ANAHEIM — A bright beginning faded into more of the same mundane offense for the Ducks, who squeezed out just one goal in a 5-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night at Honda Center.
Olen Zellweger scored for the Ducks, who lost for the seventh time in the past nine games and scored two goals or less for the eighth time in 12 games this season. Lukáš Dostál snagged just 31 of 36 pucks on a night when traffic was heavy near his crease.
Defenseman Quinn Hughes took sole possession of Vancouver’s team scoring lead with assists on goals by Jake DeBrusk, Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser, who also added an assist of his own. Kiefer Sherwood and Danton Heinen assisted on each other’s goals in support of Kevin Lankinen who made 21 saves for the Canucks, who have won six of their past eight games.
The third period brought Vancouver a more plush cushion for its lead.
With 7:52 to play, Debrusk got his stick on Boeser’s slapshot, a one-timer, for the Canucks’ third redirection goal of the night. DeBrusk, who signed as a free agent this summer, went scoreless for nine games but has two goals in his past two outings. With 1:42 remaining, Heinen swept in a pass from Sherwood to pour salt in the Ducks’ wound.
At one point early in the game, the Ducks came off a nifty 3-on-2 rush with a high-danger chance and a 7-2 advantage in shots on net. After the second period, the shots were 22-15 in the visitors’ favor and the Canucks also led, 3-1.
Perhaps the Ducks’ most dangerous chance of the period was not a shot on goal. Cutter Gauthier’s rising, drifting wrister hit the intersection of the post and crossbar, though Gauthier paced the Ducks in strikes on net with three.
A mere 2:20 into the second period, the Canucks created separation. Connor Garland blew through the neutral zone and created a slot shot for Pettersson. After the Ducks attempted to clear the puck, Garland recovered it and found Hughes for a slapshot that was tipped home by Pettersson for his second goal of the season.
The Ducks drew the game’s first penalty and quickly upcycled it into its first goal, only to cede two unanswered tallies to head into the intermission down, 2-1.
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Just 19 seconds after the penalty call, Mason McTavish turned the puck from low to high for Troy Terry, who sent it even higher for Zelwegger. McTavish, who set a solid screen, nearly tipped Zelwegger’s shot, which found the top corner of the net to the far side all by itself, 5:35 into the match. It was Zelwegger’s second goal of the season, both on the power play, and Terry’s team-leading 10th point.
After the Ducks killed one penalty, it was Vancouver answering back with a man-advantage goal of its own with 4:38 left in the first period. The Canucks added an even-strength goal 58 seconds later.
First, an offensive-zone faceoff win led to a Hughes shot from between the blue line and the tops of the circles that was tipped in the high slot by Boeser for his sixth goal of 2024-25.
Then, a daring breakout led to a give-and-go play off the rush between Sherwood and Erik Brannstrom that the former finished with a searing shot from just inside the right circle.
More to come on this story.