On Tuesday night's heartbreaker at Rogers Arena, Mason McTavish broke a 3-3 tie at 5:45 of the third period.
From that point the game slowly went away from the Vancouver Canucks, with Troy Terry adding an empty-netter with five seconds remaining to confirm the Anaheim Ducks' 5–3 victory.
Anaheim got two goals from Mikael Granlund, three assists from John Carlson and 27 saves from Lucas Dostal for its third consecutive win.
Reuters reported that the Ducks have now extended their point streak to five games and recorded their 24th comeback win of the season, which is tied for the NHL lead. It's all positive for Ducks fans.
better beginning, same end
Let's cut to the chase: This wasn't a bad loss for the Canucks. It was not flat or lifeless. Even Sportsnet said the Canucks' effort was better than that of St. Louis and Tampa Bay, and the shot count backed it up. Anaheim was only ahead 34–30.
Still the same weakness continued to be visible. Too many Grade-A looks against, too many open ice, too many chances that cause Kevin Lankinen to work harder than he should.
At 5:45 of the first period, Jake DeBrusk opened the scoring after taking a pass from low on the power play and sweeping the puck across the crease and inside the far post.
Anaheim responded 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 went over Lankinen.
The Canucks pushed back. Brock Boeser tied it 2–2 on another power play at 13:13 when Filip Hronek sold a slap shot, stepped around Ryan Poehling and passed the puck. That assist gave Elias Pettersson his 500th NHL point, a nice stat on a night that still went down poorly.
the answer that hurt
Barely a minute went into the third when Granlund scored again on the power play after Anaheim's lengthy 5-on-3 second period.
Drew O'Connor made the score 3–3 at 2:22, completing a rebound for his 17th goal and a new career high. For a moment, the Canucks look like they may have some inspiration.
However, the game changed when Cutter missed a breakaway moment before Gauthier McTavish came on the ice, took a return pass from Jackson LaCombe and scored his first goal in 15 games over Lankinen's glove.
The Canucks did not back down and continued to push.
Regardless, the Canucks have now lost three in a row, 13 of their last 16, and were officially out of playoff contention as of last weekend.
The Ducks, on the other hand, are leading the Pacific and look like a team that has finally come out the other side of a long rebuild.
