The Henderson Silver Knights opened the 2025-26 season at home against the 2024-25 AHL Calder Cup Champions, the Abbotsford Canucks. The game went into overtime, where the Canucks won 2-1.
The Silver Knights came out strong with five shots in the first three minutes. Henderson’s quick offense allowed them to control the puck at the beginning of the first period. The Canucks were not able to get a shot until 6:03 into the game. In the meantime, Lukas Cormier had three shots and Jakub Brabenec had two for the Silver Knights. The Canucks’ offense heated up and tallied four straight shots. Braeden Bowman was put in the penalty box for tripping, giving the Canucks the first power play of the game. The Silver Knights killed the penalty and only allowed Abbotsford two shots. The remainder of the period was a back-and-forth affair, marked by multiple turnovers, big hits, and shots that were spread out.
Henderson started the second period on a penalty kill after Jaycob Megna was called for roughing. This marked Abbotsford’s second power play, which the Silver Knights killed. The Canucks ran the show on offense for the first eight minutes with eight shots, while the Silver Knights had one. Abbottsford found the back of the net at 8:01 with a goal by Ben Berard. Henderson bounced back with offensive control and had four straight shots. They got their first power play of the game when Danila Klimovich was called for slashing. With just a couple of seconds left in the power play, Silver Knights’ Dylan Coghlan and Abbotsford’s Dino Kambeitz were penalized for slashing. Henderson rounded out the period with 14 shots, but down 1-0.
The third period got physical and didn’t allow for many chances to take shots. Henderson focused on long shots while Abbotsford was working close to the net, trying to score. Halfway into the period, Mitch McLain was penalized for cross-checking, giving the Canuck’s their third power play. The Knights killed the power play and came back with four shots and a goal by Tanner Laczynski to tie the game 1-1 with 2:18 remaining.
A five-minute overtime started with Jonas Rondbjerg, Jakub Brabenec and Jeremy Davies on the ice. Max Sasson scored a goal just 53 seconds into overtime to win the game for the Canucks 2-1.
The Silver Knights led the game in shots 37-30. Cormier led the game with seven shots. Coghlan and Raphael Lavoie each had five shots.
The team will have a rematch at home against the Canucks on Saturday, Oct. 11, at 6pm PT.
