Saturday afternoon’s game between the Vancouver Canucks and Anaheim Ducks featured a contest between two squads unlikely to make the NHL Playoffs. The Canucks were given terrible news before the start of the game as they would be missing several players, including number one centre Elias Pettersson. Entering into the lineup for the Canucks would be forward Max Sasson and also defenceman Victor Mancini who the Canucks acquired in the J.T. Miller trade. The Ducks would ice their regular lineup as the team suffered no injuries before this game. Thatcher Demko returned for the Canucks, and the Ducks went with the ever-reliable Lukas Dostal.
Game Recap
Just under 90 seconds into the first period, the Ducks broke the puck into the Canucks zone and created a board battle to the left side of Demko. Pavel Mintyukov came up with the puck and sent a pass to Troy Terry, and he sniped it short side off the post and in past the Canucks goaltender for his 20th goal of the season to give Anaheim an early 1-0 lead. After the early goal, the game found its rhythm and both teams traded chances. The Canucks finally capitalized on a chance close to the 10-minute mark as rookie defenceman Elias Pettersson scored off of a one-timer for his first career NHL goal and evening up the score for Vancouver. Shortly after tying the game, Fillip Hronek took a shot from the point, and the puck deflected off of a Ducks player’s stick and fluttered over Dostal’s glove to give the Canucks a 2-1 lead.
Just seconds after the Canucks took the lead, Ducks forward Alex Killorn took a hooking penalty to send the Canucks to the power play. On the advantage, Quinn Hughes sent a perfect pass to Brock Boeser in the slot, and the forward tipped the puck in to extend the Canucks lead. The Ducks took another penalty shortly after the Canucks scored their third goal. While on the power play, Hughes found an open lane and drove to the net. He set up Conor Garland for the open net tap-in to give the Canucks a 4-1 lead. After both teams regained even strength, Vancouver returned to the attack. Marcus Pettersson threw the puck on net into traffic and Dakota Joshua found a loose puck in front, and he beat Dostal stretching the Canucks lead to 5-1. After the explosion of offence, the rest of the period saw no scoring and Vancouver exited the period with a four-goal lead.
After a six-goal first 20 minutes, the second period saw more defence than offence as neither team gave up many scoring chances. The Ducks got to within three goals as Trevor Zegras scored shortly after the period began. Zegras secured the puck off a rebound from the boards and fired it past Demko to get the Ducks back in the game. But after the opening goal, both teams could not find the back of the net and the period was the opposite of what had transpired in the opening frame. The clock struck zero on the second period and the Canucks remained in control, leading 5-2.
In the final period, the Canucks entered with a three-goal lead and looked to drain the clock. They did a phenomenal job of letting the clock run and even extended their lead. New call-up Max Sasson stripped the puck off of Oliver Kylington at the point and went in on a breakaway. Sasson fired the puck between Dostal’s legs, restoring the Canucks four-goal lead with 14 minutes left in regulation. Once Sasson scored his goal, Vancouver drained the clock and left this game with a 6-2 win.
The regulation win keeps the Canucks’ very slim playoff hopes alive, as they are now five points behind the Minnesota Wild for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. From the Ducks’ perspective, this loss further eliminates them from playoff contention.
