Canucks melt down in high-leverage loss to Ducks: 3 takeaways
ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Vancouver Canucks had an opportunity to win their second consecutive game in Southern California and put some space between themselves and the Calgary Flames in the race for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference on Thursday night.
Facing a defensively permissive and frequently disorganized Anaheim Ducks team, albeit on the second leg of back-to-back games, this was 2 points the Canucks had to have given how their season has gone to this point and the lack of margin for error that remains if this club is going to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs. And Vancouver let that opportunity slip away in a second period in which it looked materially slower than a flawed and inexperienced Ducks side, ultimately falling 5-2 to Anaheim.
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Vancouver has played four games since the 4 Nations Face-Off break, amassing a deeply disappointing 1-3-0 record. Only three games remain on the schedule between now and the NHL trade deadline, and it's impossible to imagine Canucks management will have watched these games over the past week and felt heartened about this group's ceiling, its playoff odds or its potential to be a tough out if it even qualifies for the postseason.
Here are three takeaways from a difficult night for Vancouver.
Before they lost the plot somewhat in the second frame, the Canucks got off to an excellent start on the back of Tyler Myers.
It was, without question, an exclamation first period for Myers — who played Thursday despite blocking a key shot with his neck late Wednesday night at Crypto.com arena in Los Angeles, perhaps the best 20-minute stretch of hockey in his Canucks career.
Of course, it almost went in a very different direction. The story of Myers' first-period star turn began with an unforced error, in which Myers, under minimal pressure with options in front of him, attempted to go glass and out and instead put the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty.
The staunch Canucks penalty kill came through, however, and on his escape from the penalty box, Myers scored an absolute rock star goal.
No finesse, just power from Tyler Myers on this goal 💪 pic.twitter.com/TNWNKvRjzw
— Betting Top 10 – Canada (@Bettingtop10C) February 28, 2025
It was a heavy slap shot, strength-on-strength, with no deception, from a long way out off the rush. The shot beat Lukas Dostal bar down, spotting the Canucks an early 1-0 lead.
Unsatisfied with a highlight-reel goal, Myers one-upped that play with a spectacular individual effort to set up Pius Suter and give the Canucks an early 2-0 lead.
Vancouver goal!
Scored by Pius Suter with 03:08 remaining in the 1st period.
Assisted by Tyler Myers and Brock Boeser.
Anaheim: 0Vancouver: 2#VANvsANA #FlyTogether #Canucks pic.twitter.com/0E7Ng2eHt0
— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) February 28, 2025
With the Flames having lost at the Tampa Bay Lightning earlier on in the evening, it appeared the Canucks were well on their way to solidifying a lead in the Western Conference wild-card race. Then, however, the puck dropped in the second period and the script rather rapidly flipped.
Artūrs Šilovs earned Thursday night's start in the second leg of back-to-back games with a stellar effort in Vancouver's loss in Salt Lake City against the red-hot Utah Hockey Club on Sunday night.
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Šilovs, who started for Vancouver on opening night but struggled early in the year, had appeared to settle his game down in the American League. Called up after Thatcher Demko's latest injury, Šilovs crushed it in his first NHL game since November and was tapped to start Thursday in Kevin Lankinen's stead.
In the first frame, Šilovs stood tall repeatedly, despite the Ducks' finding some holes in Vancouver's defensive coverage, with Ducks forwards getting loose in the high slot regularly and generating high-quality looks. In the second though, as the Ducks' speed began to give Vancouver real trouble, Šilovs was beaten three times off the rush, and only one of those rush opportunities — Ryan Strome's 3-2 goal — was preceded by any semblance of dangerous east-west puck movement.
The second-period meltdown wasn't solely on Šilovs' shoulders. Anaheim's team speed was the primary driver of the Ducks comeback, and it was aided by a genuinely toothless power-play effort that sapped Vancouver's momentum when the score was 2-2, but the Canucks needed an additional save or two and didn't get it.
For the second consecutive night in Southern California, the Canucks coughed up a 2-0 lead.
Look, it's not exactly news to note that Elias Pettersson's struggles have been pronounced this season. The star Canucks centre looks limited in terms of his skating and shooting power, and though the work rate has been there and his hockey intelligence has permitted him to continue to make some decent defensive plays, the simple fact is that if Myers is your biggest threat to score in any given game, that's great for Myers, but probably not ideal for your team.
Vancouver needs more from Pettersson, and right now, it's not getting it. It's not even getting anything close to it.
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The contrast with Quinn Hughes couldn't be sharper. Hughes, battling an injury that caused him to miss 3 1/2 weeks, persuaded Vancouver's medical staff and Rick Tocchet to get him back into the lineup. He played 40 minutes of hockey across two days because his team needed his contributions.
It's been a tough season, but Hughes wants to make the playoffs. Badly.
Thursday, though many of his efforts were frustrated by Dostal, Hughes was the exception in a losing effort. He took 11 shot attempts, generated four shots and was absolutely in his bag in terms of skating around defending wingers and breaking through Anaheim's defensive structure. He did everything he could to manufacture goals and keep his team in it. And that effort was ultimately wasted by the Canucks.
The logic of this Canucks team requires its best players to be its best players. Though limited, Hughes managed that again Thursday night. Pettersson, however, once again didn't. And so long as that remains the state of play for this Canucks side, it's going to be very difficult to consistently win games.
(Photo of Filip Chytil and Lukas Dostal: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)
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