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The Anaheim Ducks came up short against the Vancouver Canucks yesterday, falling 3-1 for their seventh loss in a row.
With Radko Gudas out day-to-day, Tristan Luneau came back into action on a pairing with Urho Vaakanainen, while Ross Johnston joined the fourth line in place of Brett Leason.
Anaheim came out with a solid opening frame, outshooting the Canucks by a 12-6 margin. However, the Canucks pulled ahead about a third of the way into the game, as J.T. Miller put a pass over to Filip Hronek in-close, and while Hronek was stopped, Brock Boeser was there to bury the rebound and open the scoring. The Ducks had a power play with a chance to tie it later in the frame, and while Anaheim pressed to even the game and Mason McTavish had a good chance off a one-timer, he couldn’t convert and Anaheim remained down through 20 minutes.
The Ducks ended up having to kill a penalty early in the second period, where Gibson was tasked with making a breakaway stop on J.T. Miller. Then Anaheim had a couple opportunities on a power play of their own, including a backhand chance for Mason McTavish that went off the crossbar, before Ryan Strome managed to beat Thatcher Demko with a good shot in-close, tying the game.
Anaheim was the better team through a lot of the frame from there, generating the better chances and outshooting Vancouver 15-6, but the game remained tied through 40 minutes.
However, the Canucks were able to retake the lead only 32 seconds into the third period, when John Gibson essentially just got distracted with what was going on in front of him and allowed Elias Pettersson to beat him with a wraparound he wasn’t ready for, making it a 2-1 game.
Then only minutes later, Gibson had to make a big arm save on another wraparound just to keep the deficit at one. Anaheim really struggled to generate offense in the first half of the frame, not even getting a shot in the first eight or nine minutes, then having to kill a penalty around the midway mark of the period.
The Ducks did have a great opportunity on a power play for too-many-men with under five minutes to go, but just couldn’t convert. Then Vancouver had a couple good chances right after that including a 2-on-1 rush later, before Bo Groulx was called for a hook, sending the Canucks to a power play late. That gave the Canucks an opportunity to run out the clock pretty easily, before Brock Boeser buried an empty net goal, for a 3-1 Canucks win.
It was a strong first 40 minutes, where the Ducks had the momentum and were getting the chances, outshooting Vancouver 27-12 through two periods. After allowing the early third period goal though, the Ducks were pretty flat from there, not getting much going at all in the third period for only a few shots.
Goals are hard to come by for Anaheim, with just 12 goals over their last seven games, and the top line of Killorn-Henrique-Terry didn’t get much going. But it was good to see that at least the power play continues to click.
Max Jones also continues to look better for the Ducks, carrying the puck a little more to attack off the rush, following his two-goal game against Edmonton. While even a top-nine role doesn’t seem ideal long-term, Jones has at least shown a little more offense lately.
Some bad news for the Ducks in the loss was that Ilya Lyubushkin left the game early and did not return. Especially with Jamie Drysdale already out, plus Gudas unavailable yesterday as well, Anaheim could essentially be without what should be the entire right side of their defense group next game.
That said, the result could be Tristan Luneau getting a bit more of a role short-term. Luneau played 16 minutes last night and had the highest expected goals percentage of any Ducks defenseman, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
I think looking in a broader sense, it’s another loss as part of a seven-game losing skid, but at least looking at last night’s game in isolation, Anaheim looked better. The Ducks suffered due to their lack of scoring, being unable to bury chances, and then limping to the finish line with somewhat of a poor third period. But there was still a lot to like about the first two-thirds of the game, providing a bit of optimism.
Anaheim will be back in action tomorrow, when they host the Washington Capitals.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM NOVEMBER
- Ducks carrying momentum after perfect road trip, have opportunity in West
- Ducks win fifth straight with overtime victory against Coyotes
- Ducks hand Vegas their first regulation loss, win streak now at six games
- Ducks’ six-game winning streak ends in shutout loss to Penguins
- The Anaheim Ducks have entered a new era
- Ducks rebound to end homestand on positive note with win over Sharks
- Ducks split back-to-back with comeback win vs. Preds, blowout loss to Avs
- Ducks fall short against Panthers after controversial no-goal
- Ducks' scoring slump continues in loss to Blues
- Ducks’ six-game losing streak shows team still has a ways to go 
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