The Canucks had the kind of third period that can fool you into thinking a comeback is there for the taking. They cut a 5-2 deficit to one, pressed hard with the goalie out, and got a pair of late chances that just missed. But the hole was too deep, and the Ducks walked out with a 5-4 win.
The difference came on special teams. Anaheim cashed in on three power-play goals, and that was enough to bury Vancouver despite the late surge. The Ducks have now scored 10 man-advantage goals on 12 opportunities over their last three games, and the Canucks’ 30th-ranked penalty kill had no answer for the league’s second-ranked power play.
Leevi Merilainen got the win in his Canucks debut, while Kevin Lankinen took the loss after another rough outing. Lankinen entered the night with a 1-7-0 record, a 6.17 goals-against average and an .812 save percentage, and the Ducks wasted little time testing him. They scored on their first shot, with Mikael Granlund beating him five-hole on an early power play.
Vancouver did answer once on the man advantage, with Liam Oghren tying it up, but Anaheim kept coming. Cutter Gauthier snapped home a glove-side power-play goal to make it 2-1, then added another glove-side strike late in the second period to push it to 4-2 before finishing the hat trick at even strength.
Lankinen’s recent stretch has been a long slog. The last time he started before Tuesday, he was pulled apart early in a 5-2 home loss to the Detroit Red Wings, when he gave up two quick first-period goals and faced 31 shots.
Vancouver mustered only 13 shots in that game and none in the second period. After that, he sat for four games while Merilainen took over on merit.
Being the backup in seven of the last nine games left Lankinen with a chance to show something Monday, but the results didn’t turn.
There was at least some edge to the Canucks’ night. Jacob Quillan, who doesn’t usually make a habit of fighting, answered the bell twice and held his own both times.
In the first period, after Quillan drove Roger McQueen hard into the boards on the back check, the 6-foot-5 Ducks centre challenged him and took four punches while also drawing a misconduct. Quillan then fought Ducks defenceman Travis Mitchell in the second period.
Quillan had already been in a fight on Oct. 26 with the Toronto Marlies, when he ran into the opposing goaltender and had to respond to a challenge from Jorian Donovan of the Belleville Senators. Donovan has 13 AHL fights and one in the NHL.
The late push came from Jake DeBrusk, who scored twice in the third period to help drag Vancouver back into it. First, Linus Karlsson waited out sprawling goalie Laurent Brossaint and went wide to finish short side and cut the deficit to 3-2. DeBrusk then shoveled in a backhander off the rush to make it 5-3, and later an Oleksiak point shot hit DeBrusk and went in to pull the Canucks within one.
With Lankinen pulled, Vancouver kept pressing and had two shots go just wide, but the comeback stopped there. The Canucks are now stuck with just one home win in eight games, that coming in a 4-1 rally over the Calgary Flames on Oct. 3.
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Canucks Let Another Winnable Ducks Game Slip In Chaotic Loss
The Canucks had enough offense to make a mess of things interesting, but not enough discipline or structure to turn it into points in a 5-4 loss to the Ducks. Jake DeBrusk scored twice for Vancouver, while Liam hgren and Linus Karlsson also found the net, giving the Canucks four goals in a game that should have been there for the taking.
Instead, Anaheim kept punishing Vancouver whenever the game tilted into special teams play, and Kevin Lankinen was left to absorb a night that got away from the Canucks in a hurry. The frustration spilled over physically, too, with a chippy, chaotic finish that featured five fights and gave the game the kind of edge that usually comes with a rivalry, even if the points were there for Vancouver to grab. [Read more 🡒]
Ducks Just Caught A Canucks Goalie Spiral Getting Even Worse
Kevin Lankinens first season as Vancouvers primary option in net has been a rough one, and the Canucks broader defensive issues have only made it harder to steady the position. With the penalty kill among the teams problem areas, Lankinen has been left to absorb far too much of the fallout while trying to hold down the crease on a club that has struggled to keep games from slipping away early.
The concern for Vancouver is that the goaltending picture does not have an easy reset button right now. Thatcher Demko is still working his way back from hip surgery, so Lankinen remains the main man by necessity as much as by performance, and the results have been ugly enough to keep the pressure on both him and the team in front of him. The Canucks need a cleaner defensive structure soon, because the current setup is asking a lot of a goalie already stuck in a difficult spiral. [Read more 🡒]
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The Canucks had enough offense to make a night of it, but not enough structure to escape another frustrating result, falling 5-4 to the Ducks in a game that kept swinging back and forth. Jake DeBrusk scored twice and Elias Pettersson set up two goals, while Anaheim got a big night from Mikael Granlund and a short-handed marker from Leo Carlsson to keep Vancouver chasing.
What stood out most, though, was how familiar the defensive issues looked once the game opened up. Vancouver spent too much time reacting instead of controlling the pace, and Anaheim kept finding cracks whenever the Canucks seemed close to settling in. The loss fit a pattern fans have seen before, and it came with another reminder that the margin for error on the back end is still awfully thin. [Read more 🡒]