Ducks Come Up Short Against Canucks

Photo: AP

By Michael Walters

The Anaheim Ducks continued their homestand against the Vancouver Canucks. John Gibson was in net against Collin Delia.

Recap

The Vancouver Canucks got on the board first in the opening period. J.T. Miller took a shot just above the right face-off circle and beat Gibson high to make it a 1-0 Canucks lead.

The Canucks extended their lead early in the second period on the power play. Elias Pettersson got the puck in the left face-off circle and took a quick wrist shot that beat Gibson over the shoulder.

Vancouver played more physical in the second period and the game got more chippy. The teams each had several power play in the middle frame, but no one scored after the Vancouver’s first goal of the period. Trevor Zegras even got involved as he was not happy with a check by Dakota Joshua. Zegras hit him with his stick and ended up getting two minutes for slashing.

The Ducks finally got on the board in the third period. Troy Terry brought the puck to the side of the net, but had it poked away from him. Ryan Strome got to the loose puck and backhanded it in for the score.

Anaheim was down by one with just under seven minutes to play. They made a push in the final minutes of the game and pulled Gibson for the extra attacker, but they couldn’t get the tying score. The Ducks dropped this one 2-1.

Analysis:

The Ducks had a rough start to this contest. They couldn’t get much going offensively and had trouble getting out of thier own zone in the first period. Anaheim was outshot 17-4 in the first period and then 17-8 in the second period. The Canucks used their size to clog up the neutral zone and close the passing lanes.

Gibson was the only reason the Ducks had a chance to rally in the third period. He stopped 38 out of 40 shots on the night. Anaheim made things interesting for the last several minutes of the game when they did finally score, but it was too little too late.

The Canucks did take some liberties with the Ducks in this game, but it was good to see the Ducks stick up for one another especially in the second period. This Anaheim team has character which is important when playing in a lost season like this one.

Team Notes/Stats:

With this loss, the Ducks were officially eliminated from the playoffs.

What’s Next?

The Ducks host the Calgary Flames Tuesday at 7 PM PT.

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March 20th, 2023