Jeff Misenti
In what felt like heartbreak territory on Tuesday night at Rogers Arena, Mason McTavish broke a 3-3 tie at 5:45 of the third period.
The game slowly slipped away from the Vancouver Canucks from that point, with Troy Terry adding an empty-netter with five seconds left to confirm the Anaheim Ducks’ 5-3 victory.
Anaheim got two goals from Mikael Granlund, three assists from John Carlson, and 27 saves from Lukas Dostal in its third straight win.
Reuters reported that the Ducks have now stretched their point streak to five games and recorded their 24th comeback victory of the season, which is tied for the NHL lead. That’s all positive for Ducks fans.
A better start, same finish
Let’s cut to the chase: this was not an ugly loss for the Canucks. It wasn’t flat or lifeless. Even Sportsnet stated that the Canucks’ effort was better than what it showed against St. Louis and Tampa Bay, and the shot count backed that up. Anaheim was up only 34-30.
Even so, the same weakness kept showing up. Too many Grade-A looks against, too much open ice, too many chances that made Kevin Lankinen work harder than he should have.
At 5:45 of the first period, Jake DeBrusk opened the scoring on the power play after taking a pass down low and sweeping the puck back across the crease and inside the far post.
Anaheim answered in the second when Alex Killorn scored at 5:26, then Granlund put the Ducks ahead at 7:50 by batting in a puck that popped over Lankinen.
The Canucks pushed back. Brock Boeser tied it 2-2 on another power play at 13:13 after Filip Hronek sold a slap shot, stepped around Ryan Poehling, and slid the puck across. That assist gave Elias Pettersson his 500th NHL point, a nice stat on a night that still turned sour.
The answer that hurt
The third was barely a minute old when Granlund scored again on the power play after Anaheim’s long 5-on-3 carried over from the second period.
Drew O’Connor made it 3-3 on 2:22, finishing a rebound for his 17th goal and a new career high. For a moment, the Canucks look like they may have the impetus.
However, the game turned when Cutter Gauthier missed a breakaway moments before McTavish came up the ice, took a return pass from Jackson LaCombe, and ripped his first goal in 15 games over Lankinen’s glove.
The Canucks didn’t roll over and continued to push.
Regardless, the Canucks have now lost three straight, dropped 13 of their last 16, and are officially eliminated from playoff contention as of late last week.
On the flipside, the Ducks are leading the Pacific and look like a team that has finally come out the other side of a long rebuild.
