Ducks Fall Short To Canucks

Photo: AP

By Michael Walters

The Anaheim Ducks continued their homestand against the Vancouver Canucks. Petr Mrazek was in net against Nikita Tolopilo. Lukas Dostal was out with an upper-body injury and listed as day-to-day. Ville Husso was recalled.

Linus Karlsson scored just before the halfway point of the first period. Max Sasson took a shot from just inside the blue line that missed the net, hitting the boards behind and then coming to Karlsson at the side of the net for an easy score.

Evander Kane then scored on the power play with about two minutes later with a wrist shot from the left circle. The Canucks were up 2-0 after the first period.

The Ducks got on the board just nine seconds into the second period. Jackson LaCombe scored in the slot area with a wrist shot while Anaheim was on the power play.

The Canucks made it a two goal deficit again when Conor Garland scored a goal on a backhand move with about nine minutes to go in the period.

The Ducks then fought back to tie the game with a pair of goals in just over a two minute span. Leo Carlsson got to a rebound and scored on his own backhand shot. Mason McTavish then tied the game on a nice feed from Beckett Sennecke during a 2-on-1 rush. The teams were tied at three after two periods.

Max Sasson broke the tie with about four minutes to go. Filip Hronek took a point shot which deflected off Sasson and then off Drew Helleson before going into the net.

The Ducks pulled Mrazek with more than two minutes to go and Drew O’Connor scored into the empty net.

Cutter Gauthier scored in front of the net with about six seconds left in the game to get Anaheim within one. The Ducks lost by a 5-4 final.

Analysis:

The Ducks got off to another slow start finding themselves down 2-0 early like they did against Vegas last Saturday. Anaheim did pull within one before Vancouver made it a 3-1 lead. The Ducks didn’t give up battling back to tie the game at three, but the Canucks scored twice late in the third to pull away.

Anaheim didn’t have much puck luck in this one. The Ducks hit the post twice in the opening minutes of the first period before Vancouver got on the board first. The Canucks first goal was the result of badly missed shot from the point which bounced off the boards to Karlsson, who had a huge portion of the net to shoot at. Vancouver’s fourth goal was scored after deflecting off two players in traffic on the way to the net. The Canucks had much better puck luck in this contest.

The Ducks were outshooting the Canucks 20 to 8 halfway through the game. Anaheim ended up with 41 shots on goal to 28 for Vancouver. The Ducks posted a CF% 60.16% and FF% of 61.29% at even strength. Overall, the Ducks had 74 shot attempts to 49 for the Canucks at even strength. Anaheim was the better team during even strength play, but some bad bounces and defensive mishaps cost them.

The special teams battle ended up being even. Vancouver scored once in three power play attempts. Anaheim also scored once in six power play attempts. Another power play goal by the Ducks and they might have won this contest.

The Ducks did rally down from two goals twice and it looked like they were at least going to get a point until late in this contest. It felt like Anaheim deserved a better fate in this contest.

Team Notes/Stats:

Despite the loss the Ducks are still in first place.

LaCombe scored a goal and had two assists.

Gauthier had a goal and an assist. He leads the team with 14 goals.

Sennecke became just the second teenager in Ducks history to record a five-game point streak (1G + 4A), following Oleg Tverdovsky who did it in five games during the 1995-96 season.

Anaheim is 8-0-0 when scoring first. They are 6-8-1 when the opponent scores first.

What’s Next?

The Ducks host the Kings on Friday at 1PM.

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Nov 27th, 2025