel something like that to learn from it. So they felt it today and we will refocus. I don't like the word regroup, but we will be better next game."
The Checkers were feeling good early and opened the scoring when forward Oliver Okuliar tipped a point shot from Matt Kierstad past Canucks goalie Arturs Silovs at 8:22 of the first. Shots were 9-8 Charlotte after 20 minutes.
The second period started the Sammy Blais extravaganza inside the Abbotsford Centre 鈥� a variety show that included a goal, a number of hits, trash talking, activity in scrums, a double-minor roughing and a moment where he kept banging his stick on the ice while sitting on the bench. The official politely asked him to stop and he reluctantly agreed.
All kidding aside, Blais emerged from Tuesday as an Abbotsford Canucks folk hero with "Sammy" chants raining down several times and the fans anticipating his every move on the ice. At times it felt like Jaws himself was wearing green the way Blais stalks his prey, attacks and devours the opposition.
His goal came at 6:43 of the second after he received a perfect pass from Linus Karlsson while alone in front of the net on the power play. Blais received the puck, deked out Charlotte goalie Kaapo Kahkonen and roofed it to tie the game up.
The second period ended with the teams tied 1-1, but Abbotsford still managed just seven shots in the middle frame.
Things completely changed in the third period when this game got black out drunk on offence, roughing and misconducts. The Canucks scored five unanswered goals and 52 penalty minutes were handed out in the final 20 minutes.
Linus Karlsson got it going at 3:58 of the third when Max Sasson set him up perfectly in front of the net to score his league-leading 11th goal of the playoffs. Arshdeep Bains added a power play at 11:43 and we were off to the races. Less than two minutes later, Phil Di Giuseppe fired a picture perfect shot in the top and it was 4-1. Bains added an empty netter at 17:10 and Tristen Nielsen tossed some salt on the wound with a pretty deke at 17:34.
Silovs had another excellent game and made 28 saves for his 14th win of the playoffs. He also had 14 wins in the regular season for Abbotsford. Silovs also earned an assist on the Di Giuseppe goal.
Bains and Karlsson both had four point nights for Abbotsford. Bains has really caught fire and has eight points in his last five playoff games. Defenceman Kirill Kudryavtsev had an impressive game and finished at +3. Jonathan Lekkerimaki made his series debut and recorded one shot on goal.
Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra said it was a good return to form for his team.
"We weren't overly happy with the performance last game," he said. "They had come at us with a ton of pressure, but we did a job executing when the opportunities were there and timely goals put us in a good spot."
He praised the consistency of Karlsson and said playing in the AC added some jump to his team. Malhotra said his team's ability to apply pressure made a difference compared to game two.
"We started far better and we spent a lot of time in their zone, which means we're spending less time in our own zone," he said. "But just the overall effort was far better tonight than the first two games."
Malhotra also said Blais was a key part of the team's win.
"Sammy did a great job tonight," he said. "He played his normal game for us 鈥� he was physical, he created offence, held onto pucks," he said. "It was a typical Sammy Blais playoff style hockey game. Obviously the tempers will continue to escalate as these games go on and the animosity grows, but he did a great job for us tonight."
Blais said he enjoys playing in front of the Abbotsford fans and he refuses to alter his in-your-face style of play at all.
"The physicality has been a part of my game since I've turned pro," he said. "So I'm just trying to bring it every night and I know I can be effective that way. So I'm not going to be changing anytime soon."
The Canucks now hold a 2-1 lead on the Checkers in the best-of-seven series. Game four is set for the AC on Thursday (June 19) at 7 p.m. The series is guaranteed to go at least five games and the fifth encounter also occurs inside the AC on Saturday (June 21) at 6 p.m. If needed, games six and seven would shift back to Charlotte on June 23 and 25.
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