The Vancouver Canucks had a chance to make the same matchup feel like a sequel. Instead, Anaheim’s power play and a night full of whistles turned it into a different ending.
Vancouver fell 5-4 to the Ducks on Tuesday after giving up three power-play goals, unable to finish off a comeback that got close but never quite crossed the line. Jake DeBrusk scored twice for the Canucks, while Liam Öhgren and Linus Karlsson also chipped in. Kevin Lankinen made his first start since the 5-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on October 22 and stopped 17 of 22 shots.
It was a chippy one from the opening stretch. Five fights broke out over the course of the night - two involving Jacob Quillan, plus one each for Jamie Oleksiak, Max Sasson, and Paul Cotter. It marked the first time since 2014 that Vancouver was involved in five fighting majors in a single game.
Anaheim arrived with momentum on special teams and kept that edge going. The Ducks had scored nine power-play goals over their previous four games, and they stayed hot by converting on all three of their chances against Vancouver.
Their first two power-play goals came in the opening period, first after Quillan was called for tripping and then after Öhgren was penalized for hooking. Vancouver answered one of those man-advantages when its second unit tied the game at 1-1 two minutes after Anaheim’s first goal.
The Canucks nearly grabbed the lead before the Ducks struck again, and Öhgren was in the middle of it. He raced up ice, battled Jackson LaCombe, and got the puck past Laurent Brossoit, only to see the goal waved off because he was assessed a hook while moving up ice with LaCombe.
Anaheim kept piling on in the second period. Vancouver couldn’t establish itself in the offensive zone on a power play, and the Ducks turned that into a shorthanded rush that ended with Leo Carlsson and Pavel Mintyukov combining for Anaheim’s third goal. Later in the period, Cutter Gauthier buried his second goal of the night on Anaheim’s third power play.
The Ducks kept pressing in the third and Gauthier finished off his hat trick, his second in the span of a week. Vancouver did get back into it with two power-play goals of its own, first when DeBrusk scored off a pass from Elias Pettersson and then when DeBrusk struck again after Jamie Oleksiak’s shot from the point bounced in off him.
The Canucks were dangerous after that, especially once they pulled Lankinen and went 6-on-5 for the final two minutes. They generated a few close looks, including tipped chances off long shots from Jonathan Lekkerimäki, but they couldn’t find the equalizer that would have matched last week’s comeback against the same opponent.
Pettersson finished with two assists and now has 27 points in 26 career games against Anaheim. Öhgren recorded his first career power-play goal.
Quillan finished with two fights. And Vancouver has now allowed three power-play goals in a game for the third time this season.
The Canucks’ scoring came at 6:04 of the first when Öhgren scored on the power play from Marco Rossi and Paul Cotter, at 8:17 of the second when Karlsson scored off Drew O’Connor, and at 5:30 and 9:34 of the third on DeBrusk’s two goals, with Pettersson and Brock Boeser assisting on the first and Oleksiak and Pettersson on the second.
Vancouver heads to Winnipeg next to face the Jets on November 5 at 5:00 pm PCT.
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