Tuesday March 28 - Anaheim Ducks 4 - Vancouver Canucks 1
The Anaheim Ducks needed just 97 seconds to lock up the win, but Vancouver Canucks' prize prospect Brock Boeser dazzled in his home debut, scoring his second goal in three NHL games as the Canucks fell 4-1 to the Ducks on Tuesday at Rogers Arena.
Here are your highlights:
The Canucks had won their last two games against the Ducks before Tuesday's contest—that 2-1 win at the Honda Center on March 5, when they were outshot 44-27, and the 3-2 overtime win at Rogers Arena on December 30 that was part of the post-Christmas winning streak, when Anaheim got hammered by the officials with seven penalties.
After climbing into first place into the Pacific Division and declaring that they want to be a team to watch out for in the playoffs, the Ducks seemed determined to earn a better fate on Tuesday night. They had immediate success—Corey Perry opened the scoring just 23 seconds into the game, then Patrick Eaves scored his 28th goal of the season at 1:37 to put the Ducks up 2-0—and give Ryan Miller a save percentage of 0.000 to start the game.
The Ducks were thisclose to going three-for-three off the top. Cam Fowler got Anaheim's third shot on goal, which squeaked through Ryan Miller's pads and flirted with the goal line before being cleared by Chris Tanev.
Troy Stecher was the latest player to go down with an injury, so Willie Desjardins started Philip Larsen in Stecher's spot with Alex Edler. Later in the game, he flip-flopped Larsen and Alex Biega, who had been playing at forward, and used Larsen on defense only for the power play.
Willie also juggled his forward lines. Boeser had been moved away from Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi and was playing with Brandon Sutter and Michael Chaput when he scored his goal early in the third period.
I liked the choice of Prince's "Let's Go Crazy" as Boeser's goal song—classic, high-energy and appropriate for the Minnesota native. I wonder if it'll stick? Turns out, he didn't choose it.
@BBoeser16's goal song: Prince's "Let's Go Crazy". He hadn't chosen one yet, so we went with Prince - the coldest artist ever! @Canucks
The Canucks were down 3-0 by the end of the first period and were outshot 16-6, so the Ducks took their foot off the gas for the second half of the game. Ryan Miller narrowly avoided another 40-shot outing—final shots on goal were 39-35 for Anaheim—but those numbers make the game look much more competitive than it really was.
Oh—and the Ducks dominated without their captain and currently their hottest player. After picking up four assists last Sunday against the New York Rangers, Ryan Getzlaf was a late scratch.
Ryan Getzlaf is a late scratch due to lower-body injury. Day to day. Tested it out in warm-ups but not going tonight.
It's believed that Loui Eriksson could be healthy enough to return to the lineup by Friday, but we're being promised that yet another new face will make his NHL debut.
Benning confirmed first year of a two-year ELC for college free agent winger Griffen Molino will be burned. He will play Friday. #Canucks
Molino is a 23-year-old forward who has spent the last two seasons at Western Michigan University. Listed at 6'0" and 185 pounds, his great asset is said to be his speed, and he has shown some impressive defensive instincts.
Ben Kuzma reported in his Tuesday postgame piece for the Vancouver Sun that the Canucks' offer of NHL games this season—and burning a year off his entry-level contract—were the reasons that Molino chose Vancouver over other NHL teams that were also showing interest.
“His skill comes off of his speed, he’s a good two-way player, a good penalty killer and losing Jannik Hansen we believe he could turn out to be a similar type of player,” Benning told Kuzma on Tuesday night. “In our college free-agent list, he was high on it and our guys feel really strongly about him. We want him here, so he knows how to prepare for next year.”