So Kanan Under Cody, or Just Kanan?

I made some mistakes in Territory Battles last night and was left with a sad little team to do my last combat mission. I was Cody lead with Kanan and an untouched Han Solo. I didn't win or even do well but they lasted surprisingly long--well into encounter 4. Cody is only level 65, Gear VII, no mods, and all abilities at level 1. With Solo dead immediately and Cody with level one abilities it was up to Kanan's counters to deal the damage. Needless to say, these were very long encounters; I had to plug in and set it to auto by the second as my battery was low. Many minutes later, to my surprise, those two made it all the way through 2 more encounters. I watched for a couple more minutes as they took their final stand chipping away and refilling protection. Kanan is level 85, Gear IX, with decent mods, and all abilities max, and both of them are 7-star. This doesn't make sense to me! Is there some synergy between the two that I'm totally missing? Is Kanan just that great for Territory Battles? I know he's a must for a Phoenix squad, I've used him with great success in P1 and P2 of the Takedown, and on my alt account he's temping for Baze in my zJyn team but this seems kinda nuts. Does anyone have Kanan and a Cody with leveled abilities and decent mods to see if something is there? The Territory Battle abilities don't seem to be of major benefit here either. Maybe it was just good RNG?
Also, if there is something here, did the Devs do this on purpose? Cos making Kanan do well with Clones would be cute.