The Vancouver Canucks blew 2-0 and 3-1 leads, but a late goal and an empty-netter in the third period ended up being the difference, as they beat the Pacific Division-leading Anaheim Ducks 5-4 on Wednesday night. The Canucks snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 10-12-2, while the Ducks fell to 14-8-1.
Linus Karlsson, Evander Kane, Conor Garland, Max Sasson and Drew O’Connor scored for the Canucks. Rookie Tom Willander had his first two-point night in the NHL, with two assists. Nikita Tolopilo, in his first start of the season, made 37 saves.
Jackson LaCombe, Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish, and Cutter Gauthier scored for the Ducks. Petr Mrazek made 23 saves.
Game Recap
The Canucks opened the scoring at 9:49 of the first period with Karlsson’s fourth of the season. After Marcus Pettersson fired a slapshot wide, he took the rebound off the boards and deposited it behind Mrazek. Then, a couple minutes later at 11:47, Kane doubled the lead to 2-0 on the power play, snapping a wrist shot glove side on Mrazek for his fourth, as well. The rest of the period was back-and-forth with very few stoppages, including an over six-minute stretch without a whistle.
The Ducks got on the board nine seconds into the second with LaCombe’s third of the season, on the power play. The Canucks stretched their lead back to two on Garland’s sixth at 9:04, as he made a beautiful move around LaCombe and then Mrazek to put his team up 3-1.
But then, the Ducks’ explosive offence got to work, with two goals in less than three minutes. First, it was Carlsson backhanding his 12th into an empty net after Tolopilo got taken out of the play by Troy Terry, then McTavish with his fifth on a nice rush with LaCombe and Beckett Sennecke. And just like that, it was tied 3-3 heading into the final frame.
The third period wasn’t the offensive show that the second was, but it was still entertaining and fast-paced. It remained tied until the last five minutes of regulation, when Max Sasson tipped his fifth past Mrazek to put the Canucks in a 4-3 lead. It looked like that was going to be the game-winner, but an empty-netter by O’Connor in the final minute and a goal by Gauthier with 6.8 seconds to go stole it from Sasson. O’Connor’s goal ended up being the difference in a 5-4 final.
The Ducks outshot the Canucks 41-28 and went 1-for-6 on the power play. The Canucks went 1-for-3 on the man advantage.
Up Next
The Canucks and Ducks’ next games will both be matinees on Black Friday with 1 pm PT puck drops. The Canucks will head to San Jose to face the Sharks, while the Ducks stay at home to welcome the Los Angeles Kings.
