Carl Lindbom sat on the bench as the Henderson Silver Knights pressed with an extra attacker, their net empty and the crowd at Lee’s Family Forum on its feet. The tension was high as Henderson was still searching for the equalizer as Abbotsford clung to a 1-0 lead.
Each second seemed like an eternity as time was ticking. That was until Tanner Laczynski scored on a wide-open net after the puck was loose in front of the net, giving the Silver Knights the tie.
“He’s a big, heavy, strong guy in this league, [a] guy that can drive offense,” head coach Ryan Craig said following the 2-1 loss in overtime. “We expect him to be heavy on pucks, heavy in the faceoff circle and continue to get to the hard areas to score like that.”
The Silver Knights fell in their opener on Friday night but will have another opportunity tomorrow. Here is the game recap.
The Silver Knights were backed by 2021 seventh-round netminder Lindbom, who registered a 2.01 goals-against average and stopped 28 of 30 shots.
“Carl picked up where he left off last year, where he started off his camp,” Craig said. “I thought he was solid for his first regular season start of the year, and we’ve come to expect that out of him.”
Lindbom won 18 games in 36 appearances last season and continues to shepherd the Silver Knights on the backend.
Along with Lindbom, the Silver Knights also have a fair share of veterans on the team to start the 2025-26 season. On the defense, it’s led by alternate captain Jaycob Megna. Despite the loss, the veteran sees optimism in their performance.
“That was a big point,” Megna said. “Those matter towards the end of the season. You may not remember them, but it’s always big to get up for you.”
The Canucks won the 2025 Calder Cup last season, and as the reigning champions of the American Hockey League, Megna enjoys the challenge of playing last year’s champions.
“They play the same style they played last year,” Megna said. “That’s a winning formula. So it’s good to go up against teams that are organized and kind of have a game plan, and you kind of see where you’re at.”
The Silver Knights are now 3-2-1 all-time in season openers, but with 11 new faces on the roster, growing pains are inevitable this season.
“It’s just a matter of learning the league, learning what counts,” Craig said. “I think we can do a better job of putting pucks in behind them, establishing a forecheck, hanging on to pucks in the offensive zone, those kind of things.”
Nearly halfway through the second period, Ben Berard scored to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead. The Silver Knights had a chance on the five-on-three power play, but failed to convert, going 0/2 on the night.
“We haven’t had a lot of game reps with those groups,” Craig said. “I think it’s a matter of guys playing in positions and finding ways. I like that we attacked.”
After Laczynski’s goal late in the third period, the Canucks maintained the puck in overtime, and Max Sasson scored, and Abbotsford walked away with a season-opening win.
“Really couldn’t, couldn’t grab an early lead,” Craig said. “But I thought we stuck with it. We were in the third period to get a point.”
The Silver Knights play against Abbotsford again tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. PDT and will attempt to get in the win column to start the 2025-26 season.
“We were excited to play, and you could see it, and I think they kind of settled into their game and gave their push,” Megna said. “I thought throughout the course of the night, we didn’t execute as well as we could have, but the effort was there for sure.”
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